The Benedum Oil Field and Benedum Townsite
Rankin, Upton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Field named in 1950 by Texas Railroad Commission in honor of Michael Late (Mike) Benedum, 1869-1959, who devoted 69 of his 90 years to the oil business, and won fortune and fame as "the great wildcatter". His work began in 1890. With a partner, Joe C. Trees, he discovered or developed oil fields in Illinois, West Virginia, Louisiana (the great Caddo field); the Tuxpan in Mexico; de Mares in Colombia, South America; and in Texas the Desdemona, Big Lake, Yates, East White Point, Susan Peak and Benavides. Discovery of Big Lake Field ( 1923 ) on University of Texas land tapped the great wealth of the Permian Basin, which opened in 1920 with a small discovery. Alford No. 1, original well in Benedum field (later reclassified as a gas field), was completed Jan. 4, 1948, at depth of 12,011 feet by Slick-Urschel Oil Co., under a partnership agreement. The field later benefited by dedication of Benedum townside. The "great wildcatter" was an oil pioneer whose work enriched one of the world's large constitutional permanent university funds. Revenues from oil and gas operations give Texas the largest permanent public school fund in the world.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Texas Railroad Commission named this field in 1950 for Michael Late "Mike" Benedum, the legendary "great wildcatter" who spent nearly seventy years finding oil from West Virginia and Louisiana to Mexico, Colombia, and across Texas. With partner Joe C. Trees he opened field after field, and the discovery of the Big Lake field in 1923 on University of Texas land helped unlock the vast wealth of the Permian Basin. The Benedum field's first well was completed in 1948 at more than 12,000 feet, adding to the oil revenues that built Texas's public university and school endowments.
Why it matters
Benedum's career captures the wildcatting era that turned West Texas oil into the engine behind the nation's largest permanent public education funds.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
For much of the nineteenth century, West Texas was ranch country: dry, wide open, and thinly populated. That began to change after oil was found in the early twentieth century. The marker notes that the Permian Basin, the huge sedimentary basin under West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, opened in 1920 with a small discovery. The real breakthrough came in 1923, when the Big Lake Field was found on land owned by the University of Texas.
That detail matters. When Texas set up its public university system, the state set aside large tracts of West Texas land to support it. For years the land seemed worth little. Once oil flowed from it, the income went into what became one of the largest university endowments in the country. Other public lands helped build an enormous fund for the state's public schools.
The decades that followed brought boom towns, pipelines, and ever-deeper drilling. By the late 1940s, when the first well in the field named for Mike Benedum was completed, drillers were reaching depths the early wildcatters could hardly have imagined, more than 12,000 feet into the West Texas rock.
People & events
Michael Late "Mike" Benedum, born in 1869, spent 69 of his 90 years in the oil business and became known as "the great wildcatter." A wildcatter was a driller who sank wells in unproven territory, far from existing fields, betting money and reputation on geology, instinct, and luck. Benedum started in 1890 and kept at it for the rest of his long life.
Working with his partner, Joe C. Trees, he found or developed oil fields across the country and beyond it: in Illinois and West Virginia, in Louisiana's great Caddo field, in the Tuxpan region of Mexico, and at De Mares in Colombia. In Texas their names are linked with the Desdemona, Big Lake, Yates, East White Point, Susan Peak, and Benavides fields. The list reads like a map of the early petroleum age.
The field here is a later chapter. Its original well, Alford No. 1, was drilled by the Slick-Urschel Oil Company under a partnership agreement and completed on January 4, 1948, at a depth of 12,011 feet. In 1950 the Texas Railroad Commission, the state agency that regulates oil and gas, named the field in Benedum's honor. It was later reclassified as a gas field, and dedicating the Benedum townsite added to its development.
Its place in the American story
Benedum's career follows the arc of the American oil industry, from the Appalachian fields of the late 1800s to the great Gulf Coast and West Texas discoveries of the twentieth century, and out into Latin America. Oil powered the automobile age, fueled two world wars, and changed the American economy. Wildcatters like Benedum were at its frontier.
What stands out about this marker is where the money went. Because the Big Lake discovery was on university land, oil helped build the permanent endowment supporting public higher education in Texas. And because public lands produced oil and gas, Texas built what the marker calls the largest permanent public school fund in the world. Generations of Texas students have benefited from oil and gas pulled out of this dry country.
That is an unusual American story: a natural resource boom whose rewards were deliberately set aside for public education. Whatever you think of the oil business, the choice to send part of that wealth into schools and universities has shaped Texas for a century.
If you visit
Rankin and the surrounding Upton County country are pure West Texas: big sky, mesquite and caliche, and horizons that seem to go on forever. Pump jacks and other oilfield equipment are part of the scenery, silent evidence of the wealth underground. Driving here, you understand why early wildcatters needed so much faith. Nothing on the surface hints at what lies thousands of feet below.
When you stop at the marker, think about the depth. The field's first well reached more than 12,000 feet, over two miles down, and it was drilled in the years just after World War II. Then think about the long line of classrooms and campuses across Texas that oil money from lands like these has helped pay for.
This stop fits well into a road trip across the Permian Basin, where towns like Big Lake, Midland, and Odessa carry the oil story forward. It pairs especially well with a visit to the Big Lake area, where the discovery that opened the region's wealth took place. Bring water, fill up the tank, and enjoy the long, empty miles. They are part of the story too.
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
- · Michael Late Benedum
- · Joe C. Trees
Themes & tags
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