The Oil Boom in Texas
What is petroleum?
Petroleum is oil found in the Earth’s crust. The Native Americans and Spanish used oil “tar” to patch their canoes and ships. Oil was used as a fuel for lamps in the 1800’s, but by the early 1900’s the mass production of the automobile caused demand for oil to greatly increase across the world.
refining - process of purifying or taking out chemicals in crude oil.
Reserve – An underground supply of oil.
oil derrick - structure used to support the piping.
Gusher - uncontrolled spouting of oil from a derrick.
boom - time of rapid or quick economic growth.
1894 – Corsicana This discovery caused people to begin drilling elsewhere in Texas hoping to strike oil.
1901 – Spindletop - Pattillo Higgins leased (contracted out the use) land to Anthony F. Lucas at a hill called Spindletop near Beaumont. On January 10, Lucas was able to tap into the largest oil reserve that the WORLD had ever seen. The Texas oil boom had begun.
1921 –Oil is found in the Permian Basin of West Texas, and in the North Central Plains cities of Burkburnett, Electra, and Wichita Falls helped spread the industry across the state.
Texas became the largest oil producer in the world.
CFU: What effect will the oil discoveries have on land prices in Texas?
The Oil Boom/Bust Economy:
The rise of the oil industry in Texas brought many new people to the state. Wildcatters were people who drilled for oil in new areas or areas that were not known to have oil. One famous wildcatter was H.L Hunt. When oil wells failed to produce, they were known as busts.
With the oil industry bringing people to the state, transportation became a major concern. Boomtowns (cities that were rapidly created around oil wells) needed roads and places to house and feed workers.
CFU: Who were wildcatters? Why were their jobs risky?
Economic growth:
Oil refineries – factories that rendered (broke down) petroleum into different chemicals. These chemicals can be used to make anything from gasoline and diesel fuels to plastics..
Petrochemicals - The chemicals taken from oil.
Hughes Tooling Company made drill bits used by nearly every company drilling for oil. The heir (person who inherited the company) to the company was Howard Hughes who became a filmmaker and aviator.
Environmental Impact:
CFU: How can we justify the environmental
impact of the oil industry? Is the damage
caused worth the end result?
Political Impact
-Texas Railroad Commission becoming involved in the oil industry through regulating and controlling prices
Economic Impact
-Oil-related jobs increase
-Automobile industry increases
-Rise in population in urban areas and boomtowns
-Growth in rural areas of Texas
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Social Impact
-Texans standard of living has increased
Impact of the Oil Industry on Texas:
Warm up:
Write this in your notes:
Warm Up:�
Roughneck: oil field hands hired to work on oil drilling rigs.
Age of Oil
Big Idea:
The oil industry in Texas has had far-reaching effects on industry, technology, culture, and education.
During the early 1900s, numerous reformers worked to address a variety of economic, social, environmental, and political problems created by the new industrial age.
Unit Questions:
How did oil impact Texas politically, economically, and socially?
In what ways did WWI impact Texas?
How did the reform movements of the 1920’s lead to changes in Texas?
Academic | Incidental |
reform | industry |
boom/ bust | urban |
mechanization | rural |
suffrage | political party |
regulation | standard of living |
union | byproduct |
ration |
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homefront |
|
gusher |
|
progressivism refine |
|
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Galveston Hurricane of 1900
Galveston Hurricane of 1900
-Hit land on the morning of Sept. 8, 1900.
-Galveston was the 4th largest city in Texas at the time.
-More than 6,000 people were killed as a result of the storm.
-Deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
-More than 3,600 homes were destroyed on Galveston Island and the added toll on commercial structures created a loss of $30 million, or about $700 million in today's dollars.
http://www.1900storm.com/film/
Aftermath of the Storm…
2 projects to prevent further destruction from another storm:
-Build a “sea wall”
-Raise the island
Dredged material (sand from the ocean floor) was brought in to raise the entire island 17 feet above sea level.
A new city government called a commission was formed to replace the mayor and city council. The city's residents elected five commissioners, each of whom focused on a specific government function.