Anthony Francis Lucas

Antun Lucas
Anthony Francis Lucas
Born	(1855-09-09)September 9, 1855 Split, Croatia
Died	September 2, 1921(1921-09-02) (aged 65) Washington, D.C., United States
Nationality	Croatian/American
Fields	Mechanical Engineering

Anthony Francis Lucas (born Antun Lučić; September 9, 1855 – September 2, 1921) was a Croatian-born oil explorer. With Pattillo Higgins he organized the drilling of an oil well near Beaumont, Texas that became known as Spindletop. This led to the widespread exploitation of oil and the start of the petroleum age.

Lucas was born into a Croatian family of shipbuilders and owners in the city of Split (Austria-Hungary; today Croatia).

At the age of 20, Lucas completed studies at the Polytechnical Institute (Technische Hochschule) in Graz, Austria and became a mechanical engineer. After entering the Austrian Naval Academy, Lučić served in Pula and Rijeka and rose to the rank of second lieutenant.

In 1879, Lucas visited his uncle in Saginaw, Michigan. There he settled and changed his name to Anthony Francis Lucas, receiving his naturalization papers on May 9, 1885 at Norfolk, Virginia. He married Caroline Weed Fitzgerald. They moved with their son, Anthony Fitzgerald Lucas, to Washington, D.C. in 1887. He found employment in the lumber industry and later prospected for gold and rock salt from Colorado to Louisiana.

In 1893, Lucas started to work in salt exploration in Louisiana for a New Orleans company at Petite Anse (Avery Island). He worked at additional locations (Grand Cote, Anse la Butte and Belle Isle) until 1896, gaining experience that led to his promising of idea of the possible relationship between the salt deposits and the sulfur (most probably even crude oil) in the tertiary sediments of the Gulf Coast region. Most geologists disagreed with Lucas' theory. However, as a result of explorations undertaken and his experience, he was the foremost expert on these formations in the United States.