The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-01-11
IN . THE: Q oil. FIELDS.

The. first week In the new year intro
duced but one sensation In the lower
southwest fields. Ordinarily 1t would
have attracted much attention. but the
nature OF 1t was in marked contrast
with thelusual sensations In Tyler and
the southwest counties. Two months
ago, when the South Penn OIL Company
drilled in It's wildcat on the Meredith
farm. near centrevllle, and got good
producer OF black oil. 1t was given. out
that It was developed In the Maxton
sand. The well produced twenty bar
rcls an hour, and that of itself would
have been a sufficient incentive to cause
new operations 10 begin In earnest, had
the oil been off color and supposedly
Maxton sand product. The second well
on the Meredith farm was started and
completed and was about the same size
OF No. /.
About the same time that No; Q, Mere
dith. was started the Devonian Oil
Company started n test on the Arm
strong Smith farm. located 1900 feet
northeast OF No. /, Meredith. The tools
were lost and the hole plugged, which
necessitated moving the rig and start
Ing second hole. twas this well that
was drilled In last Thursday and result
cd as gushed that started att forty
barrels an hour. 1t now transpires that
the oil was developed in the Big Injun
and not, as first thought. In the MaSton
sand. The color and gravity OF that oil,
however. are almost the same in both
formations. Is 80
The Smith well, in 4 measure, estab-
fishes the fact that there Is a pool OF
some dimensions 10 be developed in the
near future. The three completed wells
do not furnish much OF an index to Its
probable dimension, except to the north
east. The South Penn OIL Company and
the Devonlan OIL Company control the.
I,most of the territory, and will operate
1t conservatively.
The new wells completed In the Elk
Fork pool during the week failed to ad-
vance the producing limits Of the south
west extension. To the northwest OF
the extension the test on the William
| sHill farm came In O buster, and will
discourage operations In that direction.
In the southern extension, No. Z. Snider,
was completed and is only good for ten
barrels a day: Southeast OF the pool, No.
z on the Boreman-Strauss farm was
completed and is one hundred barrel
producer.
In the Conway district a buster was
completed on the J. N. Mayf1eld farm,
and to the southwest OF Iuka a dry
hole was encountered on the Tracey
farm. Interest in the Elk Fork devcl-
opment HOW centers In the well drilling
directly In advance OF the southwest
extension. II Is a matter OF some mo-
ment to know how far the rich produc-
ing streak can be extended.
L The most important deep sand dis
covery during the week was the South
Penn Oil Conpany's No. ., on the ].
Sutton farm, located on >the extreme,
eastern edge of the Flat run develop
ment. In the same formation, on the
eastern edge of Tyler county, light.
wells and busters were very much In:
| evidence. The busters on the Smith
5and>Weekly farms, II is thought, show
the southern limits of$the Gordon sand
producing territory In Tyler and Dodd-
ridge counties.
Wood county furnished several good
Berca producers to the ives: OF the Hen
dershot pool.