A Great Oil Geyser

(Galveston Daily News, January 13, 1901)

Beaumont, Texas, Jan. 12---Telegrams of Inquiry Are Pouring Into Beaumont From All Over The Country---Comparison With Corsicana---Mayor Jones of Toledo, Ohio, An Oil Expert, Says It Is The Biggest Well Yet Discovered.

All day long telegrams have been pouring into this city, asking one question:

"Is the published report of that well true."

"It is true, every word of it, and to avoid exaggeration these reports are made especially conservative. The big oil geyser two and one half miles south of this city is truly the wonder of the country and this estimate is shared by thousands of people who have seen it. Last night and this morning, a number of Corsicana oil men, well-known in oil circles, arrived in this city and viewed the well today. Among this number is Samuel M. Jones, the well-known politician and mayor of Toledo, Ohio.

Mr. Jones was seen by this correspondent and qualified his remarks by saying that he had been in the oil business for thirty-five years, and had visited every oil field in the United States. In fact, Mr. Jones is well-known to be thoroughly versed in oil matters, and only the famous wells of Russia compared with it. Mr. Jones sent the following telegram to the Southwestern Oil Men's Association, and other oil centers today:

"Well doing from six to eight hunded barrels of sulphur oil an hour, heavy gravity." Mr. Jones stated further that the well was producing twice as much as the entire Corsicana field.

J. S. Cullinan of Corsicana says it is safe to say the well is doing from three to five thousand barrels per day and that the grade is heavy and the quality indifferent. But Mr. Cullinan stands alone on both statements.

Another prominent oil man from Corsicana says the grade is superior to Corsicana oil.

Reports from the well late today say that the stream is spouting fully 175 feet high in a solid form. The overflowing oil has overrun the levees made by the men and is now banking against the Sabine and East Texas right-of-way.

Captain Lucas has ordered a train load of sand with which to build a dam to stop the oil. Captain Lucas gave out a statement today that he is not associated with the Standard Oil Company, but that his associates are J. M. Guffey and John Galey of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and that they have ample capital to develop every lease he controls and if necessary they can build refineries and, in fact, are fully capable of any developments.

Several syndicates are purchasing oil lands for development have been formed here today, and several tracts of land have changed hands at what would have been fabulous prices a week ago. A message was received today from Fort Worth, saying a syndicate has been formed capable of handling all the oil lands in the country, and that a representative would arrive here tomorrow.

Notwithstanding the large number of oil men who reached here today, there are many more who will come tomorrow from distant parts of the country, to say nothing of those who will come merely to see the well which is in all respects a sight of a lifetime.

Thousands visited the well today, and notwithstanding the mud, many of them were ladies. Arrangements will be perfected tonight for running a special train to and from the well tomorrow.

W. T. Block, Jr. http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/