For centuries Native Americans had been using the tar that emerged from the ground for a variety of ointments, and in 1534 when Spanish explorers came to North America, many of them used it to protect their boots. Spindletop changed America forever.

On this day January 10, in 1901, oil is discovered in Spindletop, Texas. Upon discovering, the oil filed in Spindletop was releasing over 100,000 barrels of oil a day, that’s over 36 million barrels of oil a year. Anthony F. Lucas led the team, which was responsible for first drilling for oil and helped begin the petroleum age, which the Daniel Day Lewis film There Will be Blood is based on.  Lucas was born and educated in Croatia and received an education in mechanical engineering.

A year later, Spindletop had already begun to produce far less oil at only 10,000 barrels a day – in 1936 it ceased producing oil. After that it was mined for sulfur until 1975. From this single discovery Gulf Oil and Texaco formed. Both of these companies were eventually bought out by Chevron.