Spindletop was the 1901 Texas oil discovery that transformed Beaumont into a major petroleum city. The Lucas gusher began flowing on January 10, 1901, from a salt dome south of Beaumont.
The well was drilled by engineer Anthony F. Lucas with financial backing connected to the Gladys City Oil, Gas and Manufacturing Company. When the well struck oil at roughly 1,020 feet, it produced an enormous uncontrolled blowout by the standards of the time. The resulting rush brought workers, investors, and competing oil companies to southeast Texas.
Spindletop helped establish Texas as a major oil-producing region and encouraged the growth of companies that later became important in the industry. It is sometimes confused with the East Texas Oil Field, discovered decades later in 1930. Spindletop was a single salt-dome discovery; East Texas was a much larger regional field.