The Powell Oil Field

The plaque tells of 1923, but the field was older. A Wikipedia summary of a Corsicana Daily Sun history says the Corsicana Deep Well Company announced a Powell test in June 1897, drilled a dry hole and quit after six months, and failed on a second try. Oil finally came on January 7, 1900. The Handbook of Texas credits Henry W. Warren and R. K. Blackshear with the 1900 discovery, and says Powell, named for landowner Bud Powell, grew from 248 people in 1904 to 500 by 1925.

What the plaque says

The Powell Oil Field One of the world's most noted petroleum fields. Discovered 1905; developed in three periods. A number of early shallow wells (800' - 1,000' in Nacatoch Sand), drilled by Claude Witherspoon, are still producing. Field's second and greatest era came as a result of three heartbreaking years of drilling. On Sunday, Jan. 7, 1923, the W. H. Warren-R. K. Blackshear "J. H. Burke No. 1" (2,933' in Woodbine Sand) blew in as a gusher, triggering a feverish drilling boom. As this was prior to spacing and proration regulations, derricks sprouted by the dozens. The site of "J. H. Burke No. 1" is one mile southwest of this marker. On May 8, 1923, another great gusher, the "J. K. Hughes-W. J. McKie No. 1" (2.25 mi. SW), blackened the area with oil which soon ignited, causing 15 deaths. This 8,000-barrel-a-day gusher defined the main pool. By fall, the six-square mile field was outproducing Pennsylvania plus nine other oil states. On Nov. 23, 1923, came peak day of 354,893 barrels. The population skyrocketed. Corn and cotton patches became townsites for Oil City, Tuckertown, Wildcat. In 1923 Powell ran over 30 million barrels; in 1924, over 40 million. It then declined, with last million-barrel year in 1931. Waterflooding ushered in third yield period, 1964. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Petroleum Industry Park — 8.3 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.
• Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery — 23 mi
  The Freestone County grave of the Texas blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson, who recorded for Paramount in Chicago from 1926 and died there in December 1929.

More markers nearby

• Roane Baptist Church — 5.0 mi
• Bazette Baptist Church and Cemetery — 5.7 mi
• Josiah Martin Daniel — 5.8 mi
• Kerens — 5.8 mi