Darst Creek's Discovery Well Arrived During an Oil Glut

The Texas Company No. 1 Dallas Wilson opened the Darst Creek field in eastern Guadalupe County on July 18, 1929. Its first flow was 1,000 barrels a day. Then came the twist: operators shut it in for 90 days because too much crude from other fields had already swamped the market.

By early 1930, drilling had traced a field about six miles long and less than a mile wide. Producers tried proration, or agreed limits on each well's output, to protect reservoir pressure and keep another rush of oil from crushing prices. TSHA calls Darst Creek the first field in its region to work under that system.