Junction High School - Golden Eagle Yearbook (Junction, TX)

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o is for the Oil we take from the ground exas in 1900 boasted a population of three million. Cities were growing, lifestyles reflected a diverse cultural ■ background, and effects of industrialization were noticeable. ■ But the state was decidedly rural. Newspapers advertised land and agriculture. The state’s leading industries were cotton, cattle and land. For Texas, the 20th century did not begin until Jan. 10, 1901 when the Lucas No. 1 oil well blew out at Spindletop, Texas — near Beaumont — and brought in the state’s first gusher. The state’s history changed its course at that moment. Oil had come to Texas. It took six days to cap the Lucas No. 1 as the well spilled an estimated 75,000 barrels of oil each day. Thousands of spectators rushed to see the spectacle. In 1902, Spindletop accounted for 94 percent of the state's oil production. The salt dome formations around Beaumont were now housing wells within a 150-mile radius which created an oil glut attracting global attention. At one point, oil was selling for three cents-a-barrel while drinking water for oil-field workers sold for five cents-a-cup. The Texas Gulf Coast became a magnet for large corporations and entrepreneurs. Among those building refineries, pipelines and export facilities in the Port Arthur-Beaumont region were the Gulf Oil, Sun Oil and Texas Companies. By 1911, a group of Houston investors formed their own company, the Humble Oil and Refining Company, later affiliated with Standard of New Jersey. These smaller, independently-owned oil Today’s wildcats are a different breed. As powerful and dangerous as the sea itself, massive offshore drilling rigs line the Texas Gulf Coast.

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COLONIZATION, REVOLUTION AND PIONEER INSTITUTIONS Simultaneous with the Mexican Revolution, the Indians slowed the westward expansion of settlers. In 1817, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun initiated the policy of removing all Indians from the American frontier to the Louisiana meridian — the western extremity of the timberlands and beyond. In conjunction with this action, effective in 1825, land laws of Spain and Mexico became more attractive to settlers than those of the United States. By 1820, land was selling for 50 times less in Texas. The movement of settlers into Texas was largely the story of two men, Moses Austin and his son, Stephen Fuller Austin. On Dec. 3, 1820, the elder Austin approached Gov. Antonio de Martinez in San Antonio, requesting permission to establish a colony of 300 families in Texas. Moses Austin died soon after his return home, and it was Stephen F. Austin, then 27 years old. A large part of Texas was once Comanche country. Pictured here is Quanah Parker, one of the last Comanche war chiefs, son of Chief Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker. Photo from the Rare Collection of the Texas Dallas History and Archives Division. Dallas Public Library. who would complete his father's task. Stephen F. Austin later earned the title, Father of Texas. By the beginning of the Texas revolution, the name Texan represented a group of tough, self-reliant individualists. After three centuries of Spanish rule, the sensitive Mexicans were unprepared for self-government. In 1825, President John Quincy Adams offered Mexico $1,000,000 for the removal of the border to the Rio Grande River. President Andrew Jackson raised Adams' offer. Again, Mexico declined the offer. It was becoming apparent a violent solution was the only course of action. Folk tales say Americans never fought better than they did in Texas. They fought for a new way of life — as cattlemen and farmers on the brazen Texas frontier. While life on the early frontier has sometimes been compared to the Old South, most Texans could only dream of large plantations. They were small subsistence farmers with primitive homes and farming methods. Inadequate frontier transportation systems were later updated to increase the efficiency of mail and cattle delivery and cotton exportation. Early settlers worried about Indians, epidemics, weather and crop failure. Early Texans acquired a reputation for lawlessness. Settled towns provided a sanctuary for saddle-weary range riders. In 1850, the state had no spare towns. Galveston, with its 4,177 citizens, was the largest. San Antonio and Houston followed. Austin, long buffeted by Indians, had only 639 residents. Riding the crest of a population boom, San Antonio's population rose to 8,236 by 1860. The best buildings in town were usually the hotels Service was often poor. An exception was the full two-and-one-half-story Menger Hotel, on the Alamo Plaza in San Antonio. The building of fine-cut stone, together with its carpiets, decorations and furniture, cost $16,000. Only wealthy p eople could afford a room in the Menger. The rank-and-file slept in the wagon ya rds.

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companies profited from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of crude extracted from the coastal area. If California produced a barrage of panhandlers in 1849 with gold fever, the discovery of oil recreated the scene in turn-of-the-century Texas Thar's oil in that thar ground! Almost too much oil? Maybe for W.T. Waggoner who, in 1910 while drilling a well on his North Texas ranch discovered oil, was quoted as saying, Damn the oil. I wanted water.” By 1920, the state was floating on a sea of oil. Petroleum production that year neared 100 million barrels valued at over $300 million, while natural gas production assumed a distinguished role and produced over $7 million in revenue. Corporations and independent oil companies were working to stabilize the industry, but spectacular booms and massive finds hampered any control. Between 1918 and 1926, the Panhandle opened what was to be the largest gas field in the world. By the mid-1950s the Panhandle fields attracted 43 plants that produced over 50 percent of the natural gas extracted in Texas. West Texas attracted attention with the discovery of the Permian Basin, and towns like Colorado City, Big Spring, Midland, Odessa and Pecos experienced a rapid population boom. Crane County organized a county government for the first time, significant because as late as 1918 there were only 14 citizens in the county. The Lone Star State has been the nation's leading oil-producing state since 1928. Growth of the oil industry led to activity in Texas banks, real estate and retail trade. Farmers began to look like ranchers, and the term Texas Millionaire was soon adopted. The story of the Texas petroleum industry before the Great Depression is one of spectacle and drama. On Oct. 3, 1930, the No. 3 Daisy Bradford oil well in East Texas created an explosion in oil discovery. The boom was on and independent oil men rushed to the sight. By the end of 1931, the fields in East Texas supported 5,652 wells. The situation led to massive overproduction. The price of oil tumbled. It was time for regulation, and through the efforts of the Texas Railroad Commission, the price of oil was stabilized by limiting production. The oil industry discovered a new growth in the production of oil products — perhaps the greatest impact petroleum has had on Texas. During World War II, the petroleum industry developed into the petrochemical industry. Thousands of variations of plastics, synthetic rubbers, dyes, fertilizers and chemicals were being produced in the Gulf Coast, Permian Basin and Panhandle areas. Production in these areas continues today. Petroleum-related businesses in 1982 employed roughly one out of every 12 non-farmers in the state. For every 10 jobs created in the oil industry, another 37 are created in other sectors of the economy. Government has also prospered from the petroleum industry in Texas, with the oil and gas business claiming the title of the state’s single largest taxpayer.