Anthony Francis Lucas (born Antun Lučić; September 9, 1855 – September 2, 1921) was a
Croatian-born American oil explorer. With
Pattillo Higgins
Pattillo Higgins (December 5, 1863 – June 5, 1955) was an American businessman and a self-taught geologist. He earned the nickname the "Prophet of Spindletop" for his endeavors in the Texas oil business, which accrued a fortune for many. He part ...
he organized the drilling of an
oil well near
Beaumont, Texas, that became known as
Spindletop. This led to the widespread exploitation of oil and the start of the petroleum age.
Early life
Christened Antonio Francesco Luchich, he was the son of Captain Francis Stephen Luchich, a prosperous
Montenegrin shipbuilder and shipowner from the Croatian island of
Lesina, and his wife Giovanna Giovanizio.
[ According to Lucas himself, who was proud of his heritage, the Luchich family was pure Montenegrin by blood, descended from ancient Illyrian ( Dalmatian) nobility,][ and he sometimes called himself in society events "Count Anthony rançois Maria VincentGiovanizio de Bertuchevich Lucas".] Born in the Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...
city of Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, entertai ...
, his family moved to Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
, where his father served in the Austro-Hungarian navy.
At the age of 20, Lucas completed studies at the Polytechnical Institute
An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...
(Technische Hochschule
A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ). ...
) in Graz, Austria
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...
, and became an engineer. After graduating from the Austrian Naval Academy of Pula and Rijeka, Lucas was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1878.[
]
Move to the United States
In 1879, Lucas visited his uncle in Saginaw
Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...
, Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
, and started work in a sawmill, improving the design of a gang saw then in use. In 1883, he started working in the Colorado, California and North Carolina gold, copper, silver and iron mining industries. He changed his name to Anthony Francis Lucas, receiving his naturalization papers on May 9, 1885, at Norfolk, Virginia. He married Caroline Weed Fitzgerald in 1887. They moved to Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
in 1888, where Lucas worked as a mechanical and mining engineer, except for a two year break prospecting for gold in Colorado. Their son Anthony FitzGerald was born on 21 July 1889.[
]
Career
In 1893, Lucas started to work as a salt mine
Salt mining extracts natural salt deposits from underground. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite formations.
History
Before the advent of the modern internal combustio ...
superintendent for Myles and Company of . The damaged mine was located at Petite Anse (Avery Island
Avery Island (historically french: Île Petite Anse) is a salt dome best known as the source of Tabasco sauce. Located in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States, it is approximately inland from Vermilion Bay, which in turn opens onto the Gulf ...
), and over the next three years, Lucas restored operations.[
Lucas drilled and explored for salt on Jefferson Island for Joseph Jefferson, and Belle Isle, where he discovered the relationship between salt deposits, sulfur, natural gas, and oil deposits. In Lucas' words, "This led me to study the accumulation of oil around salt masses, and I formed additional plans for prospecting other localities. Thus I began my investigations into the occurrence of oil on the Coastal Plain." In 1898, Lucas mined salt on Grand Côte, Weeks Island, and Anse la Butte, having by then become an expert on ]salt dome
A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when salt (or other evaporite minerals) intrudes into overlying rocks in a process known as diapirism. Salt domes can have unique surface and subsurface structures, and they can be discovered usin ...
s.[
]
Lucas Gusher
In 1899, Lucas visited the Sour Spring Mound south of Beaumont, Texas, with Pattillo Higgins
Pattillo Higgins (December 5, 1863 – June 5, 1955) was an American businessman and a self-taught geologist. He earned the nickname the "Prophet of Spindletop" for his endeavors in the Texas oil business, which accrued a fortune for many. He part ...
. This was the future site of Spindletop. Lucas noted, "This mound attracted my attention on account of the contour, which indicated possibilities for an incipient dome below, and because at the apex of it there were exudations of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. This has suggested to me, in the light of my experience at Belle Isle, that it might prove a source of either sulphur or oil, or both." Lucas then signed a lease agreement with the Gladys City Oil, Gas, and Manufacturing Company, and a separate agreement with Higgins.[
Using a rotary ]drilling rig
A drilling rig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill wa ...
from Louisiana, Lucas began his well in August or September 1899, reaching a depth of in Dec. At a depth of , the casing collapsed, but only after a layer of oil sand was found.[
Short on money, Lucas sought funding from any source, including Henry Folger of Standard Oil, but to no avail. Lucas received an opportunity when Dr. William Battle Phillips, geologist for the ]University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
and the Texas State Mineral Survey, endorsed Lucas' dome theory, and wrote a letter of introduction to John H. Galey. Galey, with his partner James M. Guffey, put together financing with Andrew Mellon
Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), sometimes A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. From the wealthy Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylv ...
, allowing Lucas to drill three wells deep. Lucas also retained 12.5 percent of the deal. Galey further recommended that the Hamill brothers, Al, Curt, and Jim, drill the well.[
After reaching the depth of , on 10 January 1901, mud and water erupted followed by a stream of crude oil reaching . The eruption lasted nine days, flowing between 70,000 and 100,000 barrels per day, before the Lucas Gusher was finally brought under control.][
Beaumont became a ]boomtown
A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...
. Yet, tiring of his loss of privacy, in May 1901, Lucas sold his stock in the Guffey Petroleum Company, and continued his scientific search for oil in the United States and Mexico.[
]
Legacy
The Lucas Gusher helped revolutionize world fuel use and transformed the economy of southeast Texas. It helped further the development of the combustion engine automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarde ...
since significant amounts of energy were needed for fuel. The city of Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
become the national center of the oil industry
The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...
, with the United States surpassing Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
as the world's leading producer.
Anthony Francis Lucas is considered to be the founder of modern petroleum reservoir engineering. He later served as a consulting engineer in Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
, Russia, Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
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, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
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, relig ...
, as well as in the United States. As a successful businessman and expert in mining, Lucas was the lifelong chairman of the American Committee for Oil and Gas.
Inventions and applications
A number of Lucas inventions and scientific or technical knowledge were used in early oil exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology.
Exploration methods
Vis ...
and extraction, with most still being employed. Some are:
* overhead method of mining in salt mines
* surface exploration for underground mineral deposits
* application of steam-driven, hydraulic-rotary drilling rig and of mud in oil well drilling
* construction and application of back pressure valve
* construction of blowout preventer
A blowout preventer (BOP) (pronounced B-O-P, not "bop") is a specialized valve or similar mechanical device, used to seal, control and monitor oil well, oil and gas wells to prevent Blowout (well drilling), blowouts, the uncontrolled release of ...
s
* designing of well logs
* invention of the Christmas tree oil well
Heritage
Lucas died on September 2, 1921, in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
He was often mistakenly described as Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
, sometimes even as a Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
-born Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
. On his grave in Rock Creek Cemetery
Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. It is across the stre ...
in Washington, D.C., he is described as being of Illyric origin, which was the standard term for Croatian at the time.
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
Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology.
Exploration methods
Vis ...
. A museum with a granite obelisk was built to honor the explorer about which is inscribed: "On this spot on the tenth day of the twentieth century a new era in civilization began."[ Texas History:
Oil's Big Day]
Gusher Monument and Replica Oil Boomtown A street and an elementary school in Beaumont, Texas, bear his name.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Anthony Francis
1855 births
1921 deaths
American petroleum geologists
Texas Oil Boom people
Wildcatters
History of the petroleum industry in the United States
Austro-Hungarian Navy officers
Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States
People from Beaumont, Texas
Engineers from Trieste
Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery
19th-century American geologists
20th-century American geologists