Spindletop Hill in 1893 with no success. They tried again in 1895 and in 1896, failing each time because of the lack of adequate equipment. Higgins left the company in 1895. Although Higgins had promised to make his partners wealthy, they began to lose faith in the whole project. Higgins became known jokingly as the “Millionaire.” An Austrian-born mining engineer, Capt. Anthony F. Lucas had heard of Spindletop Hill while developing salt mines in Louisiana. After traveling to Beaumont, he became convinced there was oil at Spindletop and leased land from the Gladys City Company in 1899. When his first attempt failed, Lucas was ready to quit until his wife urged him to seek outside financing and try again. Lucas went to the famous Pittsburgh wildcatting team of James Guffey and John Galey. They were interested in Lucas’ prospects and approached Andrew Mellon for money to continue operations. Guffey and Galey hired the Hamill brothers of Corsicana, Texas, the best rotary drillers available. Al and Curt Hamill arrived in Beaumont and began drilling on the adjoining McFaddin-Weiss & Kyle tract of land in October 1900. In spite of tremendous difficulties they reached 1,000 feet by Christmas. After returning from the holidays, they encountered new problems. Upon reaching solid rock, their drill lodged in a crevice at 1,060 feet. At approximately 10:30 a.m. on January 10, 1901, while the Hamill brothers were attempting to free their drill from the crevice, the famous Lucas Gusher blew in. Oil sprayed more than 100 feet above the derrick for nine days until the well was capped. It was the greatest oil well ever seen. Although Lucas estimated its flow at 6,000 barrels per day, it was actually flowing 80,000 – 100,000 barrels per day. No longer was Patillo Higgins laughingly called the “Millionaire.” Practically overnight, thousands of sightseers, speculators, promoters, fortune seekers and “boomers” poured into Beaumont as news of the discovery spread. Gladys City was only one of the several concentrations of buildings that sprang up on Spindletop Hill. Businesses and residences were also located in the “Spindle Top,” Hogg-Swayne, Keith-Ward and Yellow Pine districts. By 1902, 285 active wells were operating on Spindletop Hill. More than 600 oil companies had been chartered. Although most vanished overnight, some such as Texas Company (Texaco), J.M. Guffey Petroleum Company (Gulf), Magnolia Petroleum Company (Mobil) and Sun Oil Company went on to become giants of the