The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000 Page: 7 of 28
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*7fa CAHodiAH RECORD
THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER 2000
PATILLO HIGGINS
ANTHONY F. LUCAS
At the well site, they lived in a
14-foot by 30-foot one-room
shack. With only board windows
and no screens, “the mosquitos
were temble...all these frogs ev-
erywhere, they would jump and
land on the table while we were
eating," said Curt Hamill in an ac-
count of the period.
When the saturated sand kept
clogging the drill bit and pipe,
they made a back-pressure valve
by whittling a piece of wood from
a soap box and using the sole of a
boot for the flap. Placed on the
first joint of pipe above the bit,
this allowed the water to flow
down the pipe, but prevented the
sand from coming up.
At 640 feet, another strata of
coarse sand posed a problem.
Normally, water was pumped
down the hole to support the hole
and wash away the cuttings. At
Spindletop, the sandy layer kept
collapsing anil absorbing the
water.
Curt Hamill felt muddy water
would solve the problem. A herd
of cattle was driven around in the
settling pond to chum up the bot-
tom. The slurry was then pumped
down the drilling hole. Drilling
mud is still a part of today’s drill-
ing operations.
In January, diligence and in-
genuity paid off when the first
gusher in the United States shot
up in the air over 150 feet.
Now, the Hamills were faced
with the challenge of closing down
a run-away well. They improvised
a heavy shed of timbers, railroad
iron and plumbing. The new fix-
ture was winched over the well
foundation and bolted down.
Then the stack of valves were pro-
gressively turned down stopping
the flow. The creation of the
“Christmas Tree” valve marked a
new era in engineering
technology.
Within days of the Lucas
gusher, Texas became the focus
of the oil industry and created a
fevered rush to Beaumont for
wealth.
A boomtown immediately
sprang up, driving the population
from 9,000 to 50,000; however, the
overabundance of drilling at
Spindletop led to a rapid decline
in oil production. Within 10 years,
Spindletop Hill was a ghost town
and the wildcatters had moved on
in the search for oiL
Higgins spent the next 50
years exploring the Texas Gulf
Coast for oil-rich salt domes with
some success. Lucas also sold out
early. Highly sought after in lo-
cating new fields, he traveled
across Texas and Mexico. Individ-
ually, the Hamill brothers contin-
ued their successful drilling
operations and made their mark
in oil exploration and production
in Texas.
With unbending determina-
tion and relentless pursuit, wild-
catters gambled everything on
their dream of wealth. They often
made some money, but their for-
tunes swung wildly fri m the thrill
of bringing in a gusher to the
heartbreak of drilling another
“dry hole.”
But always the tantalizing pos-
sibility of discovery, of being first
and the challenge of overcoming
unbelievable odds fueled their en-
deavors. Their discoveries would
fuel the industrial age.
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Wanted:
Projects for National
Preservation Awards
Nominations are now open for the 2001 National Preserva-
tion Awards sponsored by the National Trust for Historic
Preservation. Those who have been involved in an outstanding
preservation project completed in the past three years—or
those who know of a company, organization or individual who
has helped save a part of America’s local or national heri-
tage—are encouraged to submit a nomination.
The coveted annual awards recognize singular success in
preserving rehabilitating, restoring or interpreting America’s
architectural and cultural heritage. Winners will be honored at
the National Preservation Conference in Providence, R.I., on
October 16-21,2001.
Nomination deadline for the National Trust/HUD Secre-
tary’s Award and the Trustees’ Awards for Organizational Ex-
cellence, public Policy and Stewardship of Historic Sites is
March 1,2001. Nominations for National Preservation Honor
Awards must be submitted by May 1,2001.
This year’s winners included Chicago Mayor Richard M.
Daley, the Los Angeles Conservancy, Radio City Music Hall,
Denver Public Schools, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group
and the USS Missouri, where Japan surrendered to the Allies
in 1945.
This year as part of the National Trust initiative to encour-
age the continued use of historic schools, the Historic Neigh-
borhood School Honor Award will recognize excellence in the
rehabilitation of older and historic neighborhood schools.
Nominated projects must involve rehabilitated schools cur-
rently in use as educational facilities.
Since 1971, Honor Awards have gone to preservation pro-
jects such as Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia; Grand Central
Station, Rockefeller Center and Ellis Island, New York; the
Old Post Office and Union Station, Washington, D.C.; the Buf-
falo (North Dakota) Historical Society; Bunker Hill Commu-
nity College in Chelsea, Massachusetts; America’s oldest
McDonalds, Downey, California; Mission San Xavier del Bac,
Tucson, Arizona; the Wang Center, Boston; and the History
Channel. Among past winners of the Trustees’ Awards are the
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, Boston Mayor
Thomas M. Menimo, the late Senator John Chafee (R-Rhode
Island) and the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association.
Good
rates
backed by
Good
Neighbor service.
That’s State Farm Insurance.
See me:
Sheila Webb, Agent
Coronado Carter North Side
P.O. Box 2689
Pampa, TX
806 *69-3861
1-8'JOi: 99-3861
Like a
good neighbor,
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is there.-
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Home Offices: Bloomington, Illinois
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Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000, newspaper, December 7, 2000; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth736278/m1/7/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hemphill County Library.