First Producing Oil Well in Coke County
Silver, Coke County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Sun Oil Company's well - No. 1 Allen Jameson -- was staked in Sept. 1946, and struck oil Nov. 17. Intermittent drilling had gone on in Coke County for 30 years, but this discovery began a county-wide oil boom. Drilled by the Dallas firm of Roberts & Hawkins, the well hit pay dirt at 6,230 feet in fossil-bearing limestone 280 million years old. In a 24-hour test it flowed 168 barrels. Coke County recently ranked among the top quarter of oil-producing counties in Texas, with its 18 fields exceeding 6.4 million barrels annually. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After some thirty years of intermittent, fruitless drilling in Coke County, Sun Oil Company's No. 1 Allen Jameson well was staked in September 1946 and struck oil that November. Reaching pay in 280-million-year-old fossil-bearing limestone more than 6,000 feet down, it flowed 168 barrels in a day's test and touched off a county-wide oil boom.
Why it matters
The postwar oil strike is a classic chapter in the American energy story, turning ranch counties across West Texas into producers that reshaped local economies overnight.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Coke County sits in the rolling ranch country of West Texas, where cattle and sheep ruled the economy long before anyone found oil. For three decades before 1946, drillers had poked holes in the county on and off with little to show for it. Neighboring regions had boomed while Coke County waited.
The timing of this strike matters. World War II had just ended, and America's appetite for petroleum was enormous and growing. The war had shown how vital oil was to national power. Now millions of cars, trucks, tractors and new suburban homes needed fuel. Oil companies were pushing exploration deeper and farther across Texas to meet that demand.
Improved drilling technology helped make those deeper targets reachable. A well bottoming out more than 6,000 feet down, like this one, reflected an industry that had learned to chase oil far below where earlier wildcatters could afford to go.
People & events
The well took its name, No. 1 Allen Jameson, from the local landowner whose property it was drilled on. Oil wells are traditionally named that way, so a ranch family's name ended up tied to the county's biggest economic turning point. Sun Oil Company staked the site in September 1946. The actual drilling was done by Roberts & Hawkins, a contracting firm out of Dallas.
On November 17, 1946, the crew hit pay at 6,230 feet. The oil sat in fossil-bearing limestone laid down roughly 280 million years ago, when this dry country lay beneath an ancient sea. In a 24-hour test the well flowed 168 barrels. That was a modest figure next to some legendary gushers, but it was enough to prove that Coke County held oil worth chasing.
That proof is what mattered most. After thirty years of disappointment, this discovery set off a county-wide boom. Other operators followed, and by the time the marker was placed in 1968, Coke County had 18 producing fields yielding more than 6.4 million barrels a year. That put it in the top quarter of Texas oil counties.
Its place in the American story
This well is one small chapter in the story of how Texas fueled postwar America. In the decades after World War II, oil flowing from West Texas helped power the nation's highways, factories and booming suburbs. Discoveries like this one, repeated in county after county, added up to a national energy supply.
It also shows how oil remade rural places. A discovery on a ranch could bring royalties to landowners and tax revenue to schools and roads. It brought jobs, newcomers and new businesses to small towns that had depended on livestock and weather. Booms also brought strain and, eventually, the ups and downs that tie oil towns to world prices.
The geology tells a larger story too. That 280-million-year-old limestone connects a 1946 drilling rig to the ancient seas that once covered much of West Texas. Those same buried seabeds made the wider region one of the most productive oil provinces in the world.
If you visit
Silver is a tiny spot on the West Texas map, and that is part of the appeal. Out here you can see the landscape the oilmen saw: wide skies, ranchland and scrub. You may also spot pumpjacks nodding in the distance, descendants of the boom this well began.
While you stand at the marker, think about depth. The oil was found more than a mile below your feet, in rock formed hundreds of millions of years ago. It's a good moment to talk with kids about how fossils, ancient seas and the fuel in the car are all connected.
This stop pairs well with a slow drive through Coke County and the surrounding ranch country. Services can be far apart in this part of Texas, so plan fuel and water before you head out on the back roads.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Allen Jameson
Related events
- · Coke County oil boom
Themes & tags
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