Question

Texas History 1901- Summarize the success of the oil field Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas, and who was involved in the success.

Answer 1

Early Oil Discoveries

The presence of natural oil seeps in Texas had been known for hundreds of years before Europeans arrived in the area. Indians in Texas are said to have told European explorers that the substance had medicinal uses. In July 1543, the remnants of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto's expedition, led by Luis de Moscoso Alvarado, were forced ashore along the Texas coast between Sabine Pass and High Island. Moscoso reported that the group found oil floating on the surface of the water and used it to caulk their boats.

Lyne T. Barret drilled Texas' first producing oil well in 1866 at Melrose in Nacogdoches County. The following year, Amory Reily Starr and Peyton F. Edwards brought in a well at nearby Oil Springs. Other wells followed, making Nacogdoches County the site of Texas' first commercial oil field, first pipeline and first effort to refine crude. Several thousand barrels of oil were produced, but the price of oil was not high enough to justify further efforts at development. While drilling for water in 1886, Bexar County rancher George Dullnig found a small quantity of oil, but he did not attempt commercial production.

City crews in Corsicana were also drilling for water in 1894, when they made the first economically significant oil discovery in Texas. That well was abandoned because the drillers needed to find water, not oil. But several producing oil wells were drilled in 1895 by Joseph S. Cullinan, who later helped found the Texas Company, which became Texaco. The first well-equipped refinery in Texas was built at this field, and despite the early efforts at Nacogdoches, it is usually called Texas' first refinery.