New Uses for Oil and Gas

During the Texas boom, oil was plentiful and cheap. So people found new uses for oil. Railroads and ships began to use oil instead of coal.

Why was coal no longer used by railroads and ships?

• Coal was dangerous.

• Coal was more expensive than oil.

• Oil was more expensive than coal.

The discovery of oil benefited many individuals in Texas. In the early 1900s, many Americans began to drive cars. Every year, more and more cars were seen on Texas roads. Cars ran on gasoline, an oil product. As the number of cars rose, so did the demand for oil. The new cars also needed paved roads. Petroleum was used to make the pavement.

According to the text, what was one benefit of oil?

• More cars were built

• More roads could be paved for cars.

• Americans began to drive cars.

Oil changed life on the farm too. Farmers had always used horses and mules to pull equipment. Now, they began to use tractors. The tractors ran on gasoline. With gasoline-powered equipment, farmers could plant and harvest more land. So farms got larger.

How did life get better for the farmers?

• They no longer had to use animals to pull equipment.

• They made more money selling gasoline.

• They made more money by selling their horses and mules.

After the oil boom, Texas became more industrialized. The number of factories increased because cheap oil was used to power the machinery in factories. This spurred urbanization in Texas. Many Texans from small farms sold their land and went to work in the new factories in towns and cities.

What was one cause of urbanization in Texas?

• More factories were built in towns and cities.

• People sold their land.

• Factories could buy cheap oil.

As the years passed, people found many more uses for oil. Paint, for example, is made from oil. So are many lotions and medicines. Even the lip balm you use for chapped lips is an oil product. Plastic is one of the most common items made from oil. From clothes to cars to containers, plastic is used to make countless products.

Which item is made from oil? Select all that apply.

• chapped lips

• paint

• plastic

• lip balm

During the Texas oil boom, well drillers found more than oil. They also discovered natural gas. Oil and gas deposits are often in the same area. Over time, natural gas became a major industry in Texas. Like oil, natural gas formed millions of years ago. As plants and animals died, their remains were covered with sand and mud. Over time, the sand and mud turned into rock, trapping the remains. Eventually, heat and pressure changed the remains into gas. To reach this gas, well drillers cut through the rock above it.

What caused the animal and plant remains to turn into gas?

• They were covered in rocks.

• Heat and pressure was added to the rocks that covered the animal and plant remains.

• Heat and pressure is added to oil.

The first gas well in Texas was drilled in 1907. This well was part of the Petrolia oil field near Wichita Falls. A businessman named Edwy Brown contributed to the urbanization of Texas. He began piping gas to nearby towns and cities. By 1913, his company, Lone Star Gas, was supplying this clean-burning fuel to Dallas and Fort Worth.

When was the first gas well drilled in Texas?

• 1913

• 1931

• 1907

More towns became urban centers. As in Dallas and Fort Worth, gas was piped to towns and cities near gas deposits. At first, gas was mainly used to heat furnaces and water heaters. By the late 1880s, manufactures started selling stoves fueled by gas. Eventually gas became a major source of power for industries. Natural gas came to be used to produce products such as steel, glass, paper, clothing, brick, and electricity.

What was gas initially used for?

• To create plastic

• To power electricity

• To heat furnaces

Supplying gas to consumers was no easy task. Gas companies had to build pipelines. These underground pipes stretched from the gas wells to homes and factories. Some were hundreds of miles long. Building and caring for pipelines became a major industry. Most gas pipelines led to cities, not the countryside. The new clean fuel was a benefit of city life. Factories and businesses opened in places where they could get natural gas. That helped cities grow. Today, Texas has more natural gas pipelines than any other state.

Why was it challenging to supply gas before pipelines were built?

• Gas was heavy to transport.

• Gas wells were too far from factories and homes.

• It was not challenging.

In 1925, a major natural gas field was discovered in the Texas Panhandle near Amarillo. One well there produced more than 100 million cubic feet of gas a day! People rushed to the region to find jobs and opportunities. A new town, Borger, sprang up. Thousands of people rushed to the new boomtown. The population of Amarillo soon tripled. The panhandle gas field supplied jobs and wealth for a long time. Over 75 years, it produced 8 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Why did people rush to the Texas Panhandle?

• A major gas field was discovered.

• The weather was nicer in the Texas Panhandle.

• The population of Amarillo tripled.