Saint Rita of Cascia (Italy), later to be known as the Patron Saint of the Impossible, left this earth on May 27, 1357. Exactly 466 years and one day later (May 22, 1923), a well named after her, extending about 3,050 feet into the earth she’d left, began alternately flowing, and blowing out, for about […]
How Oil Populated the Permian Basin
Population growth created by the first ten years of oil production in the Permian Basin was remarkable. Once the Big Lake field began to develop, a veritable deluge of oil men poured into the Permian Basin. As it turned out, during the mid to late 1920s, that vast lightly inhabited region with no known oil […]
A Company Town for the Ages
There are few examples of the company town concept in oil country. Some come close, like the town of Philips near Borger up in the Panhandle. Others, like the company camp concept, fall peripherally within that range. The reasons they do not qualify are threefold. A company town, to be rightly deemed as such, must […]
Railroad Commission says Eastland County lake safe for recreational use
Railroad Commission of Texas said Feb. 20 it notified City of Gorman that Bass Lake in Frank Gray Memorial Park in Eastland County has been determined to be safe for recreational use. The spring-fed lake on the edge of the Barnett Shale was contaminated in April 1990 when a pipeline ruptured and spilled 294,000 gallons […]
Crossing the Line
We convened down at the Rig #8 this past Friday for our weekly alcohol-fueled sojourn down memory lane. This time the subject came up concerning some of the more wealthy members of our little oil patch fraternity and how they got that way. There were the usual yarns about old so-and-so and how he drilled […]
Born on a Prayer
Although completion of the Santa Rita #1 well in Reagan County in 1923 was preceded by the Mitchell County Abrams #1 (1920) and the Loving County Russell #1 (1921), firsts do not necessarily denote the most important. The Santa Rita well, which was in the same 100-barrel production range as those which preceded it, received […]
Permian Basin #1
Just one hundred years ago this year, some 19 years following the Spindletop discovery on the Gulf Coast that made Texas the leading oil producing state in the nation, the first successful oil well in what was to become known as the Permian Basin was drilled. At the time the region was viewed as a […]
In a Philanthropic Spirit
MIDLAND, TEXAS—In a special event hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals / Permian Basin chapter, a select group of philanthropic-minded folks were feted at the Petroleum Club in this city on Nov. 19. This “National Philanthropy Day” celebration recognized deserving individuals and groups who have generously bettered their communities and their fellow human beings. […]
Ziglo & Friends
My family moved to Odessa in 1949, just a year after George Bush moved his family there. George went to work peddling “rope, soap and dope” for one of the oilfield supply houses while my dad began building tanks for the National Tank Company. The Bushes left for Midland shortly after we arrived in town. […]
Homelessness the Theme of New Midland-based Film
“Finding Home in Boomtown” chronicles a family’s journey from six-figure oilfield job to living with and helping the homeless. “And He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” Matthew 4:18-20, NASB “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep […]
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