DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, two hundred feet north of where you're standin' right now — just a stone's throw, really — something happened in 1901 that changed Hardin County forever. That's where J.
B. Hooks, known to his people as Ben, along with his brothers H. A. — that's Bud — J.
L., who folks called Sam, and George, drilled down into the earth. Nine hundred and ninety-five feet down. Not nine-ninety, not a thousand even.
Nine hundred and ninety-five feet, and then — well, then Hardin County had itself an oil well. Now here's where it gets interesting. Any time you bring in a discovery well — the very first one in a whole county — a town tends to sprout up around it like wildfire after a dry summer.
And sprout it did. The boom town that rose up here was first called New Sour Lake. Which, I'll be honest with you, is not exactly a name that makes a person want to pack their bags and move the family.
Maybe somebody else thought the same thing, because that name didn't stick. The town got a new one: Saratoga. Named after the famous New York resort.
So there you have it — a patch of East Texas oil country wearing the name of a fancy New York getaway. Four brothers, nine hundred and ninety-five feet of determination, and a boom town that couldn't quite decide what it wanted to be called. The Hooks boys just kept on drillin'.
What the marker says
At this site in 1901 the first oil well in Hardin County was brought in at a depth of 995 feet by J. B. (Ben) Hooks and brothers H. A. (Bud), J. L. (Sam), and George. The ensuing boom town was first called "New Sour Lake" but later named "Saratoga" after the famous New York resort. (1971)