Omaha daily bee., 1889-10-14
THE OIL FIELDS OF WYOMING,
Rich Veins OF the Liquid Only
Awaiting Development.
WHY LITTLE HAS BEEN DONE.
Want of Railroad Facilities and the
Great Expense OF Prospecting
The Work to Be Done
Next Spring.
Wealth in wyoming Soil.

The BEE, Tho Wyoming oil and coal belt
extends one degree in width from A degrees
north latitude, southwesterly, crossing the
Union Pacific road at Rock Springs at Al
degrees. Some twelve oil fields and several
coal fields are scattered along this belt as far
as the Sweetwater river. The existence of
coal in Wyoming has been known since 1850
In September, 1864, petroleum was discovered
in Wyoming. 1t had then been a commercial
product only five years, the first spoutng
well having been uncovered in Pennsylvania
in 1859 The Wyoming oil fields have been
largely prospccted, but the want OF railroad
communication has prevented deep and ex-
pensive borings. The economic and financial
world has secuted the idea that petroleum
existed in Wyoming in considerable guam
titles. The indications, however, seem to me
conclusive, that petroleum exists in Wy
oming over district far more extensive
than that OF Pennsylvania. The Pennsyl
vauia oil belt extends from beyond the New
| York line, southwesterly into Ohio, and
comprises only 36i square miles. There are
in Wyoming, within the space above named
fourteen different districts in which the in.
dications of oil are numerous and uniform
Their elevation above the sea is from 8, 200 TO
| $500 feet, that of the Stockade district about
| Newcastle being 500 feet. .r
The oil is held by nature generally in the
sandstone. In Pennsylvania the oil lanos
| are from one foot to fifty feet in thickness;
| in Wyoming there are fine oil lands, which
| vary from fifteen feet to 400 feet in thick
ness 1t is generally considered that Wyom-
| ing, while possessing springs of lubricating
oil, has no Illuminating oil. THIS, however,
| is the merest Guess-work; the facts can only
| be determined by numerous deep borings.
| Since the discovery of oil in New York and
| Pennsylvania, no fewer than $1,000 wells
l hnX hnn fax AZ
proved productive. IL is sufficient to say in
| regard to Wyoming, that petroleum will
| probably be found at greater depth, and
| that the dark and heavy lubricating oil thus
| far obtained at many PAGES widely distant
| from one another at depth of 300 or 400
| feet, is simply the remains of what was
| originally petroleum, which have found their
| way to the surface, and from which the
natural gas and other volatile elements have
| slowly escaped in the course of its passage
| to the surface. Professor Bailey, when
| geologist of Wyoming territory, found green
| Illuminating oils at depth of $40 feet i'll the
Bear river district, and at $50 feet depth in
| the Belle Fourche district.
| The total production of oil IN the United
| STATES in 1856 was 100000 barrels, of
| which 26, 79S, coo barrels was from the Penn
! sylvania district l, TS3 600 from the Oh o dis
| trct and the small remainder was from
| West Virginia. Colorado and California. Tne
| maximum yield of the Pennsylvania district
| was made in 1852, since which time there has
1 Ii
| $4,000 wells In the Pennsylvania district
| have been sunk at cost of $500, 00O, 900; they
| have produced 3l1.0O0, 900 barrels of oil, for
| which 500, 900, 600 have been received at the
| wells. The time must soon come when they
| will be dry. Their territory is well defined,
| their thickness is known, and the diminish
| ing supply will very soon prove inadequate
| to the increasing consumption of our rapidly
| growing people.
The so-caled ''oil springs of Wyoming
| are found where the rocky strata have been
| folded in canyons cut across these folds. The
| Oil has reached the surface, forming pools in
| beds of uhickened oil or "oil cake,' which is
| the result OF the inoperation OF the volatile
| elements and the addition of dust blown by
the wind upon the deposit. From these oil
| cakes in the Stockade district at Newcastle
| the great HOmestake Mining company at
| Lead City has secured great deal of lubri-
| eating oil, and further west the Union Pa
| citic railroad has obtained considerable oil
| from similar deposits near their line. The
| test made of the oil taken from these pits are
remarkable for their uniformity. The spe-
citc gravity is very heavy-from 0,S10 to
0992-and their weight ranges from
7M pounds to S.27 pounds in one
| gallon. There is very little difference
in these respects in the oils found along the
entire belt across the territory, fact which
| curously suggests common or at least
| similar origin in huge reservoirs at a greater
| depth. a few shallow wells have been sunk
farther west in central Wyoming. from
| which far supply of Oil have been obtained.
They have been plugged up, however, await
ing the coming of the railroad up the valley
| of the Sweetwater. ...
The opinions of acknowledged experts
might here De quoted In great number l
will, however, give only three of them. Prof.
| William Lay says that "Wyoming will be
classed ahead of Pennsylvania as au oil pro-
ducing region;" Captain Fowler delares that
"Wyomng can beat Pennsylvania for a
hundred years." Prof. SlllIman says that
mo estimate can be made accurately of the
| vast benefits that would accrue If the oil of
| Wyoming were properly developed" And
| so of every onc-eXpert or business man
who has visited and inspected these OIL
| fields. All are confident, many are enthusi-
astlc concerning their future development,
| with an abundance of coal in every direction,
| and with a vast store of soda, sulphur, mar
bic, etc, for the supply of the necessary
chemicals needed for refining, we can
scarcely speak eXtravagantly concerning the
| ultimate future of the region.
| In the Stockade oil district about New.
castle the sandstones have an aggregate
thickness of 1900 feet, the layers varying
from twelve to $50 feet, and the same rock
conditions exist in all the other fourteen oil
districts of the territory. In this district all
the rock masses so far as Investigation has
gone are found to be more or less charged
with OIL Every indication points to both
quantity and adequate pressure the further
down exploration has gone. 1t has been
found not only in the Stockade district, but
about the Belle Fourche and the Sweetwater
| uloltlCLS west, ludJ tnO OILS grow
lighter the further the drill has penetrated
The great DISTANCE from the railroad-from
POO miles up-has alone prevented expensive
prospecting with view TO an absolute de-
termination of the quality and extent Of the
oil deposits All that has been done-and
more has been done about Newcastle than
further west-has simply been to dig out the
natural springs. Late last fall, in antIcipa-
tou of the early extension of the railroad to
this point, large number of derrIcks were
erected and few wells were started, but
! little was accomplished beyond sinking pros
| pect holes for few feet. The diamond drill
was used in TWO places. and after reaching
some four hundred feet in depth, oil was
struck and overfOwed, lighter in color and
of less gravity than that found at the sur
face, The coming spriug will witness de-
cisive tests Machinery will be introduced
for boring to the requisite depth to deter
mine once for oil the quantity and quality of
the oil. But, as in Pennsylvania, many
wells will doubtless have to be
bored before productive ones can
be found. 1t will be necessary
TO go down more than z, 800 feet, while in all
probability a depth OF / 200 feet will suf1ice.
L nave visited all the scenes of all the ex-
plorations thus far made in this district.
There are, according to Prof. Bailey's map,
| about fifty locations in the Stockade oil dis
trict, which range over field some ten miles