The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-06-22
KANSAS OIL DISCOVERY.
A History of the Discovery and Develop
IN mt of the Wilson County
OIL Fields

In view of the general interest that
has been excited by the discovery of
oil in the counties south of us, the fol-
lowing sketch which appeared in the
Topeka Capital some weeks ago will
be read with interest: The letter is
dated at Neodesha:
The first discovery of oil here was
made i'm December 1892, by w. NJ.
Mills, of Osawatomie, Kan, while
drilling for gas on a plot of ground
adjoining the townsite of Neodesha.
Mr.. Mills said nothing about his inn
portant discovery, but went east and
enlisted the interest of Messrs. Guffey
4 Galley, two wealthy oil operators Of
Pittsburg, Pa. In the spring of 1913
those gentlemen came to Neodesha
and after examining two wells drilled
by Mr.. Mills sent east for tools and
began sinking other prospect holes.
They also established offices in this
city and put corps of men in the field
to secure leases permitting them to
enter upon the land and operate for
gas and oil. For this privilege they
gave the land owner fifty dollars per
annum for every gas well found upon
his premises the product of which was
utilized and one-tenth royalty for all
productive oil wells. They have
leased lands i'm northeasterly direct
ion from Neodesha through Neosho,
Allen, Crawford, Bourbon and Linn
and southwesterly through Montgom-
cry Elk and Chautauqua counties.
The strip in which they have secured
leases varies in width from twenty to
twenty-five miles north and south
and lie about 100 miles long from north
east to southwest. They have thus
secured leases on about 100000 acres
of land. Meanwhile they were also
running several rigs of drilling out
fits and have sunk within radius of
five miles of Neodesha thirty prospect
holes. OF these, three are gas wells
only; one produces splendid guam
tity of lubricating oil; five are said to
be dry holes, in oil parlance clusters"
the remainder show at depth of be-
tween S25 and 800 feet from the sur
face a vein of grayish oil sand vary
ing in thickness from Is to 80 feet.
Four only of these wells have been
shot, /, e., had from 80 to 40 quarts of
ultIO Sly iiuC CApiouOu III ehO VII
sand. All of them made an excellent
showing when shot, the petroleum
spouting clear above the sixty feet
derricks several times at irregular in
tervals after the explosion, but then
ceasing to flow. The one making the
best show was Kimball well No. 3,
which is located one half mile west of
Neodesha in Wilson county, instead
of near Thayer. 1t is now being con-
stantly pumped and will yield ten or
fifteen barrels a day. The others are
thought to be of the same calibre.
The oil produced is of dark bronze
with a red or amber tinge. 1t is said
by experienced oil men to be of about
the same quality of that produced in
the Lima, Ohio fields.
The flow from the gas well is the
strongest of any in the State, giving
rock pressure of 430 pounds to the
square inch. When allowed to es-
cape from the mouth of the well it
can be heard for distance of two
miles. A main is being laid from one
to the city of Neodesha and it is al
ready being used by the company in
their boiler house.
Guffey d Galley have expended over
500, 200 in prospecting here and are
just now beginning to operate. They
have agreed, if the field warrants it,
to erect a refinery at Neodesha. They
have won the entire confidence of the
people by their fair dealings. Until
February no other companies were in
the fed. Since then the Troy Oil
company has been leasing land in the
same territory in which Guffey Il
Gaiey's leases lie, in the names of w.
J.. Mellon, T.. E. Farran and :. Sho-
walter. Representatives of the Stan
dard Oil Company have been here,
but have made no effort to do any
thing One or two other large opera
tors have also entered the field and
quietly picked up a few leases, but
Guffey d Galley are the only persons
who have sunk any prospect holes.
Their prospecting has been hitherto
confined to the vicinity of NeOdesha,
but they recently drilled a hole near
Thayer, which showed up about like
the Neodesha wells. They are now
also drilling holes NEAR Fredonia and
near Chanute.
Such are the exact facts i'm regard
to the oil finds to which the Capital
was pleased to refer editorially i'm the
issue of the 10th inst.
]. KANSAS MORGAN.