Geologist and engineer, born in Spalato, Austria. He went to the USA in 1879. Drawing on his geological knowledge, he drilled for and struck oil at Spindletop, near Beaumont, TX in 1901, the first of the great Texas oil finds. He became world famous but received small financial reward for his work.
Anthony Francis Lucas (September 9, 1855–September 2, 1921) was responsible for the first successful oil well at the Spindletop oil field in Southeast Texas, which made Beaumont, Texas one of the first oil boomtowns.
Early life
Lucas was born Antun Lučić to the family of shipbuilder and shipowner, Stjepan Lučić, in the city of Split (Croatia), then part of the Habsburg monarchy.
After regular education, already at the age of twenty he completed studies at the Polytechnical Institute, (Technische Hochschule) in Graz, Austria), becoming the mechanical engineer.
Visit to U.S.
In 1879, Lučić visited his uncle in the United States, (Saginaw, Michigan).
In 1893, Lucas started to work in the salt exploration in Louisiana for the New Orleans company at Petite Anse Avery Island). Working at more different locations, (Grand Cote,Anse la Butte and Belle Isle), until 1896 he gained experience of which the most promising was that one of the possible relationship between the salt deposits and the sulfur, (most probably even crude oil), in the tertiary sediments of the Gulf Coast region.
Spindletop
In 1899, Lucas became drilling contractor and leased the land south of Beaumont, Texas from the oil explorer Pattillo Higgins. He believed that the site - Spindletop hill south of Beaumont - was covering a vast pool of crude oil. Since able to deal with technical difficulties on his own but short on money, Lucas asked for help John Rockefeller, the one of the Standard Oil. Finally, after reaching the depth of 370 m, in 10.30 in the morning of January 10, 1901, gas eruption occurred followed by the stream of crude oil reaching the height of 60 m.
The Lucas Gusher, (also called the Lucas Spindletop Gusher), produced around 14 000 t of oil a day. The occasion witnessed by about 50 000 spectators was the earliest mass exploitation of the crude oil, in the entire world. With 1902 as many as 285 wells were operating on Spindletop Hill and over 600 oil companies had been chartered. Lucas possessed just a tiny share in company he helped to establish.
The discovery revolutionized world fuel use and transformed the economy of Southeast Texas. With time, the city of Houston become national center of the oil industry, and the United States surpassed Russia as the world's leading producer.
His broad knowledge of geology enabled him to differentiate prospective fields from those considered unsuitable for exploration. As successful businessman and undisputed expert in mining, Lucas was the life long chairman of an American Committee for Oil and Gas.
Inventions and Applications
Great number of Lucas inventions, scientific or technical knowledges were applied for the first time in the oil exploration, extraction. Some of them are:
overhead method of mining in salt mines surface exploration of underground mineral deposits application of hydraulic rotary rig in oil well drilling construction and application of back pressure valve use of clay for drilling fluids construction of blowout, so called "killing" equipment designing of well logsHeritage
Lucas died in Washington, D.C.
In 1936 the American Institute for Geological and Metallurgical Investigations founded the Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal prize for development in the area of oil exploration. As the true pioneer of oil mining, Anthony F.
User Comments Add a comment…