Texas Boomtowns
Ciudades en auge de Texas

Oil gushes from a well similar to that found at Spindletop.
English | LEVEL A
Oil gushes from a well similar to that found at Spindletop.
In 1901, a major source of oil called Spindletop was discovered. It was located in Beaumont, Texas. Oil blew out of the Spindletop oil well for nine days! For those nine days 100,000 barrels of oil rose high up into the air. That’s the same amount of liquid that you would find in 4 million gallons of milk! That’s enough milk for 200,000 people for an entire year! The oil shot from underground to 100 feet in the air. That is about as high as a 10-story building. It was the largest oil gusher in the world at that time. Some people called the oil “liquid gold.” That’s because oil is very useful. It can provide fuel for vehicles. Oil can also heat buildings. Oil allows us to make electricity to power things we use every day like computers.
Oil is essential for powering transportation modes such as cars and trains. It can also provide energy to run factories. Those factories make products for people to buy. People were excited about the opportunity to make money from the Spindletop oil. They came from far and wide to find ways to cash in on the oil. Some people dreamt of making a huge fortune. As a result, the population of Beaumont, Texas, exploded! The population went from 10,000 to 50,000 almost overnight. It grew so quickly that it was called a “boomtown.” Beaumont is known as the original Texas boomtown. The discovery of oil led to more interest in oil exploration and development. The US would become the leading oil producer in the world. It still is today. Oil companies such as Gulf Oil and Texaco were formed at that time. They are still in business now. You might see those brands when you pass a gas station when you’re riding in a car.
Just one year later in 1902, oil production in Beaumont began to decline. The boomtown itself also started to shrink. Fewer workers were needed, so people moved. As oil workers left, jobs that had grown to support the workers were no longer needed either. For example, people working to prepare food for oil workers or teach in the boomtown schools didn’t have jobs anymore. They moved away too. The population decreased as people left to find work in other places. This happened in Beaumont, and it happened in other Texas towns that grew very quickly due to increased oil production. For example, the town of Desdemona also once produced millions of gallons of oil. People rushed to the boomtowns at first. Most people rushed to boomtowns to make a living by working hard. Other people had different intentions. Some people came with the goal of scamming people out of their money. They wanted to make money quickly. They made false promises and lied. It caused many people to believe they were investing their money in oil. In fact, the scam artists were tricking people into giving them money that they just kept for themselves. Workers and scam artists alike left the boomtown community almost as quickly as they arrived.
Boomtowns grew far more quickly than other towns. Boomtowns often grew where towns did not yet exist. Often there were not systems in place to help people access daily needs like food, water, and education. In fact, for most people, boomtown living was extremely uncomfortable. Towns grew so quickly that there was not adequate housing. People had to live in tents or shacks that they built quickly. Some people even lived in their cars or trucks. There were not sufficient food sources for everyone. Lines for restaurants were long and winding. Schools became overcrowded. Sometimes safe drinking water was not available. Untreated water sources contained creatures such as bullfrogs, fish, and even alligators! Unsafe drinking water caused people to experience illness and spread disease. Dust hung in the air from heavy traffic on unpaved roads. The smell of oil was constantly in the air. Boomtowns also had difficulty keeping up with the sewage systems needed for toilets. There were times when people had to wait in line and pay just to use a toilet. Imagine being hungry, sick from unclean drinking water, and unable to sleep in a comfortable bed or use a toilet!
As the oil industry grew, many changes in Texas occurred. We can see the impact of these changes today. Oil production replaced agriculture, or farming, as the leading industry in the state. For the first time in the 1900s, more money was made on oil production than farming.
Oil companies developed. As more oil was extracted from the ground, oil became cheaper. As a result, railroads converted from coal to oil to power trains. Automobiles became more common, so more roads were paved. Individual people accumulated massive fortunes from the oil industry. The state benefitted financially as well. Money from oil taxes was allocated for education, such as public school and college funding, that continues to support students of all ages today. Some individuals who became wealthy during the oil boom shared their money with others. Their charity supported causes that could benefit the whole community such as health research, technology development, fine arts, colleges, and even new playgrounds! Texas boomtowns came and went in a flash, but we experience the impact of the oil industry still today.