DUANE
Get the App
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The vast East Texas oilfield came roaring into existence in October 1930, and it didn't stay polite about where it stopped. Wells spread across the field in five Texas counties, and drillers kept pushing, kept looking, kept asking: where else might the oil be hiding?
The answer, it turned out, was underneath the Sabine River itself. By late summer of 1932, the riverbed, which was owned by the state of Texas, was being divided into tracts and leased out to drilling companies. Now think about that for a moment.
Not dry land. Not a field. The actual bottom of a river.
The first well in that riverbed was drilled by the U-Tex Oil Company, a group of investors drawn from Texas and Utah, and they sent that drill down to a depth of 3,466 feet. That well continues to produce to this day. In all, approximately 200 wells were drilled in that riverbed.
Two hundred. And if you look out near this site right now, the derricks still standing in the Sabine River are the last of them, the final survivors of that whole extraordinary endeavor. The marker calls them a testament to the engineering ingenuity of an important Texas industry.
I'd say that's about right. Some things just don't need embellishing.
What the marker says
The vast East Texas oilfield was discovered in October 1930, and wells were soon located across the field in five Texas counties. Drilling was expanded to include the Sabine River bed, which was owned by the state of Texas, in late summer 1932. The riverbed was divided into tracts and leased to drilling companies. The first well was drilled by the U-Tex Oil Company, which was made up of investors from Texas and Utah. The well was drilled to a depth of 3,466 feet and continues to produce today. The derricks that remain in the Sabine River near this site are the last standing of the approximately 200 wells drilled in the riverbed, and are a testament to the engineering ingenuity of an important Texas industry.