2. Boomtowns
• Oil drew thousands of people to
oil fields and nearby towns
• Beaumont: 9,000 50,000
• Sour Lake: village 10,000
• Boomtowns crowded, dirty, and
rough
3. The Automobile &
Petrochemical Industries
• The technological
development that most
assured the success of the
oil industry was the
automobile, with its internal
combustion engine
• These engines used gasoline
4. The Automobile &
Petrochemical Industries
• Petrochemical products:
– Synthetic rubber
– Plastics
– Carbon black (used in tires,
ink)
5. The Effects of the Oil Boom
• 1899: Texas legislature
began to try to protect
groundwater from oil
pollution
• Legislature made it illegal to
waste oil and natural gas
6. The Effects of the Oil Boom
• 1917: State
gave the
Texas Railroad
Commission
authority to
regulate the
oil business
7. The Effects of the Oil Boom
• 1905: State begins
collecting taxes on oil
• 1876: Legislature set aside 1
million acres in West Texas
for the Permanent University
Fund
8. The Effects of the Oil Boom
Santa Rita No. 1—oil
well that struck oil and
helped establish the
Permanent University
Fund
Pictures of Santa
Rita No. 1
9. The Effects of the Oil Boom
• The Texas A&M University System
& University of Texas System use
money from the Permanent
University Fund
10. The Effects of the Oil Boom
• Education in Texas has
benefited from the oil industry:
– Taxes on oil
– Permanent University Fund
– Philanthropy
11. The Effects of the Oil Boom
• Philanthropy—giving money or
gifts for charitable causes
• Philanthropists give money to
education, hospitals, & the arts
• Oil industry created jobs and
spurred industry
