********************************************************** Use your browser's BACK button to return to Garvin County ********************************************************** Pernell, Garvin County, Oklahoma 100 yards wide and 3/4's mile long from the Garvin County Advocate, October 1, 1994, Page 1 & 3 Written by Mike Tower and reprinted here with permission (Author's note: I graduated from High School at Pernell back more years than I care to discuss. When we moved there, the highway had been in less than 5 years. Pretty remarkable, considering what I'm about to relate. For in the early part of this century, the area presently identified as Pernell was home to 5,000 or so folks. Sound far-fetched? Well, maybe it is--a little. But, way back yonder this was the sight of some very heavy oil finds, and people flocked into the Pernell area. There were so many people in there that the available out houses like to caught afire from the near constant activity.) Back in the 1890's there was not a community in Garvin County named Pernell. There was a Thomas Pernell (also spelled Parnel) whose Indian allotmentlay along the ridge that was to eventually become the town site. Mr. Pernell lived about a mile south of the country store called Robberson's. In 1890, a Post Office was established at William F. Robberson's store. The store was 24 miles southwest of Pauls Valley on the end of a country farm to market road known locally as the White Bead Road (as it lead to White Bead, some 20 miles to the northwest). Around the store were enough houses to qualify the area as a community. Although Robberson didn't amount to much, it was important to the area as a place to buy because the roads were not hard surfaced and horse drawn wagons are slow. Shoot, it would have been an all day drive, stay overnight, and drive back the next day, just to get a coke. As late as 1912, W.C. Bolling and J.B. Russell, were petitioning the County that people west of Wildhorse Creek had to have bridges and roads by which they could reach the county seat. You might say it was a little primitive, but things were about to change. "SCUM BUBBLES ARE DISCOVERY CLUES." This was the headline in a 1920 Daily Oklahoman. The article went on to describe how scums of heavy black oil and gas bubbles in a water well on a farm in section 16-1N-3W, southwestern Garvin County, led to discovery of the sprawling shallow Robberson oil field. Section 16 is west of the present highway through Pernell. Robberson was in the Southeast Quarter of this section, filling out into the Northeast Quarter of Section 21. Pernell was most all the Northwest Quarter of Section, on the east side of present highway, through some parts did spill over into the Northeast Quarter of Secion 16. Aw, heck, get your county map out and look. Pierce Larkins, a consulting geologist, is reported to have gone down in the water well to scrape the walls and gather samples of sand (now, boys and girls, that is what I call trust. Cause ol Pierce, he had to rely on that ol farmer to lower him into that well. What if ol Pierce didn’t find any evidence of oil? Huh? What's to stop that ol farmer from cuttin that well rope, and go get him a friendlier geologist?) A surface survey followed and Larkins mapped the structure. That survey of oil location is almost unchanged in present development by the drill. Although Larkins completed his geological work in 1915, it was not until June, 1920, that Magnolia Petroleum Co., opened the field with a 40 million foot gasser at a depth of 1,386 feet. Oil was discovered July 16, 1921, in Section 14-1N-3W, with a flow of 200 barrels a day, to touch off a development program. By end of the year drilling had spread over several sections and the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Co., had completed a 1,000 barrel producer in Section 13-1N-3W. Right here I'm gonna let Carol McConnell take over. Carol was a student of my father's and after his death, we found a home work assignment Carol had written that Dad had saved. I'm gonna give it to you just as she wrote it, August 28, 1959. In 1918, a Mr. Tom Boss dug a water well on P.W. Richardson's land. Instead of finding water they found oil and gas. In 1919, they dug an oil well at this place called Peter's Ridge, named after Mr. Richardson. The name was later changed from Peter's Ridge to Pernell, named after Thomas Pernell. The Magnolia Service dug the oil well. When they struck oil, the oil boomers started moving in. The more boomers that came in, the larger the town got. Having installed a machine shop, drug store, grocery store, dry goods store, theater, lumber yard, hardware store, café, bakery, and barber shop, made the town even larger. It was three quarters of a mile through town, north and south, and it spread out east and west. Most of the huts were for oil field workers, and were in rows on each side of the road. At centerline the school and Post Office, and Old Robberson, both were moved to present location in about 1922. Audrey Stevens was the first Post Master at Pernell. Claud Sweeny was peace officer at Pernell for several years. (Author's note; I knew Mr Sweeny when I was a boy. He was still an active police officer and I was mighty impressed by that big ol colt he carried. The Garvin County History gives this biography of Mr. Sweeny. Claud B. Sweeny came to Cherokee Town as a of nine in 1889. This veteran peace office has been serving since 1914 when he joined the Pauls Valley Police force. He has held about every law enforcement job there is in the county. He has been a county oil field deputy, Sheriff, Deputy U.S. Marshal, and Chief of Police. He was Garvin County Sheriff from 1914 to 1957, the longest any man has held that office.) After the fields were drilled out it was necessary for the oil field workers to move to other places. As the workers moved the town began to diminish in size. It now consists of Dwight Tripps Grocery and Post Office, Frank Walters General Merchandise, and Carol Henderson;s Grocery. There has been two chruches built at Pernell, Baptist and Chruch of Chjrist. Highway 76 now goes through Pernell Pernell was named after Thomas Pernell because some of the stores and buildings were built on his land. Robberson and Pernell are just two of the many communities to boom and bust from the production of oil. I was living at Maud Oklahoma, and remember to this day how shocked I was over the devastation of a 'bust'. Seems I'd recently been down town with Dad, for something or other and asked him why this one end of Main Street was always so busy. He told me, in kind of an awed voice that this was where the oil field men did their business. And, boy, what a business they were doing. People lined up on the sidewalk trying to get into a café, crowds in front of the supply houses, and trucks just roaring in and out of the lumber yard. It looked like an anthill after a cow stepped in it, only this was people running around, bumping into each other. Later that same year, this section of town appeared to me to have just died over night. I recall we had some kind of parade. Home Coming, I think, and I got to ride on one of the floats. Well, sir, that float took me down to the end of main where all the oil field supply stores, and lumber yards, and cafes were. Only, they weren' t there anymore. Oh, the buildings were there. But they had boards tacked across the doors and windows and yellowed foreclosure notices on the doors. And, the bustling crowds were gone. All those men, just vanished, and it wasn't even Sunday. When I asked Dad about what I'd seen, that was the first time I heard about the boom-bust cycle of petroleum production. I remember being out on the football field at Pernell, watchin, as some ol boy started walking the track around the hill where the football field was. He was holding a divining rod, an aluminum divining rod. Well, I'd always heard "water wishers" can allegedly find the proper spot for a water well with a willow divining rod, which is a forked stick that the diviner holds by the fork and follows the stress exerted by the pointy end. But, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the man expected to find with an aluminum divining rod, so I asked him. "Oil." he said. Well, he looked sane, and he smelled sober, and he sure was business like. So, I turned to my fellow student and asked him who the heck is that, and is he nuts. Well sir, my friend looked at me, and just as serious as a Highway Partol Trooper, writing a ticket , says, "That's ol so and so. He ain't crazy. He finds oil thata way. Shoot, he's done been a millionaire 3 or 4 times. But it wasn't until I read my Garvin County History book that I heard the phrase, The Golden Trend. Well excuse my ignorance, but what the heck is a Golden Trend. Well, I did a little research and found the Golden Trend is a fancy name for an oil field. I found a description of this oil field that takes me off the ignorant list at least on this subject. Again, that explanation comes for the Daily Oklahoma, It goes like this. "In 1945, Cities Services Oil completed its No. 1 Lawson, in Section 25-5N-4W, to open the deep Lindsay Field, and also kick off a wildcatting campaign which resulted in opening of the Golden Trend of western Garvin and McClain Counties..(1)" "Wildcatters were on the march in 1946…the Southwest Antioch field was discovered; it was describes as an "answer to a wildcatter's dream," for there was open acreage (to lease and develop) at a fair price. This field spurred the development which sent rigs all the way across western Garvin County, and within a year the area had been dubbed "The Golden Trend." Katie and Maysville formed links in the trend play…with development spreading on the Golden Trend, 3846 wells were completed (in Oklahoma) in 1947…" Warren Petroleum, and affiliated companies, started building their Garvin County Plants in the heart of the Golden Trend in 1948, ;a major conservation program and one which made possible the unitization of several oil fields there."…"The Golden Trend--now comprising more than 40 fields had not been defined,…(2)" Garvin County has always been on the forefront of new developments in the petroleum industry in Oklahoma. The importance of oil related industry to the economic well being of our county can not be understated. We survive on the revenues generated by oil and agriculture. Even if you are not directly engated in either industry. You are affected by strengths and sort comings of both. That's not a moralization, it's just a fact. ********************************************************** Use your browser's BACK button to return to Garvin County **********************************************************