The Texas and Pacific Coal Company struck oil at 1,000 feet about 10 miles east of Ranger in 1915. This event raised the hopes of area ranchers, farmers, and businessmen struggling to survive an economic slump brought on by severe drought and boll weevil-ravaged cotton fields. Oil expectations mounted then subsided when subsequent test-drillings turned up dry holes.
Desperate local leaders sought out Texas and Pacific Coal Company general manager William Knox Gordon in nearby Thurber to help them continue the search for oil. Contrary to the conclusions of some geologists, Gordon believed oil lay much deeper within the earth than the depths reached by previous test drillings.
Gordon agreed to drill to a depth of 3,500 feet and on July 2, 1917, contractor Warren Wagner began drilling here on J.H. McCleskey's farm. On October 17, 1917, at a depth of 3,432 feet, McCleskey Well No. 1 hit pay sand and roared in with an estimated daily flow of 1,600 barrels of oil. The well was plugged on May 18, 1920.
J.H. McCleskey Well No. 1 sparked the much-heralded, wild, and prolific Ranger oil boom that gained Ranger international fame as the town whose oil wiped out critical oil shortages during World War I, allowing the Allies to "float to victory on a wave of oil." (1995)
Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995