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Title: Oil in Texas: The Gusher Age, 1895-1945
Subtitle: Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage Series
Author: Diana Davids Hinton, Roger M. Olien
Narrator: Kevin Young
Format: Unabridged
Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
Language: English
Release date: 08-22-13
Publisher: University Press Audiobooks
Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes
Genres: History, 20th Century
Publisher's Summary:
As the 20th century began, oil in Texas was easy to find, but the quantities were too small to attract industrial capital and production. Then, on January 10, 1901, the Spindletop gusher blew in. Over the next 50 years, oil transformed Texas, creating a booming economy that built cities, attracted out-of-state workers and companies, funded schools and universities, and generated wealth that raised the overall standard of living - even for blue-collar workers. No other 20th-century development had a more profound effect upon the state.
In this book, Diana Davids Olien and Roger M. Olien chronicle the explosive growth of the Texas oil industry from the first commercial production at Corsicana in the 1890s through the vital role of Texas oil in World War II. Using both archival records and oral histories, they follow the wildcatters and the gushers as the oil industry spread into almost every region of the state. The authors trace the development of many branches of the petroleum industry - pipelines, refining, petrochemicals, and natural gas. They also explore how overproduction and volatile prices led to increasing regulation and gave broad regulatory powers to the Texas Railroad Commission.
Roger M. Olien holds the J. Conrad Dunagan Chair in Regional and Business History at the University of Texas-Permian Basin, where Diana Davids Olien is a Senior Lecturer in History. The book is published by University of Texas Press.
Critic Reviews:
"Comprehensive in its coverage, clearly organized and written, and thoroughly researched, this book fills a significant hole in the historical literature on Texas oil." (Joe Pratt, Cullen Professor of History and Business, University of Houston)
Members Reviews:
A great introduction to the early history of the Early Oil industry focussing on Texas I went for the Audible version
I am a New Zealander so neither a Texan or of Oil Stock
It would be a pity if this excellent work only found its way into the above homes.
I found it a very useful introduction to the early history of Oil. It's focus is on Texas and the approach is by area and chronology.
Eg it takes the Spindletop area and follows its story through in that chapter
Later it takes the Permian Basin and shows how it fairly barren and rug hard area became a major oil area.
One learns about sweet crude and (sulphurous ) sour crude and crude with a fair mixture of paraffin
Technological developments like developments in drilling,storage, pipelines, refining and exploration are scattered throughout the text.
With improvements in refining Aviation Octane arrived just before WWII and the modern Plastics industry was just starting
One is introduced to a number of major and smaller players with bigger firms,indecent ants and loners.
One sees how Texas aimed to control the finances so that Texas benefitted most
One also learns about the problems for the Permian Basin-- it's inassessability and the poor nature of its crude so that it didn't attract a premium
One learns how the University of Texas became the richest University in the World. In the Texas constitution from the 1860's I think , the founders of Texas put extensive but near valueless lands aside for 2 universities. Nothing much came of this till oil was struck on University lands in the Permian Basin.
