Spindletop is a salt dome oil field located in south Beaumont, Texas in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evapaporite layer of Jurassic age. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil ("came in"). The new oil field soon produced more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day. Gulf Oil and Texaco, now part of Chevron Corporation, were formed to develop production at Spindletop.

The strike at Spindletop represented a turning point for Texas and the nation. No previously-discovered oil field in the world had ever been so productive. The frenzy of oil exploration and the economic development it generated in the state became known as the Texas Oil Boom. The United States soon became the leading oil producer in the world.

"Black Gold" erupted from this well near Beaumont, Texas to a height greater than 150 feet (nearly 50 meters) on January 10th, 1901. It was not brought under control for 9 days, losing one million barrels of oil in the process. A device now called a "Christmas Tree" was invented on the spot to control the flow of oil. Christmas trees are now commonplace in the industry to prevent just such an occurrence. An estimated 850,000 barrels of oil was lost. By today's standards, that's a loss of about $17,000,000. Of course, given the huge amount of oil which glutted the market after this discovery, the price of oil dropped from $2 to $.03 per barrel.