DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, you're out here in Carson County, and there's something sitting one mile southeast of this spot that changed the whole character of the Texas Panhandle — changed it down to the bone. Let me walk you through it.
Back in 1904, U.S. geologists made a prediction. Oil, they said. Oil in this flat, windswept stretch of the Panhandle.
That's the kind of prediction that sounds either visionary or foolish depending on how it turns out. Then in 1918, natural gas was discovered nearby — and that was enough. Enough to get the attention of businessmen up in Amarillo, enough to get them reaching for their wallets.
They financed a well. Burnett No. 2, they called it, drilled on the 6666 Ranch belonging to S. B.
Burnett, with the Gulf Production Company doing the drilling. And on May 2, 1921, the Gulf Burnett No. 2 came in. The Panhandle's very first oil well.
Now, I'd love to tell you it was a Hollywood moment — black gold shooting into a blue sky, everybody rich by sundown. But here's where the story gets honest with you: that first oil was of poor quality. The Panhandle had given up its secret, but it wasn't giving it up easy.
So there it sat — a discovery, yes, but not yet a boom. Then 1926 arrived. Major oil discoveries in the Borger field and the South Pampa field, and suddenly the whole region woke up.
That boom the Panhandle had been holding back came roaring in, and Carson County — this very ground — became part of one of the richest petroleum areas in all of Texas. One hundred and fifty million barrels of oil produced out of Carson County since 1921. One hundred and fifty million.
The geologists called it in 1904, the drillers proved it in 1921, and the Panhandle never looked back.
What the marker says
(1 mile southeast) The Panhandle's first oil well, Gulf Burnett No. 2, was struck by the Gulf Production Company on May 2, 1921, on the 6666 Ranch of S. B. Burnett. The prediction of oil in this area by U.S. geologists in 1904 and the discovery of natural gas nearby in 1918 induced Amarillo businessmen to finance Burnett No. 2. Though the first oil was of poor quality, major oil discoveries in the nearby Borger and South Pampa fields in 1926 spurred a regional oil boom and established the Panhandle as one of Texas' richest petroleum areas. Carson County has produced 150 million barrels of oil since 1921. (1993)