The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-04-01
HOW HE AsrRucK 1LE,,
History of Captain Lucas Great Find
in Lone Star State.

III Lone SCdI oLate-
(Fred j. Haskins in ST Louis Globe
Democracy
Since the discovery of oil near Beau
mont, Tex, the recorder of. Jefferson
county has been the busiest man in
Texas. During the first thirty days
after the strike 40 separate leases or
transfers were recorded, and many
more We're on file waiting TO be en-
tered. The size of the deals ranged
from small leases-tO be worked for a
share of the possible outPut-to large
transfers covering immense tracts of
land and calling for an exchange of
thousands of dollars. Beaumont has
been in a prosperous condition for some
time past on account of the large lun-
Der and rice interests which center
/ here, but since the big oil gusher broke
7 loose lumber and rice have had TO take
a back seat Fully fifty companies have
been formed 10 prospect in the new
fields, and there are already more than
a dozen completed derricks within a
radius of "A half mile of the big Lucas
] well. Several of these have their rigs
/ in place and have begun drilling. Cap
I tain Lucas has started another well
4 near the gusher that is already several
hundred feet down.
( The people of Beaumont were always
great believers in the future of their
D
prepared for the sudden plunge into
fame and the consequent boom which
followed the announcement Oh Captain
/ Lucas great strike on the morning of
Jan. 10. Shortly before noon on that
date "A man whose clothes were all COW
! cred with oil rode up in front of one
of the stores and said to the propri-
etor in an excited manner, Captain
! Lucas has struck oil. His we'll has
! exploded and bowed HI out of things.
/ It's spoutin' oil 50 fast it's runnin' in
! rivers all over the prairie. The pro-
prietOr of the store said he believed he
would go out and see the we'll Before
night nearly every other business man
b and citizen of Beaumont mad taken the
same notion. The livery stables soon
I exhausted their supply of vehicles and
/ horses, and delivery wagons and all
other available kinds of conveyances
( were pressed into service.
! a large crowd of people who could
/ not secure a method of transportation
I to the scene assembled on the roof of
/ the court house and contented them
/ selves with a sight of the wonder from
a distance. The news was rapidly
spread over the country and in a few
hours the rush from the outside be-
gan. 1t was one Of the greatest in the
history of the south.
4 CAPTAIN Lucas and his hackers. of
: course. thought they would find oil OF
they would not have spent their money
in sinking the we'll but il seems they
CURED. They were as much surprised
as anyone, and We're altogether unpre-
pared to handle the big SpOuter after
it broke loose. There were five men
working at the well on the morning OF
! the strike. 1t is the custom in Safixing
I these wells to decrease the size - the
pipe according to the increase OF depth.
. g q
They were far enough down to war
rant the use of four-inch pipe. and the
men were engaged in putting this size
/ in place A little over 600 feet had been
| lowered into the well when the pipe
suddenly began to come up of its own
accord. One man was working on top
of the siXty-foOt derrick. and he shout
ed to the others below, What are you
hosting it for?' They replied that they
were not hosting it. and the words
were scarcely out of their mouths be-
+ fore there was the Aluffled sound of an
explosion. and the pipe shot into the
air with terrific force. About 300 feet
of it was broken off and the remain
ing 800 feet forced into the air. Fol-
lowing the report a quantity of water
was forced from the well, and after
that came the oil with a vengeance
The men on the ground scurried out of
danger and the fellow on top of the
derrick hurried down with all possible
haste. He was not injured, but was
literally drenched with the torrents of
/ oil and had to almost swim out of it.
The oil came from the mouth OF the
we'll with sufficient force to throw it
! two-thirds of the way up the siXty-foot
! derrick in a solid stream six inches in
diameter.
] The action of the wind then caused
! ii to spray, and il flew into the air
fully a hundred feet. Pieces of flint
rock as large as hens eggs were
thrown into the air with the column
of oil. In color it was a dark brown
and it cast off a strong OdOr of pc
troleum. In quality it is what is known
! as heavy. or Intoxicating, oil. The depth
of the well is 1,SOO feet
/ The flow of the oil was estimated by
the owners to be fully $4,000 barrels per
| day, which was over four times that of
the largest one known in the United
/ States prior to this time Heretofore
! the largest we'll in this country yielded
1000 barrels daily. There are only two
other wells in the world that compare
! favOrably with the Beaumont wonder,
/ and they are located near Baku, Rus
STA. One of these is being operated and
{ the other is on fire. Closing the well
proved no small task In order to sue
/ cessfully accomplish this feat Captain
Lucas used T-pipe on a casing, with
/ a valve on each branch of the pipe.
4 The valve of the upright pipe was
/ closed first and then the one on the
/ horizontal pipe was gradually shut. At
ter the well was closed il took fifty
/ wagOnloads of dirt to pack il up snug
+ and level. 1t took nine days ana ten
I minutes to get the giant stream under
control, and during that time an i'm
| mense lake of oil formed, which COW
/ cred sixty-four acres of ground ten
/ inches deep. The bank of this lake,
which had been hastily thrown up,
gave away in one place, and sabOut
I 200 coo barrels of oil escaped. 1t ran
down a branch for several miles, and
made veritable river of oil 1t is .es-
I timated that fully a half million bar
| rels are still in the lake. At the first
/ calculation it was thought this ought
\ to be worth 50 cents a barrel. Later
the owners thought it was SO mixed
with dirt that they might not try to
1 save it. If they decide not to utilize
it. it VIII be turned into bitches and
gradually burned.
g q g
! Captain a. T.. Lucas, the engineer
who bored the big we'll, came to Beau
mont from Washington, D. c., about
two years ago. He prospected on his
own resources until last August. when
he became convinced that he had some
I thing in sight. He then secured the
] financial assistance of Messrs. James H.
! Galley and j. M. Guffey of Pittsburg.
/ Both Of these men are we'll known in
I the oil business, their operations hav-
/ ing extended over all the territory in
/ this country VEbapn oil bo F,aar, fC,s,,,z