Spindletop is a salt dome A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock strata, forming a diapir oil field An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area. In addition, there may be exploratory wells probing the edges, pipelines to located in south Beaumont Beaumont is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 113,866 at the 2000 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the Gulf Coast, Texas Texas ( /ˈtɛksəs/ ) is a state in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. It is bordered by Mexico to the south, New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, with an area of 268,820 square miles (696 (approx. 30.02 -94.07) in the United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the. On January 10 January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 355 days remaining until the end of the year, 1901 Year 1901 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). It was the first year of the 20th century, a well at Spindletop struck oil ("came in"). Some of the companies chartered to exploit the wealth of Spindletop, such as Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Gulf was one of the chief instruments of the legendary Mellon family fortune; both Gulf and Mellon Bank had their headquarters and Texaco Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel, "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand, are part of today's Chevron Corporation Chevron Corporation is the world's fourth largest non-government energy company. Headquartered in San Ramon, California, USA, and active in more than 180 countries, it is engaged in every aspect of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power.[citation needed]
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History
There had long been suspicions that oil might be under "Spindletop Hill." The area was known for its sulfur Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element that has the atomic number 16. It is denoted with the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Sulfur in its native form is a yellow crystalline solid. In nature, it can be found as the pure element and as sulfide and sulfate minerals. It is an essential element for life and is found in two springs A spring may be the result of karst topography. Where surface water has infiltrated the earth's surface , becoming part of the area groundwater. The groundwater then travels though a network of cracks and fissures, openings ranging from intergranular spaces to large caves. The water eventually emerges from below the surface, in the form of a and bubbling gas seepages that would ignite if lit. In August 1892 Year 1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar), George W. O'Brien, George W. Carroll, Pattillo Higgins and others formed the Gladys City Oil, Gas, and Manufacturing Company to do exploratory drilling on Spindletop Hill. The company drilled many dry holes and ran into trouble, as investors began to balk at pouring more money into drilling with no oil to show for it.
Pattillo Higgins left the company and teamed with Captain Anthony F. Lucas, the leading expert in the U.S. on salt dome formations. Lucas made a lease agreement in 1899 Year 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar) with the Gladys City Company and a later agreement with Higgins. Lucas drilled to 575 ft (175 m) before running out of money. He secured additional funding from John H. Galey and James M. Guffey of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh (pronounced /ˈpɪtsbərɡ/, originally /ˈpɪtsbrə/[citation needed]) is the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the second largest city in the state. Its population was 334,563 at the 2000 census; by 2006, it was estimated to have fallen to 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is, but the deal left Lucas with only a small share of the lease and Higgins with nothing.[citation needed]
Lucas continued drilling and on January 10, 1901, at a depth of 1,139 ft (347 m), what is known as the Lucas Gusher or the Lucas Geyser blew oil over 150 ft (46 m) in the air at a rate of 100,000 barrels per day (16,000 m³/d)(4,200,000 gallons).[citation needed] It took nine days before the well was brought under control.[citation needed] Spindletop was the largest gusher the world had seen and catapulted Beaumont into one of the United States' first oil-fueled boomtowns. Beaumont's population of 10,000 tripled in three months and eventually rose to 50,000.[citation needed] Speculation led land prices to increase rapidly. By the end of 1902 Year 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar), over 600 companies were formed and 285 active wells were in operation.[citation needed]
Production began to decline rapidly after 1902, and the wells produced only 10,000 barrels per day (1,600 m³/d) by 1904 Year 1904 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar).[citation needed] On November 14 November 14 is the 318th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 47 days remaining until the end of the year, 1925 Year 1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar, the Yount-Lee Oil Company brought in its McFaddin No. 2 at a depth of about 2,500 feet (760 m), sparking a second boom that completely eclipsed the first discovery.[citation needed] Over the next ten years, over 72 million more barrels of oil were produced, mostly from the newer areas of the field.[citation needed] Spindletop continued as a productive source of oil until about 1936 Year 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.[citation needed] It was then mined for sulfur from the 1950s The 1950s, also referred to as The Fifties, was the decade that ran from January 1, 1950 through December 31, 1959. During the early 1950s in the United States manufacturing and home construction was on the rise as the American economy was on the upswing. The Korean War and the beginning of the Cold War created a politically conservative climate to about 1975 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.[citation needed]
References
- McKinley, Fred B., and Greg Riley. Black Gold to Bluegrass: From the Oil Fields of Texas to Spindletop Farm of Kentucky, historical non-fiction, Austin: Eakin Press, 2005, ISBN 1-4241-7751-0
External links
Coordinates A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates, using mainly a spherical coordinate system: 30°01′05″N 94°04′23″W / 30.018°N 94.073°W
- Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum (flash Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform originally acquired by Macromedia and currently developed and distributed by Adobe Systems. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page components, to)
- Spindletop Oilfield from the Handbook of Texas The Handbook of Texas is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). The original Handbook was the brainchild of TSHA President Walter Prescott Webb of The University of Texas history department. It was published as a two-volume set in 1952, with a Online
- Oil and Gas Industry from the Handbook of Texas The Handbook of Texas is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). The original Handbook was the brainchild of TSHA President Walter Prescott Webb of The University of Texas history department. It was published as a two-volume set in 1952, with a Online
- Spindletop: The Original Salt Dome - World Energy Magazine Vol. 3 No. 2
Categories: History of the petroleum industry The history of the petroleum industry, including oil drilling, oil refining, oil transport and related developments | Oil fields in Texas | National Historic Landmarks in Texas | 1900 establishments | Texaco
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unknown
Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:51:01 GM
The Spindletop Salt Dome played a pivotal roll in Beaumont's history and of the creation of the city. Today it is on the verge of becoming a part of the community's future. AG..
