The city of Big Lake derives its name from a rain-created lake which formed in a large natural land depression located about 1½ miles south of the city. Years ago, this lake remained full most of the time because it was fed by springs which are now dry.  In the pioneer days the lake was the only known fresh water between the Concho River and the springs at Fort Stockton, and it was a popular campsite for Indians, Mexican traders, and cattle drivers.

In 1911, the Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient of Texas Railroad (now the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railroad) was completed and soon there after the town of Big Lake was platted at its present site on the railroad. On May 28, 1923, Big Lake was incorporated as a city under the general laws, and in 1925, the Reagan County seat was moved from Stiles to its present location in Big Lake. Today, Big Lake's economy is geared mainly toward the oil and gas industry.

The county is named in honor of Senator John H. Reagan, member of the Texas Legislature and the United States Congress, Post Master General of the Southern Confederacy, and the first chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission.

Reagan County was created from Tom Green County on March 7, 1903, and was organized April 20, 1925, with the county seat in Big Lake.

More facts on BIG LAKE, TEXAS:  In 1905 the Coates family settled on the west side of the water-filled depression called Big Lake.  The Taylor family took up land on the east side of the water. In 1911 T. H. Taylor sold 320 acres of land to the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway of Texas for a townsite and station.  The townsite, named for the lake located two miles to the south, was laid out, and a stock pen was built to hold cattle for railroad shipment.  A boxcar became the depot, and a hotel with family-style dining was established. The Nairn family opened a grocery store near the tracks, and the Anderson family began a general mercantile store. W. W. Coates and A. H. Garner installed a line from Stiles, the county seat, to Big Lake to give the community telephone service. A public school was started with fifteen students in a small building that later became the Methodist parsonage. The town was ready for the arrival of the railroad.  In 1912 the KCM&O built tracks from Mertzon to Girvin by way of Big Lake, and a post office was established.  By fall of 1915 forty to fifty people lived in the community.

On May 28, 1923, oil was discovered in Reagan County near the town of Big Lake at the rig pictured on the top banner of this page.  The rig was named Santa Rita #1, for The Patron Saint of the Impossible.  This was the beginning of rhe Permian Basin Oil Field of West Texas.  That summer, oil leases sold for quick profits for local landowners and out-of-town speculators. Several new cafes, a hardware store, and a lumberyard opened to profit from the expected Big Lake boom; the hotel was expanded by a twelve-room addition; and Big Lake citizens voted to incorporate on August 15.  In 1925, when a population of 100 was reported and when Big Lake appeared to be the most important town in the county, it became the county seat.  The town grew to a population of 1,500 by 1927 and to 2,000 by the next year.

But the Great Depression^qv brought the population down to 832 in 1931, when the number of businesses was reported at sixty. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s Big Lake settled into the role of a supply town for the local oil industry; the population dropped as low as 763, and the number of businesses varied between twenty-five and sixty-five. On May 23, 1951, the Spraberry Trend area was brought into production in Reagan County. Big Lake experienced another modest but sustained oil boom. Its population increased to 2,140 in 1952, to 2,600 in 1956, to 2,668 in 1961, and to 3,098 in 1966. The number of businesses during these years was about seventy-five. During the 1970s the population remained between 2,345 and 2,942, and the number of businesses bounced between fifty and seventy-eight. From 1982 to 1991 Big Lake had a population of more than 3,400 and between seventy-five and 100 businesses. In 1990 the population was 3,672. In 2000 the population dropped to 2,885.

Though early inhabitants remain undocumented, it is likely that Paleo-Indians lived on the land that became Reagan County. Spanish expeditions probably traversed the area; local Jumano Indians encouraged the Spanish to establish missions there on several occasions in the seventeenth century. Kiowa and Comanche Indians used the area as a hunting ground and later raided local ranches, but it remained largely unsettled country until the nineteenth century. An important source of water for prehistoric peoples and early travelers was Grierson Springs, which once flowed substantially in southwestern Reagan County. Spaniards probably discovered the springs in January 1684, when the expedition of Juan Domínguez de Mendoza arrived there and camped for two days. The Comanches also used the springs as a campsite. In 1858 the Butterfield Overland Mail missed the springs when planners drew its stage route along Centralia Draw across the center of the county, but a source of fresh water was the first consideration when an outpost for Fort Concho was selected on April 30, 1878. Both the springs and the camp were named in honor of Col. Benjamin H. Grierson, who located the camp at the site. Camp Grierson was part of the army's plan to protect white society in the area from Indian attack and ultimately to eliminate the Indians from Texas. At different times, companies D, E, and F of the Tenth Cavalry, Company K of the Twenty-fifth Infantry, and Company K of the Twenty-fourth Infantry were stationed there. The camp was abandoned in 1882 when Grierson and his Tenth Cavalry were transferred from Fort Concho to Fort Davis. On May 26, 1885, George W. Wedemeyer stopped at the springs and described the camp as in ruins. P. H. Coates, whose family arrived in a train of seventeen wagons in 1885, also camped at the springs. By the 1890s sheep and goat ranchers had moved into the central area of the county near the homesite of another early settler, Gordon Stiles, on Centralia Draw.

The Santa Rita #1 was spudded shortly before midnight on August 17,1921, on the last day before the 18-month drilling permit was to expire. Progress was slow for driller Carl Cromwell, who also worked as a tool dresser, derrick hand, roustabout, and fireman. Crews, when available, consisted mostly of cowboy roustabouts who disliked the work and were distinguished for high absenteeism and steady turnover.

Twenty-one slow-moving months were required to bring the well to production. There were many delays common to cable-tool drilling at the time. The slowness with which essential materials arrived coupled with limited resources of the Texon Company also caused many delays. On more than one occasion, the well was shut down and the crew laid off because money was not available to pay salaries or buy casing and other needed supplies.

Several months after drilling began, Frank Pickrell climbed to the top of the derrick. He threw out the petals of a rose that a group of Catholic women investors back in New York had given him. He christened the well in the name of the patron Saint of the Impossible --- Santa Rita.

On May 25,1923, oil and gas began to show on the surface. On May 28, 1923, a loud roar was heard and the Santa Rita #1 blew in. The well would continue to head up daily, unloading about 100 bbls of oil each time. People from surrounding towns as far away as Fort Worth would travel to watch the well blow oil over the derrick.

After a month, casing and a packer finally arrived and the first commercial well in the Permian Basin was put on production.

The Santa Rita #1 was eventually found to be on the edge of the reservoir and future wells in the Big Lake Field produced at rates of over 5,000 BOPD per well.

Santa Rita # 1 produced its first gusher on May 28, 1923. The well sprayed oil over a 250-yard area around the site. After producing oil for 67 years, the well in Reagan County, West Texas, was capped in May 1990.
CN# 00324, the Center for American History.
                               


Pictured here is a replica of Santa Rita # 1 standing in the Reagan County Park in Big Lake.  The original rig was moved to the University of Texas at Austin.






This has been a short history on the Santa Rita #1. The information on this well was received from Marathon Oil Company. Both a brochure and information from the Field Foreman was used.