Texas Almanac, 1952-1953 Page: 219
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PETROLEUM RESOURCES-PRODUCTION.
operation in 1890. The first oil pipeline in
Texas was built in the Nacogdoches area in
1887.
Other Early Exploration.
Meanwhile, oil exploration was going on at
Greenville in southwestern Washington Coun-
ty. There in 1879 an eleven-inch hole was
drilled to 150 or 160 feet and a good flow of
gas was obtained from sandstone. The gas
was burned in a nearby house but was not
put to commercial use. Several other wells
were drilled in this section between 1879 and
1883, but caving holes made production im-
possible. In 1888, after operations had been
suspended five years, three other wells were
put down. The three produced about 1,500,000
cubic feet of gas daily.
First Recorded Production.
The first commercial production of oil in
Texas was reported in statistical tables in
1889, when the twelve-month total listed for
the state was forty-eight barrels. The oil was
from two wells seven miles southeast of San
Antonio and came from a depth of 300 feet.
In the fall of 1890 oil was produced from a
well in McLennan County at a depth of 265
feet. Other early oil strikes include those in
Anderson County in 1887, in .Coryell County
in 1888 and in Hardin County in 1895. There
was also some early exploration an small
production near Brownwood.
Corsicana Field.
It was not until the Corsicana discovery.
however, that oil was produced in Texas in
amounts large enough to give the industry
commercial importance. Indications of oil had
been found at Corsicana prior to 1894, but it
was not until that year that the presence of
oil was brought to general attention.
The first oil well at Corsicana was accl-
dental. When the city drilled a deep artesian
well, oil appeared at 1,035 feet and persisted
until the well was .completed at 2,480 feet.
Three derricks were burned down by the
carelessness of curious spectators and the
drilling contractors became almost bankrupt.
Instead of hailing the oil discovery with joy,
city officials were much disappointed. Eventu-
ally the well was cased and the oil got rid of.
Several Corsicana citizens, however, formed
a partnership in 1895 and drilled a well just
200 feet from the city's water well. This well
produced oil at the rate of two and a half
barrels a day. Other wells were drilled in the
following year and the state's production for
the twelve months of 1896 was 1,450 barrels.
In 1897, production reached 66,975 barrels.
First Texas Refinery.
As there was no appreciable market for
crude oil, Corsicana civic and business leaders
took steps to have a refinery built. A contract
with Eastern oil capitalists was made in 1897
and the first Texas oil refinery was built in
the following year.
The next important oil development was the
discovery of the Powell field, near Corsicana,
in 1900. Various areas of Texas were by this
-time being explored by Pennsylvania and
other oilmen. Texas did not really come into
the international oil spotlight, however, until
the Spindletop discovery in 1901.
Spindletop.
For years the presence of petroleum in the
Texas coastal area had been suspected. In
1892 Beaumont men had formed a company
to drill on Spindletop Hill and a well was
started in the following year. Difficulties with
quicksand at 418 feet forced abandonment,
however. Similar attempts made by other
drillers in 1895 and 1896 also resulted in
failure.
In 1899 Capt. Anthony F. Lucas, a mining
engineer who had been prospecting the salt
domes on the Louisiana coast, was interested
by an advertisement of Pattillo Higgins, who
had formed the Beaumont company and later
had withdrawn from it. Captain Lucas con-
tracted with the company for lease rights andbegan drilling his first well. A strong show of
gas was encountered at 575 feet, with a trace
of oil. Lack of financial resources led to the
abandonment of this well, but a second was
started in 1900. In January, 1901, this well
reached 1,160 feet and oil was showing on the
ditch. Neither Lucas nor the crew took the
show seriously, however.
While drilling was stopped to change the
bit and while a four-inch pipe was being run
into the hole, the Lucas gusher blew in.
The sensational Lucas gusher focused the
eyes of the oil industry on Texas. A wild
campaign of drilling followed. Thousands of
people rushed to Beaumont in search of quick
riches. Even those who found oil, however,
were often losers. Prices fell and outlets were
controlled by large companies and sometimes
closed to those with small holdings.
Texas production jumped from 836,039 bar-
rels in 1900 to 4,393,658 in 1901; and in 1902
Spindletop alone produced 17,421,000 barrels.
or 96 per cent of the state's entire output.
This large production had its effect on prices
and during the height of the Spindletop boom
the price of crude oil hit an all-time low of
3c a barrel.
Other Coastal Fields.
The showing of the Beaumont gusher field
led to much more exploration of the Gulf
Coast area and Sour Lake in Hardin County,
already known because of its oil seeps, was
brought in commercially in 1902. In the
following year the Batson field came into
production and in 1904 the Saratoga and
Matagorda fields were added. The Humble
and Dayton pools were opened in 1905 and
the total Texas production for that year
reached 28,136,189 barrels, a peak not again
reached until the United States entered the
World War in 1917.
North Texas Discoveries.
The Gulf coast did not monopolize the at-
tention of oil operators, however. The Pe-
trolia field in Clay County began to produce
in 1904. There was also some production at
Jacksboro and in 1910 Marion County came in
for some attention, due to the Caddo field in
Louisiana, across the state line.
Waggoner Discovery Well.
In 1911, W. T. Waggoner, owner of a 600-
000-acre ranch in Wichita and Wilbarger
Counties, ordered some water wells drilled.
The drillers struck oil. This new oil area was
named the Electra field in honor of Waggon-
er's daughter. Its output helped boost the
state's production to more than 15,000,000
barrels in 1913, aided by the opening of the
Orange field on the Gulf coast and to more
than 20,000,000 barrels in 1914. Discoveries at
Moran and Strawn in 1914 and 1915 provided
some production in West Central Texas, but
the real boom in this area came with the
opening of the Ranger field in 1917.
Discovery at Ranger.
W. K. Gordon, a young civil engineer who
had been employed to survey a railroad right
of way out of Strawn, where he discovered
coal, was convinced that he could find oil in
Eastland County. After leasing 18,000 acres
near Ranger, he obtained financial backing
in New York and started a test well. When
the well had reached 3,235 feet, his backers
telegraphed him to stop drilling. However, he
continued to drill on his own responsibility
and 200 feet deeper struck oil. Ranger became
a typical oil town, with mud, Pistol Hill and
its 'adjunct, unbelievable living prices and
overnight fortunes. Production soon spread to
Breckenridge and other nearby places.
Burkburnett.
The next startling discovery in Texas was
the Burkburnett field, in which the test well
produced 1,600 barrels the first day. By Au-
gust, 1919, the Burkburnett pool was pro-
ducing 120,000 barrels a day. The opening of
the Desdemona and other fields followed rap-
idly and Texas production mounted to 98,868,-
000 barrels in 1920. Tales of fabulous riches
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Texas Almanac, 1952-1953, book, 1951; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117137/m1/221/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.