Cook Ranch Oil Field
Albany, Shackelford County, Texas
Marker Inscription
William Ivy Cook (1857-1923) and his wife Matilda moved to this county in 1985. With a brother-in-law, J. H. Nail, Cook purchased a 27.75-section ranch. The Cooks bought out Nail in 1898, and have owned the ranch ever since. During the 1918 Breckenridge and Ranger booms, Cook sold leases but prophesied he could drink from his hat all of the oil under his land. In 1925 his widow leased all open acreage to Charles Roeser, Tol Pendleton, and Marshall R. Yount, of Roeser & Pendleton, Inc. This firm's second well in 1926 struck oil at 1241 feet and flowed at 1000 barrels a day. This prolific flow of oil at such a shallow depth has been one of Cook Ranch field's remarkable features. Commercial low pressure gas injection was started on the ranch in 1927 and helped elevate recovery standards internationally. With the oil wealth, Mrs. Cook founded the W. I. Cook Memorial Hospital in Fort Worth in 1929. Cook field enriched Albany and its trade area by expanding petroleum-related business activities. Of the 1087 wells drilled on the ranch, 825 yielded oil and four gas. Production has now exceeded thirty million barrels. Marshall R. Young remains owner of the oil firm. (1976)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
William Ivy Cook and his wife Matilda built up a sprawling Shackelford County ranch in the late 19th century, and Cook famously boasted he could drink from his hat all the oil beneath his land. After his death, Matilda leased the acreage, and a 1926 well struck oil at just 1,241 feet, flowing a thousand barrels a day and opening one of the region's most remarkable shallow fields. Pioneering low-pressure gas injection here in 1927 advanced recovery methods worldwide, and the oil wealth funded a Fort Worth hospital.
Why it matters
The field shows how West Texas ranch land became a cradle of the petroleum industry, with local innovations in oil recovery that influenced practice far beyond Texas.
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Related people
- · William Ivy Cook
- · Matilda Cook
Themes & tags
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