Not exactly the climactic storybook ending Higgins likely imagined, the ruffian-turned-roughneck was vindicated on Januwhen 100,000 barrels of oil a day rocketed out of the Spindletop well for nine straight. Lucas was able to secure funding for continued drilling back east - including from famed banker Andrew Mellon - but returned with only a minor cut of the prospective profits and left Higgins hanging out to dry entirely.Īnd so, shortly after the turn of the century, Lucas continued drilling operations sans Higgins. The mission became a mockery back in Beaumont as those watching became increasingly convinced of its futility. The pair, like the previous crew, again came up short and drained their coffers during the short-lived partnership. The man who answered the call was Anthony Francis Lucas, a petroleum engineer and salt dome expert from the east. Having resigned from the company at the midpoint of the decade, Higgins jumped, hat in hand, to any potential financier or ally he might be able to convince to back another effort to find oil. But for nearly 10 years, the trio and their company pierced earth and emerged with nothing more than dirt. Anthony Francis Lucasįorming a partnership, the three men minted the Gladys City Oil company in 1892, named after one of Higgins’ favorite Sunday school students. O’Brien, notably, had already owned half of the terrain - convinced of the petroleum’s existence since seeing it ooze out of the ground in 1865. Carroll and George Washington O’Brien, the men secured full rights of the hill. Upon return, Higgins chose Spindletop, a nearby salt dome as the place for his brick factory, believing beyond any shadow of a doubt that beneath its soil lay the oil and gas needed to fuel the fire. Though a different type than those who rushed to California in the mid-19 th century, Higgins was a prospector nonetheless and returned to Texas with treasure in his eye. Similar terrain existed in Pennsylvania’s nascent oilfields as did around his southeast Texas home. The impression left on Higgins was not just of the fuel’s potential for his new vocation, but also of the fuel itself. Burning oil, rather than wood, achieved a higher intensity and constant flame. While there, he discovered the brickmakers produced a lighter but sturdier product by kilning at hotter and more consistent temperatures. Maj Hiram James Williamson to learn from the Keystone State’s innovators. Having heard of brickmaking successes in the Midwest, as far as Pennsylvania, Higgins made the reverse journey as that of Alamo defender Sgt. One day on horseback Higgins discovered the red clay dirt was optimal for brickmaking. He also had a penchant for adopting young, orphaned girls - one of which would become his wife. Now a dogmatic Bible thumper, Higgins disapproved of alcohol and loathed any public entertainment. He went from miscreant to Sunday school teacher in nearly a flash and thus began his journey from small-town delinquent to trailblazing entrepreneur. In his own words, “I used to put my trust in pistols … now my trust is in God.” Eagerly trapped in his pantomime ways, nothing short of divine intervention would pull him out.Įxcelling as a logger for a Beaumont company, Higgins found salvation in the Bible. Crippled and tarnished, Higgins languished in town further tarnishing his family name with mischief. He was found not guilty of murder by a jury only a few days before he turned 18. The incident stemmed from Higgins’ slingshot-laden vandalism of a black church, during which he broke its windows and terrorized the congregants. At the age of 17, a six-shot scuffle with sheriff’s deputies left Higgins wounded in his left arm - resulting in amputation.ĭespite losing his arm, Higgins might well have uttered the machismo quip “you should see the other guy” as the bullet fired proved fatal for the deputy on the wrong end of the future wildcatter’s barrel. As fate would have it, this would be the town to which he’d usher prosperity. Nondescript behaviors such as filling up the gas tank, flipping a light switch, and turning on the television each hail in lineage the Spindletop discovery and the boom it created.īorn in Sabine Pass, Higgins and his family moved to Beaumont when he was six-years-old. His discovery turned an agrarian and ranching reliant state into the foremost energy producer in the country. The year was 1901, and a wellspring of oil had been struck for the first time in Texas at Spindletop hill. Austin, TX, JanuA plume of black gold blasting skyward in front of him, Pattillo Higgins sealed his place in Texas lore in a moment so brief as the oil’s flightpath spewing above him to rain back down.
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