DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the City of Humble. Now settle in, because this one starts quiet — real quiet — and then the ground opens up and changes everything. We're out here in Harris County, and before any of this gets loud, there's a man named Pleasant Smith Humble.
That question mark after 1835 tells you recordkeeping was loose on the frontier, but he was here before 1889, and he was busy. Hewing timber into railroad ties. Mining gravel right out of his own land.
Keeping store. Serving as justice of the peace. Man wore a lot of hats.
His neighbors — the Benders, the Durdins, the Isaackses, the Lees, the Slaughters, the Williamses — they were building a crossroads community together, working farms, running sawmills. The post office didn't even open until 1902. This was a village of seven hundred souls, quiet as a Sunday afternoon.
Then comes C. E. Barrett.
The year is 1904, and Barrett — born in 1866, and we'll come back to what the ground gave him — drills for oil out in this area. He gets something, a little production up on a place called Moonshine Hill. Enough to keep going.
Enough to make a man wake up early on January the seventh, 1905. That's the day Barrett brings in the No. 2 Beaty Well. Eight thousand five hundred barrels.
A day. From seven hundred people to twenty thousand — just like that, Humble became a boom town. And the field itself?
Largest production in all of Texas for the year 1905, at fifteen million, five hundred ninety-four thousand, nine hundred and twenty-three barrels of oil. That number doesn't fit comfortable in the mouth, and it didn't fit quiet on the map either. The field was named for the town, and then in 1911, a group of the field's own operators — including a man named Ross S.
Sterling, who would go on to serve as governor of Texas from 1931 to 1933 — incorporated a new oil company named for that same field. And just like that, a name that started with one man hewing timber at a crossroads got carried into the annals of world commerce. Now here's the kicker the marker saves for last.
You've heard of Spindletop — everybody has — that fabulous field that put Texas oil on the map. Well, by 1946, production from several strata right here at Humble had exceeded the total for Spindletop. Known as the greatest salt dome field, Humble still produces.
And the town for which it was all named? It continued to thrive. Pleasant Smith Humble just kept store and cut his railroad ties.
The ground had bigger plans.
What the marker says
A pioneer oil boom town. Originated as crossroads community named for settler Pleasant Smith Humble (1835?-1912), who lived here before 1889, hewing his timber into railroad ties, mining gravel from his land, keeping store, and serving as justice of the peace. Neighbors included the Bender, Durdin, Isaacks, Lee, Slaughter, and Williams families. Economic bases were farms and sawmills. The post office opened 1902. In 1904 C. E. Barrett (1866-1926) drilled for oil in this area, securing small production on Moonshine Hill. On Jan. 7, 1905, he brought in the No. 2 Beaty Well which yielded 8,500 barrels a day, opening the great boom. From a village of 700, Humble grew at once into a town of 20,000. Field production-- the largest in Texas for the year 1905-- was 15,594,923 barrels of oil. The field was named for the town. A group of its operators, including Ross S. Sterling, later (1931-33) governor of Texas, in 1911 incorporated a new oil company named for the field, thus spreading into the annals of world commerce the town's name. Production from several strata here exceeded the total for fabulous Spindletop by 1946. Known as the greatest salt dome field, Humble still produces and the town for which it was named continued to thrive.