The Benedum Oil Field and Benedum Townsite

The Benedum field brought Upton County a second boom. Discovered in 1947, it had 1,800 wells by 1954, and Plymouth Oil, Phillips Petroleum, Texas Natural Gas and El Paso Natural Gas built large plants and pipelines to send oil, gas, butane, propane and butadiene across the country. Rankin, whose first boom had faded, came back: the late 1940s and 1950s brought it a hospital, a community building, three new school buildings, a country club and a library, and the town's population doubled to 1,132.

What the plaque says

The Benedum Oil Field and Benedum Townsite Field named in 1950 by Texas Railroad Commission in honor of Michael Late (Mike) Benedum, 1869-1959, who devoted 69 of his 90 years to the oil business, and won fortune and fame as "the great wildcatter". His work began in 1890. With a partner, Joe C. Trees, he discovered or developed oil fields in Illinois, West Virginia, Louisiana (the great Caddo field); the Tuxpan in Mexico; de Mares in Colombia, South America; and in Texas the Desdemona, Big Lake, Yates, East White Point, Susan Peak and Benavides. Discovery of Big Lake Field ( 1923 ) on University of Texas land tapped the great wealth of the Permian Basin, which opened in 1920 with a small discovery. Alford No. 1, original well in Benedum field (later reclassified as a gas field), was completed Jan. 4, 1948, at depth of 12,011 feet by Slick-Urschel Oil Co., under a partnership agreement. The field later benefited by dedication of Benedum townside. The "great wildcatter" was an oil pioneer whose work enriched one of the world's large constitutional permanent university funds. Revenues from oil and gas operations give Texas the largest permanent public school fund in the world. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rankin Museum (Yates Hotel) — 6.9 mi
  The fireproof hotel Ira Yates built beside the Orient railway depot months after oil came in on his ranch in 1926, kept as it was down to the wicker lobby furniture.
• Mendoza Trail Museum — 20 mi
  A 1966 museum in a 1925 oil town, named for the Spanish officer who crossed this country in 1683 at the invitation of the Jumano, with a 1915 bungalow beside it.

More markers nearby

• Weir No. 1 Oil Well — 6.5 mi
• Upland First Upton County Seat — 6.5 mi
• John C. Upton and His Brother, W. F. Upton — 6.5 mi
• First State Bank of Rankin — 6.6 mi