Have a Coke and a barrel of oil and smile Traditional Cache

Small container with some loot inside

PIONEER, TEXAS. Pioneer is on Farm roads 569 and 374, in the southwestern corner of Eastland County. It was established in 1883 and named by Captain A. M. Curry. In 1885 a post office was granted with Bill Smith as postmaster. In May 1922, near the end of the Eastland County oil boom, the Bryson wells near Pioneer reached a daily production of 7,200 barrels. Later, the Eakin No. 4 surpassed all the other wells in the county by producing 20,000 barrels a day. With the high-gravity crude oil bringing $2.88 a barrel, Pioneer wells grossed over $1 million a year for two consecutive years. The population increased from around thirty to perhaps 5,000. As a result of the boom Pioneer was among eight Eastland County towns with an independent school district in 1924 and 1942, a distinction it no longer retained in the 1990s. The population was forty in 1980 and 2000.It also had two Coca-cola bottling plants.