Texon, Texas
Shortly after the Santa Rita No. 1 well discovery, Pittsburgh wildcatters M. L. Benedum and Joe Trees purchased some of Texon’s leases and formed the Big Lake Oil Company to develop the field. Texon, Texas was named for the Texon Oil and Land Company and was the first company town in the Permian Basin. From 1924 to 1926, the Big Lake Oil Company president, Levi Smith, planned and built Texon for
employees and their families. Texon had a post office, school, physician, dentist, hospital, theater, park, stores, and many facilities for recreation. As many as 2,000 people lived there, manning the drilling, a gasoline plant, an oil treating plant, and other operations. Plymouth Oil Company absorbed Big Lake Oil Company in 1956, then sold to what is now Marathon Oil Company in 1962, which opted to close the town that year.
1924
Oil Discovery 1923
For 646 days the cable-tool rig pounded and Cromwell, along with his tool dresser, Dee Locklin, bailed the hole. They averaged only 4.7 feet a day. Late on May 27, 1923, the bit drilled into the dolomitic sands, called “Big Lime,” just above the 3,050-foot level. Cromwell shut down the well when he saw gas bubbles escaping from the casinghead, convinced they had an oil well, and left the site to lease surrounding mineral acreage while the discovery was yet unknown.
Early on May 28, with no further drilling, the Santa Rita roared to life, sprayed oil over the top of the derrick, and covered a 250-yard area around the site. The first royalty payment to the University of Texas, in the amount of $516.53, was paid on August 24, 1923.
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