Ch. 20: A New Century

1. Ch. 20: A New Century The Modern Era Begins

2. Galveston:“The Wall Street of the Southwest” • During the late 1800s Galveston was Texas’ most moderncity. • Galveston was the first Texas city to have electriclights, 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.

4. Ashton Villa

5. The Bishops Palace

6. The Grand 1894 Opera House

7. Disaster Strikes Galveston • On Sept. 8, 1900, Galveston was struck by a hurricane of unbelievable force. • 120 mph winds and • High-cresting tidal waves left more than half of Galveston completely destroyed • Nearly 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!

8. 1900 Storm Path

9. Changes • 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

11. The Seawall • 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.

13. Texas Gold: History • 1543- Oil first found in Texas in by survivors of the de Soto Expedition • 1866- First Oil Well in Texas was drilled by Lyne Barretin Oil Springs, Texas. • 1890- Oil Springs has 40 wells, refinery and pipeline to Railroads in Nacogdoches, TX.

14. Brainstorming!! List the uses of petrochemical products:

15. New Demands for Oil 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

16. The First Gusher • Spindletop Hill in Beaumontwas located on a Salt Dome • Pattillo Higginsand Anthony Lucasstruck oil on Spindletop Hill on January 10, 1901 • 500,000 barrels of oil spewed for six days before the well was capped.

17. Salt Dome Trap

18. The Lucas Gusher – 1901 ‘Black Gold’ ‘Texas Tea’

19. Spindletop – cont’d • 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

20. Oil Creates Texas Boomtowns • 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.

21. 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.

22. The Boomtowns • Oil Workers, speculators, gamblers, adventurers all flocked to the oil boom towns like Beaumont • Very similar to what happened 30 years earlier in the cowtownsof the Mid-West and in the 1849 Gold Rush.

23. Economic Development • Spindletop led to the rise of a whole new economy and new future for Texas • Huge oil Companieswere forming • Refineriesbuilt to refine oil to gasoline

24. Spindletop Oil Field during the boom years of 1910's 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.

25. ‘Boiler Avenue’ – Spindletop - 1903 By 1903 more than 400 wells were drilling on the Salt Dome.

26. Economic Development • Pipelinesand tankersbuilt to carry oil • Storage Facilitiesbuilt to store oil • Lumber used to build oil derricks

27. Oilmen posing in front of a wooden oil derrick at Orangefield during the 1910's

28. Oil in Southeast Texas • After Spindletop, Oil operators spread their searches throughout Southeast Texas where salt domes were found • Oil Fields opened all throughout this region • Saratoga • Sour Lake • Balston

30. Humble Oil Company -1904 • 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.

32. Goose Creek Field - 1916 • Located Southeast of Houston close to Galveston • Much of the drilling took place in Galveston Bay - offshore • Made it easy for ocean shipping • A large refinery was built here and the town was later renamed Baytown

35. Oil in North Texas • 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

36. Other Oil Discoveries • Oil in North Central Texas in 1917 • Breckenridege, Mexia, Corsicana, Luling • Geologists believed fault zone contained oil in Central Texas. • 1922 – Oil workers drilled into a fault near Luling and struck oil

37. Fault Trap

38. The Industry Today! Class discussion: What issues does the Oil Industry face today! 38

39. Lumber Booms in East Texas • 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.

40. Lumber in East Texas – cont’d • Conservationists like W. Goodrich Jonesurged 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.

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

42. Houston and the Oil Industry • 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 Channelopened the city as a modern port

43. Houston Ship Channel 1915 Houston - 1914

44. Dallas Dominates Central Texas • 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.

45. Dallas Dominates Central Texas • Dallas becomes a “White Collar” city • Leading retail center for TX, OK, NM • Neiman-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.

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

47. Assignment • When 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.

48. 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/