Giant Under the Hill: a History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas, in 1901.

By Judith Walker Linsley, Ellen Walker Rienstra, and Jo Ann Stiles. (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, c. 2002. Pp. xii, 304. $29.95, ISBN 0-87611-182-7.)

Giant Under the Hill, the first collaboration between the three authors, is a well-written and thoroughly researched account of the spectacular early-twentieth-century oil boom in southeast Texas. Virtually every discovery of oil has generated its share of heroic tales of scrappy entrepreneurs, hardy workers, and daring capitalists, but perhaps none more than the Spindletop gusher near Beaumont, Texas, in 1901. Authors Judith Walker Linsley, Ellen Walker Rienstra, and Jo Ann Stiles have done a solid job of sorting through these tales to bring together a wealth of information, gleaned from an impressive array of primary and secondary sources, and shape it into a highly readable and entertaining narrative.

The book begins with a brief look at the early "oil signs" that attracted the interest of locals (p. 11), then mores to an examination of the assemblage of characters whose paths began to converge in Beaumont and eventually led to the discovery of oil. The authors provide colorful characterizations and succinct appraisals of the actions of the key figures: Pattillo Higgins, the doggedly persistent visionary who believed the peculiar geology of the area would yield oil; Anthony Lucas, the respected mining engineer/geologist who would be credited with the discovery of oil, the Hamill brothers--Al, Curt, and Jim--who succeeded in drilling the well; and veteran oilmen James Guffey and John Galey, who provided financial backing.

Next, the authors describe in thorough detail the boom that followed. They manage to capture the sense of frenzy that attended the efforts of others as they tried to capitalize on the opportunities, both legal and illegal, that abounded. The unbridled speculation, rapid economic expansion, and subsequent discoveries of oil in the surrounding area portended the pattern of major booms elsewhere, but more importantly, they signaled the possibility that petroleum might fuel America's continuing industrial growth in the new century if enough oil could be found. The prodigious output of the Spindletop field provided the answer.

Giant Under the Hill is an important work that will be of interest to local, state, and regional historians. The book provides a balanced study of Spindletop by looking at all the people involved without trying to ascribe undue significance to one character over another. The authors have placed Spindletop into a larger oil history context as well. Spindletop was irresistibly alluring, drawing wildcatters and entrepreneurs from everywhere. These individuals hoped either to cash in on the bonanza at Beaumont of to find their own Spindletops elsewhere. In doing so, the petroleum industry rapidly expanded and provided the foundations for what some historians regard as the "oil century."

RAY MILES

McNeese State University