Fact is More Fascinating than Fiction… at Spindletop…

July 11, 2022 by · Leave a Comment 

“Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed;
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.”

I can’t be the only one who grew up watching the Beverly Hillbillies, and for those of you who did, now that it has taken root, I dare you to get that tune out of your head.

This rags-to-riches story may have been a bit outlandish, however, on a chilly day in January of 1901, in the town of Beaumont, Texas, a real-life Jed Clampit was born. Unlike the shotgun produced trickle from the TV show, this one was a gusher. Thankfully, after 8 days of the uncontrolled spew of oil, what we now know as Spindletop would finally be capped and America was off and running as a major oil producer. Along the way we have hit a few bumps in the road, however, “… the Capacity of It Is the Greatest in the World”, can still be used to describe the current state of America’s oil producing potential.

Filed under: The 20th & 21st Centuries
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Always the pessimist…

April 12, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 

The “Allegany County Reporter” issue, dated July 28, 1887, with a lengthy article on the “Exhaustion of Petroleum” could have been written 5 years ago or 30 years ago, but in fact it was  from 1887. Great evidence that pessimism was alive and well over a century ago. Enjoy the entire text of the article (shown below):

Filed under: Food for Thought, Post Civil War, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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