Fowlerton and Los Angeles Eagle Ford Shale Leasing Issues

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Eagle Ford shale oil and gas drilling is coming to the sleepy little communities of Fowlerton and Los Angeles Texas. Along with it  will come a host of problems for  both oil and gas companies and land owners. Fowlerton Texas sits firmly in the “oil window” of the Eagle Ford shale and represents a tiny hole in EOG’s massive half million acre lease area.

A Brief History Of Fowlerton Texas.

At the turn of the twentieth century a couple of shrewd businessmen, the Fowler brothers, decided to form a land company and promote the dry, cactus and mesquite covered country along the Frio river in LaSalle and McMullen counties as the “Wintergarden”. They attracted well over two thousand buyers, many of whom migrated from the East Coast for the chance to own a plot of fertile farmland for a few dollars. A farm could be had for as little as twenty five dollars down and ten dollars a month.

Below is an advertisement that appeared in a 1913 edition of the “Fowlerton Reporter” for the First State Bank Of Fowlerton Texas. Like most of the buildings in the town of Fowlerton, nothing remains today.

Photo Of The First State Bank Of Fowlerton Texas

The Fowler Brothers, in conjunction with Naylor and Jones Land Company, laid out the town  they named after themselves on a grid system and over two hundred miles of roads were built. Lots were divided up, some as small as a sixteenth of an acre in the town-site,  as well as numerous farm plots of anywhere from an acre to a hundred acres or more.

A cotton gin, large rail depot, hotel, two banks, department stores and schools were all built. There was even a seafood restaurant featuring fresh oysters and shrimp that were brought in on ice from the coast by rail car.  Fowlerton Texas featured several paved streets, sidewalks, fire hydrants and free flowing artesian water wells, (which unfortunately contained some salt.)  The “Artesian Route” as described on the SaU&G railroad advertisement, referred to the areas numerous flowing wells.

The San Antonio, Uvalde & Gulf Railroad Company, nicknamed the “Sausage” connected the new farming center with faraway markets for produce such as onions, cabbage, spinach and other vegetables that were grown by the farmers. The following flyer is from Fowlerton’s newspaper, the Fowlerton Reporter. You will notice many town names, such as Prince and New California that exist in no form today.

old flyer from SAU&G railroad in South Texas

Over the years a series of droughts, combined with the negative effect of watering the farms with saline artesian well water, forced almost all the farmers to leave the country. A few remained and switched to ranching but by the 1960’s the town of Fowlerton Texas was down to about two hundred residents. Now census figures show that only about a hundred hardy souls remain.

What does remain in great number are hundreds of small lots, many of which have dubious ownership. Over the years many of these lots were sold for back taxes or claimed under the “quit claim deed” law, that enables one to claim ownership simply by occupying the land and paying taxes. Other owners kept up their taxes, though those parcels have no  road access and have been used for generations by local ranchers as their own.

All of this is an attorney or landman’s nighmare when it comes to tracking down the owners of these lots. For this reason the township of Fowlerton, as well as a similar Wintergarden community, Los Angeles, will likely be the last acreage to be leased by major oil companies. Smaller companies may decide that the millions of dollars of oil and gas that most likely lie under the town are worth tracking down all of those owners and making lease offers. EOG, which has leased land on all four sides of Fowlerton may begin to lease up the town lots after they have secured all the easy to lease land.

Below is a recent photo of Fowlerton as it appears today.  Of all the buildings that were built in the once prosperous town only a handful of non-residences remain standing. The old Red Store, which was once owned by O.W. Herman, is now the post office.  The Baptist church is located two blocks off of highway 97 and the old Catholic church, now boarded up, sits surround by cactus and mesquite just off of Texas street.  The Fowlerton “Mini Mall”, a small general store and restaurant, is located in the foreground of the photo below. When it is available the mesquite smoked pit barbecue is excellent. For hungry hunters, cowboys and roughnecks it is the only food within a 20 mile radius.

Fowlerton post office and Mini Mall

One thing is for certain, and that is the little community is about to experience the biggest “land rush” since the days of the Fowler Brothers. Whether it will lead to any real population growth remains to be seen. Oilfield workers such as service company employees, truck drivers, gaugers and others will need a place to live once the Eagle Ford shale production is in full swing and there are still hundreds of those little Fowler Brothers lots held by a myriad of owners.