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.
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Related people
- · Michael Late Benedum
- · Joe C. Trees
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Weir No. 1 Oil Well
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Brought in on December 6, 1961, the Weir No. 1 well was Upton County's most dramatic oil strike since the Yates gusher of 1926. Drilled past 12,000 feet, it made history as the first quadruple completion by petroleum engineers, tapping multiple producing zones at once. The discovery came from wildcatters E. G. Rodman and W. D. Noel, whose West Texas ventures helped anchor a vast petrochemical complex at Odessa.
First State Bank of Rankin
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Founded in 1911 on the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, Rankin exploded with activity when immense oil fields were discovered in its trade area between 1923 and 1926. To serve the booming economy, the First State Bank of Rankin—Upton County's first financial institution—opened its doors in June 1927. Its founding officers and directors read as a roster of the ranchers, oilmen, and merchants driving the region's growth.
Yates Hotel
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Ira Yates famously felt "stuck" with a dry West Texas ranch he had taken in a trade for a general store — until a 1926 gusher worth a reported fifteen million dollars turned his luck upside down. As boom crowds poured into Rankin chasing the oil strike, Yates built this hotel as a showplace to house them. It stands as a monument to the wild fortunes of the Permian Basin oil rush.
Rankin Cemetery
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Founded in 1915 by civic leaders including Ira Yates and Dr. J. H. Johnson soon after the town of Rankin took shape, this cemetery received its first burial—Johnson's young niece—in 1916. Its graves multiplied in the 1920s as oil strikes in Upton and Pecos counties swelled the local population. Among its residents, tradition holds, lie the unmarked graves of two bank robbers.