Day Trips
The past and present of the West Texas town of Iraan
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., April 27, 2007
Iraan, the West Texas town, is pronounced two ways, as the Middle Eastern country or as two names – Ira and Ann. According to locals, either version is correct, but when the community's residents say it, the name comes out in a smooth breath with only the slightest hint of a break between the two words.
Ira G. Yates and his wife, Anna, donated 152 acres of their 20,000-acre ranch for the town site on the Pecos River. Legend says the daughter of a ranch hand suggested the name and won a town lot worth $1,000 in 1938.
Times were good in West Texas at the time, and Yates could easily afford to be magnanimous. Born and raised in East Texas, Yates was orphaned at 13 and was working as a cowboy by 14. In 1913, he traded a Crockett County ranch for a general store in Rankin. Two years later, against the advice of family and friends, Yates swapped selling groceries for another ranch on the eastern edge of Pecos County.
By the 1920s Yates' River Ranch was struggling on the northern border of the Chihuahua Desert. Drought and predators nearly did him in when Yates convinced a San Angelo company to explore for oil west of the Pecos River. The fourth test well blew a gusher that covered a tent city four miles away. On his 67th birthday, Yates was handed an $18 million oil royalty check.
More than 80 years later, the Yates Oilfield is still supplying Texas refineries. In 1985, the field produced its billionth barrel. The area accounts for a large portion of the 10 million barrels coming out of the ground in Pecos County annually.
During the Great Depression, Iraan was a boom town of oil-field workers and camp followers. Added to the mix was a 32-year-old Iowan who had worked at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and other Texas newspapers as a reporter and artist. Vincent T. Hamlin came to West Texas with an oil company seismographic team as a mapmaker, but he left with one of the greatest inspirations in graphic-novel history.
Among the rolling hills and mesas of Pecos County was born the cigar-chomping caveman Alley Oop. First syndicated in national newspapers on Aug. 7, 1933, V.T. Hamlin's Alley Oop became one of the most popular comic strips in the country.
Traveling on the back of his pet stegosaurus, Dinny, Alley Oop with his Popeye-like arms and bell-bottom legs visited different time periods with his girlfriend, Ooola. Most of the time the characters occupied the Land of Moo run by King Gus, the Grand Wizer, and a group of soldiers wearing turtle shells as helmets. Hamlin retired from the comic in the Seventies and died in 1993. The strip is still distributed by United Media and runs in newspapers around the world.
Although the Yates Oilfield has proven to be one of the most prolific oil fields in the world, the fortunes of Iraan have risen and fallen with the price of crude. In 1965, the town created Alley Oop Fantasyland in the city park on the western outskirts of town as a way to boost tourism.
The pristine, tree-shaded park has ball fields, picnic tables, and clean restrooms. There among the antique oil-field equipment is a life-sized, concrete model of Dinny and a large tin cutout of Alley Oop. Corny? Yes. But who can resist having their picture taken sitting on the dinosaur's neck? Just like Alley Oop.
Also in the park is the Iraan Archaeological Museum with displays from the area's Indians, Spanish explorers, ranchers, and oil industry. In front of the museum is a 112-foot-long windmill blade, West Texas' new energy source.
Iraan is about halfway between Austin and El Paso on U.S. 190, a very scenic drive through the hills. The town's gas stations are about 20 minutes north of I-10. The best restaurants are Gordo's Mexican Food, Mesquite Wood Bar-B-Q, and the Old House Cafe. Only the Old House Cafe is open on weekends and then only Saturday mornings. For more information, call the Chamber of Commerce at 432/639-2232 or visit www.iraantx.com.
826th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips" 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
