Source: Lucas gusher, Yassie, Wikimedia
Source: Lucas gusher, Yassie, Wikimedia
By the end of the 19th century, a discovery in Corsicana, Texas led to a totally new industry that changed the Texas economy forever. Oil was discovered in this north Texas town. This discovery inspired others to search for oil in other Texas towns.
For Texas, the 20th Century started with a boom - an oil boom! On January 10, 1901, oil was discovered at Spindletop near Beaumont. This discovery caused a major shift from an economy that had been driven by agriculture to an economy now driven by the oil industry.
Source: Spindletop [Spindletop, Beaumont, Port Arthur, and vicinity, Texas - oil industry], Library of Congress
Analyzing the photo: The photo above was taken of the Beaumont area after oil was discovered at Spindletop. In what ways did the discovery of oil in the area change the physical landscape?
The growth of the oil industry had a significant impact on Natural Texas. Texas was now a prime location for oil exploration and excavation. Oil companies began to spring up all over Texas as more oil was discovered all over the state.
Click on the link below to see a list of where oil was discovered in the 20th century.
Major Oil Discoveries in Texas
Click on the link below to watch a short video about Spindletop. After watching the video, answer the following questions in your notes and then click to compare your answers.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.
Initially, it was difficult for the Hamill Brothers to pump Spindletop for oil because there was too much sand in the soil.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.
The Hamill Brothers used mud to assist them in pumping oil at Spindletop.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.
The discovery of oil at Spindletop led to the United States becoming the largest oil producer in the world at that time.
Since the discovery at Spindletop, Texas became one of the leading oil producing states in the United States.
The geography of Texas was also impacted by several natural disasters in the 20th century. The first natural disaster was a Category 4 hurricane that hit Galveston on September 8, 1900. This hurricane, also called The Great Storm, caused a 15-foot storm surge that flooded the city and destroyed nearly 4,000 homes and buildings causing more than $30 million in damages. Listed as the deadliest disaster in U.S. history, it is estimated that between 6,000 to 12,000 people lost their lives in the storm.
Source: Galveston Disaster, Relief party working at Ave P and Tremont St., Library of Congress
Source: Looking North from Ursuline Academy, showing wrecked Negro High School Building, Galveston, Texas, Library of Congress
In its effort to rebuild, the citizens of Galveston decided to change their form of government by installing a commissioner-led government. The city of Galveston decided to raise the remaining buildings in the city by pumping sand under the foundations of these buildings to avoid another such disaster. In addition, a six-mile long seawall was constructed along the city’s seafront to protect the city from similar surges.
Source: Man standing on a portion of seawall built after the hurricane and flood of 1900, Galveston, Texas, Library of Congress
Quick thought: Do you think that the construction of the seawall prevented storm surges from causing significant flooding in Galveston after The Great Storm?
Source: Sand drift along fence, Dust Bowl, north of Dalhart, Texas
During the 1930s, Texas was faced with another natural disaster. In the last half of the decade, the southern plains were impacted by a major drought along with poor farming practices and tremendous dust storms causing severe damage to the agriculture of the United States.
This region was also known as the Dust Bowl. There were many places in Texas that were hit hard by the conditions of the drought. Texas experienced black blizzards, massive dust storms that covered crops, homes, and buildings with fine sand and dark dust.
Click on the link below to watch a video on black blizzards in Texas.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.
These storms were called black blizzards because the dust blanketed the region much like a blizzard of snow. The dust from the eroded soil caused the blizzard to be black in color.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.
The black blizzards destroyed the crops which impacted the agricultural industry. Businesses were impacted because dust settled inside and outside of buildings, making it hard to conduct business. People had a hard time moving about in the blizzards.
