Because numerous Indian artifacts continue to be found on Stasney’s Cook Ranch, it is appropriate to start the discussion of the history of the Ranch with the various tribes that inhabited the area.

During the pre-horse era, the Tonkawa tribe was the predominant tribe in North Central Texas. The Tonkawa’s planted crops, hunted local game and bison when they came into the area. The Lipan Indians were more hunter gatherers and followed the game including bison wherever it led them. Once the Great Plains tribes gained access to horses in the late 17th century, they quickly became some of the most skilled horsemen that the world has ever known. The greatest horseman and consequently the strongest tribe that inhabited this area were the Comanche. The horse not only gave the Comanche's better access to bison, it also gave them a great tactical advantage in acquiring and defending bison territory. Resident tribes stood no match against the swift and brave Comanche warriors. Other tribes such as the Kiowa and Kiowa Apaches were also visitors to this area; however, they did so at the risk of being discovered by the Comanche.

In 1849, the United States began construction of a chain of military forts between Fort Worth and the Rio Grande. Fort Griffin, just 7 miles north of the Cook Ranch, was established in 1867. Fort Griffin once held command of the southern plains, saw the end of both the great herds of buffalo and those who hunted them. Troops stationed at the fort were responsible for escorting government mail, protecting surveying parties, cattlemen, buffalo hunters and pursuing Indians raiding the frontier. "The Flat," a hell town, located adjacent to the fort, was one of the most active and important embarkation and supply points for buffalo hunters. The fort was abandoned in 1881 after the end of Indian raiding.

On 1 April 1897, Nail and Cook, "a firm doing business in Hunt County", paid the Holstein Family of Shackelford County, Texas and New Jersey the sum of $49,000 cash in hand for 27 3/4 sections of land (17,760 acres). On Christmas Day of 1899, James H. Nail, Sr. wanted to buy, Matilda "Dude" Nail Cook and W. I. Cook out. After heated discussions, the Cook’s ended up buying out Mr. Nail. Angry at his sister for not selling out to him, Mr. Nail boasted to everyone, "I’ve just sold Dude (his nickname for his sister) the sorriest piece of land in Shackelford County and she’ll be broke in a year, you can bet on it!" As it turned out, the decision of Matilda Nail Cook not to sell out to her brother was either the wisest or luckiest decision she ever made because in 1926 the Cook Oil Field was discovered on the southern part of the Ranch. For a long period of time, the Cook Oil Field was the largest shallow oil field in the world. The first well flowed 1,000 barrels a day from its 1,240 foot depth. Within three years, the Cook Field was producing 10,000 barrels of oil a day. In 1951, it was still producing 1,000 barrels of oil a day. To date, the Cook Field has produced over 35 million barrels of oil. In 2000, seventy-four years later, the Cook Oil Field is still producing oil and new wells are still being successfully drilled.

The discovery of oil on the Cook Ranch "changed the entire history of oil in West Texas," according to The Wall Street Journal. The Cook Field discovery became a whole chapter in the lore of the oil industry. It involved luck, a reckless chance, a benevolent landowner, and, once oil was discovered, a textbook case on conservation and drilling methods. The discovery well was, in fact, the last roll of the dice that a group of men working under the name of Roeser and Pendleton, Inc. would make before going completely broke. Despite discouraging reports of previous dry holes on the Cook Ranch, Roeser’s geologist believed that there was oil to be found on the ranch. So, with Mrs. Cook’s blessing, they decided to drill. As they were hauling their rig to the selected sight, it broke down. The rig could go no farther unless additional money was raised for repairs and that was impossible. At this point, Charlie Roeser made a field decision to drill on the spot where the rig broke down and hit a gusher!

This story of the first well on the Cook Ranch, through the years became suspect and was considered just another manifestation of oil patch folklore. However, in 1976, several magazines and newspapers, writing about the fact that fifty years later the Cook Field was still in production, interviewed Marshall R. Young, who was there on that day, 18 February 1926, when the first well was drilled. Young confirmed the story and even elaborated on it. According to Young, the next year, Roeser and Pendleton decided to drill the well they had intended to drill at first and, ironically, it was a dry hole!

In 1929, after the death of her daughter, Mrs. Missouri Matilda Nail Cook dedicated a portion of her oil royalties from the Cook Ranch to build and sustain a 55 bed hospital called the W. I. Cook Memorial Hospital in Fort Worth. When the polio epidemic was spreading in the United States in 1952, the board of trustees of the W. I. Cook Memorial Hospital studied the special needs of children, voted to expand the facility to 72 beds with a special grant from the Tom B. Owens Trust, and changed its mission to care exclusively for the needs of children. Thus, the trustees renamed the facility the Cook Children's Hospital. Click on the picture to the right to see the complete history of the Hospital.

In 1976, the year of America’s Bicentennial, The Cook Oil Field, then in its own fiftieth year, was chosen as one of the landmarks that exemplified The Spirit of America by the Bicentennial Commission. The Cook Oil Field represented free enterprise, conservation of energy and resources, and a regard for the land. In its choice of the Cook Field, the Bicentennial Commission emphasized that "the Cook Field was a symbol of free enterprise whose end result was philanthropy, The W. I. Cook Memorial Children’s Hospital." The Bicentennial Commission also noted, "Students of petroleum engineering are familiar with the practices of the Cook Pool, since these practices are now a model studied in many courses."

The Cook Ranch remained in the Mrs. W. I. Cook Estate Trust until the termination of the trust on 17 November 1989 when it was sold to Eska Gage Stasney (picture right), a matriarch of Albany and the managing general partner of H.R. Stasney & Sons, Ltd. At the time of the purchase, Mrs. Stasney was 83 years old. Later, in 1998, Mrs. Stasney bought the mineral interest and production on the Cook Ranch. Like Mrs. W. I. Cook, some did not believe that the purchase of the ranch and its minerals was the wisest move. However, continued production from the Cook Sand makes it hard to argue with her decision. As a result, The Cook Children’s Medical Center, and many other charitable organizations and institutions continue to be supported by the Cook Ranch and H.R. Stasney & Sons, Ltd.

Link: History of Shackelford County, Albany & Moran