http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
xviii, 124 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm
"This is a charming account of a seminal event in the history of the University of Texas and its impact on both higher education in the Lone Star State and the region in which it occurred, the Permian Basin. Named after Santa Rita--the Saint of the Impossible--the oil well that was the foundation of the University's world class endowment also transformed West Texas as it marked the first great oil field in the Permian Basin. At the beginning of the 1920s, the Permian Basin was one of those largely unknown and ignored places in far West Texas. Then a little oil well was drilled there, producing only about 200 barrels per day, a small, unimpressive accomplishment. But the well had been blessed in the name of Santa Rita, the patron saint of impossible causes. It was called Santa Rita No. 1, and it ignited a spark that grew into an economic conflagration that became the nation's most productive oil producing region and transformed a sparse population of ranchers into an urban, petroleum-oriented culture. It also created one of the largest endowments supporting higher education in the United States. In 2023, one hundred years after Santa Rita No. 1 began producing, its legacy, born in a forgotten corner of the magical land out beyond the hundredth meridian, is alive and well. The fire it ignited burns brightly, not only in the Permian Basin, where a dynamic oilfield culture produces a significant part of the nation's energy, but in its support of higher education at the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, and the many schools associated with each through their respective systems"--
Austin : Texas State Historical Association, 2025