Weir No. 1 Oil Well

E. G. Rodman came to the Permian Basin as a salesman. Born in Gridley, Kansas, in 1896, he roughnecked at El Dorado, served as a Marine corporal in France and in 1926 moved to McCamey to open Dunigan Tool and Supply's business there. He founded Rodman Supply Company in Odessa in 1935 and that year began wildcatting on farm-out and marginal leases in the McCamey fields, refurbishing used equipment and trying chemical treatment to make leases the majors had passed over pay. In 1946 he and William D. Noel bought a gasoline refinery in Odessa.

What the plaque says

Weir No. 1 Oil Well Except for the original Yates Ranch gusher of 1926, most dramatic oil discovery in Upton County. Brought in December 6, 1961. West of this site 3.5 miles. First quadruple completion of petroleum engineers the most important development of the year 1961-- and the most prolific discovery in many years. Drilled to depth of 12,432 feet. Plugged back at 9,925 feet. Produces from upper, middle and lower strawn zones, and from the bend, with perforations in lower detrital gas zone. Contractor was Brahaney Drilling Co. Discovery made by E. G. Rodman, W. D. Noel and Odessa Natural Gasoline Co., founded by Rodman and Noel, and affiliated with El Paso Natural Gas Products Co. Rodman and Noel, who began their Upton County operations in 1940, have been led in the establishment of a vast petrochemical complex in Odessa. This utilizes in the making of such things as plastics, many petroleum by-products once scrapped as waste. Such leadership and such wells as Weir No. 1 have enabled Upton County to remain for many years one of the outstanding production areas in Texas. (1964)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rankin Museum (Yates Hotel) — 7.6 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 — 14 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

• The Benedum Oil Field and Benedum Townsite — 6.5 mi
• Site of First Church in Upton County — 7.3 mi
• First State Bank of Rankin — 7.4 mi
• Upland First Upton County Seat — 7.5 mi