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On January 10, 1901, the discovery well at Spindletop in Beaumont, blew in with a 100-foot gusher. Oil flowed unchecked for nine days, producing more than 100,000 barrels a day and awakening an oil boom unlike anything the country had ever seen. |
Twenty-nine years later, a wildcatter near present-day Joinerville in Rusk County tapped the biggest field of them all, the Daisy Bradford No. 3. Over the course of the next two years, drillers brought in wells in four other locations all originating from the same massive pool of oil. Stretching 45 miles in length and spreading beneath more than 140,000 surface acres, the East Texas Oilfield, the largest known in the world at the time, was born.
These events forever changed the face of Texas's economy, culture, and identity. East Texas continues to be a top producer of oil and gas, and remnants of this heritage can be seen throughout the Texas Forest Trail Region.
EXPLORE SITES OF OIL HERITAGE