The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-21

De Laveaga station and four miles in an
air line southeast of Oakland, as possible
oil field. The evidences of oil and gas
found by these gentlemen were so apparent
that in their report they strongly recon-
mended business men interested in the
subject to invest there and add one
more source of fuel supply to our State
and its industries.
Colonel George w. Cummings, interested
IN this report, went to the spot himself
and was struck by the similarity of the
rock formation to that of the rich oil fields
of Pennsylvania. He Immediately became
enthusiastic.
Soon a number of enterprising citizens of
the bay cities were interested, and on June
II of this year a lease of 612 acres was pro-
cured from J. 0. Miner, the owner of the
property. August a company was incor-
porated called 1.-The Contra Costa Paraffine
Oil Company" with the following officers:
Colonel George w. Cummings, president;
A. B. Bacon, secretary; ]. J. Scoville,
treasurer, and Hermann f. Hitler and
Frederick Hitler directors.
On August ii the plant to bore for oil
was being prepared on the spot for bust
ness. Colonel Cummings was formerly
superintendent of the Great Western Con-
solidated Oil Company of Pennsylvania,
and remembers when the crude petroleum
old Alden Tract, and was used for lubri-
eating wagons and as a panacea for pains
and aches.
The most valuable feature of the oil it
self is the fact that it has paraffine base.
This has been proved beyond dispute by
A. A. Cunningham of this City, an expert
in oil analysis. The oil of Los Angeles has
bituminous base and hence is valuable
only for fuel purposes. But the promoters
of this enterprise are assured that the oil
found in the section will prove highly re-
Unable.
The Los Angeles oil brings in the mar
ket 40 cents per barrel; it is expected this
will bring from 80 cents to 81 per barrel.
The company has had (since its incor-
poration) three experts to examine the
field: (. NJ Hoagland, of large expert
ence in Pennsylvania; William Rapp one
OF the oldest oil experts in the State, and
Joseph Ruix Rojas an officer in the Aus
TRAN hussars, familiar with all the Euro
pean petroleum fields and an extensive
stakeholder in the famous Rothschild Oil
fields of Hungary.
Ruix Rojas is greatly interested. He
spends much of his time in the vicinity
with his pick and hammer and continually
finds some new surprise as to the richness
of the indications.
"The Lord did not scatter over the
EARTH" said he, "a little oil here and
such as this little oil on the surface
means an inexhaustible supply down I'M
der the EARTH"
The first we'll is being sunk on a slight
rise of land skirted at the base by creek,
the bed and banks of which are formed of
shale, richly impregnated with oil and
smelling strongly of gas. A piece of this
stone taken from the surface and broken
reveals globules and small patches OF
brown petroleum.
The Beal prospecting core drill the only
instrument of the kind on the coast, is at
work penetrating the sandstone and shale.
Already, with but ten days actual work,
it has reached depth of $50 feet. The
deeper the well is sunk the more favorable
become the indications of oil. The COM
pany expects to strike oil in two or three
days at depth of about 400 feet-not only
! to strike Oil, but to penetrate vast sub
terranean reservoir, from which the petro-
leum will gush up at the rate of from 100
to 1000 barrels daily,
Already a flow of gas rises up through
the tube 50 strong that two men find diff
Guilty in holding the vent hose. The driller
cuts a tive-inch hole down through the
solid rock from three to ten feet in an hour
and brings up long columns of the hard
gray stone smoothly polished.
The drill proper is long hollow iron
cylinder, to which a rotary motion is
given. Fine steel chilled shot are poured
around the open bottom of the cylinder.
They indent the iron and grind into the
stone. A constant stream of water keeps
the drill cool and washes away the pull
verified rock.
The we'll is located few hundred yards
from pool where large bubbles, caused
by gas working up to the surface of the
water, form and burst from one years end
to another. An iron tank with burner
RI a fnlo nQd inv rfn d in,
the water, rapidly fills with the gas, which
burns with white fame for sew
eral minutes. The small stream of water