1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide Page: 251
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THE TEXAS ALMANAC. 251
longer period of utilization, produced
more wealth, but the petroleum deposits
are now producing nearly four times as
much wealth annually. Next to cotton,
petroleum .is the greatest annual wealth
producer of the State.
The returns from petroleum have
brought great wealth to Texas and the
indirect returns have been of incalculable
value. The phenomenal development of
the petroleum industry has inspired the
people of Texas with greater confidence
in the resources of their State, likewise it
has caused the people of other States to
have greater confidence in Texas and its
future development. The discovery and
development of Texas oil fields has
brought an untold amount of capital into
Texas, other than that attracted directly
by the various petroleum industries.
First Texas Development.
A film of oil upon the waters of a
spring in Pennsylvania led to the discov-
ery of the first petroleum field in Ameri-
ca. Hence, the appearance of oil upon
the waters of Oil Springs, near the pres-
ent town of Chireno in Nacogdoches
County, caused comment before the Civil
War. In 1866, immediately after the
Civil War, petroleum wad discovered here
and there was much excitement, but the
production was small and interest soon
waned. It was revived in 1877 with the
discovery of another field near Nacog-
doches. Something like 100 wells were
sunk and the first Texas pipe line, about
five miles long, was laid. Production
played out after a few years, however,
and the pipe line was taken up and
utilized as a waterworks system for Nac-
ogdoches.
The second petroleum field in Texas
was discovered at Corsicana while the
municipality was sinking a deep water
well. The first petroleum well here was
brought in in 1896. In 1900 the old Powell
field, a few miles from Corsicana, was
discovered. These two fields have been
among the steadiest producers in Texas.
This field produced between 100,000 and
800,000 barrels of petroleum annually for
twenty-five years and then, in 1923, with
the discovery of a deeper field, produc-
tion jumped suddenly to 32,000,000 bar-
rels. Such performance as this on the
part of a twenty-five-year-old field fur-
nishes reassuring evidence against the
occasional pessimistic predictions that the
State's petroleum resources will possibly
play out. Indeed, from evidences at hand,
it seems more likely that Texas petroleum
production has only begun.The discovery of Spindle Top field near
Beaumont, in 1901, put Texas near the top
as an oil producing State. Spindle Top
was an enormous producer from the be-
ginning and its first full year's record,
1902, showed a production of 17,420,949
barrels. It put Texas on the oil map. The
other coastal fields came in in rapid suc-
cession: Sour Lake in 1902; Batson in
1903, Saratoga and Matagorda in 1904;
Humble and Dayton in 1905, and Blue
Ridge in 1908; and there have been dis-
coveries annually since that date.
The North Central Texas discoveries
began with the Petrolia field first pro-
ducing in 19014.. Small production was
discovered in North Central Texas at
Jacksboro and other points, but the first
discovery of great significance was in
1911, when water well drillers on the
Waggoner ranch in Wichita County dis-
covered oil at what was later known as
the Electra field. Burkburnett came in
shortly afterward and the Wichita area
became a major producer.
Middle West Texas production began
with the discoveries at Moran and Strawn
in 1914 and 1915, respectively, but the
real impetus to drilling in this great area
was given by the discovery of the field at
Ranger in 1917. Since that date discov-
eries" throughout North Central and West
Texas have come in rapid succession. The
latest great sensation was the discovery
of the great Panhandle fields lying north
and northeast of Amarillo. The Reagan
County, Luling, Mirando and other fields
of recent years have added to the far-
flung frontier of the petroleum industry
in Texas and added to the evidence that
Texas' petroleum resources are practically
inexhaustible.
The tremendousness of the fuel produc-
tion from Texas petroleum wells is hard
to realize; the importance of this produc-
tion to the world's transportation facili-
ties is still harder to realize. There are
some 20,000,000 motor cars in the world.
Roughly speaking, 3,000,000 are operated
on Texas gasoline. This is in addition
to the enormous consumption of Texas pe-
troleum in locomotives and industrial
plants. The combined rated horsepower
of the motor vehicles operated on Texas
gasoline is approximately twice the total
primary horsepower of all industrial
power plants in the United States.
A good history of the trend of produc-
tion of the various Texas fields may be
seen in the statistics in the table on
Texas petroleum production by fields.
(See statistical tables.)
PHOSPHATIC ROCK-Phosphatic rockWheeler Engineering Specialty Co.
DALLAS, TEXAS.
Designing, Consulting and Manufacturing
Engineers
DIES, TOOLS AND LIGHT MANUFACTURING.Q. P. Signal Packing.
Electric Spot Welders.
Belt Stretchers.
Vending Machines.Manufacturers of
Bulldog Grip Ice Hooks.
Indexing Punch Presses.
Belt Tighteners.
Ice Saws.- ~ I- --I ---- - ---
i_
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1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide, book, 1927~; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123785/m1/255/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.