The 1901 Spindletop oil discovery launched the modern petroleum boom in the United States.
A gusher near Beaumont, Texas, began producing on January 10, 1901, after drilling led by mining engineer Anthony F. Lucas. The Lucas well initially produced roughly 100,000 barrels of oil per day, an extraordinary flow for its era.
Spindletop transformed Beaumont almost overnight and helped create major oil companies, including the Texas Company, later known as Texaco, and Gulf Oil. The field also demonstrated that the Gulf Coast contained enormous petroleum resources.
Spindletop is sometimes confused with the later East Texas oil field, discovered in 1930. East Texas was larger, but Spindletop was the earlier discovery that established Texas as a major oil-producing region.