The Gusher & Common Sense

Related Post: What's Happened to COMMON SENSE?
 
Synonymous with Texas is oil. Synonymous with oil is 'gusher'. Synonymous with 'gusher' are crude, black gold and Texas tea. Sound familiar? If you were a avid viewer of the show Beverly Hillbillies from 1962 - 71, then, you remember...

Listen to a story about a man named Jed, a poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed, then one day he was shooting at some food, and up from the ground came a bubbling crude. Oil that is. Black gold. Texas tea. —Beverly Hillbillies, 1962-1971

While neither the show nor its theme song, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", is the focus, it is a great introduction to the 'gusher'. By the time the popular television series Beverly Hillbillies premiered, the oil industry was booming with Jed Clampett's gusher already having been preceded by thousands of others. 

This Day in History: January 10, 1901

The Modern Oil Industry Was Born
"Gusher of the Day"

The Lucas gusher at Spindletop, January 10, 1901.  

This was the first major gusher of the Texas Oil Boom.

One of those precedents was the First Great Texas Oil Gusher discovered at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas. A well at Spindletop struck oil ("came in") on January 10, 1901. 

As a result...

The modern oil industry was born on a hill in southeastern Texas. This hill was formed by a giant underground dome of salt as it moved slowly towards the surface. As it crept, it pushed the earth that was in its path higher and higher. This dome was known by several names, but the one that stuck was "Spindletop". Through the later half of the 19th century, Pennsylvania had been the most oil-productive state in the country. All that changed on January 10th, 1901. Read MORE...

Click image for slideshow.

The gusher flowed at an initial rate of approximately 100,000 barrels of oil per day and took nine days to cap. This oil strike was a turning point not only for Texas but for the nation signaling the start of the U. S. oil industry. Its discovery led to the establishment of Gulf Oil and Texaco, which are now part of the Chevron Corporation.

 

Did you know it was common sense that paved the way for the Declaration of Independence? Can you imagine uniting average citizens with political leaders 'commonsensically' today? Perhaps that is what America needs!

"Common Sense" by Thomas Paine, published

 

Thomas Paine, Common Sense (London: J. Almon, 1776).
The Charles J. Tanenbaum Collection of the Eighteenth Century TAN-0650

 "I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." —Thomas Paine 

This Day in History: January 10, 1776

Thomas Paine spoke to the common people of America using plain language. His pamphlet Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government, as well as the royal monarchy. This production set forth his arguments and advocated American independence from Britain. It is credited with uniting average citizens with political leaders paving the way for the Declaration of Independence. The highlight of Paine's pamphlet Common Sense is the remarkable role it played in transforming a colonial squabble into the American Revolution. More to the story...

In today's society, What's Happened to COMMON SENSE? A rude awakening in today's society is the seemingly lack of common sense. Are we simply becoming robots attuned to the surroundings of a non-believing world? Are we being guided toward decisions of truth vs. perception, right vs. wrong, freedom vs. control, positive vs. negative, fact vs. opinion (and, the list goes on. . .) without real sensical thinking?
The rest of the story...

 Know your history...it is from whence you came!

 Embrace Your Past, Empower the Present, Enrich Your Future