Upshur County Discovery Well

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Upshur County Discovery Well. Now settle in, because this one starts with a single hole in the ground and ends with a number that'll make your jaw drop. The well is called J.

D. Richardson No. 1, and on May 6, 1931, it came in. That date matters.

Because what happened on that day in Upshur County didn't stay in Upshur County. That well was the first of two thousand county wells that would go on to produce over two hundred and twenty-five thousand barrels of oil. Two thousand wells.

All of them following the trail blazed by this one. The outfit that drilled it was Mudge Oil Company, with Clark and Cowden Drilling Company serving as contractor. The drilling supervisor was T.

P. Kirk, and the men actually running the drill were Dave McCullough and R. D.

Kirk. And the crew, well, let's give them their names, because they earned it: Jess Wright, John Bloomfield, W. B.

Stroheim, Grady Williams, R. E. Powers, C.

O. Kirk, W. D.

Emerson, and Tommie Thompson. Those are the hands that were there the day it all began. Now, the well reached a total depth of three thousand seven hundred and fifty-four feet.

And when it opened up, the initial daily production came in at thirty-five thousand barrels of oil and ten million cubic feet of gas. Ten million cubic feet of gas. In a single day.

General American Oil Company bought the well in 1952, but by then the discovery had already done what discoveries do. It had changed everything. Because the marker tells us that J.

D. Richardson No. 1 sits in the extension of the East Texas oil field, one of the largest oil fields in the world. One well.

May 6, 1931. And the ground beneath Upshur County has never been the same since.

What the marker says

J. D. Richardson No. 1. Completed May 6, 1931; first of 2,000 county wells that produced over 225,000 barrels of oil. Drilled by Mudge Oil Co.; bought by General American Oil Co., (1952). Total depth of well: 3,754 ft.; initial daily production: 35,000 barrels of oil and 10,000,000 cu. ft. of gas. Contractor was Clark and Cowden Drilling Co. Drilling supervisor: T. P. Kirk; Dave McCullough and R. D. Kirk, drillers. Crew: Jess Wright, John Bloomfield, W. B. Stroheim, Grady Williams, R. E. Powers, C. O. Kirk, W. D. Emerson, Tommie Thompson. Is in extension of East Texas oil field, one of world's largest.