The shale that reordered the American oil industry is named after a small settlement swallowed by west Dallas. Geologists described the formation from outcrops here in the 1880s, and the name stuck to a layer of organic-rich Cretaceous mudstone that dips southeast and lies a mile or two underground across South Texas. Hydraulic fracturing reached it in 2008, and within five years the play was producing over a million barrels a day — from rock that at this end of it you can walk on.
Getting there
32.7770, -96.8800
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
