- Title: WEST CENTRAL AND NORTH TEXAS WILDCAT MAP
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Author: Midland Map Company
- Date: July, 1955
- Condition: See description
- Inches: 21 1/8 x 26 1/4 [Image]
- Centimeters: 53.65 x 66.67 [Image]
- Product ID: 308486
The Rise of West Central and North Texas Oil Fields
This oil field map produced by the Midland Map Company offers a comprehensive visual record of oil exploration and production across West Central and North Texas. Spanning the area from Sutton and Burnet counties in the south to the Red River in the north, the map highlights the region’s intense petroleum activity during the mid-20th century. It precisely locates 714 wells, using distinct symbols or colors to differentiate between drilling sites, completed wells, and various well statuses. Both active and old marginal oil fields, as well as gas-producing fields, are clearly delineated with labeled boundaries for geographic orientation.
Essential infrastructure like roads, highways, and county lines are shown, along with key towns and cities for navigation. An extensive, alphabetically organized index frames the map, providing quick access to detailed information about oil fields and individual wells, sorted by county. The thoughtful use of color and symbols enhances the map’s legibility. Geologists, petroleum engineers, and industry professionals relied on this resource to identify drilling opportunities, monitor field activity, and address operational needs of the era. As such, the map not only served as a vital tool for the energy sector but also stands as a valuable historical artifact, documenting a pivotal period of Texas oil development in the 1950s.
Though East Texas gained national attention for its earlier oil boom, the 1950s marked a period when West Central and North Texas solidified their roles as vital contributors to Texas’s petroleum output, helping transform the state into a leading oil and gas powerhouse.
Background on Creator
Midland Map Company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas, where it has been an oilfield staple since its opening and has always maintained a somewhat mysterious reputation, with an iconic sign located just off Wall Street in downtown Midland. The company's team of highly-skilled draftsmen and printing personnel has been providing hand-drafted and printed maps of 70 Permian Basin counties for over seven decades, specializing in lease and ownership maps, producing zone maps, wildcat maps, base maps, and other specialized Permian Basin cartographic products.
Midland Map serves both large and small companies as well as generations of West Texas families with their tried and true mapping products, providing the oil and gas industry with dependable and accurate maps specifically tailored to regional needs since 1950. In 2019, Drillinginfo acquired Midland Map Company, and more recently, the company has become part of Enverus, though it continues to operate under the Enverus umbrella while maintaining its specialized focus on Permian Basin mapping. With nearly 70 years of mapmaking experience in America's most prolific oilfield, Midland Map Company has established itself as a crucial resource for the oil and gas industry, providing both historical and contemporary mapping intelligence that supports energy exploration and development activities throughout the Permian Basin region of West Texas.
Rarity
No previous sales records for this map have been identified, and only a single institutional variant is recorded in OCLC.
Condition
Published in folded format; exhibits light separation at fold junctions and contemporary pencil markings in the upper left corner.