Stovebolt.com Forums The Back Office The Greasy Spoon How to find GPS

My wife and 639 other people own an oil well in West Texas. Got a tax bill that lists GPS coordinants and would like to take a trip to see a well that has been producing for over 100 years. How does one use GPS on a GPS? If this needs to be in the Short Bus please move. Thank you; Evan

Depends on the model of GPS. If you are using an android phone, you can type the coordinates in.

What model of GPS do you have? We might be able to help.

I think you can type in the GPS coordinates into whatever navigation system you use and click “Take me there”, and off you go.

Make sure your settings use roads. Make sure to confirm your route along the way. Using coordinates has tried to take me on some deer trails at times.

LOL Or over the water with no bridge.

Use this website. Get Lat [getlatlong.net]

We own fractional (imagine teensy-tiny fractional) percentage in some W. TX oil wells. Most have been producing 60 or 70 years. Many have been sold to as many as 6 different operators just since we inherited them and Lord help you if you have to deal with the State of Texas on anything. Small wells are like that...at times they don't generate enough to make servicing them economically feasible and on one we only receive a payment once a year. Most are on property you'll not be able to visit, however. Not like the old days when you could just figure out which dirt road leading off Farm to Market road number xxx you needed and drive over to see it, Evan. You'll find locked gates, posted signs and people with guns on the other side who are happy to shoot anyone roaming around on their property. Chances are very high that no relatives of yours still own the land...just the mineral rights and maybe not even all of those. Large bowl of spaghetti in some cases. Good luck! If you can locate the owner, you have a chance. If not, my sincere suggestion would be to stay at home.

We are lucky to have some mineral rights. One old shallow well on our property and 3 deep horizontal wells that are on our section. The old one is probably 60-70 years old and by itself was producing enough for one check a year for less than $20. The deep wells are way more productive and pay monthly, for now anyway. Get 2-3 offers a month to buy our royalties but we are not selling any rights.

Evan, just road trip and enjoy the experience. Stop at the County Courthouse where the well is located and find out who owns the surface rights and contact them. Explain your situation and ask for permission to go look at the well and take a photo or two for posterity. Offer to buy them lunch at their favorite restaurant. Good luck.

Playing with Google maps on my iPhone, I found that you can type in coordinates, but they have to be formatted correctly as in:
31 03 05 N, 101 25 5 W
Since there's no degree mark available, you can leave that off as well as the minutes (") and seconds (').
I picked those coordinates at random in West Texas and hit an oil well. Kind of proves you can't spit in Texas without hitting an oil well. LOL.

My GPS is an ancient Garmin unit that constantly tries to get me to buy updates but they don't succeed since I just use it as a speedometer. I might just take a trip to Stephens County and sniff out the lay of the land. Thanks all; Evan