Le Premier Puits de Pétrole

The 1901 discovery began with a shortage. Gas bubbling on a rice farm drew the Heywood brothers, who signed a lease with Jules Clement for two wells of about 1,000 feet each, hired a driller from Spindletop and formed the Jennings Oil Company. The first hole ran out of drill pipe, so the crew started the second from the bottom of the first. On September 21 they hit an oil sand and the well blew out over the top of the rig. A second well beside it soon made about 7,000 barrels a day.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Louisiana Oil and Gas Park — steps away
  The roadside park at Jennings where Louisiana's oil industry began in 1901, with a replica derrick, a pioneers' plaque and Gator Chateau.
• Prairie Acadian Cultural Center — 22 mi
  A National Park Service center in Eunice on the Cajun prairie, with exhibits on the Acadians who settled the prairies, a Courir de Mardi Gras display, free music and cooking demonstrations, and the shuttered Liberty Theatre nearby.
• Coushatta Powwow and Koasati Heritage Day — 22 mi
  The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana's annual powwow and its free Koasati Heritage Day, held at the tribe's resort in Kinder.
• Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge — 32 mi
  A refuge of freshwater marsh, coastal prairie and old rice fields, with a visitor center, a boardwalk and the one-way Pintail Wildlife Drive.

More markers nearby

• Louisiana Strikes Oil! — 5.1 mi
• Early Cattle Industry — 9.3 mi
• Elton Bible Conference — 16 mi
• Salmon Lusk Wright — 17 mi