Title:
Lucas Oil Well button
Description:
Button, white. Obverse: Image of an oil well. Legend: Lucas Oil Well, Beaumont, Texas, January 10-'01. Reverse: Allied Trades Union Label Council, Newark. Buttons made by the Whitehead and Hong Co., Newark, NJ, U.S.A. at April 14, 1896, July 21, 1896.
Description:
Historical Note: 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, was the first company to drill on Spindletop Hill. Three shallow attempts, beginning in 1893 and using cable-tool drilling equipment were unsuccessful. Anthony F. Lucas, the leading United States expert on salt dome formations, made a lease with the Gladys City Company in 1899. Pattillo Higgins (of the Gladys City Company) 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 Veatch 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. Galey 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.
Identifier:
ATF0268
Item identifier:
ATF0268
Collection:
Artifacts collection
Date of creation:
1896
Container information:
Artifact Box 0104
Subject:
Spindletop Oil Field (Beaumont, Tex.)
Subject:
Lucas, Anthony F. (Anthony Francis), 1855-1921
Type:
Image
Type:
Advertising Media
Type:
Button, Promotional
Medium:
Metal
Citation information:
ATF0268, Artifacts collection. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Copyright information:
This image is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States. The Item and its design depicted in this image may be protected by copyright, patents, trademarks, or other related rights. You are free to use this image in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. Unless expressly stated otherwise, Texas State Library and Archives Commission makes no warranties about the Item and cannot guarantee the accuracy of this Rights Statement. You are responsible for your own use. Please contact the Texas State Library and Archives Commission for more information. You may need to obtain other permissions for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy or moral rights may limit how you may use the material.
Size or duration:
10.25 in x 5 in x 0.5 in
Language:
English