Early boom ignites oil hysteria

- Montour et al -

If you'd like to see a completely over the top reaction to an oil boom, look at the September 30, 1937 issue of the Sweetwater Reporter on The Portal to Texas History site. 

Along with sensational headlines (NEW GUSHER BOOMS ROTAN) and claims of how oil will make everything shiny and new, this forty page document is a rich collection of historical information, much of it regarding Rotan and Fisher County.

In this special Oil and Progress Edition of the publication, a frenzy of articles was unleashed after the discovery of the Montour, Abrahamson & Largent well in Fisher County. It was a 13,000 barrel "gusher" in the Robinson Pool.

Something interesting to note on page 18 is an article titled "Gas pressure determines life of many oil fields" that states "Wells in the Rotan field produce oil from gas pressure, and are not equipped with pumps."

There's a lot of information covered in the articles, along with photos and ads. Technical as well as entertaining writing makes this a well-rounded historical source.

On page 28, Elliott Howard, claiming to be a former director of the Rotan State Bank and Rotan citizen since 1890, said that the Rotan townsite was where three ranches, the O-Bar-O, Pitchfork, and Hitson, once converged.

The advent of electric and telephone service and many well-known businesses and buildings are documented in this newspaper.

Photo credit: The Sweetwater Reporter via The Portal to Texas History

Drinking water watch

Do you wonder how your county is doing in the management of your water? The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has many areas of public interest that can be searched online.

Facility information can be found by starting at the Home Page>scrolling down to Facility Site>County>Search. You can also search by name or permit.

To look at the status of an individual license, go to Home Page>Licenses>Individual Search>Enter Name.

There are multiple ways to search for information and see the status of water delivery systems in your community and around the state.

Puzzle complete; David Castle architecture in Rotan

- Callan House, Rotan -

The first result that comes up when using the search term "Rotan, Texas" on The Portal to Texas History website,which I look at nearly daily, is a photo and link showing the blueprint for the Dr. W. W. Callan residence, drafted by noted architect David S. Castle in 1923. I began to be curious if this house still existed.

After searching land records on Texas File, I got it into my head that the Murdoch house was the old Callan house. There was a transaction in 1990 from the Callan's to the Murdoch's, so I thought it must be. The problem was that a lot of renovation would have had to have taken place to make the house the shape it is now from the original plan.

According to Fisher County Appraisal records, the Murdoch house sits on block 217, lots 10, 11, 12, Inside Addition. A description of a brick veneer residence built in 1925 fit the timeline between the 1923 plan and Dr. Walter William Callan's death in 1928. Still, something was off to my mind's eye.

I searched Fisher County Records, Fisher CAD, The Portal to Texas and a lot of other websites trying to make the pieces fit. I looked for old phone books and perused Fisher County history books trying to find the specifics on the house. If I could have found an old phone directory or Polk Directory, I could have simply looked up the address, but I wasn't successful in that endeavor.

I looked more closely in Texas File, the holder of the oldest records, which go back to 1910 for the Callan's. I came upon a deed from the Duffer's to W. W. Callan, dated 1923. This property description is block 215, lots 10, 11, 12, Inside Additon. 

There is a house that stands on that property, but appraisal records show it as being built in 1920, outside of the timeline. Also, again, the shape wasn't quite right. It was similar, but the porte cochere was on a different side.

I drove by these houses over and over again, trying to match up things by sight. Finally, I used satellite imagery, comparing it to the blueprint overview to find the shape of the building. There it was, a block over from where I had originally been looking, and a few houses down from the 1920 house. Property description block 215, lots 7, 8, 9, Inside Addition.

There was a real sense of satisfaction in figuring it out, this puzzle that could have easily been put together by asking any number of people in Rotan or Fisher County. It was fun to dive back in time, though, and read the articles and look at the maps from a hundred years ago of the town and community I inhabit.

Photo source: The Portal of Texas History, Google Earth

Animal control on Rotan City Council agenda

-Buildings to be demolished -

The Rotan City Council will meet Thursday 7 a.m. One of the items on the agenda is animal control.

At the commissioners meeting today, Sheriff Simon Wade addressed the court about the ongoing dog problem in the county. He posited the idea of having a county-wide agency and said he thought it would be helpful to have a working group to look into the issue. Commissioner Micah Evans made a motion to get a group together to come up with a plan to establish a county animal program and the motion was passed.

There have been rumors about demolition of the Family Dollar Store, White's Auto, Rotan Motor and the old teen center buildings. Commissioners court agenda item number seven verified the demo of Rotan Motor and the teen center as there was discussion of where to dispose of the rubble after the buildings are torn down.

Still no word on the other two buildings or the fate of Family Dollar.

Animal control on commissioners agenda

- Stray dogs in Rotan -

Fisher County Commissioners will convene tomorrow 9 a.m. in the county court room for the monthly meeting.

Item number 20 on the agenda is discuss and approve the formation of a working group to establish a county animal control program. This will be presented by Sheriff Simon Wade.

The entire agenda can be found on the Fisher County home page.

Bustle in the downtown blocks

There was a lot of activity this morning in the heart of Rotan. Two main stores that were damaged by a June storm have remained closed since that time, but it looks like there is progress on the horizon.

White's Hardware had bulk items on the sidewalk out front in a very organized manner. The store had an entire section so damaged that it had to be demolished; the east side of the store that was used for storage.

The Family Dollar store looks empty, perhaps from work done by the salvage company that was mentioned at the last city meeting. There has been no word from the city or newspaper about the future of the store. An email sent to the corporate office (by me) asking if the store will be re-opened, rebuilt or closed has not received a reply. There are two large roll-off dumpsters in front of the store.

Further down, close to Ray's on the west end, men were pulling material (plywood and such) off of a trailer and it looked like they were ready to fix something.

Take a cruise around the drag and check it out.

Oil data for Fisher County, January through July

Fisher County produced 2,464,924 barrels of oil in the first half of 2023.

The top two producing operators for that time period are Clear Fork, Inc., at 866,423 barrels, and Moriah Operating, LLC, with 546,254.

The top producing lease is the Jenna Unit, coming in with 313,179 barrels at the half year mark. Moriah operates this lease.

Both Clear Fork and Moriah operate wells in the Garden City, S. (Wolfcamp) field.

Data extracted from the Railroad Commission of Texas website.

Browning backs new acquisition company

Browning Oil Company, Inc. (BOCI), an oil operating company, has partnered with Peak 10 Energy, an oil and gas acquisition and development company that manages investing.

The portfolio building company is listed under many different iterations of Peak 10, LSCP, and Registered Agents Inc. on the Texas Comptroller's website. This endeavor, Peak 10 Energy, is the newest configuration, licensed  in 2023. 

Browning is well known in Fisher County and currently has 53 oil drilling permits listed with the Railroad Commission in the county, and also has local mineral holdings, according to the Fisher County Appraisal District records.

A press release issued in August stated assets had been acquired by Peak 10 Energy in Fisher and Scurry counties.

It matters to me

Here are a few things that I would like people who write to remember:

• There is not an A in cemetery!
• "Weary" and "wary" have very different meanings
• "Who's" is a contraction of "who is"; "whose" pertains to a person

Thank you for your time.

Grass fire burns large acreage north of Rotan

- Fire behind the mountains -

According to information from KTXS News in Abilene, the billowing smoke that could be seen yesterday on the northern horizon near Rotan, behind the Double Mountains, was from the Peacock Fire in Stonewall County, and 2,000 acres burned as of midnight last night.

In the Fire and Smoke section of the Austin American-Statesman, the fire was listed as 75% contained at 2:17 p.m. today. It also says the fire management complexity is a type 5 incident and the fire cause is undetermined.

Wildfires can be tracked on the smoke map provided by the Statesman. 

The  National Interagency Coordination Center also has a fire map.

The Peacock Fire has left a thin haze around the mountains.