[Spectators at the W. L. Foster No. 1]
Date
1919
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Description
Image of group of people at well site in 1919. Most are men but one woman is visible in the center foreground, looking toward the camera. PBPM 79-039.035.03
Inscription (on back): The "Fabulous Foster No. 1" in 1919
Lee Jones, a young land scout, wearing his "scout hat" (far left with his back toward the camera) is among the crowd gathered at the W. L. Foster Well No. 1 in 1919.
The W. L. Foster Well No. 1 began its sad saga in 1916 and did not end until 1922 when the project was plugged and abandoned. Located in "Rattlesnake Gap" in western Mitchell County, trouble began early because of outmoded percussion methods used by inexperienced oil operators. The cable tools were second-hand and other equipment was bought from oil field junkyards. Even the derrick over the well was constructed from used lumber.
Interested spectators gathered at The Colorado-Texas Petroleum Company's W. L. Foster No. 1 Well near IATAN, a siding and small townsite on the Texas & Pacific Railway Co. ROW, Mitchell County, Texas. This picture was taken in 1917 or 1918 at a time when the undersigned, Lee Jones, Jr. was a teenager. I appear near the extreme left of picture dressed in by Boy Scout (BSA) uniform consisting of a pinched-top (Lord Beaverbrook style) felt helt, khaki blouse and knickers, and long, knee-length stockings, but with my back to the camera. The tall gentleman in large hat (Panama), coat on, and wearing military style trousers and what appear to be laced boots, brief case in left hand, and standing on a section of large casing or pipe, is believed to have been Mr. George A. Reese of Trinidad, Colorado, the principal stockholder and chief executive officier of The Colorado-Texas Petroleum Company which eventually (from 1917-1920) completed, by swabbing, the 2nd paying producer of oil in the Permian Basin during the month of November, 1920, but did not go on the pump until May 13, 1921. The discovery well, i.e. the first paying producer of oil in the Permian Basin, was completed by the Underwriters Producing & Refining Company near Westbrook, Mitchell County, Texas, during July, 1920, See Jones, The Fabulous Foster No. 1, Permian Historical Annual, pp 52-55 (1973).
Lee Jones, Jr. October 4, 1979.
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Rights
The images in this collection are for study purposes, teaching, classroom projection and research only. To use these digital files in any form, an attribution of "Photo courtesy of The Petroleum Museum, Lee Jones, Jr. Collection" must accompany the image.