LUCICH DISCOVERY OF OIL AT SPINDLETOP JAN 10, 1901 AT 10:30 AM

A great man of whom little is written, yet who helped revolutionize American industry, came to America from Croatia. This man, Captain Anthony F. Lucas (Lucic) born on the shores of the beautiful Adriatic Sea, in the historic city of Split (Spalato), Dalmatia, suffered great hardships and set-backs when he came to America.

The Croatian Historical Research Bureau has made a survey of the life and work of Captain Lucas, with the intention of registering the deeds of -this great man and recording them for posterity. In the first issue of the American - Croatian Historical Review, which was dedicated to Captain Lucas, many interesting and heretofore unknown facts were revealed. We are pleased to be able to bring a portion of the story published in the REVIEW, in July, 1946:

The Island of Hvar, which in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries constituted an independent union w i t h two other neighboring islands, Brac and Vis, is located in the Adriatic Sea, near the Dalmatian shore, and is commonly known as the "Madeira of the Adriatic." On this island is the town of Hvar, an ancient fortress, which was a flourishing trading colony first with the Grecians, and, later with the Venetians, four hundred years before the birth of Christ. Many different nations have striven to possess it, but without success because the Croats, strong in spirit and limb, resisted those who were doing their utmost to move them from their beloved cliffs and beaches-from their ancient homeland.

Hvar, the fountain of Croatian poetry, in close coordination with the nearby Republic of Dubrovnik (Ragusa), represented the center of Croatian literature and culture as early as the sixteenth century.

We are able to trace the ancestors of the Lu6i6 family to this beautiful island, where we find, in the sixteenth century, the Croatian poet Hanibal Lu6i6, the author of the epic PISNI LJUVEN-E, and the drama ROBINJA.1 Here, also, we find a direct descendant of Hanibal LuM6, and of Illyrian nobility, Cap~ain Francis Stephen Lu6i6.

Captain Francis Stephen Lu6i6 was a shipownerand a shipbuilder on the Island of Hvar. He spent his entire youth on the 1sland, but shortly after his

marriage he and hisbride Joanna left na-tive town of Hvar andwent to the historicand picturesque capi-tol of the Province ofDalmatia, Split (Spala-to), (where in 293 A.D. the Emperor Diocle-tian established his of-ficial residence). Hereon September 9, 1855,a son, Anthony Fran-cis, was born to them,who eventually was tocome to the wastelandsof Texas and gain inter-national recognition forhis famous Spindletop,and the consequent re-volutionary strides inthe oil industry.

When young AnthonyFrancis reached theage of six, his parentsenrolled him in the

PubRc School of Split.However, when hereached high schoolage, his family movedto and settled in Tri-este (Trst), the city which today is the cause of a UN

controversy. Here Anthony was admitted to theLocal Gymnasium, and during this period his father,Captain Ludi6, served the navy of Austria-Hungary.

Immediately after young Anthony entered theGymnasium, his parents and professors noticed thathe possessed unusual interests in the engineeringfield' which led to his parents' decision to enroll himin t~e Polytechnic Institute at Gratz, Austria. Also

attending the Institute was another young man of nineteen, Nikola Tesla. How strange it is that Fate should have brought together these two boys, both -of whom made history, one in oil and other in the field of electricity, and both of whom made their names immortal in the world of science. It is a coincidence that two men who contributed so -much to the progress of America and the world should have graduated from the same school, Lu6i6 at the age of twenty, and Tesla only a year or two older. Even the birth of these geniuses was close. Lu6i6 was born September 9, 1855, and Tesla July 9, 1856, only ten months later.

Young Lu6id was graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in 1875, and enlisted as a midshipman in the Austro-Hungarian navy, where he was soon promoted to the rank of second lieutenant.

It will be fitting, and we believe necessary, at this point to quote the direct words spoken by the late Anthony Francis. He tells how he left the navy, how he came to the United States, and how he came to be known as Lucas instead of LuM6. From an interview with this great man, only a few years before his death, we quote:

Af ter Graduation, What Did You Do?

"I entered the Austrian navy as a midshipman and was promoted to second lieutenant. At that time an unpleasant incident made me very much dissatisfied with the rigor of the service, perhaps because of my Slav origin, so that I was glad to accept an invitation to pay a visit to an uncle of mine in this country. For that purpose I obtained a six months' leave of absence and

canie to the United States. That was in 1879, when I was twentyfour years old."I

I Have An Idea ' That Your Father's Name Was Not Lucas.

"My father's name was Luchich. The reason of the change was that when I came to America on a visit to my uncle, my father's brother, as I have stated, I found my uncle had adopted the name of Lucas, owing to the difficulty that Americans had in spelling and pronouncing Luchich. So, for the time, expecting to remain only three or four months, I permitted myself to be addressed as Lucas. When I decided to r-eside in the United States I retained this modification of the name.2

Accepted "Flattering

Engagement", And Decided To

Remain In The United States

In 1879, when Lucas arrived in the United States, the State of Michigan was a lumber country, and Saginaw, where Lucas found himself, was its center. Lucas was offered a "flattering engagement",3 as a designer in a saw mill, which he accepted. Here began his interesting career in America. However, before accepting the offer, Lucas asked for an extension of his leave for another six months, and this request was granted. At the expiration of his leave, Lucas decided to stay in the United States, and to become a naturalized citizen of the country. The necessary papers were filed at the Circuit Court 4t Saginaw, and on May 9, 1885, he received his citizenship papers at the Corporation Court, at Norfolk, Virginia.4

Lucas Honeymooning In His Native Dalmatia

Eight years after Lucas' arrival in America, he took his young and beautiful bride, Caroline FitzGerald, on a honeymoon trip to his native Dalmatia, visiting Split, Trieste, and Pola, where he had formerly served as a naval officer. The young couple spent one year abroad, and upon their return to this country established their home in Washington, D. C., where Lucas entered the miningmechanical engineering profession.

Working In Louisiana And Texas

In 1893 we find Lucas employed as a mining engineer at the salt mine in Petit Anse, Louisiana, where for three years he practiced the engineering and mining of salt.

To understand the conditions under which the great sources of salt were found in Louisiana, and the mining ingeniousness of Captain Lucas, we will again quote him.

What Was The Nature Of The Exploitation?

"I found the salt deposit only twenty feet below the drift soil, and the shaft one hundred and eighty feet deep. The mine and mill were in very bad condition, owing to the fact that water had found its way into the mine and caused a large cave. The mill was antiquated, it required constant care to check the caving and water in the mine, and the ravages of the salt on the mill machinery."5

Was There Any Other Technical Feature Worth Mentioning?

"Yes, the system of mining. I opened long drifts in virgin ground, adopting an overhead method of mining, feasible only under such conditions. A gallery was started with a seven-foot under-c'ut, fifty to sixty feet wide, and from two hundred to three hundred feet long. After clearing away this broken salt in tram cars, the second under-cut was started, eighteen to twenty

feet, in height, and when this was cleared the final mining was begun with the aid of three-pod ladders, upon which light handdrills were placed, drilling batteries of holes ten feet deep. Thus six or eight holes shot down hundreds of tons of salt. This method proceeded until, by the time the height reached fifty feet, no more ladders were needed, owing to the increased volume of the salt. The roof, of course, was arched toward the forty-foot pillars left standing. Suspiciously loose slabs of salt were pried down to make the roof safe, and by the time the men had finished, there remained a mass of from three to five thousand tons of broken salt, ready to be trammed and hoisted to the mill. By this method not a board or stick of timber was used or was needed.

When the mining in this chamber was completed, another under-cut was started laterally, and we thus had always in reserve one or more chambers full of broken salt, sixty feet wide, sixty feet high, and two to three hundred feet long, each containing from three to five thousand tons, at a cost of less than fourteen cents per ton of salt mined. The salt was of unusual purity, 98.59o' to 99% sodium chloride, the remainder being gypsum."5

What Did You Do Next?

"During. the three years that I was employed there, I became acquainted with Joseph Jefferson, the famous actor, who had an island known by his name, a few miles off Petit Anse. Mr. Jefferson was anxious to bore for water, and had actually given a contract, but the contractor found difficulty in complying with the terms of his agreement, owing to the boulders and sand through which he had to drill. At this time Mr. Jefferson asked me if I could see my way to help the contractor. Although employed by the salt people, I accepted eagerly, and helped by introducing a method of driving the casing, and succeeded in assisting the contractor to pass through the gravel bed. About one hundred feet deeper we struck what

appeared to be solid rock, but upon analysis, it proved to be an enormous bed of salt. Then Mr. Jefferson asked me if I would continue the exploration in an advisory capacity, which I did. I purchased a diamond drill from the Sullivan Machinery Co. of Chicago, and drilled to the depth of twenty-one hundred feet, still in salt, a total thickness of seventeen hundred and fifty feet of salt, without encountering any foreign substance."7

There is lengthy information on hand concerning the subject, showing how Captain Lucas explored other regions of Louisiana, Belle Isle, Weeks Island, and Anse La Butte. However, we will pass from the mining of salt and sulphur to the finding of oil.

Lucas At Beaumont, Texas,

And The Discovery Of The

Spindletop

Oil was known 3000 years B. C., and was used in ancient Babylon by marching torch bearers. It was found seeping along the banks of the River Euphrates.

The American Indians found oil, and showed it to the first Amercian settlers. Colonel E. L. Drake in 1859 drilled the first commercial oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania, but this well was only sixty-nine feet deep. By 1860 oil was a well-established commodity of trade in the United States.

Few of those who used oil then dreamed or realized that the "beautiful viscous fluid" coming from the ground would once revolutionize our methods of transportation; that it would drive powerful turbines; would propel battleships, submarines, airplanes, and luxurious automobiles; and that because of it wars would start, and nations change.

Captain L u c a s experienced many disappointments and discouragements from the day he arrived in Beaumont, Texas, until he realized his dreams.

Captain Lucas insisted on drilling at Beaumont, and we give

his own version of what took place in his struggle to obtain financial support to drill at Spindletop.

"I ... went to Beaumont, Tex., about seventy miles west of Lafayette. There I was attracted by an elevation, then known locally as Big Hill, although this hill amounted merely to a mound rising only twelve feet above the level of the prairie."8

What Led You To Prospect There?

"This mound attracted my attention on account of its contour, which indicated possibilities for an incipient dome below, and because at the apex of it there were exudations of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. This gas suggested to me, in the light of my experience at Belle Isle, that it might prove. a source of either sulphur or oil, or both. I decided to test it, therefore, and leased all. the ground that I could secure."9

How Many Acres?

"The hillock covered only 300 acres, of which I secured, 220 acres; but I leased altogether about 27,000 acres in the vicinity in order to have ample scope for exploration, although this proved unnecessary, as no oil was ever found beyond the contour of the dome."10

What Was Your First Result?

"This elevation had already been explored by three companies and none succeeded in penetrating below 250 feet in depth."11

Why?

"Because a bed of quicksand was struck at about 200 feet. Knowing that they used cabledrilling apparatus, I decided that that must have been the reason for their failure, so I set to work with rotary-drilling tools. The rotary drill at that time was almost unknown and was used only for artesian water wells of shallow depth on ranches and rice plantations. I penetrated the quicksand and soon realized that I was correct in my surmise of the reason why my predecessors had failed. I managed to pass the

quicksand and bored to a depth of 575 feet, encountering an oilsand but losing the well by gas collapse. I thought best, however, before proceeding with heavier rotary-drilling machinery, to seek geological and financial aid, so I went to a number of capitalists and laid before them my plans and expectations; but they turned me down. I. recall one instance, when a friend took me to see lormer Congressman Sibley, of Pennsylvania, to lay my pi-olect before him. He read me a lecture . . . 1112

You Did Not Abandon Your Quest?

"No, I went to others, for instance, to H. C. Folger, Jr. of the Standard Oil Co., in February 1899. . . . Mr. Folger, while he receiv4~d me graciously, declined. However, he promised to send Call Paine, of Titusville, the then Standard Oil expert, to examine my scheme. Paine arrived a month later, with J. S. Culliman, who later became president of the Texas Company. I showed them the location of my first shallow well and the heavy oil extracted therefrom. I also explained to them my "nascent dome' theory. It ended, however, with Mr. Paine's giving me a piece of well-meant advice, to wit, that there was no indication whatever to warrant the expectation of an oil field on the prairies of southeast Texas, that he had been in Russia, Borneo . . . and on every oil field of the United States, and that the indication I had shown him, there had no analogy to any oil field known to him, that I absolutely had no chance, as in fact there was not the slightest trace of even an oilescape; in conclusion, he advised me to go back to my profession of mining engineering. "13

That Was a -Squelcher; Did It Crush You?

"I retorted by showing him a demijohn of the heavy 17o B. oil, obtained at 575 feet. He characterized it as of no value and of no importance whatever, stating further that such heavy stuff could be found most anywhere.

I am, however convinced that Mr. Paine was sincere in his advice, which naturally shook my confidence."14

"Another incident happened during the fall of 1899 to shatter my faith in the venture. Charles W. Hayes, formerly Chief Geologist of the United States Geological Survey, accompanied by Edward W. Parker, formerly Chief Statistician of the Survey, dropped in on me to see what I was doing, and I explained to Mr. Hayes in detail my deductions of possible oil accumulations around great masses of salt, etc. He also discouraged me, saying that there were no precedents for expecting to find oil on the great unconsolidated sands and clays of the Coastal Plain, pointing to the well drilled by the City of Galveston, Texas over 3000 feet in depth (a big undertaking at that time, and one that cost the city nearly a million dollars), stating further that I had no seepages of oil, as a leader or indication, etc. I pointed to the great sulphur dome near Lake Charles, at that time in the course of development by Herman Frasch, whereon a limited production of 1 % barrels of oil was obtained-a heavy oil, it is true, and a straw for me to grasp-but no encouragement could I get from Mr. Hayes, whom I, of course, knew as one of the best geologists in the country. Thereupon I began to seek cooperation and financial aid from some one better fortified than myself financially. This led me to enlist the aid of J. M. Guffey, of Pittsburgh, who took up my proposition, but to whom I waz obliged to relinquish the larger part of my interest in the ventur.e."15

In spite of this shocking experience, however, and with firm determination, Captain Lucas began to drill. The crew consisted of A. W. Hamill, his brother Curt,

Henry McLean, and Peck Byrd. Work began on October 27, 1900.

In order that we may know what actually occured on the historic date when oil was struck, let Al Hamill tell us in detail.

". . . On December 9 it was my turn to get up at midnight for my 18-hour shift. As usual, I tried to make all the hole I could. The evening before, we had put up an additional joint of drill pipe. At about three o'clock in the morning I noticed the pump working more freely, and the rotary turning very easily, so I began to let the pipe down, and soon had most of it down. As daylight began to appear, I -could detect oil on ditch and slush pit. When Curt and Byrd appe.-Lted with my little bit of breakfast, the slush pit had a big showing of oil on it. We at once sent Byrd for Captain Lucas, who lived about a mile and a half from where we were drilling.

"On his arrival, he showed some excitement and asked how much of a well I thought it would make. The only experience any of us had was in drilling small wells in the Corsicana Field, but I thought it would easily make 50 barrels a day. Captain Lucas asked us to put up another joint of drill pipe to see how much oil formation there was. After making about 35 feet through the soft sand, we struck hard going at about 880 feet.1116

. After spending Christmas week at their homes, the drillers returned to work. Mr. Hamill's story continues:

"January 1, 1901, we were back on the job. In the following seven days we made 140 feet of hold, making a total of 1,020 feet. There we seemed to hit a crevice. In letting pipe down in one place, it would go at least six inches farther than it would by giving the pipe a quarter turn. In rotating, our pipe would hang up and jerk the rotary chain to pieces. We kept grinding away without making any headway.

". . . We put the new bit (fishtail) on, and had about 700 feet of the drill pipe back in the hole when the rotary mud began flow

*up through the rotary table. It

came so fast and with such force that Curt, who was up on the double boards, was drenched with mud and water and had a hard time getting out of danger.

"Soon the 4-inch drill pipe started up through the derrick, knocking off the crown block and shooting through the top of the derrick and breaking off in lengths of several joints at a time as it shot skyward.

"After the mud, water, and pipe were blown out, gas followed, but only for a short time. Then the well was very quiet. We ventured back, after our wild scramble for safety, to find things in a terrible mess. There were at least six inches of mud on the derrick floor, and our equipment had suffered some damage.

"Naturally, we were all disgusted. We started shoveling the mud away-when, without warning, a lot of heavy mud shot out of the well with the report of a cannon. It was followed for a short time with gas, then oil showed up on head flows. In a very short time oil was going up through the top of the derricks, and rocks were being shot hundreds of feet into the air. Within a very few minutes, the oil was holding a steady flow at more than twice the height of the derrick.

"As soon as I pulled myself together, Peck Byrd'was again started on the run for Captain Lucas. It was not long until we saw Captain Lucas coming over the small hill with his horse at full run. About this time he decided his horse was too slow, so he jumped from the buggy, picked himself up, and ran up to me shouting: 'Al! AD What is it?' When I told him 'oil', he exclaimed: 'Thank God,' and grabbed me and hugged me good and hard.1117

At that moment a new epoch was born in the oil industry, and the name of Captain Anthony Francis Lucas was immortalized!

While the tremendous gas pressure and volume of oil were running wild, and the well was blowing 200-odd feet into the air and

pouring an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 barrels of oil onto the ground, the country as a whole became electrified. Fifty thou

sand people descended upon Beaumont to see the wonder, the shooting oil of Spindletop, four miles away. The Lucas well was heard 'round the world'."18

The well went wild, and for full ten days shot oil into the air, making a lake of about 100 acres. The tapping of the well became a serious problem. Regarding this, Captain Lucas says:

"During the ten days that preceded the closing of the well, I had innumerable offers from irresponsible people to close it for me, because some newspapers had published a statement that I would give $10,000 to any one who would close the well. One of the offers was made to me by a woman of Illinois. She telegraphed that if I would put the $10,000 in a bank, subject to her order, she would use her occult power to discipline nature. However, I realized that it was up to me and my men to solve the problem. In ten days we completed the construction of a steelrail carriage to pass an 8-inch gate walve over the 6-inch stream of oil. At ten o'clock in the morning of the tenth day with the aid of block and tackle, I started to drive and drag this valve, which was woven with the iron rails, to -enter this powerful stream. At the first impact, when this gate valve, which was open, came in contact with the stream of oil, the derrick, badly shaken but still holding, began to rock, and I remember picking up one of the fossils on the ground to throw at the horses so as to urge them to faster speed, until finalh the valve passed the stream of oil, which was turned inside of it. Then we screwed the valve on the 8-inch casing, and that closed the gusher. This discovery of oil led to the development of a big oil field, which later became

Known as 6pindletop. It has produced over fifty million barrels of oil, and is still producing."19

I Hope, Captain, That You Received Proper Financial Reward This Time?

"I did, but my chief reward was to have created a precedent in geology whereby the Gulf Coast of the Coastal Plain has been and is now a beehive of production and industry. Owing to the fact that Mr. Guffey and the Mellon group had a lot of money and I had not, I accepted their offer and sold my interest to them for a satisfactory SUM.1120

Captain Lucas did not stop

with the discovery of Spindletop. He worked hard, throughout the remainder of his life, looking for oil, and consulting with others who worked in the same field. He traveled to Mexico, where he spent approximately three years, and where he located ~ two oil fields, the San Cristobal and the Jaltipan.

In 1905, he returned to Washington, D. C., where he continued his practice as consultant engineer. His work took him to various parts of the world, notably Russia, North Africa, Algeria, Roumania, Galicia, and Germany.

After a brief illness, at the age of sixty-six years, Captain Lucas passed away on September 2, 1921, at Washington, D. C.

Symbolic monuments to the great mining engineer Captain Lucas appear everywhere. Every oil well, every derrick, every gasoline station, reminds us of the great contribution to the progress of America and the world which was made by a man of Croatian descent, of Slav ancestry. Croatia may well be proud of her native-born son, Captain Anthony Francis Lucas.