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The Texas Department of Transportation and the Hidalgo County Historical Commission held an unveiling ceremony Thursday for a new historical marker near the site of the county’s first oil well.
The new marker is located between La Joya and Sullivan City along westbound US Business 63, about one mile east of the US 83 Relief Route connectors. The original marker placed near the location was removed when construction began on the relief route, TxDOT said in a news release.
Working on behalf of Houston’s Heep Oil, Otto C. Woods brought in the John M. Lawrence No. 1 oil well on Sept. 18, 1934.
Woods made front page news on Sept. 16, 1934, when his well started flowing oil despite the casing choked with mud and sand, according to McAllen Daily Press archives. The reporter who interviewed Woods wrote “after weeks of gruelling (sic) work, [Woods] was wreathed in smiles.”
“It will take two or three days to clean the well out so it can flow freely,” Woods told the Press at the time. “There is no way to estimate the production of the well, but I feel confident we have a nice well.”
A nice well it was since the Hidalgo County Historical Commission credits it as the start of the county’s long relationship with the oil and gas industry. According to a Sept. 24, 1934 edition of the Press, the well was “flowing at a rate of about 1,000 barrels daily.”
By August 1935, the field where the John Lawrence No. 1 well was located had 76 oil wells, the Press reported at the time.
Eventually, by the end of the century, the county had produced 20 million barrels of oil, according to the historical marker.
The new historical marker reads as follows.
“Hidalgo County’s long relationship with the oil and gas industry began near this site when the John M. Lawrence No. 1 oil well was brought in on September 18, 1934 by veteran driller Otto C. Woods (1882-1956), working on behalf of Heep Oil of Houston. Drilling commenced March 13, 1935 and reached a depth of 2753 feet. An audience of more than 250 spectators watched as the oil began shooting up thirty feet, according to local newspapers.
“The well flowed 1,000 or more barrels a day. At first the oil formed a lake beside the well. Drilling was completed March 25, 1935, and the well was plugged July 5, 1940. By the end of the century, Hidalgo County had produced 20 million barrels of oil.”
