The History Of The Oil Industry

When oil was first discovered it was “Discovered of the spindle top oilfield near Beaumont in January 10, 1901 marked the opening of the prosperous phase of the business in Texas.” But not long after discovering in Texas it would soon be discovered in Oklahoma in 1905. Shortly after 1910 more oil was being founded and more was coming out of Texas. By the end of the Progressive Era in 1920’s “Texas was producing 85,000,000 barrels per year with even more dramatic increase

This oil is not all oleaginous, but thin, brittle, rusty feeling, and sharp; taken and rubbed between forefinger and thumb it so cleanses their grain that it sharpens their mutual touch to a new coin edge.(102)

When people hear the word oil it is commonly interpreted as gas, but the oil that we drill is not what goes into our cars. The oil that is retrieved from the ground is called crude oil, Oil in its raw natural form and when it becomes refined it is used in plastics, rubber, and gasoline. ”Gasoline is a volatile, flammable liquid obtained from the refinement of petroleum, or crude oil. It was originally discarded as a byproduct of kerosene production.” The first oil well was found and harvested in Titusville, Pennsylvania by a man named Edwin L. Drake, in 1859. The well was about 70 feet deep (How gas). It pumped between 20-40 barrels a day

In Texas, there is an economic powerhouse that not only runs deep beneath fields of cotton, but also reaches miles beyond the green pastures of cattle. Its multitude of uses in daily life also far outweighs the benefits of technology. This resource, greater than any other in Texas, is oil. In 1866 the first commercial oil well was dug near Nacogdoches, Texas but unfortunately the well came up dry. Thirty years later in 1894 oil was discovered in Corsicana, Texas by accident while a water well was being dug. This was the first economically significant discovery of oil in Texas. On January 10, 1901, Texas was catapulted into the era of oil and gas with the discovery at Spindletop. The Spindletop well, located south of Beaumont produced roughly

In the 1900s drove 15,000 oil companies when they first discovered oil in the spindletop texas.There were a lot of benefits of this discovery like higher pay for a lot of the workers, Better football teams and better growth in a lot of their universities. There were a lot of disadvantages to this discovery like in ector texas was 23 times the amount of the national average. Oil was the only way for the future with entrepreneurs showing up all over the U.S region.This discovery changed texas future for ever.

Texas’ history with oil starts much earlier than the 1901 Spindletop gusher. As early as 1543, there were reports of natural oil seeps along the coast of Texas which was used as both medical treatments and caulking for boats by Spanish explorers (Wooster). In 1866, the first of Texas’ oil producing wells was drilled in Nacogdoches County, however the supply and profit was not high enough to justify further development. In 1895 in Corsicana, Texas there was a minor oil find that led to the creation of Texas’ first oil refinery in Nacogdoches, Texas. Another large oil find is the East Texas Oil Field which spans 140,000 acres and is considered to be the largest oil field in the United States (excluding Alaska); this oil field has produced over 5.2 billion barrels from its 30,340 historic and active oil wells (Smith).

In the beginning of the 20th century Texas discovered a major economic game changer. In January of 1901 in Spindletop, Texas oil was discovered in the form of a 100-foot geyser. Little did Texans know that their lives and economic situation would be changed forever. Right after the discovery most of the early profits made from oil went to easterners. When the 1920’s came around oil became a major economic engine. Causing major social changes in job opportunities, education, marriage, and sports.

Rockefeller introduced new techniques that completely reshaped the oil industry as well as how business was run. In 1859, Edwin Drake discovered oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and Rockefeller was quick to foresee a future. He was persuaded that refining oil would bring immense wealth and so he began to sell off his other interests. Around 1863, Rockefeller and several partners entered the booming oil industry by investing in a Cleveland Refinery. During the 19th century, kerosene was in high demand and during the process of refining crude oil to kerosene, there were many byproducts that many saw as waste, but thrifty Rockefeller saw it as gold. Byproducts such as petroleum jelly was sold to medical supply companies, paraffin to candlemakers, and other wastes as paving materials for roads. He kept shipping a plethora of goods, therefore, railroad companies drooled over the prospect of getting his business. Due to the immense use of railroads, Rockefeller demanded discounted rates, or rebates from them. The high cost of transporting his oil to his Cleveland refineries cost 40 cents

Ever since the day that Spindletop started to gush, oil has been very important to the region.  Oil has lead to new inventions and also expansions to places like schools.  It also gave people jobs because people can get paid for locating and drilling oil.

Oil was first thought to be discovered in the state of Louisiana in 1868 by the Louisiana Oil and Coal Company fifteen miles west of Lake Charles. However, the Louisiana Oil and Coal Company was unsuccessful at drilling oil but the company did find extensive sulfur deposits. (Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. (n.d.). Retrieved October 07, 2016, from http://www.lmoga.com/resources/oil-gas-101/history-of-the-industry/) Oil was first discovered in Louisiana on September 21, 1901. (Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. (n.d.). Retrieved October 07, 2016, from http://www.lmoga.com/resources/oil-gas-101/history-of-the-industry/)

On August 28, 1859, George Bissell and Edwin L. Drake found oil in oil creek Pennsylvania. Oil did not become popular (or a major industry) until the late 1800’s. It was still a great improvement and (in today's time) one of the most important advancements all-time It is important because most everything that is in the world requires oil in order to run properly. Oil fuel our airplanes, cars, and trucks, to heat our homes, and to make products like medicines and plastics. It pollutes our environment. It causes danger to plants and animals d spilled. When the oil spilled n the sea, it caused tremendous danger to the sea animals. Oil helps because after being distilled it causes tarry residue which helps road surfacing, and for roofing. When

Settlers used oil as an illuminant for medicine and as grease for wagons and tools. Rock oil distilled from shale became avaialable as kerosene even before the industrial revolution began. While traveling in Austria, John Austin, A new york merchant, observed an effective, cheap oil lamp and made a model that upgraded kerosene lamps. Soon the u.s rock oil industy boomed as whale oil increased in price owing to the corporation, which was created to develop oil found floating on water near titusville, Pennsylvania, was the pennsylvania rock oil company of conneticut ( later the seneca oil company). Pipelines early became a major consideration in standards drive to gain buisness and profits. Samuel syckel had built a four-mile pipeline from pithole,

During the 19th century there was a rapid growth in industrialization and change in America. “The iron and steel industry spawned new construction materials, the railroads connected the country and the discovery of oil provided a new source of fuel” (John D. Rockefeller, 2015). The discovery of an oil geyser in Spindletop was a paramount cause for the rapid growth of the oil industry. Within a year, oil became the primary fuel in America and became an integral part of the economy. “This state of things is made possible, and is obtaining, solely by and under the power and use of machinery; first in the hands of individual capitalists; then in the hands of companies; and, lastly, by corporations” (Moody, 1883). Industry leader John Rockefeller, was able to build an empire during this period of time and established his company the Standard Oil

The video “Rise of Standard Oil” talks about the world’s largest oil producer company founded in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller

The use of pipelines date back as far as 500BC in China. In those times, the pipelines were made of bamboo, used to separate the salt from the sea water. The United States did not adopt these until much later. Edwin L. Drake drilled his first commercial oil well in the United States near the city Titusville in Pennsylvania; the oil which they nicknamed “rock oil” was then used as a less expensive alternative to whale oil. It was used as lubricant and as fuel for lamps. It was not long after this that it was realized they would need a more cost effective way of transporting the oil from place to place. At the time, Teamsters were using horses and wagons to get the oil to the markets; one barrel going five miles costed more than the entire rail charged to go to New York City. For that reason, the pipeline was created.