Rafael Rios No. 1
Stairtown, Caldwell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Located 0.8 Mi.N, on Farm Road 671) Discovery well of Luling Field, a major Texas oil area. Wildcatter E.B. Davis drilled on land owned by R. Rios. Well came in Aug. 10, 1922, after 3 dry holes had been drilled in same area. Magnolia (now Mobil) Oil Co. bought filed 1926. By 1969, production was 135,000,000 barrels. Incise on back: Donated by Mobil Oil Corporation.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On August 10, 1922, wildcatter E.B. Davis brought in this discovery well on land owned by R. Rios after three earlier dry holes, opening the major Luling oil field. Magnolia Oil (later Mobil) bought the field in 1926, and by 1969 it had yielded some 135 million barrels. The strike helped transform a stretch of Central Texas farmland into an oil district.
Why it matters
The well marks the persistence of the wildcatter era, when a single gamble after repeated failures could unlock a field that reshaped a region's economy.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early 1920s, oil was remaking Texas. The famous Spindletop gusher near Beaumont in 1901 had kicked off a boom, and over the next two decades oilmen fanned out across the state looking for the next big strike. Every new field could turn quiet farmland into a crowded boom district almost overnight.
The nation's appetite for oil was growing fast. Automobiles were spreading across the country, roads were being paved, and gasoline was becoming an everyday necessity. Finding new oil wasn't just a way to get rich. It was helping fuel a new American way of life.
Yet finding oil was still a gamble. Geologists could suggest promising ground, but in the end you had to drill and see. That uncertainty made room for the wildcatter, an independent driller willing to sink wells in unproven territory and risk everything on what lay beneath.
People & events
At the center of this story is wildcatter E.B. Davis, who drilled on land owned by R. Rios. Davis was looking for oil in an area where earlier attempts had come up empty. Three dry holes had already been drilled nearby, enough failure to make most people walk away.
Davis kept going. On August 10, 1922, the well on the Rios land came in. It was the discovery well of the Luling Field, which would prove to be a major Texas oil area. The well took its name from the landowner, a reminder that every oil strike involved both the drillers who took the risk and the people whose land held the prize.
The field's success drew attention from big companies. In 1926 Magnolia Oil Company, later part of Mobil, bought the field. Production kept flowing for decades. By 1969 the field had produced 135 million barrels of oil, a remarkable total for a field that began after three failures.
Its place in the American story
The Luling discovery is a classic example of the wildcatter spirit that shaped the American oil industry. Independent operators willing to drill after repeated failures found many of the fields that big companies later developed. Their persistence, and their tolerance for risk, helped turn the United States into an oil powerhouse in the 20th century.
The field also shows the typical life cycle of an American oil discovery: a lone gamble, a big strike, then purchase and development by a major corporation. That pattern played out again and again across Texas and the nation, linking small-town farmland to national companies and national markets.
And those 135 million barrels did not stay in Caldwell County. They fed an economy that was rapidly building itself around the automobile, highways, and industry. A single well on a farm near Luling became one small source in the great flow of energy that powered modern America.
If you visit
Note that the marker itself says the well site lies a short distance north, along Farm Road 671. So the marker is a pointer to the spot where the field began, not the wellhead itself. It's worth taking a moment to look out over the surrounding land and imagine the excitement when oil finally came in after three dry holes.
As you drive the Luling area, keep an eye out for signs of the oil heritage that this well started. Pumpjacks and other oilfield equipment have long been a familiar part of this landscape, a visible link between the farmland and the industry beneath it.
This stop pairs nicely with a road trip through Caldwell County, where farm country and oil country overlap. It's a great place to talk with kids about persistence: the people who drilled here failed three times before they struck it big, and the fourth try changed the whole 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
- · E.B. Davis
- · R. Rios
Related events
- · Discovery of the Luling oil field (1922)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
City of Luling
Luling, TX
Luling sprang up in 1874 where the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad crossed a main wagon road, drawing in whole communities and a relocated post office and chartering as a city that September. As the railroad's terminus into 1875 it boomed with shipping, drifters, and a reputation as a tough town before churches and schools settled it down. A 1922 oil strike opened a new chapter, with scores of producing wells drilled inside the city limits.
Edgar B. Davis, Oil Pioneer-Philanthropist
Luling, TX
Edgar B. Davis came to Luling after careers in Massachusetts shoe manufacturing and overseas rubber planting, and in 1922 his wildcat gamble brought in the Luling Oil Field — 215 producing wells by 1926. Rather than simply pocketing the fortune, he handed his employees $2,500,000 in bonuses and endowed the Luling Foundation to advance agriculture and opportunity in the area. Its work in soil conservation and crop and livestock improvement carried his vision forward, and he remained in the community until his death.
The Fritz Zedler Home
Luling, TX
Born in Germany in 1840, Fritz Zedler came to Texas as a boy and, after moving to Luling in 1884, built up the thriving enterprise known as Zedler's Mill. In 1900 he raised this ten-room, four-porch house from his own plans, a monument to his prosperity. It stayed in the family until 1964 and was later bought and carefully restored, earning recognition as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Zedler's Mills
Luling, TX
In 1874 John and James Merriwether and Leonidas Hardeman raised a gristmill and sawmill on this spot, damming the San Marcos River with stone to harness its power. New owners operating as the Luling Water Power Company added a cotton gin in 1884, and by 1888 milling veteran Fritz Zedler had bought out the stock and brought his sons into the family firm. For decades the Zedlers not only ground grain but supplied the town of Luling with water and, later, electric power, until operations wound down around 1960.