When It Hit Him In the Face

When he died at age 100—40 years ago this year—he was the last of the Spindletop oil pioneers. Curtis G. Hamill was a driller on the 1901 discovery well that launched the Texas oil industry. As his obituary stated, Hamill was standing on a derrick platform 40 feet off the ground Jan. 10, 1901, when the gusher hit at Spindletop Hill, south of Beaumont, Texas. “The full force of the stream of oil hit Hamill in the face, signaling the start of the greatest oil boom in history. He landed on the derrick floor below, miraculously uninjured.” Do we count that as two miracles, mere seconds apart? Regardless, the gusher soared 150 feet into the air (see photo below), producing 100,000 barrels a day. The Texas miracle was on its way.