The sun., 1897-03-21
rwo rEARs nv o1LDoar.
A Romantic Era with Phenomenal Develop
tnent.


II is now about two years since tho phcnome-
nal advance In oil. occasioned by what was
thought TO be tho extinction OF the stocks In the
winter Of 1s9i-5. During that two years one OF
the most exciting chapters OF oil region history
has been written, and tho epoch passes away to
find conditions but little changed in any respect.
The market 10 a few cents lower. with & hope
OF an upward tendency, Just as existed at the
opening Of March, 1895. The stocks have In
creased considerable, yet not enough to create
any excitement Tho number OF now wells has
been unprecedented in the two years, more hav-
ing been drilled since the opening of 1895 than
in the best three years previously and nearly as
many as in the five years just preceding.
Two years ago oil mon became imbued with
the fear that tho oil territory was reaching its
limit. The notion spread as the stocks fell
rapidly, and in March such a panic took posses
had never seen, and which. as subsequent expe-
riences have shown, was wholly gr9undless, In
after thS price Of hc crude ia
lar mark It bounded upward until the price
reached 9.60, q figure never dreamed of by any:
Judgement, and almost as quickly as 1t went up
the high figures were shaded off: But the mar
fet held above dollar until just before the holi-
days, or nearly two years.
Tho experience Of the two phenomenal years
IN the oil field has developed two things beyond
doubt. The American oil regions are not in
danger OF exhaustion. Nor are the American
nclds likely to depend right away again on the
and reached tho climax in the great black sand
slayer at Bradford: Since the excitement began
H. n 1893 the d drill has been uneommony busy;
1000, the total for tho two years being almost
10000; In new territory the scout and Wild
already run over the drill has been made TO do
duty; Strangely enough, II is not in new coun-
the efforts OF the operator. The best pools have
been In country thought to have been thoroughly
explored. ,Sp , and IN its day abandoned. Among
Watsonville pools, in the Bradford field, and
every every foot OF the ground has been as familiar to
ncighborhood. Tho bingham lot was the be.
ginning q the Bradford renaissance: Then
been dea a11 and begon th had
would ultimately be found there furnished a
theme for a Joke, Chipmunk was pretty nearly
have been producing oil enough to stay the de-
cline cline IN stocks and 10 add materially to tho
Cecil pool was one Of the most % evanesccnt val ] ever YER
Climbed up to hundreds o barrels @ and in fe%
The juguiar vein was small but it Afforded S ip.
rich return for those wells that tapped it while
The Friedcn aud Dicst pools in the sistersville
country gave promise, and reached production
n%iy xaSy OF 5000 barrels This territory was short
through Butler. Allegheny, Greene. and other
have come TO light, only TO fash In short time
and show that but few thousand barrels of oil
search for oil have resulted in the discovery OF
nothing that gives promise for the future. so far
as the opening Of new territory is concerned. and
nothing that leads TO the expectation OF big
quantities OF oil from any section. Tennessee
which at one time offered considerable hope, has
not held up to anticipations The Kentucky
counties near the Tennessee limo are about as
bad; The formation is so indefinite that 1t af-
tords no light on what to expect and the discov-
nDt.ka at In ha afaN arm.
GUS limestone to pin any faith to that section Of
the Tb WTGn R ss source OF supply for the
Kentucky has added nothing to the enthusiasm
OF those who working In that vicinity. and
as no good. The is 900 wells drilled in the hope
OF finding rich rewards within the past two
years have brought to the operator the convic-
tion that in the states and in the felds that are
already familiar TO him he must do his prospect
ing, and that in the territory once looked upon
market supplied If he hunts for 1t diligently.
Asthe situation stands ut the present, the pools
duction stands where 1t did two years ago. except
that SO much more exploration has bcen carried
on without finding big strikes Yet that now
the market for crude The success scdS Of the men
who have gone over the old fields of the upper
TO go back and drill the untested lands as to
seek yainly in untrodden fields. It is proven
parenty the second time, that one well does not
condemn anything around II, except for a very
short distance. A dry hole may be punched
under a derrick the shadow OF which falls on
the borders OF rich pool, be ii ever so small.
The biggest oil production the country has
known was in s91. when the output OF iilumi
mating oil was 35. 10000 barrels. Last year it
exceeded %, 100000 Were it not TINT Lima oil |
Is entering the markets for illuminating oil this
production would not have been any too much |
FOR II growing trade but with the beti or methods
Of refining, Lima oil Is becoming such an i'm |
portant factor in illuminating that its old uses |
as fuel oil have been made impossible by the |
cost.
Among The l5.O 900 wells drilled in the last two |
years were $500 dry holes representing proba- |
bly, an outlay OF So O0C. 900 more. absolutely |
vauccss. Could all the wells drilled in the two |
years be put one below another in a continuous |
string, and cable with sand pump be hanging |
rom the bottom OF the hole would require about |
-he same time that il takes for a passenger TO |
start from San Francisco and cross the continent |
md then embark and sail across the sea to Lon
Ion, provided the sand pump travels at the |
speed OF fast trains and fast steamers. A month
would be consumed in lowering the pump and |
bringing up one bailer full OF sand and water.
The romantic experience OF the past two years
shows that tho only new and reliable field to
urn TO is West Virginia. That State has u vast
irea yet undevelopcd, and although the cost OF
well in the deep and treacherous rock is great.
he rewards that follow good producer arc so
ioubt an enormous quantityotl oil will be taken
'et from Pennsy lvania wells, but the Pcnnsyl-
;ania hills have been speared over generally
hat the best to be hoped for in this State Is an
occasional small pool and tho further coaxing
" tho older wells.