Ch. 20: A New Century

The Modern Era Begins

During the late 1800s Galveston was Texas’ most modern city.

Galveston was the first Texas city to have electric lights, a telephone and baseball team

During the 1800s Galveston was a center for Cotton shipping for Texas and the United States.

It grew to be the largest city in Texas by 1870 and remained that way through 1880 with a population of 22,248 people

Beautiful architecture adorned the streets of the city, and Galveston enjoyed its role as the financial center of Texas, a true White-Collar City.

On Sept. 8, 1900, Galveston was struck by a hurricane of unbelievable force.

120 mph winds andHigh-cresting tidal waves left more than half

of Galveston completely destroyedNearly 6,000 people died, and of the city left

in ruins.Thousands injured and left homeless

It was the worst natural disaster in U.S. History!

1900 Storm Path

Galveston reformed (changed) its city government to a commission system to speed up the process of recovering

A seawall was proposed to block the island from deadly storm surges and the city planned to raise its elevation by bringing in sand from the gulf

Galveston built a 17 foot sea wall that extends for over three miles of the islands coastline.

They increased the elevation of the town by 16 feet

These projects were completed by 1904, causing Galveston to miss out on the oil boom.

1543 - Oil first found in Texas in by survivors of the de Soto Expedition

1866 - First Oil Well in Texas was drilled by Lyne Barret in Oil Springs, Texas.

1890 - Oil Springs has 40 wells, refinery and pipeline to Railroads in Nacogdoches, TX.

Brainstorming!!List the uses of petrochemical products:

Ink Crayons Parachutes TelephonesTape Antiseptics Purses deodorantPanty hose Rubbing

alcoholRugs Paint

Pajamas Hearing aids Motocycle helmets

Pillows

Shoes Tires Dishwashing liquid

Toothbrushes

Toothpaste Tents Lipstick Tennis racketsEyeglasses Life jackets Insect

repellentFertilizers

Hair color Toilet seats Speakers CandlesCredit cards Apirin Golf balls Trash bagsShampoos Shaving cream Cameras DenturesPens Nail polish Perfumes RubberBalloons Footballs Antifreeze insecticides

Before 20th Century

- Lubrication of machine parts

- Greasing wagon axles

- Kerosene for lighting lamps

During 20th Century

- Fuel for gasoline powered automobiles

- Fuel for planes, tanks and ships

- Fuel for farm equipment

- Engine Lubricant

Spindletop Hill in Beaumont was located on a Salt Dome

Pattillo Higgins and Anthony Lucas struck oil on Spindletop Hill on January 10, 1901

500,000 barrels of oil spewed for six days before the well was capped.

Overnight, Beaumont became transformed, as oil prospectors and drillers flocked to the small city.

Oil companies like Texas Company (later TEXACO) began, and within a few months, Beaumont’s population grew from about 9,000 to over 50,000

Early Boomtowns were noisy, dirty, crowded, and sometimes dangerous because some of the escaping gas fumes were deadly when inhaled.

A new settlement near the refinery joined with Goose Creek and Pelly to become the prosperous Baytown.

Question:What does the term “boomtown” mean?

Definition: A town undergoing rapid growth due to sudden prosperity.

In other words, the population and size of the town “booms” in a very short amount of time.

Oil Workers, speculators, gamblers, adventurers all flocked to the oil boom towns like Beaumont

Very similar to what happened 30 years earlier in the cowtowns of the Mid-West and in the 1849 Gold Rush.

Spindletop led to the rise of a whole new economy and new future for Texas

Huge oil Companies were forming

Refineries built to refine oil to gasoline

A depiction of the crowded nature of oil fields during the Oil boom. 500 wells were drilled on 144 acres. Large and small businessmen wanted to make their fortune. The burgeoning oil industry was the Texas equivalent of the California gold rush.

Spindletop Oil Field during the boom years of 1910's

By 1903 more than 400 wells were drilling on the Salt Dome.

Pipelines and tankers built to carry oil

Storage Facilities built to store oil

Lumber used to build oil derricks

After Spindletop, Oil operators spread their searches throughout Southeast Texas where salt domes were found

Oil Fields opened all throughout this regionSaratogaSour LakeBalston

1904 – Drillers discover a salt dome about 20 miles North of Houston, in Humble

This was the beginning of the Humble Oil Company, which later became Exxon Company, U.S.A, part of Exxon Corporation

Refineries were first located in Humble, then moved to the community of Goose Creek.

Located Southeast of Houston close to Galveston

Much of the drilling took place in Galveston Bay - offshoreMade it easy for ocean shipping

A large refinery was built here and the town was later renamed Baytown

1901 – Petrolia-19 miles from Wichita Falls

Electra – discovered by cattle rancher W.T. Waggoner had the first big boom in North Texas

Burkburnett – 1918– well named ‘Fowler’s Folly’ – gusher that produced thousands of barrels a day

Oil in North Central Texas in 1917Breckenridege, Mexia, Corsicana,

LulingGeologists believed fault zone

contained oil in Central Texas.1922 – Oil workers drilled into a

fault near Luling and struck oil

Other Oil Discoveries

38

The Industry Today!

Class discussion: What issues does the Oil

Industry face today!

The oil boom in southeast Texas created a demand for products needed by oil companies – such as lumber to build the oil derricks and buildings.

Lumber operations created thousands of acres of deforested land, which some people believed should have been converted into farmland.

Conservationists like W. Goodrich Jones urged replanting of pine trees for trees cut.

Many Texas leaders urged the development of additional industries

Brickmaking was a successful industry, which used local clay deposits to make high quality bricks.

Question:What was the effect of the oil and lumber industries on the environment?

Houston – “Where 17 railroads meet the sea”

Houston provided banking, insurance, transportation, and legal services for oil companies

Gradually Houston became the epicenter of the oil industry

In 1914, the Houston Ship Channel opened the city as a modern port

Houston Ship Channel1915

Houston - 1914

Due to it’s central location and many railroad lines, Dallas became the major city of central Texas by 1900.

It became a center for shipping, distributing, and storing cotton, as well as other goods.

It also became a financial center for banking, insurance, and legal services.

Dallas becomes a “White Collar” cityLeading retail center for TX, OK, NMNeiman-Marcus department store opened

in Dallas in 1907; Sears and Roebuck (later “Sears”), a

Chicago mail-order company, opened its southwestern U.S. distribution center in Dallas.

Question:Why would Sears and Roebuck choose to locate in Dallas?

AssignmentWhen Spindletop blew, people flooded East

Texas looking to strike it rich! Advertisements in the newspaper told of the great investments, profits, and benefits of oil.

You must create an advertisement to either entice investors, wildcatters or workers to come to East Texas.

Advertisement Examples

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020274/1902-02-23/ed-1/seq-20/

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86071197/1902-03-26/ed-1/seq-9/

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96060547/1920-01-31/ed-1/seq-7/