Evening star., 1900-07-07
SUBMARINE < OIL. WELLS /
NEW AND RADICAL DEPARTURE IN
A GREAT INDUSTRY.
Development Of This Field Brought
About By Peculiar Circumstances
Cost of Working q Well.
rom the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

From the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
Drilling wells in the sea IL the latest and
most remarkable, well as the most pic
turesQue, feature of the great crude oil in
dustry. This new and radical departure,
difficult and expensive undertaking, to say
the least. has been successfully carried out
at Summerland, Cal, the only place where
1t ever has been attempted, and there the
pI ecious brown fluid is now pumped from
beneath the Pacific ocean at the rate Of
about one hundred carloads per month,
from scores of holes, while many more
wells are being bored.
The development Of this remarkable field
was brought about by peculiar circum-
stances. and commenced but few years
ago. when the oil industry had begun to
boom in the east. The first wells were
drilled on the bluff. where oil had been dis
covered twenty years previously In sinking
good producers. But Summerland was q
beautiful place, a quiet little colony Of
spirituaists, and they opposed the advent
OF greasy and unsightly derricks on the
hills. Besides. 1t was observed that wells
were better the nearer they were sunk to
the ocean, and consequently the operators
began to crowd each other toward the wa
ter line. Finally, 8. w. Knapp of Santa
Barbara conceived a plan Of getting ahead
of all his competitors by building a wharf
like structure along the beach and drilling
out where the Pacifc's breakers roll. The
be "gusher." Others followed Knapp's
example. going farther and farther out,
until today there are dozens Of wharves ex-
tending a thousand feet into the sea, con-
nected by structures running parallel with
the beach. And on these wharves, often SO
near each other as to be almost crowded,
are the derrfcks-large ones for drilling and
smaller ones for pumping-and all in use.
Operations are greatly facilitated by the
fact that the oil strata, Of which there are
two. lie only from 125 feet to $50 feet below
the surface. Drilling is carried on in prac-
ticaly the same manner as on land, the
only obstacle encountered. after the ex-
tensive preliminary work of building
wharves and getting machinery out upon
them is done. being the water Until the
hole lS well begun that obstacle Is great,
but it Is overcome by means of casing, and
operations are carried on readily in twenty
feet The cost of drilling at the present
time is about 81 per foot. though some is
done as low as So cents. When the shallow
ness is considered, ii will be seen that on
the whole the total cost of these wells will
compare very favorably with those else
where and on land. But in the improbable
event of violent storm. such some
times travels along the Atlantic coast all
traces of this novel oil feld-wharves, der
ricks and machinery-would be swept away
In minute, and the loss would be enor-
nous.
As to the extent and productiveness Of
this strange ocean oil field, an idea may be
CLEANED from the following figures: There
put per day is said to be about twenty-five
barrels. or a total of 1900 barrels. The
product is Of high grade and sells for an
average price of 90 cents a barrel. which
means total of over 5000 per day, or
about s1soO00 per month. Much of the oil
goes under long contracts to the immense
Oxnard beet sugar factory, while thous-
ands of barrels are shipped to San Fran
cisco at short intervals.
The cost of pumping a well is only about
tnlrty cents per day. To illustrate how
closely the derricks stand. It may be stated
that the Sea Cliff Oil Company. producing
1900 barrels a month. has a wharf 800 feet
long and nineteen wells. The Treadwell
Company has the longest wharf, extending
loo feet from shore, with a pumping we'll
at the extreme end and eighteen others at
intervals And there are a dozen other con-
Germs with numerous wharves Much oil is
necessarily wasted under the peculiar con-
ditions which prevail, and this, dripping
upon the water has the effect of making q
considerable patch of old ocean as calm
and smooth as land-locked bay adding
much to the striking oddly of the scene
OFTEN when new wells are opened the gas
pressure is so strong that streams Of oil
squirt out upon the water until the surface
Is black. in strange contrast with the dis
| tant blue.