“Oil That is.Black Gold Texas Tea” Gusher Starts U.S. Oil Industry - This Day in History – Jan 10th

“Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea” Gusher starts U.S. oil industry

Back in 1901, the U.S. oil industry premiered with a huge gusher of crude oil from a drilling derrick at Beaumont, TX near Spindletop Hill.  The flow of the crude oil made quite a discovery for this area of Texas, which became the new “Gusher Age.” This geyser was producing 100,000 barrels a day, which helped to move forward the production of petroleum fuel.

Spindletop’s success started a job boom for the town.  According to history.com, “The town filled up with oil workers, investors, merchants and con men (leading some people to dub it "Swindletop"). Within a year, there were more than 285 actives wells at Spindletop and an estimated 500 oil and land companies operating in the area, including some that are major players today: Humble (now Exxon), the Texas Company (Texaco) and Magnolia Petroleum Company (Mobil).

Spindletop experienced a second boom starting in the mid-1920s when more oil was discovered at deeper depths. In the 1950s, Spindletop was mined for sulphur. Today, only a few oil wells still operate in the area.”

Links to videos related to this story:

http://youtu.be/nXgDzrd_2I0

http://youtu.be/CgKlKABhT7c

“Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea” = From Beverly Hillbillies lyrics:

http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/beverlyhillbillieslyrics.html

“10-4” Convoy tops the pop charts

Back in 1976, the mid-1970’s felt the craze of the trucker lingo found in the top pop chart song at the time, “Convoy,” which was somewhat sung by ex advertising executive, Bill Fries, known in the music world as “C.W. McCall.”

History.com acknowledges that, “Convoy" marked the high-water point of a mid-70s trucking/CB radio craze that had millions of Americans creating "handles" for themselves—Beer Man, Pink Lady, Scooter Pie, etc.—and daydreaming about the glamorous life of the long-haul trucker.”

This song led to television series such as Dukes of Hazard, B.J & the Bear, along with Hollywood films such as, “Smokey & the Bandit” and the Movie “Convoy,” which starred, Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw and Ernest Borgnine.

Links related to this article:

http://youtu.be/j3VN54M1OXA

http://youtu.be/N99Vdxu9LQs

All History facts provided from the link below:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/green-beret-indicted-for-murder?catId=4