Arnold Schlaet

Arnold Schlaet (1859–1946) was a U.S. oil industrialist and business man.

Biography

In 1901, Schlaet, with Jim Hogg, John Warne Gates, and Joseph S. Cullinan, founded the Texas Fuel Company, predecessor to Texaco Incorporated. Schlaet was an agent from New York City who worked for the United States Leather Company, owned by John J. and Lewis Henry Lapham. Naturally conservative, he was nevertheless impressed with Cullinan's plans to sell Spindletop oil, and helped him to gain capital to start the new venture.^[1][2] The initial capital was $50,000 but this was increased as Cullinan and Schlaet solicited additional investments.^[3] By the time the Texas Fuel Company was reorganized in 1902 as the Texas Company, it already had a capitalization of $3 million.^[3] Among the investors where the Laphams, who appointed Schlaet to work closely with Cullinan. He was characterized as a cautious and methodical man and served as a good check on Cullinan's risk-taking nature.^[4]