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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.01.16 16:15l 57 Lines 2596 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 81330_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Jan 10
Path: IZ3LSV<IR1UAW<IQ5KG<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 160110/1515Z 81330@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1901
Gusher signals start of U.S. oil industry
On this day in 1901, a drilling derrick at Spindletop Hill near
Beaumont, Texas, produces an enormous gusher of crude oil,
coating the landscape for hundreds of feet and signaling the
advent of the American oil industry. The geyser was discovered at
a depth of over 1,000 feet, flowed at an initial rate of
approximately 100,000 barrels a day and took nine days to cap.
Following the discovery, petroleum, which until that time had
been used in the U.S. primarily as a lubricant and in kerosene
for lamps, would become the main fuel source for new inventions
such as cars and airplanes; coal-powered forms of transportation
including ships and trains would also convert to the liquid fuel.
Crude oil, which became the world's first trillion-dollar
industry, is a natural mix of hundreds of different hydrocarbon
compounds trapped in underground rock. The hydrocarbons were
formed millions of years ago when tiny aquatic plants and animals
died and settled on the bottoms of ancient waterways, creating a
thick layer of organic material. Sediment later covered this
material, putting heat and pressure on it and transforming it
into the petroleum that comes out of the ground today.
In the early 1890s, Texas businessman and amateur geologist
Patillo Higgins became convinced there was a large pool of oil
under a salt-dome formation south of Beaumont. He and several
partners established the Gladys City Oil, Gas and Manufacturing
Company and made several unsuccessful drilling attempts before
Higgins left the company. In 1899, Higgins leased a tract of land
at Spindletop to mining engineer Anthony Lucas. The Lucas gusher
blew on January 10, 1901, and ushered in the liquid fuel age.
Unfortunately for Higgins, he'd lost his ownership stake by that
point.
Beaumont became a "black gold" boomtown, its population tripling
in three months. The town filled up with oil workers, investors,
merchants and con men (leading some people to dub it
"Swindletop"). Within a year, there were more than 285 actives
wells at Spindletop and an estimated 500 oil and land companies
operating in the area, including some that are major players
today: Humble (now Exxon), the Texas Company (Texaco) and
Magnolia Petroleum Company (Mobil).
Spindletop experienced a second boom starting in the mid-1920s
when more oil was discovered at deeper depths. In the 1950s,
Spindletop was mined for sulphur. Today, only a few oil wells
still operate in the area.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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