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What is black gold?

"Black gold" is a term applied to oil or petroleum, which is black when it comes out of the ground and is worth a great deal of money. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, oil from animal tallow (fat) and whale blubber was used as a lubricant and fuel. In 1859 retired railroad conductor Edwin L. Drake drilled a well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, and struck oil. Soon western Pennsylvania became an important oil-producing area, and petroleum products (such as kerosene) replaced whale oil in lamps. In the 1880s prospectors discovered oil in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana; in 1901 the Spindeltop Field was found in eastern Texas. During the early 1900s Texas and California became leading oil producers, meeting the demand for new products, such as gasoline to fuel the newly invented automobile.

Further Information: Bredeson, Carmen. The Spindletop Gusher: The Story of the Texas Oil Boom....

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