Capital Petroleum Co. - Stock Certificate

Small size Stock with five 5 cents stamps. Austin, Texas. Uncancelled and not negotiable. Measures 9 1/4" x 5 1/2".

The modern American petroleum industry truly began at the beginning of the 20th century. The Capitol Petroleum Company wanted to be part of it, but failed. Although the first commercial U.S. oil discovery had taken place in 1859 in Pennsylvania (for making kerosene), demand for another refined product would create thousands of new companies. They searched for “black gold.” In Texas, an 1894 discovery of the Corsicana oilfield launched the Lone Star State’s petroleum industry, including its first refinery. The town’s leaders had hired a contractor to drill a water well and found oil instead. When the internal combustion engine arrived on the scene (the first U.S. auto show was in 1900) and electricity was replacing kerosene for illumination, new oilfield discoveries were providing oil for refining into gasoline. However, despite new drilling technologies and geological advancements, nine of 10 exploratory wells were “dry holes.” Many companies, despite promises made to investors, failed to survive. Just seven years before the first Model T rolled off the production line, a January 1901 giant oilfield discovery at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas, excited investors.