Andrews County Discovery Well

The well came in on December 5, 1929, tapping oil at 4,345 feet, and county residents braced for a boom that did not come. The timing could hardly have been worse. East Texas fields were in full production, the stock market crash had wrecked prices, and by 1931 oil sold for as little as ten cents a barrel. Andrews crude, low in gravity and heavy in sulfur, would not have sold even at that. No one would build a pipeline into the county until 1934, when J. W. Tripplehorn bought up leases and persuaded Humble Oil to lay one.

What the plaque says

Andrews County Discovery Well C. E. Ogden No. 1, producing 200 barrels a day from San Andres lime formation was brought in, Dec. 1929, by Deep Rock Oil Co.--the Andrews County discovery well and first of 730 wells in Fuhrman-Masco oil field. Bought, Feb. 1932, by Tripplehorn brothers, of Fort Worth. Has now pumped for more than 35 years. Since 1956, Andrews has been top producing county in Texas and U. S. Fuhrman-Masco field has produced 55 million barrels of oil--its contribution to total of more than a billion barrels for Andrews County in May, 1965. (1965)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Shafter Lake Cemetery — 4.2 mi
• Shafter Lake Townsite — 5.1 mi
• Early Settlers of Andrews County — 6.1 mi
• J. S. Means Ranch House — 6.1 mi