Hobbs Discovery Well

Hobbs Discovery Well is a New Mexico historical marker in Lea County.

US 62/180 -- mile marker 105.92 -- Hobbs -- at Chamber of Commerce; Snyder Street intersection · location approximate

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Following earlier oil discoveries in the Lea County area, Ronald K. DeFord, of Midwest Refining Co., now Amoco, came to Hobbs to survey for a new drilling site. Drilling began October 12, 1927, oil was discovered at 4,065 feet, and the new well produced over 500,000 barrels of oil in its lifetime. Hobbs was transformed from an unknown community into a bustling boomtown boasting many restaurants and bars, several hotels and movie theaters.

The Historic Preservation Division notes that its marker spreadsheet may be out of date and in places inaccurate, and that it does not know where every marker now stands. These pages carry the spreadsheet’s record; a marker listed here may have moved or may no longer stand. the program’s page ↗

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1889 · New Mexico. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1916 · New Mexico (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1927 · State of New Mexico. General Land Office. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1954 · Hobbs, New Mexico (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1958 · Hobbs, New Mexico (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Hobbs, New Mexico, 1954, covering the location of Hobbs Discovery Well, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Hobbs, New Mexico, 1954, covering this location. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

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Marker data: Official Scenic Historic Markers program, New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, Department of Cultural AffairsMarker texts come from the Division’s published marker spreadsheet, reproduced with the Division’s written permission. Where that spreadsheet records a coordinate, the pin is the Division’s own; where it records only a highway and mile marker, an address, a junction or a named place, or where its coordinate contradicts its own highway, mile and county, the pin is ours, resolved on public road and place data and marked approximate.

Hobbs Discovery Well

Historical maps covering this location

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