The Burnett No. 2, located on the 6666 Ranch in Carson County, and owned by Burk Burnett, was the first oil well drilled in the Panhandle Field. The ranch had been purchased by the White Deer Lands in 1903. Excitement ran rampant in Gray County, and in 1925 the first oil well was brought in five miles south of Pampa on the Combs Worley Ranch. This land was also formerly part of the White Deer Lands. Pampa was growing rapidly by 1926. The 1930 census shows Gray County's population to be 10,000, up from about 950.
In 1927 Godfrey L. Cabot moved his manufacturing interests to Gray County. The following year, Cabot Carbon Co. was created. Two large plants were immediately built: the Bowers Plant, 8 miles south of Pampa, and the Kingsmill Plant, 5 miles west of Pampa. Its growth during World War II resulted in the Research and Development Division. The Cabot Shops were born in 1928 to construct all of the Cabot Plants in the Southwest for the next 25 years. Cabot produced pumping units, portable drilling rigs and well servicing equipment. Later they began forging gun tubes for the U.S. Army.
The Panhandle Field and Cabot Corporation has been a monumental presence and influence in the growth and development of Pampa and Gray County.
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