The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-30
TWO YEARS OIL HISTORY
PRICE OF INDIANA PRODUCT GONE
DOWN FROM SI.15 TO 45C.
Hoosier Field still Remains One of
Most Promising i'm the Country
Farmers Get the Profit.
4 10 the IndianapoIis journal.

MONTPELIER, Ind, May 29.-It is now
over two years since the phenomenal ad-
vance in the price of crude oil, occasioned
by what was thought to be the extinction
of the stocks in the winter of 1S94-95 The
number of wells has been unprecedented
in the two years. more having 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 men became imbued
with the fear that all the oil
territory was reaching its limits.
The notion spread as the stocks fell
rapidly, and in March of that year such
panic took possession of the market as even
the oldest operators had never seen, and
which, as subsequent experiences nave
shown, was wholly groundless. In a few
days after the price of crude started up
ward it ran away, and from the edge OF
the dollar in the East it bounded upward
until it reached $3.50 on April is, 1S95-a fig
ure never dreamed of by any one. The
Ohio product on April 16 of the same year
went to $127, and the Indiana to $1.15. 1t
could not long hold this unnatural lodge
ment, and almost as quickly as it went up
the high figures were shaded off.
The experience of the two phenomenal
years in the oil field has developed two
things beyond doubt. The American oil re-
gions are not in danger of exhaustion. Nor
are the American fields likely to depend
right away again on the big and enduring
pools that began with Pithole and reached
the climax in the great black sand stayers
at Bradford. Since the excitement began
in 1895 the drill has been uncommonly
busy until within the past few months.
The number of new wells each year has
exceeded 7,000 the total for two years in
the Ohio. Indiana and Eastern fields being
almost $4,000 In the new territory the
scout and wildcatter have prosecuted their
work and in fields already run over the
drill has been made to do duty. The best
pools have been in country thought to nave
been thoroughly explored and in its day
abandoned.
The two years of unequaled search for
oil have resulted in the discovery of nothing
that gives promise for the future except
the Indiana field. The 5000 wells drilled
in the hope of finding rich rewards within
the past two years have brought to the op-
orator the conviction that in the States and
in the fields that are already familiar TO
him. he must do his prospecting, and that
in the territory once looked on as exhaust
ed he will find enough oil to keep the mar
ket supplied if he hunts for it diligently.
The success of the men who have gone
over the field of Ohio and Pennsylvania is
evidence enough that it is as useful to go
back and drill the INFESTED lands as to seek
vainly in untrodden fields 1t is proven be-
yond doubt by the experience of the two
years that were spent in going over much
ground apparently the second time that one
we'll does not condemn anything around it,
except for a very short distance. A dry
hole may be punched under the derrick
the shadow of which falls on the borders
of rich pool, be it ever so small.
AN UNPRECEDENTED YEAR.
The biggest oil production the country
has known was in 1891, when the output
of Illuminating oil was IS, 900 barrels.
Last year it exceeded $500 900 barrels.
Were it not that the Ohio and Indiana oil
is entering the markets for illuminating
oil the Eastern production would not have
been any too much for the growing trade,
but with the better methods of refining the
Ohio and Indiana oil is becoming such an
important factor in Illuminating that its
old use as a fuel oil have been made i'm
possible by the advancing cost. Among
the 1000 wells drilled in the last two years
there were $500 dry holes representing
probably an outlay of 100000 or more, alb
solutely valueless.
The romantic experience of the past two
years shows that the only reliable fields to
turn to are West Virginia and In
diana, with great possibility in
Kentucky. These states have
vast area yet undeveloped, and, although
deep and treacherous rock of the West Vir
ginia field is great, the rewards that fol-
low good producer are so tempting that
the wildcatter will keep on. No doubt an
enormous quantity of oil will be taken yet
from Pennsylvania and Ohio wells, but
the Pennsylvania hills have been spread
over so generally that the best to be hoped
for in that State is an occasional small pool
and a further coaxing Of the older wells.
In the Ohio field it is some different, as
there are thousands upon thousands of
acres of inside territory that has not been
touched with the drill and there is plenty
of room for the opening of other extensive
pools in the State. AS to the Indiana field
there is no doubt but what it will prove one
of the most prolific oil fields in the coun-
try, owing to the great and extensive gas
fields in which oil is found in large guam
titles especially along the western edge
of the gas fields. With the going away of
the gas the crude oil most always takes
the place as it is held back more or less
by the heavy gas pressure and the large
volume of salt water that is usually found
in close proximity to good gas fields. The
finding of the Carver farm we'll, near AL
exandria is only a drop in the bucket to
what may be developed in time. Indiana
will certainly be called on in time to sup
ply a large portion of the crude product to
supply the United States and the foreign
markets.
THE INDIANA RECORD.
While the Indiana field is not as old as
the Ohio field, great activity has been dis
played here. Up to the first of May of the
present year there have been S,119 wells
completed in the State, of which 2!94 were
dry holes or gas wells. The following gives
an idea of the number completed each year
since 1890:
Year. Competed. Dry.
Prior TO 1892 .................1,30 BOG sol
1860 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 296 rs
1893 ......-........-''..'-. .-.'--'..'' 0o9 lao
1894 Observation-Disclosures. eOo $50
1885 OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. IL tof
1897 -four months) ................. go 20
Totals ............ .S,119 2194
There have been completed in the Trenton
rock fields Of Ohio and Indiana 81 ,093 wells,
which, at an average cost of 81. 900 per well,