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On January 10, 1901, Andrew Lucas struck oil at Spindletop near Beaumont in East Texas, sending oil shooting 100 feet into the air. The well was soon producing more than 100,000 barrels of oil a day, and the Texas oil boom had begun!

James Hogg, the former governor of Texas, was among the early investors in the Spindletop oilfield. Within a month of the discovery, Hogg had formed the Hogg-Swayne Syndicate to sell and lease land to prospectors hoping to strike it rich. His company quickly merged with the Texas Fuel Oil Company to create the Texas Company, which is now known as Texaco.

Hogg used the proceeds from his Spindletop ventures to purchase the sprawling Patton Plantation on the Martin Varner tract in West Columbia. He cherished the farm as a family home, but also believed there was oil on the property.

Hogg never found oil in West Columbia during his lifetime, but he stipulated in his will that the land not be sold for fifteen years after his death, just in case. His hunch was correct, and in January 1918, twelve years after his death, the Hogg No. 2 well was drilled at the Plantation, the first significant oil discovery in the West Columbia oilfield.

Learn more about Governor Hogg and his family at the Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site.