What do you think today's lesson will be about?

Wednesday February 27, 2013

Spindletop, Tx• If one had asked a Beaumonter

on January 1, 1901, what big news of recent months had most interested him, he would have said the great Galveston hurricane of September 8, or the dawning of a new century.

• If one had asked him on January 10, he would have said the great gusher at Spindletop - a salt dome about three miles south of Beaumont. Dubbed "The Lucas Gusher," the oil discovery on Spindletop Hill changed the economy of Texas and helped to usher in the petroleum age.

Vocabulary:

• Gusher- An oil well that produces a large amount of oil

• Stock- Ownership in a company• Telegram- A written message sent by telegraph• Wildcatter- is an American term for a person

who drills wildcat wells • Wildcat wells- exploration oil wells drilled in

areas not known to be oil fields

Things Made From Petroleum

A partial list of products made from Petroleum (144 of 6000 items)

• One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest (over half) is used to make things like:

• Solvents, diesel fuel, motor oil, bearing grease, ink, floor wax, ballpoint pens, football cleats, upholstery, sweaters, boats, insecticides, bicycle tires, sports car bodies…