November 13, 2023 Still Meandering in Texas Among the Cotton and Oil

We woke to a beautiful day and headed south,

Past farms:

And cotton:

  

  

  

  

  

  

And then we saw oil fields for over 100 miles:

They were everywhere:

Drilling even more:

The towns have just exploded with oil production and increasing population.  It reminds me of North Dakota many years ago.

So I had to do some research…

“The Yates Oil Field is a giant oil field in the Permian Basin of west Texas. Primarily in extreme southeastern Pecos County, it also stretches under the Pecos River and partially into Crockett County. Iraan, on the Pecos River and directly adjacent to the field, is the nearest town. The field has produced more than one billion barrels of oil, making it one of the largest in the United States, and in 1998 it remains productive, though at a diminished rate. Since fracking has exploded in the Permian Basin, the Yates field has seen very heavy activity in the past three years. Estimated recoverable reserves are still approximately one billion barrels, which represents approximately 50% of the original oil in place (OOIP).

The Texas oil and natural gas industry, which leads the U.S. in production, reached new record production highs in June and July 2023, surpassing all-time highs set 30 and 40 years ago, in an analysis published in August.

Year-to-date through July 2023, Texas production accounted for 43.3% of all oil production and 27.4% of all natural gas marketed production in the U.S. By September, these numbers increased, accounting for 43.4% of all oil produced in the U.S. Texas’ natural gas production accounts for 27.5% of overall U.S. production.”

Links for more info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yates_Oil_Field

https://texas2036.org/posts/texas-oil-and-gas-production-hits-records/

https://www.thecentersquare.com/texas/article_d5caf110-6cfb-11ee-bfbd-d3818b5b56fe.html

https://oilmanmagazine.com/the-future-of-the-texas-oil-and-gas-industry-predictions-and-trends-for-2023-and-beyond/

WOW!  Between cotton, cattle, gas and oil, Texas is the place to be for a good job!

We landed at a Escapee Campground in Pecos.  We were there in 2008 and what a change.  They have two sections now – for overnight or part timers and for long timers (those who are working with the oil or other jobs).  It is not a destination park but a nice overnight place.

Pecos was this little town (sort of run down) in 2008.  With the explosion of jobs, it has truly expanded to meet the population demands..  What a change.

The weather turned cold and rainy so we just relaxed!

Tomorrow we continue west so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:  220 Miles

Texas:  Milwaukee Avenue; US-62; US-385; Truck Loop 1910; US-385; Truck Loop 338; I-20; Raul Florez Blvd; Country Club Drive; Frontage Road; Moore Road

November 12 (Part 2), 2023 Old Lakes and Mammoths and More

After lunch, I headed to Lubbock Lake Landmark.

“Lubbock Lake is located in a meander of an ancient valley, Yellowhouse Draw, near ancient springs. For thousands of years, people on the Southern High Plains used the water resources in the draw until those resources went dry in the early 1930s. Years of sediment covered the traces of human activity from the surface until 1936 when the city of Lubbock dredged the meander in an effort to revitalize the underground springs.

The first explorations of the site were conducted in 1939 by the West Texas Museum (now the Museum of Texas Tech University). By the late 1940s, several Folsom Period (10,800-10,300 years ago) bison kills were discovered. In a location of an ancient bison kill from a then unidentified Paleoindian group, charred bison bones produced the first ever radiocarbon date (currently the most accurate form of dating) for Paleoindian material (9,800 years old). The Landmark currently serves as a field laboratory for geology, soils, and radiocarbon dating studies, as well as being an active archaeological and natural history preserve.

Excavations today are conducted on an annual basis. The Museum of Texas Tech University has been involved with the discovery, preservation, research of, and education about the Lubbock Lake Landmark for over 80 years.

The Lubbock Lake Landmark is an archaeological preserve containing evidence of peoples on the Southern High Plains for almost 12,000 years. Due to its nearly complete record of human activity within well-stratified and well-dated geological deposits, the Lubbock Lake Landmark is one of the most important archaeological sites in North America.”

More information can be found here:

https://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/lll/About.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubbock_Lake_Landmark

https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/lubbock/

 

The main reason I wanted to see this place was the life size statues of the mammoths and I was not disappointed.

Wait!  What did that say?  The modern day elephant is not the direct ancestor of the mammoth – Interesting!

The detail was incredible:

They had a great little museum there where I learned some interesting tidbits.

Imagine walking the plains and an 1100 pound lion comes out of the grasses – Yikees!

Plus this lion did not have a mane:

We have seen this many times over the last 10 years.  In the museum, I see AD and BP used, no BC.  So I am not quite sure where the BP and BC is used.

The excavating here found items that went back to over 11000 years ago.

So they now have evidence of humans being here in North America at least 11,000 years ago.  (I know that I have to ask the question.. Is it 9000 BC or 11000 BP?)

What happened?  They still are not certain.

How the bison adapted to the changes in the weather:

Ancient Bison Skull:

Current Bison Skull:

The next series of displays talked about the ancient peoples journey to this area.  If you ever get to the Yukon or Alaska, they have some great sites about Beringia and the Athabasca peoples.

And then their demise:

The range of the bison over time:

Ranch brands…(No 6666 here..)

The site has a few trails and I decided to take the one to the dig sites. 

There was a lake here from earliest times until the 1930’s when it dried up.

Here is the area of that lake:

More sculptures – WOW!

 

 

Imagine this guys standing 12 foot high – Another Yikees!

 

The dig sites:

There are six sites and there were explanations on what they found at each site. See the links above.

As the hunters and ranchers made their way west, a store was established here:

The marker of that store:

Now it is used for surveying and mapping the Landmark:

As I made my way back to the truck,.. what a site!

I am so glad that I did this – so very interesting and if you enjoy learning about ancient animals and people in North America, this is definitely a place to see.  They do different programs so check it out if you are in the area.

Today is our last day at Lubbock.  There is still so much to see and do in this area that we will return.

We finished our evening at the Elks with our neighbors Robin and Rich and hope to see them down the road.

Tomorrow we continue our south and west journey so stay tuned, enjoy today and thanks for following along.