First Producing Gas Well in Colorado County
Garwood, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Completed on July 17, 1932, as Nelson No. 1 Well, at a depth of 4,052 ft; was drilled by Coyle-Concord Oil Company, owner of 30,000 acres of block leases in area. Many other wells were soon drilled as a result of success here. Site called Garwood Field. In 1932 no market was found for this gas. Two extensions to the field were later located and commercial outlets obtained. Gas production has contributed to prosperity of the county. Texas reserves of natural Gas are nearly 119 trillion cu.ft., or 42.3% of United States reserves.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the summer of 1932, a well drilled to just over four thousand feet struck gas and opened what became known as the Garwood Field in Colorado County. There was no market for the gas at first, but as extensions were drilled and pipelines reached the area, the field turned into a lasting contributor to the local economy. Its success spurred a wave of further drilling nearby.
Why it matters
The discovery marks Texas's transformation into an energy powerhouse, as natural gas fields reshaped rural economies across the state.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Rice Culture in Colorado County
Eagle Lake, TX
In 1898 Captain William Dunovant, a local plantation owner, gambled forty acres near Eagle Lake on an experimental rice crop, using convict labor from a nearby prison farm to build the levees. The results were so encouraging that within two years more than 30,000 acres of rice grew across the Colorado River Valley, and rice swiftly displaced cotton and sugar cane as the region's cash crop. The boom drew new families, revived abandoned fields, spurred railroad construction, and gave rise to rice mills and irrigation companies that still shape the county today.
Garwood
Garwood, TX
Garwood sits on land granted in 1827 to Preston Gilbert, one of Stephen F. Austin's original "Old 300" colonists. In 1896 a lawyer-legislator, a merchant-banker, and a druggist-sheriff bought part of Gilbert's league as a farming venture, and by 1901 they had dug canals, launched rice production, and platted a town they named for a friend who never lived there. Rice has anchored the community's economy ever since, joined over the years by gravel, oil and gas, and waterfowl hunting.
Lakeside Sugar Refinery
Eagle Lake, TX
Texas sugar-making, born before the Civil War, roared back to life around 1900 thanks to cheaper refining methods and the drive of Colorado County planter William Dunovant. He and his partners built the Cane Belt Railroad to haul cane, then erected this refinery about 1902; at its height it processed up to 1,000 tons of cane a day and turned out five million pounds of refined sugar a year. A little train nicknamed the "Whangdoodle" fed the mill from surrounding fields. But after a peak season in 1908–09, tropical storms, an early freeze, and a new law banning convict labor broke the industry, and the plant was dismantled in 1918 and shipped off to Jamaica.
Town of Eagle Lake
Eagle Lake, TX
The town takes its name from a lake where, in 1821, an exploring party led by Stephen F. Austin killed an eagle. A stage line linking Houston and San Antonio set up lakeside headquarters in 1851, and the townsite was platted in 1856, just before the railroad arrived in 1859. Over the decades Eagle Lake reinvented itself again and again — cattle and farm market, then rice-growing center after 1898, then oil town and shipper of sand and gravel, and finally a mecca for fishing and goose hunting.