Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-25
CHRISTMAS IN OIL.
Characteristics of Mcdonald Which
Have Been Developed.
REACHING TO THE SOUTHWEST.
One Big Well Reported Yesterday in the
Lower McCurdy Pool.
DRILLING AROUND INDEPENDENCE


mas The drillers. contractors and too
dressers few of whom live in the field,
had gone to their respective homes,
and most of them have made
arrangements to remain away until
Monday. To many of them Christmas will
be dav of gladness and joy in the fullest
sense of the word, while countless others
who went into the field with plethoric
pocketbooks and high spirits will to-day be
groveling in despair.
The few fortunates are known to all, but
half of those whose hopes of wealth have
been withered by busters, and the hoardings
of years dissipated in a vain but plucky
search for the golden grease, will never be
known. They will not find place in the
last great volume of the history of the oil
pursuits the lucky alone will be
named. Unlike other vocations oil
producing stands alone No business offers
SO great return for the money invested,
should the strike prove rich. 1t is the
greatest of all games of chance.
In it tickle fortunes bewitching smile is
as delusive as at the enticing faro table
Beside gusher of the first magnitude an
unfortunate wretch is as liable to drill a
dry hole, as he is to get similar gusher.
All sands are spotted and no operator can
matter where located. This freak of the
rock is illustrated no better than in the
Mcdonald field.
1t Is Not for Sale Now.
Some of the territory which has been
most highly valued, and for which immense
sums of money were offered before the drill
penetrated the sand, have eventually proven
almost worthless. This has been frequently
reversed The best producing territory in
the field was held in the lowest estimation
before being developed. In fact only
q year ago the heart of the pool
could have been bought for less
money than for the value of half of the oil
it has produced in one day. This territory
comprises that which is held by Guffey,
Jennings, Murphy, Galley, Galloway ard
the 0akdale Oil Company, in which the
Fisher Bros. are, perhaps, the heaviest
stockholders
South of the Panhandle railroad the field
is yet new. Only one well, the Venture
Oil Company's No 1 Moorhead. has been
drilled to where the fifth sand ought to be.
Only few shells were found in the fifth
sand stratum at the above well, which is
located east of line through the big fifth
sanders in the McDonald-McCurdyp pool The
Peoples Gas Company drilled two wells
west and south of the Cook
lot, the Christy lot and the
Johns lot wells at Mcdonald
without getting fifth sand oil. These wells
may have deferred operators from going
into the new territory. For some reason
they have been loath to follow the As de-
gree line below the railroad So MANY
were bitten on the town lots that even the
reckless Spectators have become chary
about jumping at conclusions, as they
did in July and August. 1t is perhaps
better that they are, as the wells now drill
ing to the southwest are located to pretty
thoroughly develop the entire field. II,
however, the first wells drilled between
many of the second crop have been, the
great oceans of oil living SO close might
have lain undiscovered for years.
Gathered Among the Derricls.
There was report in circulation vester-
day that the No Gamble, belonging to
the Woodland Oil Company, was in the
fifth sand and making so barrels an hour.
This was the only well of more than ordi-
nary caliber reported throughout the field
Yesterday. The ROYAL Gas Company's No.
on the Mary Robb farm is expected to |
reach the fifth to-day. 1t is drv in the |
Gordon sand Their No. K. Mcdonald is
shut down and the boiler is being moved |
back. Bailev & Georges well on the Sloan |
lot, near Laurel Hill, is several feet in the |
Gordon, and has made only one flow. 1t |
9 on the Mevey farm. is dry in
the fifth sand. f. NJ Aiken has
a rig completed for this No. 2 on the Pat |
terson lot at Willow Grove. Greenlee & |
Forst's No. on the Miller heirs farm was |
shot in the Gordon sand yesterday morning |
1t is a very light well, and the shot failed |
to improve it. Their No. on this prop
erty is good for only 60 barrels day. |
Koernert & Westhead's we'll on the Ken
nett lot, between Laurel Hill and Mcdonald, |
is ten feet in the Gordon and has only made i
one flow. Hite & Hothian, on the Coviack |
lot, expect the fifth sand Monday. The |
Devonian Oil Company's No. Fayall is |
through the Gordon and light. 1t will be |
drilled to the fifth. Ireland & Hughes may |
reach the Gordon sand in their No. Cadet |
lot tomorrow.
The Forest Oil Company's No. 10 |
on the Shaffer farm in the southwest Nc
Curdy, is in the fifth sand, and making ten |
barrels an hour. Their No. / on the Nc |
sand yesterday afternoon The showing |
was light, but the pay was not expected be-
fore two more screws should be run.
The Gladden. Not Improved
Southwest of Mcdonald, Greenlee & |
Forst were still drilling in the Gordon
sand on the GLADDEN. farm. The we'll has
not improved and there are only a few
hundred feet of oil in the hole. Mercer s.
Co. tapped the Gordon sand on the Reed |
farm, three miles to the southwest, last
evening. and in five minutes the hole filled
up 400 feet with OIL Guckert & Learn
should get the Gordon next Wednesday on
the Reed farm at Venice. Shay s. Co. are
on top of the Gordon sand on the
lot at Laurel Hill. Learn &
Burson, on the Patterson at Willow Grove,
are down ], 500 feet. They are ready to put
in the second string of casing on the post
Office lot
Mellon & Campbell's No. Ewing in
Southwest McCurdy may get into the fifth
sand to-day. Mellon & Co. IS No. 3 Neeley
is also near the pay.
Southwest Wildcats.
INDEPENDENcE-Me Wilson & Co.
are still fishing at their we'll near this place.
They are now waiting for tools from Pitts
burg. and when they come one more effort
proves futile, the present hole will be
and the derrick moved. The
Davis well is down 700 feet.
Carr Bros. are in the Big Injun and have
cased They have showing of oil in the
Big Iniun. Arters & Co. have commenced
building rig on the Beall's heirs farm,
one-Guarter of a mile northwest of town.
The Merchants Oil Company has made
location about ], 500 feet northeast. of Inde-
pendence. The well on the Wheeler farm,
five miles north, is down 600 feet. Roth,
Jennings & Co. are building rig on the
Joseph Ralston, and one on the S. L. Moore
Iarm.
Pickpockets and Personal