Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-08-11

entire line with a most satisfactory
| persistency. Particularly have the
operations Of the past twelve months
strongly indicated the entire soundness
of the view that the country between
Mcdonald and Little Washington, Pa,
and Warrington and Slstersville, w.
Va, and Woodsfleld and Steubenville,
| o., is one great stretch of oil produc-
ing territory, thickly studded with
pools" and scanned with pay streaRs,"
and which has only been investigated
over
A FRACTIONAL PART
of its surface. k|ElT
If the reader will take a map of the
upper Ohio Valley, from Pinsburg to
Parkersburg, and from Warrington
and Little Washington on the east side
of the river, to Woodsfeld, Barnes
vile and Coleraln on the west and will
note down with a pencil all the points
where oil has been found In paying
quantities. he will at once become a
believer in the theory that the whole
territory within the limits given is
one immense oil field He will also
| note another very salient fact. and that
is that the small local producing fields
surround Wheeling IN an almost per-
| feet circle, invaded here and there by
isolated developments tending towards
/ the centre or to break across from one
side to the other. Starting at Melon
aid and naming only the most prom
inent points, we have In regular order
Little Washington, Warrington, Sis
tersville, Woodsfield, GAINESVILLE, Cole
| rain, Steubenville, Wellsburg and back
to Mcdonald. At one or two points. as,
for instance, from the developments In
J Tyler, back of Sistersvllle, to the west
ern extension of the so-called Sisters
vile field In Ohio, this circle Is
| WELL-MARKED AND DISTINCT,
while in other places, as between Lit
| tie Washington and Warrington, there
are wide stretches of territory in which
no well have been drilled Viewed as
a whole, however the line IS well
marked, and the outlines of the oil pro-
ducins territory are drawn with rea-
Sonable distinctneSs. Inside this
charmed circle. however, the develop
ments have, as yet, amounted 10 little.
but what has been done within the
| hundreds of square miles under dis
cussion is neither discouraging nor In
| opposition to the one field theory. On
the contrary, Is Is pretty well demon
strated that the idea in question is
| founded upon correct reasoning and is
destined TO be conclusively proven in
the future. Up to the present time
| ninety-nine per cent. of the energy aod
capita! expended has been upon the
edge of the circle. The indications are
decidedly that from this time on de-
velopment and investigation will be
| more marked inside of the limits de-
scribed, and that once this policy, now
in embryo, has gone little farther we
shall see with more distinctness that
which now appears as N0ugh viewed
through a glass darkly.
THE ANTICLENAb THEORY
Of oil deposits has long been accepted
by practical oil men as scientifically
| and reasonably correct II has also
been demonstrated that the anticlinals
through the upper Ohio valley territory
run from northeast to southwest. These
anticlinals start away up on the Dor
ders of the State of New York, beyond
Oil City and Warren, and have been
followed far into West Virginia and
| Ohio, with q reasonable certainty that
they may extend through Southwestern
West Virginia and Virginia into Ken
lucky. Many of these pay streaks pass
within fifty miles Of Wheeling how
many even the oldest and most exper-
| fenced oil man can only guess. He has
knowledge of sOme-perhaps many, but
he will not say that there may not be
as many more Of which the drill has
brought no tidings TO the surface. This
theory being accepted as fact, it fol-
lows that when oil is Huud in paying
quantities say in Southwestern Pennsyl-
wanna, on one side of our circle of devel-
opment, and in West Virginia or Ohio,
on the other side, that the wells have
simply been put down at two widely
separated points on the same more or
less straight line through the oil-bear-
ing field. The question then presents it
self II oil exists in paying quantities
at each end of these. lines, why not along
their whole extent? This Is the prob
lem which is, more than ever before,
attracting the attention of up-to-date
oil men, and it is action upon his idea
which is to develop the wide extent Of
territory which
NOW LIES DORMANT.
The western ends of Washington and
Greene counties, Pa Ohio, Marshall
and Wetzsl counties, West Virginia, and
Belmont and Monroe counties. Ohio, all
lie within the circle about Wheeling,
and to which this article is devoted
within which oil In paving
quantities may be reasonably
expected to be found, upon the
antlclinal lines, and it is here that the
drill will be most busy In the next few
years, and where rich returns may be
expected as a reward for the effort.
Let US take up and follow one or two
of these anticlinals by way of illustra-
ting that oil can and will be found all
along the lines between the points
where developments have already been
made. The Mcdonald anticlina is a
good one to start with, because its ca
0acity as an oil producer is well known,
and because it passes quite near this
city. It crosses the Ohio at the little
town of Robela, "a few miles below
Allegheny City, and cutting across the
country. strikes between Mcdonald and
Midway. Pa, upon the line Of the Pan
Handle railroad. Tapped at this point
the result was
THE GREAT AND CELEBRATED
Mcdonald oil field. Continuing, the an
ticlinal crosses the b. & o. at Coon Isl
and. few miles from West Alexander,
and enters Ohio county at a point on
the Pennsylvania line midway between
the B. & 0. railroad and the Marshall
county line The anticlinal crosses
Middle Wheeling creek and enters Mar