Oil History
The 1903 Batson oil discovery helped launch the Texas Gulf Coast oil industry
The Batson-Old oilfield, discovered in southwestern Hardin County in 1903, was one of the fields that established Southeast Texas as the birthplace of the modern Texas oil industry.
The Batson field came in on October 31, 1903, on Pine Bayou about a mile north of the town of Batson. Drillers used an unusual clue: waxy paraffin dirt on the surface pointed to oil below. This was a new prospecting method at the time. In 1904, the field's peak year, it produced more than 10.9 million barrels of oil.
Batson was one of four nearby salt-dome fields — along with Spindletop (1901), Sour Lake (1901), and Humble (1905) — that together established the foundation of the Texas Gulf Coast oil industry. By 1993, the Batson field had produced more than 45 million barrels over roughly 90 years of continuous operation. Oil and gas production remains part of Hardin County's economy today.
Source to confirm: Handbook of Texas — Batson-Old Oilfield