The herald., 1896-04-23
sLos ANGELES HrRA1p THURSDAY MORNING.

of our society, as to the absorbent pow
ers of this oil sand, and he states that he
found that the sand would absorb about
IL per cent of oil sp. g. IA degrees Il.
These figures agree very closelywith ex-
periments made in eastern states on the
absorbent powers of the sand.
Mr.. Doheny also made some expert
ments on oil sand from the Mailman
tract and obtained higher results.
For the purpose of obtaining a con-
crete idea of the situation which is
within the range of probability, let us
tentatively admit that the Los Angeles
oil field, as far as developments have
shown, derives its oil from stratum or
sand carrying about 10 per cent of oil,
that the said stratum is about 40 feet
thick and has an area of about 1000, 600
square feet Such a stratum
would contain in round figures
about 2,S50,000 barrels of oil.
A careful canvass of all the oil
producers of Los Angeles shows that
last year the Los Angeles oil field pro-
duced 729,695 barrels of oil, about one
fourth of the theoretical total contents
of the sand, and no inconsiderable
amount was produced in 1894. The ques-
ton that naturally arises Is how much
of the remaining 100000 barrels of OF!
can be obtained by pumping. There do
not ppear to be many factors on which
to base an estimate. We must bear in
mind that the oil is heavy oil,
Angeles the wes sas wss presS'rs never IN
great. Therefore the probabilities
are that even after a we'll has ceased to
yield enough oil to pay for pumping
every day,providing the wells do not be-
come filled with water or choked with
sand, small quantities of oil might be
pumped from them for quite long pc
ri nd Il ftnV 10 nj
a forest of derricks at the Second-street
park, they are by no means uniformly
distributed over the 100000 sqaure feet
which we, by the way of a rough esti-
mate, put down as oil land.
When I last revised my list of wells
I found that there were 800 wells in the
field, allowing to each well, say 5000
square feet, as they are now distributed
1t would seem that there must be more
land in the area we calculated on yet to
be heard from. Much of the unbrOken
territory is cover ed by streets and build
ings, all the better for the wells which
are near them but it seems probable
that If oil keeps up to its present price
wells will yet be sunk at Second street
park, which may yield moderate re-
turns. The question which naturally
presents itself is, cannot other strata of
cil-yielding sand be found by drilling
to greater depth than has vet been
needed? The experiment Is worth try
ing, but there is no shutting out eyes
to the following facts: The only wells
which have gone far below the main oil
sand have encountered water, ana water
at depth of 1000 feet or more is very
hard to shut off in a soft formation An
examination of the limited out crops
Of rock to the north of the oil wells does
not disclose any such body of sand as
the one we have previously noted. With
the limitation of the oil field at Second
street park, thus in sight, and the con-
stant report of declining yield from the
wells there which are still producing,
the question as to the extension OF the
field becomes one of great moment. We
spoke of this subject when last had
the pleasure of addressing you. In reply
to a question, l said that the only plan
was to follow the strike of the formation
which has proved to be oil-producing
until a broken formation was encounter
ed which would prove unproductiye. ]