The purpose of this research is to identify the impact of the petroleum industry on Odessa, Texas during the 20th century. The main objective of this research is to explain how the massive growth of the petroleum industry in Odessa came about and the social changes that had occurred as a result of the thriving oil industry. Beginning in North Texas, the boom then spread to West Texas when the United States became desperate for oil during and after World War I and II. This research drew upon primary and secondary sources such as oral interviews, memoirs, articles and books from the local University library. Upon examination of these sources it becomes clear that the discovery of oil in Odessa, Texas became the foundation for the towns economic …show more content…
If the cattle, cotton and railroads helped establish the history of West Texas in the nineteenth-century, then the petroleum has had just as much influence on the history of West Texas in the twentieth-century. Odessa, Texas without Petroleum? One might just as easily visualize New York without Wall Street, Los Angeles without Hollywood, and Chicago without its business. The petroleum industry has been essential for the growth and economics of Odessa, Texas. Two-hundred million years ago a salt sea covered the Permian Basin which can be attributed to the abundance of oil in Odessa, Texas. Once the structure of the Earth changed a limestone floor developed in the sea. With the help of other rocks, hydrocarbons were trapped from the plants and animals which later resulted in the formation of oil and gas. This area is known as the Permian Basin and distinguishes counties in West Texas and South New Mexico. The Permian Basin earned its name with Permian referring to the Permian Period where sedimentary beds were simultaneously deposited in parts of Russia, England, Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. Basin can be defined as, geologically, a natural indentation in the Earth’s surface that contains water. Two thousand foot cliffs of limestone that cover West Texas and South East New Mexico were at one time submerged reefs created by millions of lime-secreting algae. With this knowledge the West Texas Geological Society …show more content…
There were previously no pipelines or permanent ways to transport the oil to the markets from the Permian Basin. When the Texas and Pacific Railway was placed in service in 1881 from Fort Worth to El Paso, Odessa’s economy changed. When the Texas and Pacific Railway was finally operational in Midland, it boosted Midland to become the oil business headquarter of the Midland/Odessa area. Midland, Texas was the midway point between Fort Worth and El Paso, hence the name ‘Midland’. This midway point made Midland the perfect place for a railway stop during the establishment of the railway. Soon after the Texas and Pacific Railway was active and Midland became an oil bustling business town with pump jacks littering the outskirts of the town. Midland then became organized by its own county legislator in 1885. Oil businesses needed a place for supplies and oil gusher production to be stored until transportation however, the location needed to be outside of town but not far enough away where it would be a burden to retrieve. That is what made Odessa the perfect place to store supplies as Midland was roughly forty miles away. Odessa merely existed in name until it became organized in 1891 as a supply center for many of the oil businesses located in Midland. The Texas and Pacific Railway placed the
In 1920s and 1930s, oil became a big boom in Texas. Roustabouts came from all over Texas. Oil could be made out of gasoline, natural gas and kerosene. Let’s talk about Texas Oil and social change in Texas. I’ve chosen to talk about minotersin west Texas, coogle in parts of Texas, and the divorce rates.
It extends 75 to 125 miles into Texas from the east and from north to south from the Red River to about 25 miles of the Gulf Coast. The Pine Belt is practically the source of all Texas’ timber production. Lumber is the principle industry. The climate is good for a variety of fruits and vegetables. A great oil field discovered in 1931 contributed to the economic growth of the area.
States with a high reliance on the energy industry, like Alaska, North Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, are currently facing economic challenges. In terms of Texas in general, our economy rests a lot on the oil producing industry and this has forced many companies to make tough decisions like cutting back on new hires and in some cases even laying off workers. Even though the Texas economy has a lot more going for it than just oil, especially because of the job growth in technology, health care and construction, there's still risk ahead for Texas in terms of job growth, less production, less investment, and less build-out of infrastructure. People who work in or around the oil industry don't like cheap
When people hear the word oil it is commonly interpreted as gas, but the oil that we drill is not what goes into our cars. The oil that is retrieved from the ground is called crude oil, Oil in its raw natural form and when it becomes refined it is used in plastics, rubber, and gasoline. ”Gasoline is a volatile, flammable liquid obtained from the refinement of petroleum, or crude oil. It was originally discarded as a byproduct of kerosene production.” The first oil well was found and harvested in Titusville, Pennsylvania by a man named Edwin L. Drake, in 1859. The well was about 70 feet deep (How gas). It pumped between 20-40 barrels a day
From the 1890s, as a result of discovery and drilling of some of the most productive oil fields in the world, the small town of Los Angeles suffered a big change. By 1930, California was producing nearly one quarter of the world's oil output, and its population had grown to 1.2 million. In the flowing decades, urban and suburban area grew quickly, surrounding by closeness and more openness of the oil wells. People found ways to camouflaged machinery, decreased loud noises, vented methane pockets, as residents had to live closely to those oil production facilities. Until now days, oil fields in the Los Angeles Basin remain very productive. By applying modern techniques, operations can be conducted in smaller areas, and some of them have been moved offshore. However, there are still some oil fields and drilling activities hiding among the shopping malls, sports sites and residences of Los Angeles.
The 1901 discovery of the Spindletop field near Beaumont brought the oil boom to Texas. Cheap oil affected everything from transportation to state coffers to the establishment of higher education.
In Texas, there is an economic powerhouse that not only runs deep beneath fields of cotton, but also reaches miles beyond the green pastures of cattle. Its multitude of uses in daily life also far outweighs the benefits of technology. This resource, greater than any other in Texas, is oil. In 1866 the first commercial oil well was dug near Nacogdoches, Texas but unfortunately the well came up dry. Thirty years later in 1894 oil was discovered in Corsicana, Texas by accident while a water well was being dug. This was the first economically significant discovery of oil in Texas. On January 10, 1901, Texas was catapulted into the era of oil and gas with the discovery at Spindletop. The Spindletop well, located south of Beaumont produced roughly
This particular document was also important because oil impacted an event that led to Texas universities start growing and creating a higher opportunity of education for students. Oil wells were created in the Big Lake Field, and this made the University of Texas to become wealthier because of the money the oil wells produced. In 1931, the legislature split the oil money, two-thirds went to University of Texas, and one-third went to Texas A&M University. Because of the production of oil wells and oil in Texas, colleges and universities were able to become more efficient and open new opportunities to students. For the 10 minute segment of the radio broadcast, Document 3 will receive the
Oil has often been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Although this is an overemphasis, oil has been the key, nonhuman resource of the economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic importance of this product.
Due to one of the railroad stops being in Oklahoma, that drove people to populate Oklahoma. When the mines were discovered, they were used for coal, which helped the small economy of the new state grow. Today, those mines possibly could be mined out for coal, or
The most important of these is the Permian Basin. In the latter half of the Paleozoic era, sediments rich in organic matter accumulated here when a shallow sea got cut off from the main oceans and evaporated off, leaving lots of dead critters and evaporites. These sediments eventually got buried and compressed, causing the oil and gas to form "pockets in permeable rock, surrounded by impermeable rocks so that they couldn't escape. There the fluid sits until someone pokes a hole (well) into the area and the contents rush out as the tremendous pressure is released. Other areas of Texas with notable petroleum sources include East Texas's Woodbine Formation (formed in the Late Cretaceous), much of the Gulf Coast and the Gulf itself, and various smaller pockets in South and South Central Texas.
As the Texas oil industry grew, so did related industries. Some companies began producing oil by-products such as petrochemicals. Others produced pipelines, barrels, and oil-field equipment. As these companies began moving into oil towns such as Houston, Beaumont, and Port Arthur, they further expanded the local economies. Some moved into small towns, quickly turning them into cities. In North Texas the town of Wichita Falls grew from 8,200 residents in 1910 to about 40,000 in 1920.The state income also increased from just over $101,000 in 1906 to $5.9 million in 1929, largely due to the oil
Rockefeller introduced new techniques that completely reshaped the oil industry as well as how business was run. In 1859, Edwin Drake discovered oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and Rockefeller was quick to foresee a future. He was persuaded that refining oil would bring immense wealth and so he began to sell off his other interests. Around 1863, Rockefeller and several partners entered the booming oil industry by investing in a Cleveland Refinery. During the 19th century, kerosene was in high demand and during the process of refining crude oil to kerosene, there were many byproducts that many saw as waste, but thrifty Rockefeller saw it as gold. Byproducts such as petroleum jelly was sold to medical supply companies, paraffin to candlemakers, and other wastes as paving materials for roads. He kept shipping a plethora of goods, therefore, railroad companies drooled over the prospect of getting his business. Due to the immense use of railroads, Rockefeller demanded discounted rates, or rebates from them. The high cost of transporting his oil to his Cleveland refineries cost 40 cents
In a move that would transform the American economy, Rockefeller set out to replace a world of independent oilmen with a giant company controlled by him. In l870, begging bankers for more loans, he formed Standard Oil of Ohio. The next year, he quietly put what he called "our plan" -- his campaign to dominate the volatile oil industry - into devastating effect. Rockefeller knew that the refiner with the lowest transportation cost could bring rivals to their knees. He entered into a secret alliance with the railroads called the South Improvement Company. In exchange for large, regular shipments, Rockefeller and his allies secured transport rates far lower than those of their bewildered competitors. John D. Rockefeller said, "The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism is gone forever, never to return" (Hawke 128).
For two years, Tarbell looked through public records, state and federal reports, and court cases to figure out what Rockefeller’s tactics were when building the Standard Oil Company. Tarbell used this information to write a popular 19-part series called “The History of the Standard Oil Company” that was published between November 1902 and October 1904. Even though she did not like what Rockefeller did, she still managed to mention that