New York - Philadelphia Paper - The Beaumont Oil-Field, with Notes on Other Oil-Fields of the Texas Region

The successful completion, January 10,1901, by Capt. A. F. Lucas, of a well, near Beaumont, Texas, whereby an enormous flow, estimated at '75,000 barrels a day, was obtained, opened a new oil-field in the United States, kindled a frenzy of exploitation and speculation, revolutionized the fuel industry of a large region, and brought gain to thousands of people. Even to-day, it is impossible to cast up the present results or to prognosticate the future influence of this event. It has caused the revival of attention in other localities where oil had been suspected, and exploration for oil throughout the Texas region. It has attracted notice to the mineral resources of the Texas region, and created an interest in the geological conditions of that great State. This State, which has increased in population and wealth, as recorded by every succeeding census, with leaps and bounds such as are exhibited by no other part of the Union, now stands fifth in population and first in productive wealth per capita. Its fields, pastures, forests and mines teem with raw material. The whole economic evolution of the State has gravitated toward a focal point where these products were available for the coming of the kiln, the machine and the factory. The only drawback to the prosperity of the State was the lack of an economic fuel, inferior coal costing an average of $5.00 per ton at the time of the Beaumont discovery. This