The name of this monstrous oil strike on January 10, 1901 was called SPINDLETOP. It was the greatest oil well of its time.

The oil gushed in a 150’ arc. The oil well ran wild for
9 days, until Lucas could cap it!

After Howard Hughes Sr heard about the SPINDLETOP discovery he said,

“I heard the roar in Joplin and made for the seat of disturbance. Beaumont in those days was no place for a Divinity student. The reek of oil was everywhere. It filled the air, it painted the houses, it choked the lungs and stained men’s souls. Such another excitement will not be seen for a generation. It will take that length of time to get together an equal number of fools and “come-ons” at one spot. I turned greaser and sunk into the thick of it.
Roughneck, owner, disowner, promoter, capitalist, and “mark”— with each I can claim kin, for I have stood in the steps of each.”

From Spindletop, Howard Hughes Sr. followed the crowd from one strike to another…learning the ins and outs of the industry, while applying the knowledge of drilling he had picked up in mining ore to tap oil reservoirs.

On May 24, 1904 Howard Hughes Sr. and Allene Gano were married in Dallas.

I found the underlined word-choice, “flamboyant”interesting.

Was the author trying to tell us something about Howard Sr?

As we mentioned earlier, Howard Hughes Jr. was (allegedly) born on December 24, 1905.

When Howard was little, the family moved from Houston to Oil City, Louisiana.

It was here that Howard Sr trace went to oil fields to wildcat for oil. He also doubled as the town’s postmaster and sheriff.

Postmaster and sheriff. Seemingly had a lot of power in town.

The CIA is in full attack mode in my chat.

Bear with us while we delete all these nonsense posts.

While in Louisiana, Howard Hughes Sr partnered up with Walter Bedford Sharp.

Sharp patented the process for injecting compressed air into oil wells to make them flow artificially.

Both Sharp and Hughes were trying to improve drilling methods.

One could easily drill into dirt, mud, and soft sand, but when it came to drilling into rock, the options were limited.

Both men spent their time and money to come up with a solution.

By 1908 the duo finally got their wish!

How they came to invent the HUGHES ROCK BIT was in dispute by the families of both men…the Hughes family said it was the brilliant mind of Howard Sr. Walter Sharp’s family say he helped develop the bit.

The real story may lie with Granville Humason. Allegedly he fashioned a drill bit using wooden spools. He tried to sell it to oil men but no one would listen.

While in a bar, Humason showed his model of the drill bit to Howard Hughes Sr. He bought it for $150. William Sharp then lent Hughes $1500 in order to have half-interest in the product that they both knew would bring them a lot of money.

Howard Hughes Sr. then took a train to Washington to get the drill bit…that had 166 cutting edges…patented. Of course he had the help of his father who was a Judge…and well-connected.

On August 10th, 1909 the patent office granted Hughes patents 930,758 and 930,759 on his rock but…which was so good it was dubbed the “rock eater.”

The foundation of the Hughes fortune had now been laid.

And with that I’m going to leave it here for tonight.

We’ve only just begun.

Clearly we are being attacked by those that don’t want us exposing their operations.

I’ll be back tomorrow!

In 1909, when Howard Hughes Jr was 3 years old, his family moved back to Houston, Texas.

With the drill bit patents secured, Howard Hughes Sr. and Walter Sharp went into business… leasing the rock bits to other oilmen.

Eventually they formed the partnership company:
Sharp-Hughes Tool Company.

With each passing year, the Hughes family grew more prosperous.

The Sharp-Hughes Tool Company was a major supplier of drill bits to the oil industry.

Their precious bits were packaged and shipped out to oilmen around the world.

Largely because of
Howard Hughes Sr.’s promotional efforts, the Hughes rock bit gained wide acceptance in the oil fields.

Howard Hughes Sr. also set up a shed next to his plant…where he and his engineers created and tested new drills on different rocks; rocks that were shipped in from around the United States.

When a new bit was considered satisfactory, Hughes Sr. immediately applied for a new patent.

Howard Hughes Sr. also bought up patents on other rock bits…some predating his own…and filed lawsuits to frighten off competitors who tried to introduce drills that he felt in any way infringed on his patents.

Remember…he was a lawyer, and his father was also a lawyer AND a judge!

Less than five years after the Sharp-Hughes Tool Company was founded, Hughes Sr. had sewed up the American drilling market.

He had also patented his rock bit in at least 13 foreign countries.

By doing so, Howard Hughes Sr. laid the groundwork that would become a
WORLD-WIDE MONOPOLY in supplying drill bits to the oil industry!!

On November 28, 1912, Walter Sharp, who allegedly had been in ill health, died at the age of 42. Seems rather young.

He left his half interest in the tool company to his wife, Estelle.

Estelle became alarmed over the way Howard Hughes Sr. was running the company and said:
“He was spending money faster than the tool company could make it.”

Estelle feared that he might one day bankrupt the company.

Howard Hughes Sr. thought nothing, for example, of renting an entire wing of a hotel to throw a lavish party for a prospective customer. (Howard Jr. would do similar things in Hollywood, as we will find out later in our dive).

He often shipped his big cabin cruiser, Rollerbit, to California by rail…when he wanted to entertain West Coast oilmen.

Two years later, Estelle Sharp sold her interest of the Sharp-Hughes Tool Company to
Ed Prather, an oilman and friend of both the Sharps and the Hughes.

On February 3, 1915, the name of the company was changed to the HUGHES TOOL COMPANY.

In time, Prather didn’t work out, and Howard Hughes Sr. bought out Prather…gaining 100 percent control of the company!

IMAGINE ALL THAT WEALTH!!

And creating time machines.

☝️
We will eventually get to this. But it’s good to get your mind spinning in this direction. 😁😁

Switching gears…