The Barnett Shale: Erath County: 80 miles West of Dallas is Erath County. It was named in 1856 for George Bernard Erath, who is one of the original surveyors of the area and a survivor of the Battle of the San Jacinto. The county consisting of 1,090 square miles is dived into two distinct regions. The West Cross Timbers, dominated by oak and sandy red clay soil surface crosses two thirds of the land. The Grand Prairie with dark limy soils originally covered the land, but is now dotted with live oak across the south eastern part. The northern part of the county is where Cretaceous sediment has eroded. It is noted for its deposits of coal, fireclay, oil and natural gas.

Jack County: Jack County was established on August, 27 1856. It was named after William and Patrick Jack, who were participants in the Texas Revolution. The County is 920 square miles, forested mainly by mesquite and oak, with pecan, elm, walnut, and cottonwood trees along the waterways. The county population is 9,000. The biggest city in Jack is Jacksboro. Cattle, corn, oats and wheat have been top money makers for the citizens of Jack County. In 1923, near the city of Bryson, the big boom of oil hit. The income of oil was a great help during the years of The Great Depression. Due to the value of farmland falling, poor farmers who had relied on other means of livestock and crops were able to turn to oil to help settle their debts. Many people moved into town with the hopes of making easy money. Oil production hit a high at 1,800,000 barrels annually in the early 1990's. Production had hit a high. A little over 706,000 barrels of oil and 12,131,871 cubic feet of gas were produced in the county in 2004. By the end of that year 203,811,409 barrels of oil had been taken from Jack county lands since the discovery of crude oil in 1923.

Coryell and Lampasas Counties: In 1854 James Coryell, frontiersman and early landholder, helped establish Coryell county. Two years later in 1856, Lampasas County was named after a similar named river. These sister counties share many similar geographical aspects. The counties are covered partly by Grand Prairie and partly by Cross Timbers. The ground is made up of alkaline and lime stone. Few people may think of these counties to be good oil and gas drilling land because of the tough limestone, but efforts in the past years have shown great potential. There are significant oil and gas shows in the Atoka-Bend, Marble Falls and Ellenburger formations.

Palo Pinto County: The north central Texas County is named for its principal streams. The county covers 986 square miles of broken, hilly land with sandy grey and black soils. Palo Pinto's is known for its production of pecans, peaches, vegetables, grains and hay. Big livestock are cattle, sheep, angora goats, and hogs. The first oil test well was established in 1901, but the boom did not occur until 14 years later in 1915. When the field in Palo Pinto was opened, it was said to be one of the most productive fields. Oil production in this town offset some of the worst effects of the Depression. In 1938, 117,000 barrels were produced, and it kept growing from there. In 1948, 97,000 barrels were produced. In 1956, 230,000 barrels were rounded up. Barrel production hit 335,000 in 1960, 260,400 in 1974, 480,000 in 1978, 364,400 in 1982, and 367,000 in 1990. By January 1, 1991, barrel production had hit 17,874,218.

Callahan County:  Callahan County is in the Rolling Plains region of Central Texas on Interstate Highway 20 east of Abilene. The county is divided by a low range of hills known as the Callahan Divide, which runs from east to west. The region to the north is in the Brazos River basin, and the area to the south is in the Colorado River basin. Most of the county has light to dark loamy soils with clayey to loamy sub soils. In the southeast the soils are light-colored with loamy to sandy surface layers and clayey sub soils. Between 21 and 30 percent of the land in the county is considered prime farmland. The subtropical and sub humid climate features mild winters and warm summers. Until the 1870s the county was dominated by Comanche Indians. The area was first explored and described by Dr. Henry C. Connelly of the Chihuahua expedition in 1839-40. Callahan County was formed by the Texas legislature in 1858 from Bexar, Bosque, and Travis counties and named for James Hughes Callahan, a survivor of the Goliad Massacre and leader of the Callahan expedition. Oil and gas production, ranching and farming accounts for over 90% of the economy. In the early 1990s oil production averaged a million barrels annually; between 1923 and 1991 crude production totaled 79,523,155 barrels.