Bead-Iraan Textured Glass Rectangle TB

This trackable is unusual for its longevity and movement. In the six-year period, 2010-15, the owner released a total of 2168 trackables in the United States (96%) and Europe (4%). This trackable is one of the 5% of the total that circulated for at least 5 years and had been moved at least 25 times. That is a target rate of at least five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. As of 8-Oct-21 this particular trackable had survived for 5.7 years and had been moved by 28 cachers, for an average release every 74 days. Keep it moving!

Please drop it in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish. No permission is needed to leave the U.S.

This is one of a series of large beads obtained from different places and converted into travel bugs.  They are named for Texas towns with interesting names or histories.

Iraan is near the Pecos River in eastern Pecos County.  It came into existence after the discovery of oil on the nearby Ira G. Yates ranch in 1926.  It was named for Ira and Ann Yates in a contest that offered a town lot as a prize.  Tents, shacks, and bunkhouses were initially the only housing available, as oil companies rushed to move workers and their families to the boomtown.  The Ohio Oil Company built company houses, drilled water wells, and in 1927 hired teachers and provided a school.  A post office was established in 1928.  By 1930 Iraan had sixty rated businesses and an estimated population of 1,600.

In the 1930s V. T. Hamlin, a local newspaper man, began the "Alley Oop" comic strip, which was nationally syndicated by the Newspaper Enterprises Association.  A park named for the cartoon character was dedicated in Iraan in 1965.  The population of Iraan dropped to 951 by 1967, when declining oil production forced several major oil companies to move their offices from the community. In 1986, after the temporary rally in the oil business in the 1970s and early 1980s, Iraan had twenty-five businesses and a population of 1,358.  In 1990 the population was 1,322, and in 2000 the population was 1,238.