The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-09
ALEXANDRIA OIL CRAZE
HISTORY or CARVER WELL AND
WHAT iii STRIKE MEANS.
Gas Field Can he Preserved for Years
Unless the Fluid Is Permitted
TO BE Wasted.
speclal + the 1nalanapolig journal.

ALEXANDRIA, Ind, May S.-What the
great oil excitement at this place will
amount to still remains a mystery to all
who are connected with the business. 1t is
now conceded by the most skeptical oil
men in the trade that the Indiana field is
the making of one of the greatest fields
ever in existence, but it will kill the fam
Gus gas district, and if the citizens of the
State have any pride for their great fuel.
it must be protected and that at once, for
the way in which the gas is being wasted
it will last but a few years. The Carver
farm well, as all know, is in the center of
this great gas belt. while the oil field prop
er is located to the northeast. The wild
state of excitement and speculative frenzy,
characteristic of the great oil finds of the
past, and only to be fully appreciated by
those who have passed through such a
fever, has caught Madison county
and is carrying everything before it
in a mad rush for fortune, but many will
strike the reverse in complete dry holes. In
going over the territory about all one can
see in the possession Of the people is a bot
tie filled with black crude oil as thick as
Orleans molasses. The great strikes in the
older fields of Ohio, West Virginia and
Pennsylvania have passed through this
state of frenzy, hut none have been sub
jected to a more pronounced case than the
one just now raging in the new field, To-
Gated in the heart of the gas belt. Men of
business and conservative methods have
lost their heads and have Joined the band
of Ieasers who are %prowling around with
all kinds of money ready to plank down
any price for a good looking piece of oil
territory.
Some succeed, but a great many more
lose. Some time ago j. c. Byrns, a young
man. was sent off across country with an
oil well outfit on a wagon to prospect. lie
claims that he did not even nave SO much
ss an idea where he was going. He drove
west out of the oil field and a day or two
later stopped his team at a small ford.
While his horses were drinking his eye
caught sight of a scum over the water
along the edges of the little stream. He
knew what it was in a second. lie stopped,
went to the farm house and in a couple of
hours not only had leases on the 2O acres
of MIN Carver's farm, two and a half miles
northwest from here, but he also had
leases over an even thousand acres sur
rounding it. The consideration was but one
sixth of the product. The following morn
ing he had men on the ground and a der
rick was started.
THE CARVER GUSHER.
After two weeks of drilling he struck the
Trenton limestone at {. depth of 960 feet and
brought in a fair ''gasser" at a few feet in
the sand, but had no traces of crude, and
concluded TO drill it deeper and the drill
was sent to a depth of 1S feet in the oil
bearing strata, where some oil was found.
At that depth the Ohio and Indiana Tor
pedo Company shot it with a l6O-quart
shot and the result is known in Russia by
At. IT, Nxv;uiaOo II Gates GTnprint9n6-
ent of the Buckeye Pipeline Company,
stated that the well was a wonder; in fact,
one of the best he had ever seen. He did
not know what it was capable of doing
and seemed somewhat reticent about going
into details. ]. c. Byrns has been in all the
great oil fields of the country. He states
that it is as good a well as he has ever
seen. He is not inclined to say anything
about its capacity further than he reported
it to his company as running at the time
twenty-five barrels an hour.
The correspondent has been over the In
diana gas fields on many occasions, as well
as the oil field. 1t can readily be seen by
going along a. majority of the gas lines
throughout the State that more or less oil
can be found wherever there has been q
leak in the lines, and this signifies that
the day is near at hand for the great gas
field to turn INTO OIL, put II can pc HoA
bored for some years to come by being
careful in the waste of the great fuel.
Oil men are inclined to believe that the
oil belt runs from the northeast to the
southwest, while smaller spurs run from
the main course a little to the northwest.
The main northeast and southwest course
is where the gushers will be found, and
the northwest lines will be wells of "a light
or caliber. The oil veins in all fields seem
to run about the same as the bed of the
river or creeks, and the Carver we'll Is sup
posed to be located on the main stream,
or rather close to il. BY looking over the
State map it will show that the we'll
drilled by DR.. Light is located on about
a S0-degree line southwest from the Car
yer well and that it is located without a
doubt on one of the southeastern tribu-
taries of the main belt, which should cross
the northweste part of Marion and Ham
ilton counties. taking in the southeastern
corner of Upton county. Near Cicero oil
has been found in paying quantities, but
at that time the men who made the Ven
lures were after gas and not oil. The same
can be said of u well drilled some years
ago TO the west from Nobiesville several
miles. When it was completed it showed
for at least a twenty-barrel producer, with
a heavy gas pressure. This should be the
cream territory of the great field. The
seventh well completed on the McCollister
farm. in Jay county, was the largest well,
for the thae being, ever' completed in the
field. This well started off at the rate of
20 barrels an hour. and still remains a
good-sized producer.
The famous Harris we'll, located a couple
OF miles east from Montpelier, in Penn
township, Jay county, is one of the most
phenomenal wells ever completed on this
continent. When first drilled in, the writer
termed it the Harris Pool" and it is
known by that name to this day. This
well did only fifteen barrels of oil the first
day. but after producing for just forty
DAYS it surprised every one by doing 1,401
barrels of the crude product. As is gener-
ally the case, a we'll declines in production.
but this one kept on increasing, and is still
a good we'll at over four years old. The
Hidy farm well. near Camden, started at
close to 5000 barrels a day, and many other
good ones were found in the same field.
The Harris farm well. the Carver well and
the old abandoned gas well, that was more
of an oil producer, located west from No
gblesvile, are located as near as wells could
tbe on a 45-degree line southwest and north