New-York tribune., 1901-05-26

lower Broadway at noontime and DAYS trans
actions approXimated five minutes trading on
the New-York Stock Exchange on a quiet day
For beaumont it tremendous and old oil
men say that all previous "booms' were out
classed.
Many people made money in the trading and
realized on their profits Many others will make
fortunes from the oil. For the most part how
ever, it is probable that the speculative public,
as usual, will have to pay the piper
Digging for oil here began as long ago as 1861.
ana 1t was found in small quantities in from
three hundred to five hundred feet For iilum-
mating purposes that oil had little value and
as the use of oil for fuel had not been thought
OF the wells We're abandoned. The Lucas well
was begun last winter about three miles south
of Beaumont, on little wriggle in the land dig
niicd by the name of hill and known
Spindle Top. Its owners had the nerve and per
sistence to send the drill down nearly one thou
sand feet. one day in January 1901, with
roar ana with tremblings of the earth the oil
rushed up and blew the machinery out Of the
hole \ 6-inch stream OF petroleum shot sixty
four feet, to the top of the derrick, and then
one hundred feet above that into the air. For
ten days the geyser played uncontrolled. and
lake Of half million barrels of oil was formed.
Then a spark from passing engine set thu
mass on fire. The confla grafton that followed
was unparalleled celebration of the dis
covery
The latest of the gushers, that of May Q, is
scarcely more than two hundred yards from
the Lucas The Tribune representative saw it
playing on the afternoon of that day. just be
fore its owners succeeded in getting the valve
gate closed. Its capacity is not known. nor in
deed. has that of any of its predecessors been
much more than guessed at. When the Lucas
u-.a1Tx oil,
at least twenty tn ousand barrels day. When
a tank built and pipeline laid an ap-
proXnate test was had that indicated a produc-
tion Of seventy thousand barrels a day The
subterrancan pressure will diminish as the field
is developed and eventually, no doubt, nature
VIII nave to he reinforced by the pumps
When the fame of the Lucas well was first
noised abroad. wise men from the California
fields and from Ohio and Pittshurg FASTENED
here. and acquired what is now known as the
gusher district before the It'd, Of Wild sIecula-
tion set in. These men ana their Texas asso-
ciates are now the leading factors in the lesiti-
mate development Of the field and in arranging
to market the oil. Already the largest domestic
corporation ever formed in Texas has been or
ganized for refining and handling the beaumont
oil. By far tho larger part of the product viii
be fuel oil but it is expected that Illuminating
ana IGbfhAt!IS tltS Will diSp tft tbitlIl'! IN
profitable percentages.
The scarcity Of fuel has lnag retarded indus
tries in Southern Texas, ana business men now
expect an industrial revolution.
II is estimated that two ana half barrels If
oil are equal TO one ton of coal for fuel purposes
Coal costs from 50 To s. a ton III :, uthern Texas
and is scarce at that; while il VIII undoubtedly
be possible to get unlimited supply of fuel
oil at from Ga cents to 80 cents a barrel An
Ohio Gil has figured out. however, that II
all the present users Of power in the Southern
States, including the railroads. should imme-
diately equip their engines and boilers for the
use OF oil. their total consumption would not
amount to a quarter OF the present production
of the Beaumont field II is not Impossible that
the Ohio may he hearing the market
but his figures Illustrate the difficulty Of the
situation. Engines and boilers not equipped
for oil, and it will take long time to bring
about the change and to build up in addition
the export trade that will he essential to the
prosperity Of the oil producers.
For foreign markets Beaumont has enor-
nous advantage all other oil fields i'll that
Port Arthur lies only eighteen miles away