1894: Oil discovered at Corsicana
John H. Galey
Corsicana real estate developers convinced James. M. Guffey and John
H. Galey of Pittsburgh (associates of millionaire Andrew W. Mellon) to
come to Corsicana to help them exploit the region’s deposits of oil. By
1900, their Corsicana field was producing 836,000 barrels a year. In
1897, Corsicana’s town leaders convinced J.S. Cullinan of
Pennsylvania to come to Corsicana found the first successful
commercial refinery in Texas. The J.S. Cullinan Company later merged
with two other firms to form the Magnolio Petroleum Company (later
known as Mobil). As it expanded, the refinery needed new markets for
its petroleum products, and Cullinan convinced the Cotton Belt
Railroad in 1898 to run an experimental locomotive on steam created
by an oil burner. Soon thereafter, most railroads began the switch from
coal- to oil-burning locomotives. (Calvert, De León & Cantrell, p. 245.)
Patillo Higgins of Texas believed
that the salt dome three miles
south of Beaumont known as
Spindletop would be a good site to
drill for petroleum. Captain A.F.
Lucas, a mining engineer, deduced
from his work in Louisiana that
Higgins was probably correct and
decided to join him. (Calvert, De
León & Cantrell, p. 245.)
Patillo Higgins
On January 10, 1901,
Captain A. F Lucas, with
financial backing from
the Mellon interests,
made the most
important oil discovery
in Texas history in
Southeast Texas at
Spindletop
The blending of the technological expertise of
the Hammill brothers of Corsicana and the
money of the Mellon men tapped the
Spindletop pool on January 10, 1901.
For nine days Spindletop spewed oil
unchecked, with between 70,000 and 100,000
barrels flowing from it daily. As word of the big
strike spread, speculators of all stripes rushed
to Beaumont. p. 245.
“The boom that Spindletop triggered would ultimately see oil
surpass both cattle and cotton to become the linchpin of Texas
prosperity.” (Calvert, De León & Cantrell, p. 243.)
Spindletop, Texas oil fire.
Spindletop was the location of the
first Texas oil well.
Oil Created many Spin-off Industries
Oil-related spin-off industries: refineries, pipelines,
asphalt, tank cars, ocean-going tankers, harbors,
machine shops, oil and gas lawyers, petroleum
engineering, petroleum geology, oil leasing,
automobiles, roads paved, natural gas,
petrochemicals
Starting as early as 1898, some
locomotives ran on oil instead of coal.
Rotary drills and improved bits made deeper drilling possible
and expanded the industry in 1926 to West Texas.
“HogTown”—
Desdemona, TX.
Environmental problems:
derricks too close
together, fire, health
hazards, water pollution.
Voluntary standards
ignored. After World War I,
the Railroad Commission
enforced regulation.
Beaumont Saloon near
Spindletop, 1901.
By 1928, Texans owned 250,000 motor vehicles,
and businesses that serviced these vehicles would
become a major industry. (p. 248)
Texas Oil Production:
•1896: 1,000 barrels
•1902: 21 million barrels
•1929: 293 million barrels
Nineteenth-century Texans never dreamed
that oil and the state would become
permanently intertwined in myth and
economics. They had considered themselves
as cotton farmers and cattle ranchers, but
Spindletop changed that, ushering Texas into
the twentieth century with a bang and
making the state ultimately different from its
southern neighbors. The History of Texas,
pp. 243-244.
Percentage of
Texans living in
metropolitan
areas:
1900: 17.1%
1939: 41%
In 1913, Dallas acquired one of the twelve
national branches of the Federal Reserve
System and took on the personality of a
major financial and business center.
The Devastation of
Galveston, 1900
The commission form of city
government, first developed in
Galveston, served as a model for
city reform that spread
throughout the nation.
City Council Members
Program Description:
As the governing body of the City of
Texarkana, Texas, it is the City Council's
responsibility to represent the best interests
of all citizens in Texarkana, Texas, in
enacting local legislation, in determining
City policies and plans, and in adopting
City's budget.
James W. Bramlett Mayor
Derrick McGary City Council, Ward I
Willie Ray City Council, Ward II
Bill Schubert City Council, Ward III
Bob Bruggeman City Council, Ward IV
Van Alexander City Council, Ward V
Bradley Hardin City Council, Ward VI
Texas cities began to
develop modern amenities.
•Telephone
•Electric lines
•Natural gas
Slightly more than
400,000 Texas
women worked
outside the home in
1930, an increase of
about 25 percent over
1920. (p. 251)
In the 1920s, the
number of women in the
workforce increased.
The increasing number
of white married women
in the workforce
contributed to the
concept of the “New
Woman”: the vibrant
and independent woman
who made her own
decisions, free from
male restrictions and
advice. The History of
Texas, pp. 251-252.
Domestic servants waiting for the streetcar on their way to work
early in the morning in Atlanta, Georgia, 1939
Freedwomen washing laundry, Circleville, Texas
Courtesy, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
Source: Texas: The South Meets the West, The View Through African American History
in Journal of the West, Vol. 44, No. 2, (Spring 2005). p. 47.
Labor Unions in Texas
Labor Unions never had a strong base in
Texas. Texas State Federation of Labor;
United Mine Workers
Why union membership declined:
1.
Lack of leadership
2.
Hostility of business
3.
Red Scare
4.
Political leadership opposed labor
unions
Open Port Law: prohibited strikes and gave
the governor the authority to intervene
militarily to end strikes.
See pp. 252-253.
Agriculture
“Agriculture remained the major occupation
and source of revenue for Texans into the
1920s. In 1927, for example, the value of
Texas agriculture was three times that of oil
and of manufacturing. And in Texas, cotton
remained king. Texas far outdistanced other
southern states, producing one-third of all
the cotton picked in 1922, a position held
through the end of the decade. No other crop
rivaled cotton in either acreage planted or
value yielded.” See page 253.
However, cotton failed many farmers.
See falling prices on page 254.
Between 1913 and 1920, the cost of living doubled, yet farm
income did not increase. In 1910, 51.7 of Texas farmers were
tenants. In 1930, 61 percent were tenants (50 percent of
whites, 70 percent of blacks).
Dusting cotton for the boll weevil in
NC, 1920s.
Boll Weevil. In 1921, boll
weevils cost Texans one-third
of their crop. (See pp. 253-
254.)
A small, grayish, long-snouted beetle (Anthonomus grandis) of
Mexico and the southern United States, having adults that
puncture cotton buds and larvae that hatch in and damage
cotton bolls.
Source: Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third
Edition Copyright, 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
“As late as 1930, the
population was still
classified as 60 percent
rural.”
“The oil boom in the 1920s
ushered in one of the more
prosperous times that most
Texans could recall. Yet as
late as the end of the
1920s, the state seemed
mired in the past;
agriculture still dominated
the economy, and
segregation still defined
race relations.” (Calvert, De
León & Cantrell, p. 243.)
Farm women faced the
greatest hardships in
caring for their families
and doing farm labor. In
1930, a study of white
women: 57% cooked on
wood stoves, 80% used
oil lamps, and 63%
washed clothes on a
washboard. Black
women: 99% used oil
lamps and wood stoves.
1929 less than 5% of
Texas farms had
electricity, less than 8%
indoor plumbing, less
than 15% running water,
60% cars (most roads
were unpaved), 32%
phones.
In 1929, a good picker
earned $4 per day. Yearly
wage of $485.35.
Location: Corpus Christi (vicinity), Texas
Date: November 1942
Mexican cotton pickers helping to save the cotton crop which was
threatened with ruin because of the wartime manpower shortage.
USDA Photo by: Howard Hollum
Blacks were often pressured to work
in the fields during the harvest season.
Location: Kaufman county, Texas
Date: August 1936
Plantation owner's daughter checking the weight of cotton.
USDA Photo by Arthur Rothstein
Texas granted more divorces than any other state from 1922-26
The Farmer’ Union, organized in 1902 in Emory, Texas, grew
into the 140,000-member Farmers’ Education and Cooperative
Union. The union had goals similar to the Farmers’ Alliance.
See p. 260.
The average family size declined from 4.6 in 1910 to 3.5 in 1930.
Many women knew of contraceptive methods and
abortifacients. Children still an economic asset in farm
families. Urban women had fewer children. Foreign-born
women had more children. In 1929, black Texans had a higher
infant mortality rate (25% of black children died within the first
year and shorter life expectancy (white males 59.7, white
females 63.5, black males 47.3, black women 49.2)
Fenced in Ranch
Demonstrating the passing of the Old West, the
number of beef cattle and horses dropped
between 1900 and 1929, while the number of
dairy cows, mules, sheep, and goats increased.
In 1910, the Texas House of
Representatives urged repeal of the
Fifteenth Amendment. Urban blacks
acquired some voting power as city
bosses needed their votes.
Section 1 The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2 The Congress shall have power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.
In Nixon v. Herndon (1927)
the U. S. Supreme Court ruled
the all-white primary
unconstitutional. In 1928 the
state legislature defined
political parties as "private
organizations" not subject to
federal law. Until 1944 most
black Texans could not vote.
Thousands gathered in Paris, Texas, for the 1893 lynching of Henry Smith.
Spectacle lynching. The Burning and Lynching of
Jesse Washington, Waco Texas 1916.
Although accurate figures on the lynching of blacks are
lacking, one study estimates that in Texas between 1870
and 1900, extralegal justice was responsible for the
murder of about 500 blacks—only Georgia and Mississippi
exceeded Texas’s numbers in this grisly record. Between
1900 and 1910, Texas mobs murdered more than 100
black people. In 1916 at Waco, approximately 10,000
whites turned out in holiday-like atmosphere to watch a
mob mutilate and burn a black man named Jesse
Washington. (Source: Calvert, De Leon and Cantrell, The
History of Texas, pp. 189, 261-262.)
The lynching of
Lige Daniels.
August 3, 1920,
Center, Texas.
A black boxer from
Galveston named
Jack Johnson was
world heavyweight
champion from 1908
to 1915, prompting
the legislature to ban
the showing of films
of his fights.
Blind Lemon Jefferson and Huddie Ledbetter
were pioneers of Texas blues music.
Mutual Aid Society / La Sociedad Mutualista
"Spindletop Viewing Her Gusher" Painting by Aaron Arion