On December 6, 1961, 3.5 miles west of this site, Weir No. 1 became Upton County’s most dramatic oil discovery after the original Yates Ranch Gusher of 1926. Called by the American Association of Petroleum Engineers the most important development of 1961 and the most prolific discovery in many years, it was the first quadruple completion in West Texas. The well was drilled to a depth of 12,432 feet and plugged back at 9,925 feet. It produces from the upper, middle, and lower Strawn zones and from the Bend, with perforations in the lower detrital gas zone. The contractor was Brahaney Drilling Co., and the discovery was made by E.G. Rodman, W.D. Noel, and Odessa Natural Gasoline Co., founded by Rodman and Noel and affiliated with El Paso Natural Gas Products Co. Rodman and Noel, who began their Upton County operations in 1940, were responsible for numerous significant discoveries in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico and led in establishing a vast petrochemical complex in Odessa that used petroleum by-products once scrapped as waste to make such things as plastics. Their leadership and wells such as Weir No. 1 enabled Upton County to remain for many years one of the outstanding production areas in Texas.