The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1883-01-27
INTERESTING GOSSIP ABOUT AND
OIL WELLS.
S.Aatcg: of the Oil Fields.

[Cor esponIe ence New York S,m.l
When a producer sets out to make {;
we'll a mystery he knows that he has :
task before him. The high board fence
which he puts around his well, hun
dred feet or more from the derrick,
prevents the scouts from getting sam.
pies Of the sand unless they do so by
arrangement with guard. If the
scouts succeed in obtaining thimble
full Of sand they can make 4 good
guess as to what the well will amount
to. Some of the scouts have as many
as four or five hundred phials of sand,
each of which is labelled with the
name or number of the we'll from
which it was taken. In some tracts
the sand is OF the color of pulverized
fire-brick, in others it is chocolatc-col.
ored, aud the experienced scout can sec
something significant either in the
composition Or color Of every sample
of sand that he examines.
s.This," said scout, holding up a
phial in which was as much gray sand
as could be taken upon the blade Of q
penkEife, s'Was very precious at the
time it was obtained. 1t came from
GAG in Cherry Grove"
After an owner Of mystery has
made provision for preventing the
scouts from getting any Of the sand, he
must make arrangements for keeping
them so far from the we'll that they
cannot hear the flow Of oil into the re.
ceiving tank. So he cuts underbrush
and surrounds his we'll with an almost
impenetrable brush fence, on the out
side of which he stations guards with
rifles or pole axes rs weapons. AS
many as hundred guards are some
times employed at single we'll. If
the scouts are unable to make their
way through tits line and get within
hearing distance of the tank, they
must trust to sight for indications as to
what is doing at the we'll. The wag Of
the walking beam will tell them with
in fifty feet how far down in the rock
the drill is cutting, though stranger
can only see that the beam osciilates
with slower motion as the we'll
grows deeper. If drilling has ceased,
the scouts watch the ventilator of the
receiving tank with the aid of a field
glass, noting the number of hours out
of twenty-four that the inflow Of oil
causes gas TO escape from the ventilator
in thin cloud. Knowing the number
of gallons that will flow through the
pipe in an hour, they can compute the
result Of the flows that have taken
place in the twcnty-four hours.
Another way of telling how deep a
we'll has been drilled is by watching
the cable through a field glass when
the tools are hauled up. AS the rope
is wound upon the bull wheel tho coil
runs to one end of the axle and back
again, and so on, like thread wound
evenly ON a spool; and, by watching
the weaving of the rope back and forth
where it comes in sight above the roof
of the derrick house, the scouts can tell
how many layers there are of the rope
that is wound up, and can make a
close guess as to the number of feet OF
rope drawn from the well.
MAKING 1T A MYSTERY.
One of the most noteworthy mystic
ries of the oil region was the Shannon
well, the wildcat venture of the Coop
er tract in Forest county. Some time
in June last Mr.. p. M. Shannon pro-
ducer of long experience followed the
forty-iivc degree line from Sheffield
nine miles into the wilderness. There,
at point six miles southeast of the
famous Cherry Grove field, and nearly
five miles from the nearest cabin, he
put up rig and began drilling. Be-
fore the drill touched the oil-bearing
rock he took two partners into the
venture, Mr.. II. +. Melvin and Mr..
\. B. Walker. On July 2G, the three
partners stopped at the well on their
way back from a fishing excursion.
They learned from the driiIcrs that, ac-
cording to their reckoning of the alti-
tudc at which drilling WAS begun, sand
rock should already have been struck
if there was any there. The partners
were not very hopeful as to their ven
ture, and Mcssrs. Melvin and Walker
decided that they had seen enough OF
the wildcat for the present, and went
on up to Cherry Grove, leaving MIR
Shannon behind. lie remembered
that spring barometer had been used
for determining the altitude of the
locality, and that the measurement
might have been so far out Of the way
that there was still hope of the drill
striking sand rock. Just before noon
on that day the driller said to Mr..
Shannon
81 guess we've struck something"
erThe tools were hauled up" said Mr.
Shannon, telling the story Of his VEN
ture, the other evening, "anu fresh
bit was put on. Drilling was resumed
and within ten minutes an odor of gas