These oil barons made millions, and their stories are no less than stories straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Have you ever thought, what can make you rich, not only rich but filthily rich? Do you want to immortalize not only your name but your family name for generations to come? With time, people have come up with a lot of innovative ideas that made business empires, but in the early 20th century, the only thing that gives you all the money and power was oil. Here are the early lives and times of some of such oil barons whose fortune changed the destiny of many millions.
John D. Rockefeller.
You cannot verbally estimate the wealth of Rockefellers. It is said that that he was so rich that he spent almost 40 years of his life in retirement. His beginnings were not so fancy, born in the household of self-described “botanic physician” John Rockefeller was a smart cookie. Thanks to his father’s training to make him and his siblings street smart, he had a keen eye and made money by raising turkey and potatoes in the start. It was his vision and far-sightedness that his company was refining almost 90% of the countries oil by 1870.
H.L Hunt.
Who said that math never helps you to get ahead in your life? It certainly helped H.L. Hunt, who was famed to be a math whiz while he was working in a cotton plantation. In the 20th century, Hunt gambled all his life’s earnings that was 100 dollars, to a poker game. Some people credit his strong math skills, or perhaps it was fate; Hunt won 100,000 dollars in the game. He cleverly invested his money by buying East Texas Oil Field, which helped him turn his life around and earn millions.
Anthony Francis Lucas.
Lucas was a mechanical engineer from a family of Croatian shipbuilders. In 1855, he came to the US and became a gold prospector instead. He later on, joined a New Orleans Company as a salt explorer. He came to understand the Texas landscape better and later started speculating the presence of oil there. Many people called him mad, and Geologist refuted his claim. But each one of them had to eat their words when he found the gusher that spewed precious oil for more than nine days.
Which one of these stories intrigued you the most?
