Louisiana began its transition from an economy based on forestry and agriculture to a major petroleum producer in the early 19th century. Wildcatters had searched the state for decades, often finding natural gas instead of oil.
In 1901, drillers finally struck oil in a rice field in Jennings, just months after a massive find in Beaumont, just across the Texas border.
By the late 1920s, an oil rush was on in southwest Louisiana. Tens of thousands of laborers poured into the area to build pipelines and drilling rigs and to service wells. Baton Rouge and New Orleans benefited from their locations on the Mississippi River and became key points in petroleum supply lines. Refineries sprang up in the River Parishes between the two cities.
In the 1930s, the marshes of south Louisiana became the epicenter of the nation’s oil production; the industry dominated the state’s economy for decades, with onshore production peaking in 1969. The state remains the sixth-largest oil producer today.
The industry left its mark on the state. Canals were often cut through marshes to reach the oil fields, channeling salt water into them, killing grasses.
In the 21st century, a natural gas boom brought prosperity to parts of northwest Louisiana. In 2011, the Haynesville shale field near Mansfield became the most productive in the country, amid lingering environmental concerns about the methods used to reach the gas.