Unit 10 Vocab Spindletop – This 1901 strike in Beaumont was the first “gusher” oil discovery in Texas. Suffrage – Voting rights. Prohibition – The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that made it illegal to make or drink alcohol. Texas Railroad Commission – State agency created to oversee and regulate railroads and the oil industry in TX. Texas Equal Suffrage Association – Organization founded in Houston to advocate for voting rights for women. Galveston Hurricane of 1900 – The deadliest hurricane in U.S. history; caused the city to erect a sea wall to protect the city from flooding in future hurricanes. Boomtown – Towns that developed wherever oil was struck; they were notoriously dirty, crowded, and rough. Sour Lake – Oil strike in 1903 made by the Texas Oil Co., later called Texaco. Petroleum – Naturally occurring liquid fossil fuel commonly called oil. James Hogg – Governor of Texas who set up the Texas Railroad Commission and protected citizens from unfair business practices. Howard Hughes Sr. – Businessman who helped to invent the two-cone rotary drill bit, which allowed further oil exploration and drilling in Texas. Patillo Higgins – Man who discovered the Spindletop oil strike but did not receive any profit from it. Wildcatter – Person who searches for oil in new locations. Texas Farmers Union – Union created after the failure of the Populists’ Party. They were advocates of farmers. League of United Latin-American Citizens – Organization founded in Corpus Christi to support the rights of Latin Americans in the U.S. Progressivism – Movement in America at the turn of the century that encouraged social, political, and economic reform.