Barbers Hill Oil Field
Mont Belvieu, Chambers County, Texas
Marker Inscription
While digging a 65-ft. water well near his home in 1889, Elmer W. Barber (1854-1935), whose father Amos Barber first settled this area, encountered inflammable gas near the top of the salt dome known as Barbers Hill. After the Spindletop discovery in 1901, prospectors sought leases here. In 1902 Pattillo Higgins (1863-1955), an early Spindletop promoter, drilled on the northwest slope of the hill. His shallow well, like those of other early operations, yielded little, and the low price of crude oil discouraged large investment. The United Petroleum Co. No. 1 Fisher, drilled in 1918, produced 70 barrels a day, the field's first oil in commercial quantities. Drilling resumed in 1926, when the Mills Bennett Production co. and the Humphreys Corp. brought in the A. E. Barber No. 1, yielding 500 barrels a day. The success later that year of their B-2 Kirby, reaching a depth of 4,174 ft., triggered a leasing campaign and launched a period of rapid expansion which lasted until the late 1930s. Rows of oil derricks and tent dwellings were a common sight during the boom. As the population of the community grew, oil money helped upgrade and enlarge school facilities. By 1977, the local economy had shifted from production to storage of petroleum..
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1889, while digging a water well near his home atop the Barbers Hill salt dome, Elmer W. Barber struck flammable gas — an early hint of the oil beneath. After Spindletop's famous 1901 gusher, prospectors including promoter Pattillo Higgins leased and drilled here, but it was the 1926 A.E. Barber No. 1 and B-2 Kirby wells that launched a decade-long boom of derricks and tent camps. Oil money enlarged local schools, and by 1977 the community had shifted from producing to storing petroleum.
Why it matters
Barbers Hill shows the full arc of a Texas salt-dome oil field — from an accidental discovery to boomtown frenzy to the storage hub role the Gulf Coast still plays today.
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Related people
- · Elmer W. Barber
- · Pattillo Higgins
Related events
- · Spindletop
Themes & tags
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