SOUR LAKE BOOM DAYS 1835 – 1909 Steven Jackson was born in South Carolina in 1803. His and Sara’s Marriage was recorded in Jefferson County on October 16, 1838 and they already had five children through a bond marriage, a witnessed document common to the frontier. Steven Jackson and his wife, Susan Choat Jackson was granted 4605 acres in East Texas, having applied to the Mexican government offices at Nacogdoches, Texas. Their ownership included Sour Lake and the natural springs around the lake. The war for independence from Mexico was ongoing and men were escaping to Louisiana, avoiding conscription. The men fleeing were of the “Runaway Scrape” and others who hid out in the East Texas thickets were called “Jay Hawkers” or “Bushwhackers”. Steven Jackson had been furloughed to see about his family and missed the battle at San Jacinto while he was on leave. The battle was decisive for Texas, winning independence and becoming the Republic of Texas in 1836! Texas became a state in 1845. Mexican resistance continued and with the Comanche Indians, ending with a treaty in 1846. Jackson was herding horses and he found the lake and springs. His horses sniffed and sipped but didn’t drink the water but since he was thirsty, he drank from it and thought he was poisoned! Jackson didn’t become ill but felt refreshed, deciding that the water held medicinal properties! News of the “Miracle” waters spread and the site was developed as a resort and health spa. Initially, visitors were housed in tents and shacks. Investors later built the “Sour Springs Hotel,” developing facilities for bathing and mud baths. During the 1800’s there was no transport between Beaumont and Galveston so visitors had to board a steamboat from Houston to Galveston and a mail steamer to Liberty, Texas. It was a four hour carriage ride from Liberty to the resort! The hotel burned twice in 1909 as reported by Oil City Visitor. While the resort existed, it was owned by different individuals and at times the ownership was split six ways! The property reverted to Jackson in part or in full, to be sold again to others. A freed slave, Bazile (Dr. Mud) had a reputation as a healer, resided nearby and provided mud baths! Several Spindletop oil men drilled and in 1895, Walter Sharp struck a producing well and built a small refinery. In April, W. A. Savage drilled a 150 feet producer of twenty-five barrels a day! Sour Lake was soon to become the home of 10,000. The Texas Fuel Company (Texaco) acquired the Sour Lake Springs Company properties in 1903. With property values jumping, drilling was frantic! “Shoestring” Row had wooden derricks joined together for nearly a mile! During Sour Lake’s boom, it has been estimated that 11,500,000 barrels of oil were extracted and almost half of that amount was wasted through runoffs from gushers and blowouts! Today, Sour Lake continues as a small bedroom community of hard working Texans, proud of their heritage. Glen Radley
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 18:47:07 +0000
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