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Pattillo Higgins visited the oil fields in Pennsylvania and learned that
wildcatters looked for surface signs of oil. He would take his Sunday
school students for picnics at Spindletop Hill, and realized there were
signs of oil. However, after drilling the area, he found no oil.
Entered into the picture was Anthony Lucas, who felt that oil was
under this land. He bought leases to the area. After four dry wells the
disheartened group hit another disaster when 6 tons of pipe just blew
up, with muddy water and gas bursts. When all was calm, Lucas and his
crew went to clean it up. They looked down the well hole and noticed
that oil was moving up and down, almost as if it was breathing.
Then a long breath became the symbol of the oil industry. The Lucas
Gusher went up to 150 feet changing the Texas landscape forever. Stories
like this became common in Texas.
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