DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Powell Oil Field in Navarro County. Now settle in, because this one's got everything — patience, heartbreak, glory, and fire. The Powell Oil Field is one of the world's most noted petroleum fields, and it earned that reputation the hard way.
It was discovered in 1905, and it developed in three distinct periods — each one a different kind of story. The first goes back to those early shallow wells, drilled down eight hundred to a thousand feet into what's called the Nacatoch Sand. A man named Claude Witherspoon put those wells in the ground.
And here's a quiet little detail that deserves a moment — some of those early shallow wells are still producing. Still. Let that sit.
The second period, though — that's where the drama lives. Before any of that second-era glory arrived, there were three heartbreaking years of drilling. Three years of hope and dry holes and coming up short, over and over again.
Then came Sunday, January 7th, 1923. That was the day the W. H.
Warren and R. K. Blackshear well — the J.
H. Burke No. 1, drilled down 2,933 feet into the Woodbine Sand — blew in as a gusher. And the boom was on.
Because there were no spacing or proration regulations yet, derricks sprouted by the dozens. Just absolutely covered the landscape. The J.
H. Burke No. 1 sits one mile southwest of the marker. Then on May 8th, 1923, another great gusher came roaring in — the J.
K. Hughes and W. J.
McKie No. 1, about two and a quarter miles southwest. That well blackened the area with oil, and that oil soon ignited. Fifteen people died.
This was not a celebration — this was a catastrophe wrapped around a discovery. That gusher was flowing eight thousand barrels a day, and it defined the main pool of the entire field. By fall of 1923, the six-square-mile Powell field was outproducing Pennsylvania plus nine other oil states.
Nine other oil states. And on November 23rd, 1923, came the peak — 354,893 barrels in a single day. The population skyrocketed.
Corn and cotton patches, the kind of quiet farmland that had been there for generations, became townsites. Oil City. Tuckertown.
Wildcat. Towns born from a boom. In 1923, Powell ran over 30 million barrels.
In 1924, over 40 million. And then, as booms do, it began to decline. The last million-barrel year was 1931.
But Powell wasn't finished. In 1964, waterflooding ushered in the third yield period — a whole new chapter for a field that had already seen more than most. One field, discovered in 1905.
Three heartbreaking years that led to a gusher. Fire. Forty million barrels in a year.
And it's still not done. That's Powell.
What the marker says
One of the world's most noted petroleum fields. Discovered 1905; developed in three periods. A number of early shallow wells (800' - 1,000' in Nacatoch Sand), drilled by Claude Witherspoon, are still producing. Field's second and greatest era came as a result of three heartbreaking years of drilling. On Sunday, Jan. 7, 1923, the W. H. Warren-R. K. Blackshear "J. H. Burke No. 1" (2,933' in Woodbine Sand) blew in as a gusher, triggering a feverish drilling boom. As this was prior to spacing and proration regulations, derricks sprouted by the dozens. The site of "J. H. Burke No. 1" is one mile southwest of this marker. On May 8, 1923, another great gusher, the "J. K. Hughes-W. J. McKie No. 1" (2.25 mi. SW), blackened the area with oil which soon ignited, causing 15 deaths. This 8,000-barrel-a-day gusher defined the main pool. By fall, the six-square mile field was outproducing Pennsylvania plus nine other oil states. On Nov. 23, 1923, came peak day of 354,893 barrels. The population skyrocketed. Corn and cotton patches became townsites for Oil City, Tuckertown, Wildcat. In 1923 Powell ran over 30 million barrels; in 1924, over 40 million. It then declined, with last million-barrel year in 1931. Waterflooding ushered in third yield period, 1964. (1973)