Fire at Spindletop Oil Fields

by Peter Ogden

Title

Fire at Spindletop Oil Fields

Artist

Peter Ogden

Medium

Photograph - Silver Gelatin Photograph

Description

This is a restored reproduction of Fire at Spindletop, a gelatin silver photograph created in 1902 by Frank J. Trost which depicts a petroleum fire at the famous salt dome oil well fields at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas.
Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas, in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil.
The Spindletop gusher blew for 9 days at a rate estimated at 100,000 barrels (16,000 m3) of oil per day. Gulf Oil and Texaco, now part of Chevron Corporation, were formed to develop production at Spindletop.The Spindletop discovery led the United States into the oil age. Prior to Spindletop, oil was primarily used for lighting and as a lubricant. Because of the quantity of oil discovered, burning petroleum as a fuel for mass consumption suddenly became economically feasible.
The frenzy of oil exploration and the economic development it generated in the state became known as the Texas oil boom. The United States soon became the world's leading oil producer.
The Fine Art America logo does not appear on the final product.

Uploaded

July 22nd, 2018

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