East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1865-11-22
THE OIL FIELDS OF CANADA.
A Trip through the Oil Region.

|
A Trip through the Oil Region.
Correspondence Of the Detroit Free Press
PETRoLIA, G. W., Nov 8.
d Having heard so much lately of tho
oil wells of Canada, your correspon
dent determined TO make the various
regions where oil is found visit, fol-
the purpose of satisfying himself and
The FREE Press hew much truth and
how much fiction there was in the
reports in circulation respecting those
districts. The entire region is so near
Detroit the convoyances so rapid, and
the expense 80 small, that every one
desirous of seeing for himself can
easily do so. rtatft r,anr
THE ROUTE TO THE OIL REGION. ail
i left Detroit at half-past six in the
morning, and at half-past nine arrived
at Sarnia, which, in n direct line, is
distant about fifteen miles from Petro-
liza. From Sarnia there are two trains
day over the Great Western road to
Wyoming, distant from Petrolia about
five miles, and from Oil Springs about
twelve miles. There is stage running
from each train from Wyoming through
Petrclia to Oil Springs, over tho worst
plank road / ever saw. i did not,
however, take the route by Wyoming,
but secured light wagon and good
driver, and passed over twelve miles
of the plank road, (which is excellent,)
which leads from Sarnia direct to Oil
Springs. The distance from Sarnia
over this road to Oil Springs is eighteen
miles, and TO this point about sixteen
miles. Petrolia is off the line of the
plank road about four or FIVE miles,
l made the whole distance from Sarnia
here in about two hours and half.
PETRoLIA.
AS l approached Potrolia my olfac-
tories told me that l was in the region
of oil. At this point there arc some
twenty wells, more or less, already
producing, or nearly ready to produce,
oil. There are four flowing wells; the
remainderare pumped by steam power.
L visited every well in this vicinity,
and made as careful inquiries rs pos
sible to ascertain the cost of sinking
IA well, the average cost of working,
and the probable daily product and
the value of the oil.
roer IN crrurxn uy,,
The result of these inquiries salts
fled me that the average cost Of sink
ing well, exclusive of the cost of
location, is about five thousand dollars;
the average expense Of working, about
Eve dollars day, and the
AVERAGE PRODUCT
fiom ten to thirty barrels. | think
the former nearer the truth than the
latter. The
-
today is seven dollars, the purchaser
finding barrels. In all cases, when / |
speak Of dollars, it is Canada money
Or specie, and not "greenbacks," or
the notes of our national banks.
THE CRESCENT PETROLEUM COMPANY.
The largest company here is the
q Crescent Petroleum Company, of
New York and Canada" This COM
pany have one hundred and ninety-six
lcrcs Of land, and commenced active
operations in May last, and have now
four wells in an active producing state,
and several more nearly at that point.
The first woll sunk at this point is on
the lands of this company, and has
been producing oil since 1861, and is
now yielding from twelve to fifteen
barrels per day.
BIOLOGISTS REPORT OF THE OIL REGIONS.
or wliliam Logan, Ueologlst OF
Cauada, in his able report published
by the Canadian Parliament early in
1868, speaking of the region about
and Oil Springs, says: "The
deeper wells have, however, given by
far the greatest supply of oil; and in
some of them, when first opened, the
petroleum has risen above tho surface
of the earth, constituting what are
called flowing wells. One of these,
which was sunk to the depth of about
300 feet, is said to have yielded, when
first opened, not less than 1000 bar
rels i'll - hours, and several others
gave very large quantities. In some
cases both oil and water flow from the
wells, and the water of some of the
deeper ones is saline. The recently
opened wells have frequently been
observed to furnish p,tcolenm only,
which, however, after sonlo time, Is
accompanied with portion of water.
Tho total amount of petroleum ex-
tracted from these various wells in
Enniskillcn (Petrolia and Oil Springs)
since their opening may be seen from
the returns kindly furnished by the
freight agent of the Great Western
Railway, over which the produce of
this district finds its way to market
A small portion is refined in this vicin-
ity. and this is included with the crude
material in the following statement:
DRLs.
Previous TO July 81, ls6l.......,...,.. 5,529
For half year ending January 81, lS62'. 6,2i6
z" July 81, 1862. -. 25, 5,26i
January 81, 1862. 81 $50
For month of February, 1868. ........" s,sH
Number OF bbls. Of 40 gallons eneh...' lO3,46S
was unable to procure the statis-
ties of the amount shipped since Feb
ruary, 1868, in time for this letter, but
will send it to you at an early day.
THE PRICE OF OIL LANDS.
There are plenty of coil lands" for
sale here, varying in price from fifty
TO five hundred dollars an acre, ac-
cording to supposed vicinity to the
center of the oil district. Upon this
point, however, it is unnecessary for
- A., e,xool, for I ,,roet,ma fhoSe