D. W. Stephens No. 1 Discovery Oil Well

The Handbook of Texas says that in the 1930s poor yields and banks' reluctance to lend left many Fisher County farmers, tenants above all, in a precarious position, and numbers of them gave up farming to seek work elsewhere. The county's population fell from 13,563 in 1930 to 12,932 in 1940. The oil found in 1928, it says, helped some poor farmers settle long-standing debts and survive, though farming did not fully recover until after World War II. From 1944 to January 1, 1990, the county's wells produced 230,887,287 barrels.

What the plaque says

(The Texas Company [Texaco]) The search for oil in Fisher County began in 1918. Though four wells were drilled in the southwestern part of the county in 1919, all four were dry, and more wells were drilled in the Rotan area. None of these yielded oil. Dan W. Stephens (1860-1946) and his wife Laura Bell Johnson owned 3,100 acres of land near the railroad town of Royston. The Stephens property was selected for a well in 1927. On May 21, 1927, the Texas Company (later Texaco) began drilling approximately four miles north of this site. The well was drilled to 2,302 feet. It encountered a casing problem and was plugged and abandoned. On October 24, 1927, another hole was begun fifty feet to the east. By January 19, 1928, it had become the first producing oil well in the county, reaching 3,275 feet into the earth. Eventually, seven wells were located on the Stephens land, and more wells dotted the landscape of Fisher County. Revenues from the petroleum business helped landowners through the Depression era, brought sorely needed employment, and helped to build and maintain schools, roads, buildings, and hospitals. The Stephens No. 1 produced 481,447 barrels of oil in 66 years. Plugged and abandoned in November 1994, its service to Royston and Fisher County is remembered. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pioneer Museum — 24 mi
  Nolan County's settlement story in a dozen rooms of Judge R. A. Ragland's 1906 house in Sweetwater, a town that started as a dugout store for buffalo hunters and a post office called Blue Goose.
• National WASP WWII Museum — 26 mi
  Hangar 1 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, where the women of the WASP trained to fly every aircraft in the Army's arsenal in World War II, then waited thirty-three years to be called veterans.

More markers nearby

• Royston Townsite — steps away
• Roby Cemetery — 5.9 mi
• Organization of Fisher County — 6.5 mi
• Fisher County — 6.5 mi