Historical photos show life during the oil boom in Texas

A drilling crew poses for a photo atop Spindletop Hill in Beaumont, Texas where the first Texas oil gusher was discovered January 10, 1901. (Photo by the Texas Energy Museum/Newsmakers) A drilling crew poses for a photo atop Spindletop Hill in Beaumont, Texas where the first Texas oil gusher was discovered January 10, 1901. (Photo by the Texas Energy Museum/Newsmakers) Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Image 1 of / 123 Caption Close Historical photos show life during the oil boom in Texas 1 / 123 Back to Gallery

A century-plus ago oil was struck in Beaumont, changing the course of history in Texas. Anthony Lucas discovered the gusher on Spindletop Hill on Jan. 10, 1901. The breakthrough (captured in the gallery above) would transform the region and eventually led to Houston's dawn as the oil capital of America.

A document from the University of Houston puts into perspective how the encounter with oil changed everything:

On January 10, 1901, six tons of drilling pipe and mud erupted from the ground. The oil gushed out. At a time when major wells produced just 50 barrels of oil a day, Spindletop yielded 75,000 barrels a day.

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The find led to the basis of the energy industry in the state. The historic unearthing brought thousands of oil workers to the Lone Star State as derricks popped up throughout East Texas – and changed the city of Houston into a petroleum metropolis. The association remains a century later, through booms and busts.

Many of the photos showing the first East Texas boom in the early 1900s come from the Texas Energy Museum in Beaumont. The museum, opened in 1990, traces the history of the state’s most lucrative industry.

See historic photos from the Spindletop gusher and other oil fields over the years in the gallery above.