The herald., 1896-02-15
TO increase CONSUMPTION
The Pacific Rolling Mills Will
Use Much More Oil
ANTE BOOM PRICES SEEN
A Visit of Inspection Through the Oil
Region
Not T1ore Than One-HaIf Of the Wells Are
Being Pumoei-Lack Of Experience Has
Landed Some Operators in Debt

George NJ. Smith, the San Francisco
agent of the oil exchange, has returned to
this city. He states that the Pacific roll
ing mills are now using three carloads of
oil daily, and will soon increase their con-
sumption to four carloads per day. Also,
that at S1.25 per barrel, oil is demon
strated to be a cheaper and more sats-
factory fuel than Welsh anthracite coal at
50 per ton.
Taking into consideration the fact that
much inferior coal to that above men-
toned sells in Los Angeles at from SO to
$40 per ton, and that the visabIe supply of
oil fuel is not unlimited, the conclusion is
irresistible; that unless increased prices at
home prevent the contracting of ana snip
ment of oil to San Francisco. that Los An
geles consumers will yet pay the old ante
oil boom prices for oil and perhaps be un.,
able to get it at any price. All of which
means that increased prices or other
means must bs used to keep the oil for
home use, or cheap fuel of home pro-
duction will be matter Of history.
Areporter yesterday made thorough
inspection of the old district with view of
gathering information regarding the fall
ing off OF the wells. 1t was found tina t
scarcely one-half of the wells are pumping.
At many wells everything is quiet, and
there is no one to give reason for the
cessation of business. At others when it
was asked, "Why don't you pump your
wells?" the answer came, mo storage for
the OIL" while some said, "Nothing to
pump" but all agreed that the wells had
materially fallen off. Some gave the an
sWer, Cant tell; am not an oil man. l
was put here by the sheriff as keeper"
This class of answers indicates the true
condition OF things, which sums up about
as follows:
A magnificent oil territory operated prin-
cipally by men who never before had any
experience in the oil business. and whose
present experiments have. not only been
proitless, but in many cases disastrous.
Numerous instances occur where the OPP
erator's zeal has placed him in debt, his
creditors are pressing him and he is obliged
to underbid his neighbors in order to sell
his wares. The cream of his we'll has been
pumped off and sold at a loss in order that
he may meet immediate and pressing de-
mands, and now his we'll is failing and his
prospects of dividend have vanished en-
tirely or are so far i'll the future that it is a
question whether the supply will hold out
long enough to enable him to realize oven
the capital invested.
1t was found that many wells are pump
ing finely, some giving as high as eighty
barrels per day. and many, the pumper in
charge said, would yield from fifty to sixty
barrels per day.
The trip resulted in the conclusion that
the era of low prices is about over, and
that the throat-cutting competition be-
tween the producers can only result in
their eventually landing in the hands of
the sheriff, while the consumer laughs and
grows fat. 1t was also found that it costs
from one to one and half dollars per foot
to drill a we'll; the derrick and the rig tim
bers an additional sum of from $50 to
500; casing, tubing, sucker rods, pump,
etc., from $1,000 to 81 500 more; so that a
we'll from 500 to 1000 feet deep, finished
up and in pumping order, would represent
an investment of from $1,000 to $4,000,
and the lot on which it is drilled about
$1,000, making cost of $4,000 to $1,000
for each well, while many of the poores t
wells we found have cost much more than
the best ones.
Some of the operators have spent as
high as $40, 600 and have failed to ever
recover dollar or get barrel of oil.
Data gathered by the oil exchange indi-
cate decrease of about 80 per cent in
production since December, and prominent
members of that body express the belief
that oil will sell a S1.25 per barrel as soon
as an agreement between the producers is
properly carried into effect.
state Mineralogist j. J. Crawford has
been In the city for some days reviewing the
work of hi1 deputy, w. L. Watts, who for
over year past has been studying the oil
fields of Southern California. These gen.
tlemen are both of the opinion that the
local wells will in time become exhausted.
The shallow ones will give out first and the
deeper ones will survive the longest
Neither would express an opinion as to tho
time when the supply would be consumed,
but it was evident that they did not believe
it was long distant.
''This need occasion no alarm" said Mr..
Crawford "as the oil belt extends from
Santa Barbara to Puente, and l think dis
coveries will be made in Riverside and San
Diego counties. Oil will be the fuel for
California for years to come; as fast as one
field is exhausted others will be found"
1t is said at the oil exchange that the ves-
sci for carrying oil up the coast, which has
been undergoing extensive repairs at San
Pedro, will take on cargo in about six
days. Ii will be loaded from the oil cars,
as there is, as yet, no tankage facilities.
Tanks would have been put in some little
time ago had it not been for a Tlsunder-
standing between Captain Botsford, the
president CT the company owning the oil
vessel, and the Southern Pacific railroad.
A household treasure and a household