SPINDLETOP OILFIELD. The Spindletop oilfield,
discovered on a salt dome formation south of Beaumont in
eastern Jefferson County on January 10, 1901, marked the birth
of the modern petroleum industry. The Gladys City Oil, Gas,
and Manufacturing Company, formed in August 1892 by George W.
O'Brien, George W. Carroll, Pattillo Higgins,qv Emma E. John,
and J. F. Lanier, was the first company to drill on Spindletop
Hill. Three shallow attempts, beginning in 1893 and using
cable-tool drilling equipment were unsuccessful; Lanier and
Higgins had left the company by 1895. Anthony F. Lucas,qv the
leading United States expert on salt dome formations, made a
lease with the Gladys City Company in 1899. Higgins and Lucas
made a separate agreement a month later. With Lucas in charge
of the drilling operation, another attempt was made on the
John Allen Veatchqv survey on Gladys City Company lands. Lucas
was able to drill to a depth of 575 feet before running out of
money. He was also having great difficulty with the tricky
sands of the salt dome. Despite the negative reports from
contemporary geologists, Lucas remained convinced that oil was
in the salt domes of the Gulf Coast. He finally secured the
assistance of John H. Galeyqv and James M. Guffey of
Pittsburg. Much of the Guffey and Galey support was financed
in turn by the Mellon interest; their terms excluded Higgins
and left Lucas with only a small share of the potential
profits. Nonetheless, Lucas pressed ahead in his effort to
vindicate his theories. Galey and Guffey played a crucial role
by bringing in Al and Curt Hamill, an experienced drilling
team from Corsicana. Lucas spudded in a well on October 27,
1900, on McFaddin-Wiess and Kyle land that adjoined the Gladys
City Company lands. A new heavier and more efficient rotary
type bit was used. From October to January 1901, Lucas and the
Hamills struggled to overcome the difficult oil sands, which
had stymied previous drilling efforts. On January 10 mud began
bubbling from the hole. The startled roughnecks fled as six
tons of four-inch drilling pipe came shooting up out of the
ground. After several minutes of quiet, mud, then gas, then
oil spurted out. The Lucas geyser, found at a depth of 1,139
feet, blew a stream of oil over 100 feet high until it was
capped nine days later and flowed an estimated 100,000 barrels
a day. Lucas and the Hamills finally controlled the geyser on
January 19, when a huge pool of oil surrounded it, and throngs
of oilmen, speculators, and onlookers had transformed the city
of Beaumont. A new age was born. The world had never seen such
a gusher before. By September 1901 there were at least six
successful wells on Gladys City Company lands. Wild
speculation drove land prices around Spindletop to incredible
heights. One man who had been trying to sell his tract there
for $150 for three years sold his land for $20,000; the buyer
promptly sold to another investor within fifteen minutes for
$50,000. One well, representing an initial investment of under
$10,000, was sold for $1,250,000. Beaumont's population rose
from 10,000 to 50,000. Legal entanglements and
multimillion-dollar deals became almost commonplace. An
estimated $235 million had been invested in oil that year in
Texas; while some had made fortunes, others lost everything.
The overabundance of wells at Spindletop led to a rapid
decline in production. After yielding 17,500,000 barrels of
oil in 1902, the Spindletop wells were down to 10,000 barrels
a day in February 1904. Deposits from the shallow Miocene
caprock seemed to diminish, but the Spindletop oilfield had
not yet dried out. A second boom came when Marrs McLeanqv
speculated that production could be found on the flanks of the
dome. Miles F. Yountqv also believed more oil was present at
deeper depths. Their convictions proved correct; on November
13, 1925, the Yount-Lee Oil Company brought in a flank well
drilled to 5,400 feet. This and other discoveries on the
flanks of the salt dome set off another speculative boom. The
Gladys City Company participated with the Yount-Lee Oil
Company and others in this second boom. Although this second
wave was more controlled than the first, competition was keen;
one particular one-acre tract sold for $200,000. By 1927
Spindletop production reached its all-time annual high of
21,000,000 barrels. Within five years 60,000,000 barrels had
been produced, largely from the new-found deeper Marginulin
sands of the flank wells. Additional deposits were found in
the Midway (Eocene) formations in 1951. Over 153,000,000
barrels of oil had been produced from the Spindletop fields by
1985.
To claim this earthcache, email map&nats the answer to the following
questions :
"What was the cost of a barrel of water compared to a barrel of oil
and what major oil companies were created at Spindletop?"
Once verified, log with you photo at the site and/or the number
of people who visited with you.
While in the area you may like to visit these related points of
interest:
Gladys City N30 01.950 W094 04.747
(replica of oil boomtown on Lamar University campus)
When the Lucas Gusher blew in at Spindletop on Jan. 10, 1901, a
boomtown sprang up overnight. That oil discovery ushered in the
energy age, giving rise to major petroleum companies. This replica
of that boomtown, built in 1976 as Beaumont’s Bicentennial project,
captures the spirit of the Spindletop era with authentically based
clapboard buildings and artifacts. Fronting boardwalks that
surround the square are replicas of the Gladys City Company office,
general store, post office, blacksmith shop, surveyor’s office,
barbershop, saloon, livery, undertaker’s establishment, and photo
studio.
Texas Energy Museum N30 01.950 W094 05.781
www.texasenergymuseum.org
Cinematic robots, depicting three generations of an oil field
family, tell the colorful story of the petrochemical industry.
Historical characters share the story of the Spindletop gusher that
began the age of industry in 1901. Designed to thrill, educate, and
enlighten all ages, this is the definitive exhibit on the Texas oil
industry, Exhibits trace the impact of the discovery of oil at
Spindletop in 1901, the present, and into the future