Black-and-white photograph of an oil derrick with a gusher of oil shooting from the top

Spindletop is a salt dome oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil ("came in"). The new oil field soon produced more than 100,000 barrels (16,000 m³) of oil per day.^[2] Gulf Oil and Texaco, now part of Chevron Corporation, were formed to develop production at Spindletop.^[3]

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spindletop