Crockett County's First Producing Oil Well

The Handbook of Texas says many ranchers sold mineral leases for large sums after the 1925 discovery. Exploration in the 1930s and 1940s brought good oil and gas production in several fields, among them the prolific Todd Ellenburger field, opened in 1945. Over the decades oil companies paid large royalties to the county's mineral owners, wealth the Handbook credits with the independence and maverick spirit the county kept into the 1990s. Oil helped raise the population to 2,590 by 1930, yet livestock still ruled: that year the county counted almost 460,000 sheep, and in 1940 slightly more than 390,000.

What the plaque says

In 1923 World Oil Co., owned by Chester R. Bunker, Ft. Worth publisher and printer, began drilling on the L. P. Powell Ranch. Work progressed slowly, depending on the availability of money, under the direction of superintendent Mickey Green and the tool pusher known only as "Dangerous Dan." The wildcat operation proved successful in the spring of 1925, when the first well (10 mi. northwest) came in at a depth of 2647 feet and began producing 25 barrels of oil a day. The strike opened up the world pool, more commonly known as the Powell Field, which is still yielding oil. Eventually 180 wells were drilled by a number of companies on Powell's 9260-acre ranch. Bunker, a New York-born World War I veteran, sold his rights to Humble and Marland Oil Co. after the strike, but Powell's heirs still own the land. Powell No. 1 has produced continuously since 1925 and now, under the operation of Petro-Lewis, yields 10 barrels a day. Powell No. 1 was the beginning of a vital new industry for Crockett County, before 1925 primarily a ranching area. The next important strike occurred in the Crockett Field in 1938. There are currently over 2000 producing oil and gas wells in the county.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Crockett County Museum — 20 mi
  Three floors of ranch-country history in Ozona, the only town in Crockett County, housed in a burned-out 1926 church rebuilt as a hospital and courthouse annex.
• Fort Lancaster State Historic Site — 23 mi
  An 1855 post on Live Oak Creek above the Pecos, on the lower road to El Paso, where the army's camels passed three times and Buffalo Soldiers held off an attack in 1867.

More markers nearby

• High Lonesome Stage Stand — 17 mi
• Ozona Stockman, The — 20 mi
• Ozona's First Water Well — 20 mi
• Fort Lancaster, C.S.A. — 20 mi