This day in history

[Peter1469]

January 10, 1901
Gusher signals start of U.S. oil industry

Black gold

On this day in 1901, a drilling derrick at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas, produces an enormous gusher of crude oil, coating the landscape for hundreds of feet and signaling the advent of the American oil industry. The geyser was discovered at a depth of over 1,000 feet, flowed at an initial rate of approximately 100,000 barrels a day and took nine days to cap. Following the discovery, petroleum, which until that time had been used in the U.S. primarily as a lubricant and in kerosene for lamps, would become the main fuel source for new inventions such as cars and airplanes; coal-powered forms of transportation including ships and trains would also convert to the liquid fuel.

[DGUtley]

January 10, 1901 Gusher signals start of U.S. oil industry Black gold

This will likely get you a drone strike, saying something nice about a fossil fuel.

[Peter1469]

This will likely get you a drone strike, saying something nice about a fossil fuel.

Oil caused a great economic advancement that would not have occurred had we stayed with coal. Humanity has been based on various primary fuel sources since the simple "camp" fire.

Wood allowed us to advance only so far and did great damage to our forests.

Then coal replaced wood and allowed for a massive advancement of economy and population. But it was dirty. It however allowed the forests to start to come back.

Then we found oil and there was a massive advancement of economies and populations. Without it we would have a far lower standard of living than we have today, and a far more polluted environment.

Just as we moved from wood to coal to oil, so to oil will be replaced by something else. It amuses me to see people act as if the historical changes of fuels has ended.

[del]

the american oil business started in the 1850s in pennsylvania.

standard oil was founded in 1870

[Peter1469]

the american oil business started in the 1850s in pennsylvania.

standard oil was founded in 1870

Yes, there was oil production prior to this, but I think the point is that this made oil go big time.

[del]

fair point

we need to go nuke

[Peter1469]

1879 British-Zulu War begins

The British-Zulu War begins as British troops under Lieutenant General Frederic Augustus invade Zululand from the southern African republic of Natal.

The short article covers some 34 years of history in what is now South Africa. It was the clash of migrating cultures. The Zulu moving south and the Boers followed by the British moving north.

[Mister D]

1879 British-Zulu War begins



The short article covers some 34 years of history in what is now South Africa. It was the clash of migrating cultures. The Zulu moving south and the Boers followed by the British moving north.

The First Anglo-Boer War was fought only a year later.

[del]

1922

HMS Victory (104) entered dock at Portsmouth where she remains to this day.

she is the oldest warship in the world still in commission. her keel was laid down in 1759



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victory

[DGUtley]

On this date in legal history: European human cloning treaty signed. On January 12, 1998, nineteen European nations signed a treaty prohibiting human cloning within their jurisdictions. Review the terms of the Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings.