Page 32 - All About History - Issue 11-14
P. 32
What was it like?
TEXAS 1901
Technology
The spread of the railroad was the most important
development in this huge state, connecting its
Military populations. When the oil boom struck, there
were around 16,000 kilometres (10,000 miles) of
The Texas Ranger Division railways in Texas, but the need for a more effective
has existed as the state’s law infrastructure to service the hungry petroleum
enforcement since 1836. Originally industry drove construction forward. The first
comprised of a small group of Three Texas rangers electric inter-urban line in Texas was built in 1901.
volunteers tasked with protecting patrolling the state border
the early settlers and pioneers
Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas
in Texas, the division acted leads to the state’s capitol building
as a border force as well as a
paramilitary police.
Government
In the aftermath of the Galveston
hurricane in 1900, which killed
thousands, the city established its
own governance. A few commission
members handled taxation, utilities
and public services, while the
chairman acted as de facto mayor.
However, the state’s capital was and
still is Austin, which enforced oil-
production taxation.
Economy
Much like the famous gold rushes
elsewhere, scores of prospectors, oil
companies and small businesses
Workers leaving the Pennsylvania
flocked to the region to exploit the shipyards in Beaumont, Texas
wealth rushing out of the ground.
The volume of oil produced by the
Spindletop site reduced its price to
three cents a barrel.
Industry
Oil was first brought up in
Spindletop in January 1901 with the
strike of the famous Lucas gusher. It
took nine days to cap the strike and
bring it under control, but it would
prove to be the first major oil find of
many in Texas. It heralded a century
The Spindletop oilfield
quickly became the core of oil production and the founding of
of the state’s economy the petroleum industry in the region.
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