DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little Colorado County flavor. Now, picture the summer of 1932. Out in what would come to be known as the Garwood Field, a drilling crew working for the Coyle-Concord Oil Company is punching a hole in the earth.
These folks weren't operating on a shoestring, either. They held block leases on thirty thousand acres in the area. Thirty thousand.
That's not a guess, that's a commitment. They called their target Nelson No. 1 Well, and on July 17, 1932, at a depth of four thousand and fifty-two feet, that well came in completed. Now, here's where the story takes one of those turns that make you appreciate patience.
All that gas, right there under Colorado County, and in 1932, no market was found for it. None. They'd drilled down more than four thousand feet, leased up half the county, and the world just wasn't buying.
That is a quiet kind of heartbreak. But the Garwood Field didn't give up, and neither did the people tied to it. Many other wells were soon drilled, following the success of that first one.
Then came two extensions to the field, located later, and this time commercial outlets were obtained. The gas finally had somewhere to go, and when it did, it started contributing to the prosperity of Colorado County. And maybe that's the real tall tale here, not the drillin', but the waiting.
Because Texas, as it turns out, was sitting on something almost incomprehensible. Nearly one hundred nineteen trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. That's forty-two point three percent of all United States reserves.
The whole nation's share, and Texas holding nearly half of it. It started with a crew, a lease, a name on a well, and a hole in the ground four thousand and fifty-two feet deep on a July day in 1932. Not bad for a field that couldn't find a customer.
What the marker says
Completed on July 17, 1932, as Nelson No. 1 Well, at a depth of 4,052 ft; was drilled by Coyle-Concord Oil Company, owner of 30,000 acres of block leases in area. Many other wells were soon drilled as a result of success here. Site called Garwood Field. In 1932 no market was found for this gas. Two extensions to the field were later located and commercial outlets obtained. Gas production has contributed to prosperity of the county. Texas reserves of natural Gas are nearly 119 trillion cu.ft., or 42.3% of United States reserves.