Site of J.H. McCleskey No. 1, Discovery Well of the Ranger Oil Boom
Ranger, Eastland County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Texas and Pacific Coal Company struck oil at 1,000 feet about 10 miles east of Ranger in 1915. This event raised the hopes of area ranchers, farmers, and businessmen struggling to survive an economic slump brought on by severe drought and boll weevil-ravaged cotton fields. Oil expectations mounted then subsided when subsequent test-drillings turned up dry holes. Desperate local leaders sought out Texas and Pacific Coal Company general manager William Knox Gordon in nearby Thurber to help them continue the search for oil. Contrary to the conclusions of some geologists, Gordon believed oil lay much deeper within the earth than the depths reached by previous test drillings. Gordon agreed to drill to a depth of 3,500 feet and on July 2, 1917, contractor Warren Wagner began drilling here on J.H. McCleskey's farm. On October 17, 1917, at a depth of 3,432 feet, McCleskey Well No. 1 hit pay sand and roared in with an estimated daily flow of 1,600 barrels of oil. The well was plugged on May 18, 1920. J.H. McCleskey Well No. 1 sparked the much-heralded, wild, and prolific Ranger oil boom that gained Ranger international fame as the town whose oil wiped out critical oil shortages during World War I, allowing the Allies to "float to victory on a wave of oil." (1995)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
By 1917 area farmers and ranchers were reeling from drought and boll weevils when Texas and Pacific Coal Company manager William Knox Gordon bet that oil lay far deeper than earlier dry holes had reached. Contractor Warren Wagner drilled here on J. H. McCleskey's farm, and on October 17, 1917, at 3,432 feet the well roared in at an estimated 1,600 barrels a day. It ignited the wild, prolific Ranger boom, whose oil helped relieve wartime shortages and let the Allies, as the saying went, 'float to victory on a wave of oil.'
Why it matters
The Ranger gusher helped fuel the Allied victory in World War I and announced the North Texas oil boom that reshaped the state's economy.
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Related people
- · William Knox Gordon
- · J. H. McCleskey
- · Warren Wagner
Related events
- · Ranger oil boom
- · World War I
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Roaring Ranger
Ranger, TX
When World War I drove oil demand sky-high, Texas Pacific Coal Company manager W.K. Gordon gambled on deep drilling, and in October 1917 the McClesky No. 1 blew in as a 1,700-barrel-a-day gusher a mile south of here. Later wells yielded many thousands of barrels daily, and a village of a dozen houses exploded into a boomtown so crowded that beds were shared in shifts and stuffed chairs were rented for sleeping. Amid a two-year sea of mud, easy money drew both fortune-seekers and vice, until lawmen cracked down after five murders in a single day.
First Oil Well Drilled in Eastland County
Ranger, TX
On a Texas afternoon in the fall of 1917, the McCleskey No. 1 came in gushing, and the sleepy town of Ranger was never the same. Drilled through that summer and autumn under the eye of W.K. Gordon of the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company, the well opened the Ranger Pool and touched off one of the great oil booms of the World War I era. It flowed for thirteen years before being capped, having produced hundreds of thousands of barrels.
Merriman Cemetery
Ranger, TX
Begun around 1873 as a community graveyard just as Eastland County was organized, this cemetery holds early settlers, flu victims from the 1916–17 epidemic, and veterans of conflicts from the Civil War to Korea. The 1917 oil strike on nearby land triggered a boom, and speculators reportedly offered a large sum to lease the burial ground for drilling—an offer the local congregation refused, preserving the site's sanctity.
Merriman Baptist Church
Ranger vicinity, TX
Local Baptists met in private homes for years before organizing the Merriman Baptist Church in 1892 and raising a small frame meeting house. When an oil boom struck in 1917, the congregation leased its drilling rights, and a gusher soon earned the church hundreds of dollars a day. Keeping only what it needed to operate, the small congregation gave roughly $100,000 a year to missions, orphanages, seminaries, and charities. Drilling noise eventually drove services to a tabernacle, and in 1922 the members built a brick sanctuary they still used generations later.