I said yesterday that I would post some of the roadside history I found during the first part of my journey westward on Texas Highway 67 on Friday. The first historical marker that caught my eye was just a few miles west of Big Lake, or is that a few miles EAST of Rankin? I am sure the residents of either town would argue this point. This marker tells the story of Santa Rita No.1, the first gusher in the Permian Basin. Santa Rita No.1 was the strike that started it all.
The Black Gold Rush that followed put Midland, Big Lake, and the entire Permian Basin on the map. In fact, prior to Santa Rita No.1 coming in, only a few geologists even knew what the Permian Basin was. But for West Texas the Permian Basin was the fortune maker and dream crusher of many an oil man and many a roughneck. This famous gusher came in on May 28, 1923. At that time, like in the Gold Rushes of the century past, all that oil men and town mayors could see was the Big Boom! It would last forever, so they thought.
The Oil Boom ushered in by Santa Rita No.1 seemed to make cities like Midland, Big Lake, Big Spring, Rankin, and Kermit double in size overnight. New towns seemed to pop out of the desert floor like cactus flowers after a rare desert rain. One such town was Texon. This was a company town owned by the Texon Oil Company. Texon featured several stores and businesses, doctors,lawyers, a
theatre, as well as a school and churches. This company town even had a semi-professional baseball team. Within a couple of years, Texon boasted a fully functioning hospital.
Yes, the boom was on. But like many a gold boom town, the towns brought to life by the Santa Rita black gold rush faded away within one, two, or a few decades. Actually Texon bustled for nearly forty years, but then the decline began. By 1962 the oil company town was closed.
Today when one drives along Texas Highway 67 the remains of Texon cannot be seen, but on a small farm road that runs beside the Santa Rita No.1 historical marker, one can drive south for about two miles. At that point the remains of Texon can be found, including old streets and cracked sidewalks. Strangely enough, two of the structures that remain in Texon are still occupied. Even stranger, some of the street signs have been replaced by shiny new signs. Could it be that someone believes Texon will rise again, like the fabled Phoenix bird of mythology? I guess we won't know...until the next big oil boom.
After leaving Texon and the Santa Rita No.1, I continued west on Texas 67, my speed slowed now by every historical marker I saw along the way. One of the most interesting markers I found was located just east of the city of McCamey. This sign marked the spot where a once bustling night club was
also brought to life by the 1923 boom that doubled or tripled McCamey's original population. This night club was known as the T.P. Tavern. The original tavern was opened in 1927. By 1934 the owners, two brothers named Fitzsimmons, were forced to build a new and larger tavern at the site now marked by the historical marker at the left. Along with boxing matches and rattlesnake "derbies" (which were the forerunners of today's rattlesnake roundups), singers and bands appeared at the Tee Pee, as the tavern was locally known.
As I read this marker I thought, sure...singers? Way out here several hours west of the middle of nowhere! Right. I figured the singers would be named Dandy Bob and the Prairie Barkers, or maybe the Desert Snooze Band. I was wrong, and I apologize to the Tee Pee. Just look at the sign. Along with unknowns similar to those I mentioned above, we see that Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, and even (brace yourself) Lawrence Welk and his orchestra came through McCamey. I have to admit I was quite impressed. I listened to all of these artists when I was a young man, and saw both Ernest Tubb and Lawrence Welk (both alive in my youth) on television on many a Saturday night.
When the first oil bust hit the area, and the population of McCamey declined, so did the patronage of the Tee Pee. As the years went by, fewer big names appeared at the tavern, and by the early seventies the tavern was just another wayside bar. The T. P Tavern burned in 1974 and was never rebuilt. Now all that remains of this once popular night club is the blue sign post that is visible just to the right of the marker.
As I drove into McCamey, I looked around at all the closed businesses, abandoned work yards, and boarded up homes, and I tried to imagine what McCamey would have looked like with well over five thousand residents and temporary workers, maybe as many as ten thousand. Today McCamey is, like many a town in Permian Basin, just a shadow of its former self, but the people there are thriving, as are the many businesses that either hung on during the bust years, or those that moved in later. As these thoughts ran through my mind, my telephone rang. Child B wanted me to please come "hang" with her and Baby Baby for just a little while. My trip was over and I headed for Odessa.
As I discontinued my foray along Texas 67 and drove toward Odessa, I took a few minutes to contemplate the history I had seen, both that captured on the roadside historical markers, and the spirit captured in the desert country and in the cities and towns along this old highway. I was blessed to be able to learn this history, to see it play out in my mind. The lives of those who lived and worked out here in those rough and dusty times, the men and women who made fortunes, and those who lost it all, what a picture it was of the people, the land, and the ongoing saga, that we are proud to call Texas.
God Bless Texas
The Black Gold Rush that followed put Midland, Big Lake, and the entire Permian Basin on the map. In fact, prior to Santa Rita No.1 coming in, only a few geologists even knew what the Permian Basin was. But for West Texas the Permian Basin was the fortune maker and dream crusher of many an oil man and many a roughneck. This famous gusher came in on May 28, 1923. At that time, like in the Gold Rushes of the century past, all that oil men and town mayors could see was the Big Boom! It would last forever, so they thought.
The Oil Boom ushered in by Santa Rita No.1 seemed to make cities like Midland, Big Lake, Big Spring, Rankin, and Kermit double in size overnight. New towns seemed to pop out of the desert floor like cactus flowers after a rare desert rain. One such town was Texon. This was a company town owned by the Texon Oil Company. Texon featured several stores and businesses, doctors,lawyers, a
theatre, as well as a school and churches. This company town even had a semi-professional baseball team. Within a couple of years, Texon boasted a fully functioning hospital.Yes, the boom was on. But like many a gold boom town, the towns brought to life by the Santa Rita black gold rush faded away within one, two, or a few decades. Actually Texon bustled for nearly forty years, but then the decline began. By 1962 the oil company town was closed.
Today when one drives along Texas Highway 67 the remains of Texon cannot be seen, but on a small farm road that runs beside the Santa Rita No.1 historical marker, one can drive south for about two miles. At that point the remains of Texon can be found, including old streets and cracked sidewalks. Strangely enough, two of the structures that remain in Texon are still occupied. Even stranger, some of the street signs have been replaced by shiny new signs. Could it be that someone believes Texon will rise again, like the fabled Phoenix bird of mythology? I guess we won't know...until the next big oil boom.
After leaving Texon and the Santa Rita No.1, I continued west on Texas 67, my speed slowed now by every historical marker I saw along the way. One of the most interesting markers I found was located just east of the city of McCamey. This sign marked the spot where a once bustling night club was
also brought to life by the 1923 boom that doubled or tripled McCamey's original population. This night club was known as the T.P. Tavern. The original tavern was opened in 1927. By 1934 the owners, two brothers named Fitzsimmons, were forced to build a new and larger tavern at the site now marked by the historical marker at the left. Along with boxing matches and rattlesnake "derbies" (which were the forerunners of today's rattlesnake roundups), singers and bands appeared at the Tee Pee, as the tavern was locally known.
As I read this marker I thought, sure...singers? Way out here several hours west of the middle of nowhere! Right. I figured the singers would be named Dandy Bob and the Prairie Barkers, or maybe the Desert Snooze Band. I was wrong, and I apologize to the Tee Pee. Just look at the sign. Along with unknowns similar to those I mentioned above, we see that Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, and even (brace yourself) Lawrence Welk and his orchestra came through McCamey. I have to admit I was quite impressed. I listened to all of these artists when I was a young man, and saw both Ernest Tubb and Lawrence Welk (both alive in my youth) on television on many a Saturday night.
When the first oil bust hit the area, and the population of McCamey declined, so did the patronage of the Tee Pee. As the years went by, fewer big names appeared at the tavern, and by the early seventies the tavern was just another wayside bar. The T. P Tavern burned in 1974 and was never rebuilt. Now all that remains of this once popular night club is the blue sign post that is visible just to the right of the marker.
As I drove into McCamey, I looked around at all the closed businesses, abandoned work yards, and boarded up homes, and I tried to imagine what McCamey would have looked like with well over five thousand residents and temporary workers, maybe as many as ten thousand. Today McCamey is, like many a town in Permian Basin, just a shadow of its former self, but the people there are thriving, as are the many businesses that either hung on during the bust years, or those that moved in later. As these thoughts ran through my mind, my telephone rang. Child B wanted me to please come "hang" with her and Baby Baby for just a little while. My trip was over and I headed for Odessa.
As I discontinued my foray along Texas 67 and drove toward Odessa, I took a few minutes to contemplate the history I had seen, both that captured on the roadside historical markers, and the spirit captured in the desert country and in the cities and towns along this old highway. I was blessed to be able to learn this history, to see it play out in my mind. The lives of those who lived and worked out here in those rough and dusty times, the men and women who made fortunes, and those who lost it all, what a picture it was of the people, the land, and the ongoing saga, that we are proud to call Texas.
God Bless Texas
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