Coleman Ranch Field Discovery Well

Completion of The Westbrook Field T&P No. 1 oil well in 1920 signaled the beginning of commercial oil production in the Permian Basin. In the rush of oil activity that followed, the P.C. Coleman No. 1 Well was drilled on land owned by Dr. Preston C. Coleman, physician, civic leader and promoter of early oil development in Mitchell County. Completed in January 1923, the well was a slow producer. After nitroglycerine was used to temporarily increase production, the well was capped with a cedar stump. Frank Kelley, landman for the Magnolia Oil Co., removed the stump in 1925, and the well began flowing again. When occasional pumping yielded only small amounts of oil, Magnolia abandoned it in 1940. Although not a significant producer, the P.C. Coleman No. 1 Well confirmed the possibility of further oil development on the eastern shelf of the Permian Basin. In 1946, large quantities of oil were found southwest of the discovery well on former public school land filed on in 1900 by Dr. Coleman's son Walter. Marked today only by a concrete well cap on a concrete base, the site of the Coleman Ranch Field Discovery Well serves as a reminder of the early days of oil production in the Permian Basin.

(1983).