Gregg County Discovery Oil Well, F. K. Lathrop A-1, Aransas Fuel Oil Co.

🏛️The era

When this well came in, America was sliding into the Great Depression. Banks were failing, farm prices had collapsed, and East Texas, a region of cotton farms and pine woods, was hit hard. For many families there, the idea that a fortune might lie under their worn-out fields sounded like a fantasy.

Yet a stubborn few believed. For years, wildcatters and lease traders had insisted that oil could be found in East Texas, even though major companies were skeptical. The late months of 1930 proved the believers right in quick succession, first near Turnertown, then near Kilgore, and finally here near Longview.

The timing was extraordinary. Just as the national economy was collapsing, one of the richest oil discoveries in history was opening up in one of the poorest corners of the South. That collision of hardship and sudden wealth shaped everything that came next.

👥People & events

The central figure here is B. A. Skipper, Sr., whose faith in East Texas oil held through years of doubt. He put together a huge block of about 8,300 acres under lease. He then struck a deal with partners J. E. Farrell, W. A. Moncrief, and E. A. Showers, and saw the well drilled to 3,500 feet. At that point Arkansas Fuel Oil Company bought a half interest and took over operations.

The marker also remembers the people who did the physical work, which is unusual and admirable. Drillers W. A. Andrews, B. A. Ferrell, and James H. Lowery led a crew of roughnecks whose names are recorded on the marker. Oil field work in 1930 was dangerous, dirty, and exhausting, and these men brought the well in by hand and by muscle.

The F. K. Lathrop A-1 was spudded in on December 3, 1930. It reached caprock at 3,569 feet and was completed on January 26, 1931, at a total depth of 3,587 feet. It came in with an initial potential of 18,000 barrels a day, a staggering figure, and in its first 35 years it produced more than 527,000 barrels.

It was the climax of a dramatic few months. The Joiner No. 3 Daisy Bradford near Turnertown had come in during October 1930, and the Bateman No. 1 Crim near Kilgore in December. At first many people assumed these were separate finds. Before long it became clear that all three sat on one vast reservoir, which grew into the great East Texas field, covering some 200 square miles and setting a world record as the largest of its time.

🇺🇸Its place in the American story

The East Texas field changed the American oil industry. So much crude poured out so quickly that prices crashed, at times to just pennies a barrel. The flood of oil showed that unregulated drilling could wreck both the market and the oil fields themselves, since uncontrolled production wasted the natural pressure that pushed oil to the surface.

The crisis grew serious enough that the governor of Texas declared martial law in the field in 1931 and sent in the National Guard to shut in wells. Out of that turmoil came stronger state control of production, with the Texas Railroad Commission setting limits on how much each well could pump. Federal action against illegally produced hot oil followed. The modern framework of oil conservation and regulation took shape here.

The field's importance outlasted the Depression. Its enormous reserves helped fuel the nation through World War II and the decades after, and for many years East Texas oil was a central part of America's energy supply. A region that had been struggling in 1930 became one of the most important energy landscapes in the world.

🧭If you visit

Stand here and imagine the scene in the winter of 1930 and 1931: a wooden derrick rising over farmland, a crew working through the cold, and then the roar as oil came in. Within weeks the surrounding countryside would have filled with speculators, lease buyers, and workers hoping to share in the boom.

Take time to read the crew names on the marker. Few historical markers honor the ordinary laborers behind a great event, and these names are a reminder that the oil boom was built by working people as much as by financiers.

This marker pairs naturally with a drive through the heart of the East Texas oil patch. The discovery wells at Turnertown and Kilgore, which the inscription names, lie within easy driving distance, so you can trace the three discoveries that revealed the giant field. Kilgore in particular keeps its oil boom memory alive, making the area a rewarding stop for anyone curious about how Texas oil shaped the modern world.