Andrews County Discovery Well
Andrews County, Andrews County, Texas
Marker Inscription
C. E. Ogden No. 1, producing 200 barrels a day from San Andres lime formation was brought in, Dec. 1929, by Deep Rock Oil Co.--the Andrews County discovery well and first of 730 wells in Fuhrman-Masco oil field. Bought, Feb. 1932, by Tripplehorn brothers, of Fort Worth. Has now pumped for more than 35 years. Since 1956, Andrews has been top producing county in Texas and U. S. Fuhrman-Masco field has produced 55 million barrels of oil--its contribution to total of more than a billion barrels for Andrews County in May, 1965. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In December 1929 the Deep Rock Oil Company brought in the C. E. Ogden No. 1, a well producing 200 barrels a day from the San Andres lime formation—the discovery well of Andrews County and the first of 730 wells in the Fuhrman-Mascho field. Purchased by the Tripplehorn brothers of Fort Worth in 1932, it kept pumping for decades. By the mid-1960s Andrews had become the top oil-producing county in Texas and the nation, having yielded more than a billion barrels.
Why it matters
The discovery well marks the moment the Permian Basin oil boom reached Andrews County, transforming a remote ranching county into one of the most productive oil fields in America.
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Related events
- · Fuhrman-Mascho oil field discovery (1929)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Early Settlers of Andrews County
Andrews, TX
Andrews County sat on one of Texas's last frontiers, where Anglo settlement lagged some sixty years behind the rest of the state because of Comanche resistance and a punishing scarcity of water. O. B. Holt filed the first land claim in 1886, and hardy families like the Cowdens and Peter Von Holebeke followed, but by 1900 the county still counted only 87 people and did not organize until 1910. Windmill pumps and drift fences finally made ranching workable on the dry plains, and the 1930 discovery of oil turned decades of stubborn endurance into sudden prosperity.
J. S. Means Ranch House
Andrews, TX
Built in 1900, this is among the oldest houses in Andrews County, raised at the exact point where four claimants' land sections met so each could satisfy the legal requirement to live on his claim. After the group proved up their claims, they sold to Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Means, who by 1904 held fourteen sections and kept adding land to build a thriving cattle ranch. The operation ran cattle even after oil fields spread across the range in the 1920s.
Original Townsite of Andrews
Andrews, TX
When Andrews County was organized in 1910, the new town of Andrews rose on land homesteaded by Robert Madison "Bob" Means, who had begun ranching the West Texas plains with his father in 1899. In a colorful county-seat fight against rival Shafter City, Means famously deeded town lots to local cowboys so they could register as voters and swing the election. He served as county clerk and gave land and money to the growing town for the rest of his life, retiring comfortably after oil was struck on his land in 1934.
Billionth Barrel
Andrews, TX
When oil first flowed from the C. E. Ogden No. 1 discovery well in December 1929, Andrews County was a sparse ranching country of about 400 people. By May 25, 1965, the county's billionth barrel of crude rose from one of thousands of wells across nearly 200 oil fields, and Andrews had become one of the nation's top petroleum producers. The transformation brought paved streets, new schools, and a wealth measured in reserves rather than livestock.