OT Let's Not Forget Other Pioneers

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2013: OT Let's Not Forget Other Pioneers
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill Everett on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 05:34 pm:

I found this picture of Bailey I took when we were passing through Beaumont last January. I'd been to Spindletop many years ago and found it to be a great museum, a real testament as being (paraphrasing Lacy's Book 'Ford, The Men And The Machine') one of capitalism's altars.

Unfortunately on the trip this picture was taken, it began to rain as soon as we showed up, and they were closing up for the day anyway.

The story of Andy Lucas' persistence, timing, and luck is a tribute to the human spirit of never giving up. It ALSO was a real-life example of "Be careful what you ask for; you just might get it!" due to the fact that the well ended up becoming nearly a 100,000 barrels per day producer, and there weren't enough barrels, or wood to make more, for weeks after. From what I read, it was the first well of that size, and created what we know today as Gulf Oil, now BP. It also was the first, as I remember, to give Standard Oil any significant competition that John Rockefeller couldn't bully, buy out (owned by the Mellon family), or put out of business by price.

Call 'em Robber Barons, Land Pirates, Entrepreneurs, or whatever, but the oil exploration pioneers deserve, at least for the economic contribution their actions precipitated, a little respect. Because of such a plentiful supply of oil, our T's flourished.


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