DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, there's a piece of land out in Crane County, west Texas, that the University of Texas once got its hands on because a railroad company handed it back to the state and called it worthless. That's right — worthless.
This was 1883, and the University had been the beneficiary of Texas public lands set aside for education all the way back to 1839. So they took the land. What else were they going to do?
For years, McElroy Ranch just grazed cattle on it, quiet as you please, and nobody gave it much thought. But seventy miles to the southeast, something happened in 1923 that had a way of changing a man's thinking about west Texas dirt. That was the year the Santa Rita gusher blew in on similar terrain — similar University land — and suddenly folks started looking at all those other University holdings with a whole new set of eyes.
Enter George M. Church and Robert Fields, two men out of San Angelo operating under the name Church and Fields Exploration Company. Late in 1925, they obtained a permit to drill in Section 34, Block 30, University Land on McElroy Ranch — that same patch the railroad had written off as good for nothing.
And on December 28, 1925, contractor Burton F. Weekley and driller John Garlin put a bit in the ground, two and a quarter miles southeast of where this marker stands. They kept drilling into the new year.
March 1926 — that's when it happened. The Church and Fields well became Crane County's first oil producer, and just like that, it opened a new major field for west Texas. Soon other wells were going down all around it.
The local population, which had been sitting at twenty-seven souls, climbed to around four thousand five hundred. By September 1927, there was enough activity out here that Crane County organized its own county government as a result of the oil field. Twenty-seven people to four thousand five hundred.
County government rising out of desert ground. All of it tracing back to one well that a railroad company's logic said shouldn't exist. That discovery well kept producing until 1955.
And since the day it proved successful, over a billion barrels of oil have come from University of Texas lands — financing education, just as Texas intended back in 1839. The railroad called it worthless. West Texas had other ideas.
What the marker says
(Drilling site 2.25 miles southeast) Since 1839 Texas has set aside her public lands to finance education. The University of Texas at Austin acquired the land at this site in 1883, after the first owner, a railroad company, returned it to the state as worthless. For years McElroy Ranch grazed cattle here. On similar terrain 70 miles to the southeast the Santa Rita gusher blew in during 1923, and soon other university lands were being explored for oil. Church & Fields Exploration Company, composed of George M. Church and Robert Fields of San Angelo, obtained a permit late in 1925 to drill in Section 34, Block 30, in University Land on McElroy Ranch. On Dec. 28, 1925, contractor Burton F. Weekley and Driller John Garlin started the Church & Fields well, 2.25 miles southeast of this spot. In March 1926 this became Crane County's first oil producer, opening a new major field for west Texas. Soon other wells were drilled and local population rose from 27 to about 4,500. In Sept. 1927 county government was organized as a result of the oil field activity. Until 1955 the discovery well continued to produce. Since the day it proved successful and an asset to education and energy production, over a billion barrels of oil have come from University of Texas lands. (1978)