The discovery of oil in Ector County on December 28, 1926, began a new economic era for the region. The first well, J.S. Cosden No.1-A W.E. Connell, was named for the driller and the landowner. Its initial output of 38 barrels per day drew little excitement, but experts maintained that vast oil deposits lay beneath the area in the Permian Basin. In 1929, Robert Penn's gusher propelled Odessa to boom-town fame. Oil has sustained the area's economy since then, although the discovery well was plugged and abandoned in 1940.