Coleman Ranch Field Discovery Well
Westbrook, Mitchell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(2/3 miles southwest) Completion of the Westbrook Field T&P No. 1 oil well in 1920 signaled the beginning of commercial oil production in the Permian Basin. In the rush of oil activity that followed, the P.C. Coleman No. 1 Well was drilled on land owned by Dr. Preston C. Coleman, physician, civic leader and promoter of early oil development in Mitchell County. Completed in January 1923, the well was a slow producer. After nitroglycerine was used to temporarily increase production, the well was capped with a cedar stump. Frank Kelley, landman for the Magnolia Oil Co., removed the stump in 1925, and the well began flowing again. When occasional pumping yielded only small amounts of oil, Magnolia abandoned it in 1940. Although not a significant producer, the P.C. Coleman No. 1 Well confirmed the possibility of further oil development on the Eastern Shelf of the Permian Basin. In 1946, large quantities of oil were found southwest of the discovery well on former public school land filed on in 1900 by Dr. Coleman's son Walter. Marked today only by a concrete well cap on a concrete base, the site of the Coleman Ranch Field Discovery Well serves as a reminder of the early days of oil production in the Permian Basin. (1983)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The 1920 Westbrook discovery well opened commercial oil production in the vast Permian Basin, and in the frenzy that followed, local physician Preston C. Coleman promoted drilling on his own Mitchell County land. His P.C. Coleman No. 1, completed in 1923, was never a gusher — coaxed along with nitroglycerine, capped with a cedar stump, and finally abandoned in 1940 — yet it proved that oil lay beneath the Eastern Shelf. That promise paid off in 1946, when large finds nearby confirmed the region's petroleum wealth.
Why it matters
The Permian Basin became one of the most productive oil regions on earth, and modest wildcat wells like this one marked the first proof of the fortune underground.
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Related people
- · Dr. Preston C. Coleman
- · Frank Kelley
- · Walter Coleman
Themes & tags
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