Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1886-06-11
MILLIONS OF WEALTH.
Wonderful Strike of PetrO-
leum in La Puente.
A MONSTER VOLCANO OF OIL.
A Column of Petroleum Leaps Sixty
Feet in Air-Fiye Hundred
Barrels Wasted.

The HERALD has already mentioned
the two very fine petroleum wells in La
Puente which have been sunk by MIR.
Youle for Messrs. Lacy & Rowland.
These wells were yielding about so bar
rels per day, with profit to the own.
ers of about $3.50 per day. This all
seemed pleasant, but the proprietors
determined to go deeper 10 obtain
lighter gravity of oil.
Work was re commenced on one OF
these wells on Monday and continued
till yesterday noon, when the drill
struck a new basin of oil and hydro
gen gas. with the most astonishing re-
suits.
Like the bursting Of volcano from
the earth, the gas and oil shot madly
up the twelve-inch tube, throwing q
column Of oil sixty feet high and de-
scending in an oleaginous fountain upon
the earth. The roar of the gas and
tho uncontI ollable column of oil was
perfectly astonishing.
Before the giant could be chained it
had scattered In thirty minutes about
GOO barrels of oil, some OF which was
caught by a small dam across the ravine
below and may be saved.
These flows are usually spasmodic and
are most active about noon OF each day.
Although the monster column OF oil
subsidized after half an hour, the gas is
growing and the oil is boiling in the
tube and liable to break forth at any
moment.
From experience in other wells which
have burst forth in other parts OF the
country 1t is calculated that the regular
yield will be about a fifth of the first
days flow. This estimate would make
this well yield about 200 barrels per day
as a steady yield and produce an income
of $3.50 per day, or 1929, 600 per year.
The HERALD has from time to time as
serted that the Puente oil region had
millions in it, and the recent develop
ments in that section have demonstrated
the truth of all these assertions. This
great success will stimulate capital to
engage in development in La Puente,
and In a short time hundred derricks
will arise among these beautiful hills,
and throngng trains of iron tanks will
fly hther and thither TO carry the
wealth of the hills abroad through the
land and to the ships at the wharves for
foreign consumption.
One of the most fortunate circum-
stances attending this great gas and oil
cru ption yesterday was the fact that the
wind carried these dangerous elements
away from the engine and hre-box and
saved the property from instant destruc-
ton.
Had the wind been in the same direc.
tion that it was in the morning, the gas
ana oil would have been driven to the
fire in the engine, and an appalling con-
Migration would have ensued. The ut.
most care has to be observed around
such wells TO prevent confiagrations,
which move so quickly that no person
near can escape injury.
Mr.. Youle is cautious and careful
manager and feels justly proud of his
great success. This discovery clinches
the prosperity of Los Angeles county by
furnishing millions of dollars to be used
in the Improvement of the country, and
yet the oil basins have only here and
there been touched. The great develop
menis are yet to come.