Since 1839 Texas has set aside public lands to finance education. The University of Texas at Austin acquired the land at this site in 1883 after a railroad company, the first owner, returned it to the state as worthless, and for years McElroy Ranch grazed cattle here. After the Santa Rita Gusher blew in on similar terrain 70 miles to the southeast in 1923 and other University lands began to be explored for oil, Church & Fields Exploration Company, composed of George M. Church and Robert Fields of San Angelo, obtained a permit late in 1925 to drill in section 34, block 30, on University land on McElroy Ranch. On Dec. 28, 1925, contractor Burton F. Weekley and driller John Garlin started the Church & Fields well 2.25 miles southeast of this spot. In March 1926 it became Crane County's first oil producer, opening a new major field for west Texas. Soon other wells were drilled, the local population rose from 27 to about 4,500, and in Sept. 1927 county government was organized as a result of the oil field activity. The discovery well continued to produce until 1955, and since it proved successful as an asset to education and energy production, over a billion barrels of oil have come from University of Texas lands.