The San Francisco call., 1899-11-06
DOINGS IN THE MINING FIELD

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Shasta. Nevada and other northern
counties, TO the south the greatest de-
posits are in San Bernardino and Nevada
counties II these deposits were as near
to the transportation, smelling, market
and other present conditions of the lron
trade as the ores of the Mesaba range in
Michigan the latter, for which lake freight
rates have more than doubled, would be
in eclipse.
Probably the largest deposit on the
coast is in San Bernardino County, SIX
teen miles from Newberry, in the desert:
and this is one of the largest deposits of
iron in the United States. 1t has been
frequently described in official reports,
but it has never yielded a pound OF IRON
Then at the minarets in MADEIRA County
in the Sierra Nevadas is another wonder
full store of iron. 1t is hematite ana mag
of iron and one vein exposes a mass 5VO
feet wide, 1900 feet high and two mics
long What is in sight would supply the
Gsforna G9f13 IGF ygarS aTe Taried and 19e vast
The trouble with California iron ores
is, of course, that with the cost or fueI
iron can be brought here for about the
cost of the fuel to smelt ton OF Caii-
fornia ore. California's stores of iron are
away from both transportation ana iuel; ;
But while the iron trade is booming ana
ruling the civilized industrial world ana
being its barometer we may also remem-
Der that in California's great future the
time may come before long when the pro-
duction of iron, which cuts absolutely no
figure now will be one of the great fac
tors in its mining and industrial life Cal
ifornia iron ores will be smelted When-
ever conditions allow profit on the ope-
ration. How and when those conditions
Will become present will not be PRONE.
sled here But every related prospect
seems to lend to the ultimate production
of California iron.
The multiplication Of cheap electric
power in the Sierras is one thing. The
oil boom with it's great possibilities of the
production of cheaper fuel in the forms
of oil and gas presents another possibil-
ity. Almost in sight of the towering
minarets above the San Joaquin Valley
men are swarming over the ground in
which nature has stored fuel and the vast
tonnage of the Great Lakes cannot take
Michigan iron ores fast enough at treble
rates toward Pittsburg over several times
the distance from the minarets to the oil
1elds or the coast. A few weeks ago
David Williams, proprietor of the Iron
Age, said in an interview in The Call that
he regarded the prospects of the cheap
production and cheap transportation of
Chinese coal as the most likely solution
of the iron problem of the Pacific Coast.
In whatever form the solution may
come 1t IS interesting to contemplate both
the possibility and the probability of iron
production and iron working becoming
features Of the great Industrial and COM
mercial future which seems dawning on
the Pacific Coast and on the Golden State.
This raging oil boom is going to be a fine
thing for the State industrially, a lucky
thing for a few people. and a mighty bad
thing for a good many others. In the
past two weeks about forty new oil COM
panies have been added to the several
hundred existing interpretations. In San
Francisco still more capitalists, business
and professional men, street-car employees,
washerwomen, ct al, are investing in oil
stocks. Many, if not most. existing COM
panies have slender possibilities Of sue
cess in finding oil in the territories they
have eyra bbAd for 11rrl hrl+ oil {o ,rlo
they are after as much as selling stock, of
course. The same may be said of the av-
erage stock buyer. He is simply a gam
bier, and If he hopes his company will
strike oil 1t is because his stock will go up
and not because he wants to draw divi-
dends from the sales of oil. It is the same
spirit that ruled the Comstock, where a
stock that hadn't paid dividends in years,
If ever, was about as good as any other 10
gamble on. This. of course, does not ap-
ply TO many legitimate oil companies
which own producing territory or promis-
ing territory being exploited on business
principles.
A large number of these companies will
put down wells and a few Will develop
prohtable producers. Wells are going
down all through the coast counties as
well as in the San Joaquin Valley. and if
l out of 500 develops q producing field the
oil production will be increased, whatever
the luck TO the others. Recently several
wells in the San Joaquin Valley have de-
veloped small yields Of oil which may be
greatly increased at greater depths. The
great amount of prospecting that will go
on while the boom lasts and people put up
their money will not fail to result in i'm
portant discoveries.
1t seems probable that the oil produc-
ton of 1898 of 2.376.000 barrels will be at
least doubled for 1899 with the already
greatly increased production, mainly in
the Coalinga, Fullerton and Summerland
fields. The coming year promises a still
larger increase. As the market for this
oil must be mainly found IN California
fuel consumption, an important problem
arises. Consumption not long ago over
took the supply and prices jumped at Los
Angeles from So cents TO 81 25 and 81 30. If
production overtakes the increasing de-
mand slump in prices will follow, giving
a further stimulant to consumption. As the
largest part of the product in the different
fields is delivered under contracts cover
ing a considerable time, oil prices are
doubtful quantity. Some Fullerton oils
now sell at the wells at 81 80. The Coal
inga yield practically all goes under con-
tract to San Francisco The bulk of it is
taken by the sugar refnerieS, the gas
works, the Southern Pacific Company, the
Works. and a few other large industries,
which pay from 81 25 to 81 40 per barrel,
delivered. The fuel value Of crude oil va
ries with the oil, the conditions of use
etc but at an average three barrels OF
crude California petroleum are equal TO
one ton Of good Sc or $ steam coal in a
furnace. The economy is thus large, and
there is room for an enormous consump-
ton of oil In California, where cheap fuel
is the chief industrial need.
The Los Angeles oil field is showing a
largely decreased production, amounting
to about 10 600 barrels a month. while dur
ing 1898 its production averaged over 120-
COO barrels a month. Present efforts TO
develop an extension of the field may re-
suit in another increase.
But other fields are more than making
up for this falling off in the Los Angeles
field. The Coalinga field is now produc-
ing more than the Los Angeles field ever
did. The Summerland field is shipping
more oil than ever before. New wharves
are going out into the sea, from which
strings OF new wells will be drilled TO the
oil sands below the ocean bed