Moorhead Cable Tool Rig
Kermit, Winkler County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Last wooden oil derrick in U.S. to retire from daily use. Drilled Moorhead No. 1 well on Chapman-McAlvane lease, Loving County. Has bull wheels and rig irons of type not made since 1920s. However, in its day it made deep drilling possible. Pump was steam-driven until 1942, when 4-cylinder gasoline engine began to run the "Yo-Yo" wheels and walking beam. Well was put on electric pump, 1966. Given by R. O. Moorhead to city of Kermit, as a Permian Basin oil empire history exhibit, rig was moved 35 miles to this site without being dismantled. (1966)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This wooden cable-tool rig was the last of its kind in the United States to retire from daily use, its bull wheels and rig irons of a type not manufactured since the 1920s. It drilled the Moorhead No. 1 well in Loving County, powered first by steam, then by a gasoline engine that ran its 'Yo-Yo' wheels and walking beam, before the well went electric in 1966. That year R. O. Moorhead gave it to Kermit as a Permian Basin oil-history exhibit, moved 35 miles fully intact.
Why it matters
It preserves the vanishing technology of early wooden-derrick drilling that opened the Permian Basin, one of the great oil provinces of American industry.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
For decades before modern rotary drilling took over, oil wells in America were often drilled by pounding. In cable-tool drilling, a heavy bit hung from a cable is raised and dropped again and again, breaking up rock a little at a time. A wooden derrick held up the equipment, and a big wooden walking beam rocked back and forth to drive the bit. It was slow and noisy, and in skilled hands it could reach impressive depths.
The Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico became one of the great oil regions in the world in the 1920s. The famous Santa Rita No. 1 well in Reagan County struck oil in 1923, and major discoveries followed across the region, including Winkler County, where Kermit is the county seat. Oil turned remote, dry ranch country into boomtowns.
By the mid-twentieth century, steel derricks and rotary rigs had largely replaced the old wooden cable-tool rigs. That shift is the setting for this marker: the rig was a working survivor of an older technology that had mostly disappeared.
People & events
According to the marker, this rig drilled the Moorhead No. 1 well on the Chapman-McAlvane lease in neighboring Loving County. Its bull wheels and rig irons were of a type no longer made after the 1920s. Even so, in its time equipment like this made deep drilling possible.
The rig adapted as the years passed. Its pump ran on steam until 1942, when a four-cylinder gasoline engine was installed to drive the "Yo-Yo" wheels and walking beam. In 1966 the well was switched to an electric pump. By then this was the last wooden oil derrick in the United States still in daily use, and that year it was retired.
R. O. Moorhead then gave the rig to the city of Kermit as an exhibit on the history of the Permian Basin oil industry. It was moved 35 miles to its current site without being taken apart, so what you see today is the same structure that worked in the field.
Its place in the American story
Oil changed twentieth-century America: its cars, its cities, its economy and its role in the world. The Permian Basin was central to that change, and rigs like this one did the early work of finding and producing its oil.
The rig is also a record of how industrial technology changes. It moved from steam to gasoline and then to electricity while its wooden frame stayed in place. It shows how American industry often adapted old equipment instead of replacing it immediately.
Finally, the rig shows how communities preserve history before it is gone. When the last working wooden derrick in the country retired, it was kept intact and made into an exhibit rather than scrapped, and it remains one of the few places where you can see this technology whole.
If you visit
Kermit is in the far reaches of West Texas, in wide, flat oil country where pump jacks are still common sights along the highway. Seeing an old wooden derrick standing in that landscape gives you a sense of the difference between past and present in the oil business.
When you reach the rig, look for the parts the marker names: the big bull wheels that handled the cable, the walking beam that rocked to drive the bit, and the old-style ironwork that has not been manufactured for about a century. Then imagine hauling the whole thing 35 miles across the desert without taking it apart.
This stop fits well on a Permian Basin road trip that follows the story of West Texas oil from town to town. Distances are long and services can be sparse, so plan your fuel and water, and give yourself time to stay and look.
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
- · R. O. Moorhead
Themes & tags
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