Joiner No. 3 Daisy Bradford
Henderson, Rusk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
East Texas Oil Field Discovery Well. Discovery genius was C. M. (Dad) Joiner, 70-year-old Oklahoman who for years believed there was oil in Rusk County. Driller was E. C. Laster. Crew: Dennis May, Dave Cherry, Glenn Pool, Jim Lambert and Dave Hughes. Joiner's 2 early efforts failed-- one with a jammed bit, one with the drill pipe stuck. The rig was next skidded 300' down slope. "This is as good a place as any," said Laster. Then on May 8, 1929, Joiner No. 3 Daisy Bradford was spudded in. Equipment consisted of an old rotary rig powered by a single-cylinder engine; one 45 hp boiler; one old cotton gin boiler fired with soggy oak and pine chunks by roustabout Dan Tanner. The depression was on, and money scarce. The crew often went without pay. Joiner sacrificed much of his 10,000 acre block of leases. Finally, on Sept. 5, 1930, a drill stem logged at 3536' into the Woodbine Formation showed oil. A better rig had to be brought in. On Oct. 3, 1930, the well blew in and oil went over the crown block. The boom was on. Cars were bumper-to-bumper on all access roads. Derricks rose in all directions. In its first 30 years, this great field produced more than 3.5 billion barrels of oil. It now covers some 200 square miles-- the largest in the world.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On this slope in 1930, 70-year-old Oklahoma wildcatter C. M. "Dad" Joiner brought in the discovery well of the vast East Texas Oil Field with a patched-together rig and a crew that often went unpaid through the Depression. After earlier failures, driller E. C. Laster shrugged "this is as good a place as any," and the Daisy Bradford No. 3 blew in that October, sending oil over the crown block. The strike touched off a frenzied boom, with cars bumper-to-bumper and derricks rising in every direction.
Why it matters
Joiner's well opened what became the largest oil field in the world, reshaping the American economy and cementing Texas as a global energy giant.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
By 1930, Texas was already oil country. The great Spindletop gusher near Beaumont had launched the state's petroleum age in 1901, and fields across Texas and neighboring states had made fortunes. Yet many experts had written off the rolling farmland of Rusk County in East Texas. The big companies' geologists did not believe a major field lay beneath it.
The timing could hardly have been worse for a gamble. The stock market crash of 1929 had tipped the country into the Great Depression. Cotton prices were collapsing, farm families in East Texas were struggling, and cash was scarce everywhere. Drilling a speculative well took money that almost nobody had.
Into that bleak moment walked a stubborn old wildcatter who believed the experts were wrong. His persistence, and a good deal of luck, turned a hard-pressed farm county into the center of the oil world almost overnight.
People & events
Columbus Marion Joiner, known to everyone as "Dad," was a 70-year-old Oklahoman who had been convinced for years that oil lay under Rusk County. He pieced together a block of leases covering about 10,000 acres, including land belonging to a local widow, Daisy Bradford, whose name the well would carry. Joiner was a master at raising money from small investors, and he needed every dollar.
His first two wells failed, one when the bit jammed and one when the drill pipe stuck. The rig was dragged about 300 feet down the slope, and driller E. C. Laster shrugged, "This is as good a place as any." The third attempt was spudded in on May 8, 1929, using an old rotary rig, a single-cylinder engine, and boilers fed with damp oak and pine by roustabout Dan Tanner. Laster's crew, Dennis May, Dave Cherry, Glenn Pool, Jim Lambert and Dave Hughes, often worked without pay while Joiner sold off pieces of his leases to keep going.
In September 1930 a drill stem test from the Woodbine Formation showed oil, and a better rig was brought in. On October 3, 1930, the well blew in and oil shot over the crown block. Crowds poured in. Joiner, deep in debt, soon sold most of his remaining interests to H. L. Hunt, who went on to become one of the richest men in America, while Joiner himself never kept the fortune his find created.
Its place in the American story
The East Texas Oil Field was a colossus. As the marker notes, it produced more than 3.5 billion barrels in its first 30 years and spread across roughly 200 square miles. Its discovery transformed Rusk and its neighboring counties, and towns like Kilgore sprouted forests of derricks almost overnight.
The flood of oil had dramatic consequences. Unrestrained drilling sent prices crashing to a tiny fraction of their former value during the Depression, and in 1931 the governor of Texas sent in troops and declared martial law in the field to force a halt. The chaos helped establish state regulation of oil production through the Texas Railroad Commission, a system that would shape the world oil market for decades.
Later, East Texas crude was a vital resource for the nation during World War II. From a patched-together rig and an unpaid crew grew an industry that helped power American cars, factories, and war machines, and that made Texas synonymous with oil.
If you visit
This is one of the most important sites in the history of American oil, yet the setting is refreshingly low-key. Stand on the slope and imagine the scene: a battered rig, soggy firewood smoldering under an old cotton gin boiler, and a handful of men who kept coming to work without pay because they half-believed the old man might be right.
Then picture October 1930, when the gusher cleared the crown block and cars jammed every road in sight. The marker's details, from the jammed bit to Laster's famous shrug, make it easy to bring the story to life for kids and adults alike.
Henderson is a natural anchor for an East Texas oil heritage drive. The surrounding towns, especially Kilgore, keep the boom's history alive, and a loop through the area lets you see how one well reshaped an entire region.
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
- · C. M. Joiner
- · E. C. Laster
Related events
- · Discovery of the East Texas Oil Field, 1930
Themes & tags
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