DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm gonna tell this one the way the official marker tells it — and friend, the marker does not disappoint. Pull over if you have to, because this story right here is the whole reason Reagan County smells the way it does on a hot afternoon. This is Santa Rita Number One.
The discovery well for the Big Lake oil field. The first gusher in the Permian Basin. The first University of Texas producer.
And it all started on land that folks had written off as almost worthless. Almost. That word does a lot of work out here.
See, back in 1919, not a drop of oil had been found within a hundred miles of this stretch of West Texas. A hundred miles in any direction — nothing. Most men would look at those odds and find somewhere else to be.
But there was a lawyer over in Big Lake by the name of Rupert Ricker, and Rupert Ricker was not most men. He looked at that dry, sun-hammered ground and he saw something nobody else was willing to see. So he went and got leases.
Not a little lease, not a modest lease — four hundred and thirty-one thousand, three hundred and sixty acres of University of Texas land, spread across Crockett, Irion, Reagan, and Upton counties. That is a lot of faith in a lot of nothing. Soon enough, other men came to stand alongside Ricker.
P. G. Stokes, out of Big Spring.
Frank Pickrell and Haymon Krupp, over from El Paso. Others too. They pooled their nerve and their resources and they set out to drill a wildcat well half a mile south of where you're sitting right now, out on Ollie Parker's Ranch.
The man who drilled it was Carl Cromwell. The tool dresser was Dee Locklin. And that crew, working through slow, hard, punishing drilling — the kind that wears a man down to the bone and makes him question everything he thought he knew — they named the well for Santa Rita, Patronness of the Impossible.
Now that is not a subtle message. That is a crew of men looking their situation dead in the eye and saying, we know exactly what we're dealing with. Four years, two months, and one day after the permit was filled, at a depth of three thousand and fifty-five feet, the well's pressure threw the rig's bucket high up into the air.
Santa Rita was a producer. The date was May 28, 1923. And on that day, the Permian Basin — since acclaimed one of the greatest oil regions in the world — had its first big find.
Other spectacular fields would follow. Multi-millions in royalty dollars have since made the University of Texas one of the most heavily endowed schools in the world. And the original rig that brought in Santa Rita?
It now stands on the university campus. A lawyer, a patch of worthless land, and a saint for the impossible. Turns out, sometimes the impossible is just waiting on the right permit.
What the marker says
Discovery well for Big Lake oil field. First gusher in Permian Basin; first University of Texas producer. On land once thought almost worthless. Fruit of the faith of Big Lake lawyer Rupert Ricker. Though in 1919 no oil had been found within 100 miles, Ricker got leases on 431,360 acres of University of Texas land in Crockett, Irion, Reagan and Upton counties. Soon working with him were P. G. Stokes, Big Spring; Frank Pickrell and Haymon Krupp, El Paso; and others. Their wildcat well, 1/2 mile south of this site, on Ollie Parker's Ranch, was drilled by Carl Cromwell. Dee Locklin was tool dresser. Slow and hard drilling made crew name well for Santa Rita, Patronness of the Impossible. 4 years, 2 months and a day after permit was filled, and at 3,055 feet, well pressure tossed the rig's bucket high into the air. Santa Rita was a producer, the date was May 28, 1923. This day the Permian Basin, since acclaimed one of the greatest oil regions in the world, had its first big find. Other spectacular fields were to follow. Multi-millions in royalty dollars have since made the University of Texas one of the world's most heavily endowed schools. Original rig that brought in Santa Rita now is on the university campus.