'Tuesday, January 16, 2001 Section of'The Sa[em 9{,ews ------------~· --------~------~ By l\U.RK BABINIECK Oil had been produced in Associated Press Writer Pennsylvania for nearly half a BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) - century and small wells were Spindletop Hill was not the first active in Texas when amateur oil strike in the United States, geologist Pattillo Higgins insist­ nor was it the world's first pe­ ed there was oil beneath lonely troleum" geyser," as it was Spindletop Hill, south of Beau­ called on Jan. 10, 1901. mont along the coastal plain. Yet the massive strike came at Higgins found backing, but the right time, as automobiles several abortive drilling at­ were emerging and the industri­ tempts exh21.usted the money. al revolution was looking for Desperate for technical help, new fuel. Higgins placed newspaper ads, "Back in '01, Beaumont for a and Antnony Lucas, an Austri­ week there was in every inter­ an expert on salt dome forma­ national newspaper ... with tions, responded. headlines saying, 'Oil Found in Lack of money and difficult Texas,'" said Ryan Smith, execu­ terrain curtailed another tive director of the Texas Energy drilling operation in 1899, but Museum. the project got new life when On Wednesday, with a tower­ $300,000 was funneled to Lucas ing column of water spouting from industrialist Andrew Mel­ from a replic_a 1901 derrick, Tex­ lon. ans recreated the scene 100 On land adjacent to Higgins' years to the minute after the tract, Lucas went back to work gusher erupted at Spindletop. Oct. 27, 1900, with the help of The geyser of water spewed Texas drillers Al and Curt about 150 feet through the der­ Hamill. Better equipment and rick and into the cloudy sky, troubleshooting know-how misting some of the thousands helped them reach 1,020 feet the in attendance. Re-enactors por­ morning of Jan. 10. That's when traying the drillers scurried be­ mud, gas and drillpipe began low. blowing from the nole. left, the replica of the The 1901 Spindletop gusher near Former President George Then came the oil, in amounts Lucas gusher at Spindle­ Beaumont, Texas, proved that oil, Bush and other speakers at the never imagined, streaming an estimated 200 feet in the air. top spews during a until then a minor energy source, ceremony, including Houston water oilman Michel Halbouty, re­ "No production in the world reenactment The tower­ existed in quantities massive · enough to fuel the ongoing Industri­ counted how Spindletop helped had ever been like that," said ing column of water fuel the industrial revolution Halbouty, a Beaumont native. spouting from the replica al Revolution. Above, former Presi­ and make possible new tech­ "Not Baku (Russia), Pennsylva­ 1901 derrick, helped dent George Bush speaks to a nologies. nia or Corsicana (Texas). They southeast Texans cele­ crowd gathered for the recreation "Let future generations know were producing 50, 75, maybe brate the world's most of the Spimlletop gusher Jan. 10, that the oil from this Texas soil 100 barrels a day. Spindletop important oil strit-e• (AP· 100 years to the minute after the helped transform the American came in at 100,000 a day. In one Photo/Beaumont.Emer­ historic oil find. Below, a re-enactor land of liberty into a beacon of year the potential was for more prise/Jennifer Reyoolds) is silhouetted inside a replica of the freedom, hope and, yes, oppor­ oil than Iiad been produced up Spindletop oil derrick. (AP tunity to the world," Busn said. to that time." Photos/Pat Sullivan) The centennial celebration The drillers capped the well took place at a replica boom­ Jan. 19, but not until about 1 town on the campus of Lamar million barrels had spilled onto University, not far from the ac­ the ground. By then, prospect­ tual site, which sits on private ing had begun and the logging property. town of Beaumont grew from Spindletop drew worldwide 5,000 to 50,000 in weeks. It was attention because it was the the first of many oil boomtowns Western Hemisphere's first across. Texas in the early 20th gusher, proving oil was abun­ century. dant enough to become a pri­ Higgins "had a dream of how mary energy source. oil would be so wonderful for "The significance of Spindle­ people and how Beaumont top cannot be overlooked," ,said would be the center of the Halbouty, who at 91 knew many world because it had the ocean of Texas' early wildcatters, in­ and the energy," said Anne Pat­ cluding the Spindletop pfo­ tillo Foerster, Higgins' grand­ neers. "It started the modem daughter, who attended petroleum industry." Wednesday's ceremony along By the end of 1901, major in­ with several other descendants dustries already had begun of key players in the century­ readying for the oil age. old drama. 91 ......_rues__f"""'/;_:_1J..... e_1~"-l~s-001_ .. __ ~-~10 Clinton dedicates statue of Roosevelt in wheelchair By JEffREY McMURMY "It was a shame, disgrace and Associated Press Writer embarrassment to have his WASHINGTON (AP) - wheelchair hidden in this memo­ Franklin D. Roosevelt's efforts to rial when in fact he used it every conceal his affliction with polio day of his life," said Alan Reich, made. some family members president of the National Organi­ skeptical when people started zation on Disability, which spear­ planning a statue depicting the headed the initiative. former president in a wheelchair. While a nearby sculpture They eventually agreed that if shows hirn covered with a cape disabled people saw a monument in a straight chair with two tiny to a president in a wheelchair, wheels behind, the new statue they wouldn't be ashamed of vividly illustrates Roosevelt's af­ their own disabilities. fliction, which spanned his four­ After years of protests and term presidency. complaints, a bronze statue de­ It stands at the entrance of West picting Roosevelt in his self-de­ Potomac Park, featuring four signed wheelchair was unveiled rooms where tourists can explore Wednesday at a dedication cere- in chronological order the events . mony featuring President Clin­ of the Roosevelt years, from the ton. Great Depression to the dawn of Clinton said the memorial "ex­ World War II. ceeded my wildest dreams," es­ Lawrence Halprin, who de­ pecially for the way it was de­ signed the Roosevelt Memorial, signed with the disabled in rnind has said the new sculpture will - situated low enough for those nicely complement the display, in wheelchairs to touCh it. spread between the Potomac Riv­ "It is grand and beautiful, all er and the rirn of the Tidal Basin. right, but it is so accessible in a Few photos show Roosevelt in way that, I think, would have a wheelchair, and the media pleased President Roosevelt and largely granted his wish not to Mrs. Roosevelt," Clinton said. mention his disability in stories. "The power of the statue is in its Some political cartoons even de­ immediacy, and its reminder for picted him as running or hop­ all who touch, who see, who ping over opponents. wheel and walk around, that "In the time of FDR, he felt it they, too, are free." would not have been politically The statue joins an existing 7.5- expedient for hirn to be seen of­ acre monument to the author of ten in his wheelchair," Reich said. Above, President Clinton views the the New Deal featuring shade "He thought people would take new statue of Franklin Delano Roo­ trees, waterfalls and statues of that as a sign of weakness." sevelt with two of Roosevelt's grand­ Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor. Sen. Max Cleland, who also is children, Arm Roosevelt and Jim Roo­ "When you build a memorial, in a wheelchair after losing both sevelt, at the dedication ceremony for you build it not because the per­ legs and an arm in the Vietnam the new prologue to the FDR Memori­ son wanted it, but for the future War, said even he is amazed at al in Washington. (AP Photo/Hillery how his political hero persevered. - for generations who didn't Smith Ganison) know the man and didn't know "I get beat up flying," said Cle­ the era in which he lived," said land, D-Ga. "One wonders how grandchild Ann Eleanor Roo­ he did the traveling given his in­ Arbaugh· Pearce sevelt. firmity. He just kept on going, Disability groups raised $1.65 ~ght to th~ day ofhis death. It's eerti~ert million for tlie structure, starting Just unbelievable the streng!h, r Funeral G Home· with $378.50 from a bake sale in a stamina and drive this guy had." New Jersey elementary school. 332-4401 RAYJo~%~~1SEN The National Park Service agreed left, President Clinton makes re­ to add it in July 1998 after numer­ marks during the dedication cere­ PERSONAL RECORDS ous protests and complaints. mony. {AP Photos/Hillery Smith Gar­ rison) & PLANNING BOOK Because your last wishes are so important Country Music Hall ofFame makes way for bigger museu,m This FREE r;~l-1· :~~·.·-"' By MARTA W. ALDRICH thriving area of downtown traditions and manage the enter­ Record ~-~-:= Associated Press Writer Nashville about a mile from Mu­ prise. f~~~ ·i,._,.,:r_. '. Book Allows NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)­ sic Row, a .three-block area where Among its projects is the Hall ~·,,,11.-;11-1: The Country Music Hall of Fame the city's music industry oper­ of Fame that adjoins the museum ~ ... :!~.·~";1 You To: ;t~ Yeste~ears and Museum, which for 33 years ates. and honors Eddy Arnold, Roy has told the cultural story behind The old museum property will Rogers, Loretta Lynn, Merle Hag­ •Fill In Vital Information !J A historical journal country music, closed its doors be used as office space by music gard and 70 others.