The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-31
OCTOBER OIL OUTPUT
PERU STILL CENTER OF OPERATIONS
IN THE INDIANA FIELD.
Out OF Fifty-FOur Wells Only Thir-
teen Have Been Dry-Brcad Rip-
pie "a Promising Locality.


has been very active for the past thirty
days The month OF October is usually a
quiet one for the completion Of new work,
as the operators in this month always put
their wells into shape for the heavy drain
OF the winter and extreme cold weather.
In the older districts of the State is where
operations are quiet. but in the newer iields
the drill Is being pushed with ven
geance The most active part of the State
in oil operations at the present time is in
the Peru field. This field has proven a very
mysterious one to the trade and the outlet
of the famous town-lot pool has as yet not
beer found. All told there have been fifty
four wells completed in the field OF which
forty-one are producing wells. with daily
output 81 close TO 1920 barrels. Thirteen Of
the number completed proved failures or
nonpaying producers. Dry holes have been
completed in nearly every direction from
the pool. and this is what makes the field
more mysterious. as the oil-going people
do not know where to look for outlet.
Several dry holes have been completed
the south side of town. three to the cast
& couple to the southwest and a number to
the north and the only outlet at the pres
ent time is to the west and northwest The
Ohio OH Companys well to the north of
Peru is very light affair, and shows that
the pool does not extend to any great dis
lance in that direction, while the test well
drilled at Mexico and the one at Denver
were both rank failures. The canal bed,
that looks IS valuable as any piece of ter
ritory in the field, brought forth a rank
buster, as did the well drilled along the rail-
road a couple Of miles from town.
THE PERU FIELD.
In all probability this Peru field has been
the greatest boom and caused the most Elk
element of any field since the striking Of
Pithole, in the early days of Pennsylvania
oil. More wells have been put under way
on a few acres of ground In Peru than have
ever been known before in the history of
Trenton rock oil. Still, there was great
excitement at one time in town-lot opera
tons north of Findlay and in the Prairie De-
pot district OF the Ohio field. In Peru fields
there are at least tairty-five wells located
on less than ten acres, and some places
the huge derricks are so close TO each
other that step from to the
other. This sort of drilling will certainly
drain the producing area in that vicinity in
short order, as no producing oil rock can
retain the heavy drain, as the supply is not
there. 1t still remains to be seen if the
field is a money maker. All operators can
not come out winners, as they will drill in a
worthless well and leave the field disguised,
while others will be more successful and
make nice bundle of money. The field as
far as developments have been made shows
good average, as only about one fifth OF
the completed wells have proved worthless
The production is wonderful as the field,
all told, has a daily output of nearly sixty
barrels each.
Since the starting of the Peru field more
new oil companies have been organized
throughout the State than ever before. At
North Manchester. in the northern part of
wabash county, the North Manchester Oil
and Gas Company has been formed, and a
contract let for the drilling of a test we'll
at once on the Strichler farm, to the north
of Eel river. and just south from that
town. A late company has also been
ganized at Huntington for the same pur-
pose Many other companies have been or
ganized in the territory along the great gas
belt.
Taking it all in all, the most prominent
held, IN the. opinion of many. is located
wells completed in that field are not gush-
ers. but they have. the gas to help them
along, with better indications for strong
field. The operators in the Broad Ripple
field are saying but little. but they are
Saving, wood and some of these fine days
the neighborS will awake to find that they
are located in the midst of one of the great
est and most prolific oil districts in the
State In this field the past month Nc
knight & Murphy have completed a couple
of fair-sized producers; one on the Virgins
and the other on the Claypool property.
The best well completed in the .ool for the
month is the Ohio OIL Company's we'll on
the Hessong farm. that started off at 10
barrels. Another most important test we'll
during the month is the one completed by
Lutz s. Co., on the BrOiles farm east from
SummitVilIe a few miles. This we'll was
drilled to the depth OF one hundred feet in
the sand and started to produce at the rate
of 12O barrels day and still maintains a
daily output Of seventy-fve barrels. This
we'll is remarkable producer Sc far
staying qualities are concerned, and, being
located only about twelve miles northeast
from the Alexandria pool leads one to be-
Ieve that the Alexandria field extends in
d da di II e; on Several new wells are IN
ger way IN the vicinity OF the Broiles Well.
ALEXANDRIA DISTRICT
The best well completed in the Alexandria
pool the past month is the Ohio OH Com
pany's No. 4. on the Blake farm which
started off at go barrels. The test Well
completed in the Peru field during the
month was the one owned by Black & Co.,
the Dukes lot. 1t started at 400 bar
rels. while the one finished by Bolds Bros,
on the Kader lot. started at $50 barrels The
territory in the Peru field that looked the
most promising has utterly refused to re-
spond to the drill by giving up crude pc
troleum, and consequently pail hangs over
the scene where intense enthusiasm has
been running riot Old-time operators say
they are more than convinced that nothing
more than rich pool Of small area has
been opened, and their predictions are free
ly ventured that Peru viii soon take place
along with Alexandria. Unless the next ten
days operations are more promising, thou
sands of acres that have been leased will
never be drilled. Carey c. Harris. of Find
lay o., was so enthusiastic over the Peru
and paid a bonus of 5000 for a lease on
159-acre tract. lie has been successful and
If his success fails him now there is no l,se
TO look any further for oil In that direction
An old-time operator who has been over
the entire oil producing of the State
says that the Diamond Oil Company has
struck the best thing in the oil line so far
found I'm the State which is that conpanys
producing property OH the Godfreys' re-
serve Three or four years ago a great
many attempts were made to find oil on the
red mems" ground but all failed until the
Diamond Company struck ii rich the
Meyers property, and since then at least
ten wells have been completed on the farm.
These produce oil at the rate of several
thousand barrels month. This same COM
pany has completed a well on the Rife farm
two miles south of the Meyers farm, and
struck hfty-barrel producer. On this
same farm tie Ohio Oil Company two years
ago completed a couple of failures. Late
reports are that the Manhattan Oil Com
pany has struck goo1-paying well on the
Carroll farm near Hartford city. 1t Is in
close proximity to the we'll completed sew
eral months ago that had a showing of OIL
and at the time created great excitement
there. Paying wells will continue 10 be
found along the famous gas belt, and some
with thousands OF barrels capacity are
looked for almost any day. The oil lake
of the State has not been tapped The AM
drews Oil and Gas Company is hunting for
the fiuid near the Wabash Railroad six
miles west from Huntington and twenty
i've miles from the nearest oil-proGuciny
wells. The best we'll completed in Wells
county the past month is the Akron OH
Company 5 we'll on the Alexander farm in