Coal Shortage Leads to Oil -- Lots of It

With Pennsylvania coal miners on strike, the nation faced a crisis. In Los Angeles and Pasadena, coal was in short supply and its cost had risen to as high as $14 per ton. To avoid paying the high prices, the Southern Pacific Railroad announced that it would convert its freight locomotives to burn crude oil rather than coal. As hotels, factories and the public began to switch over, the price of oil peaked at $1.80 a barrel before hitting bottom at 15 cents in 1903. There was so much cheap oil that the city began spraying it on unpaved roads to hold down the dust.