Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-01-16
The New OIL Field.

The Derrick" in speaking of the
new Texas oil field says:
Texas, at single bound, seems about
to become the greatest oil producing
State in the Union. The great strike in
Jefferson county within hundred
miles of Galveston and within twenty
miles of the Gulf coast. doubtless
marks new era in petroleum devel-
opment in the United States. For
years the existence of petroleum has
been known in various localities in the
Lone Star State, but the only consider.
able area where operations were con-
Quoted on commercial scale was To-
Gated near Corsicana, in Navarro coun-
ty. The new strike is nearly 250 miles
southeast of Corsicana
The oil bearing strata was traced to
the southeast into Nacogdoches coun-
ty, following the general course of the
Trinity river. From NacogdOches,
going south, the oil makes its next ap-
pearance at Rockland. the terminus OF
the Rockland and Sabine Pass railroad.
The strata then seems to follow south
ward down the Sabine river, unon the
surface of which oil in large quantities
was frequently observed Attention
was also called to the fact that at Sa-
bine Pass. where the Sabine river
flowed into the Gulf of Mexico quite
large area was covered with black,
greasy substance. The new strike of
]. M. Guffey and others is located about
eighteen miles from Sabine Pass. The
oil at Nacogdoches is very heavy and
black and strongly impregnated with
sulphuretel hydrogen. The oil in the
Jefferson county well is undoubtedly of
the same character.
The oil bearing strata at Corsicana is
over 200 feet below the sea level; it is
soft, gray shale and can hardly be
called . sand. The wells are from
900 to 100 feet in depth. Before the
sand IS penetrated the drill passes
through a Homogeneous blue clay known
as ponderosa. or joint clay, which
crumbles to dust on exposure to the
air. This is in the marls of the Upper
Cretaceous, p formation much later
than those containing deposits of pc
troleum in Pennsylvania and the ad-
joining states. The entire country bor-
dering along the gulf at the mouth OF
the Mississippi belongs to the Tertiary
era of Geological time, and in this re-
spect corresponds to the oil fields OF
the Caucasus on the borders of the Cas-
pfan sea. 1t is not beyond the range OF
possibility that fuel oil field rivalling
that of Russia is about to be opened
up in Eastern Texas and Louisiana.
The delta of the Mississippi is highly
mineralized and contains immense de-
posits of sulphur and rock salt The
discovery of oil in Jefferson county,
Texas. is directly in line with the the
oretical probabilities of the geological
formation of this entire country.
If future develocments bear out this
idea, it will add another to the great
mineral resources of the United States.
Vast decosits of fuel oil, within easy
distance of the sea coast. mean Won
derful addition to the riches of the
South. There is nothing to be feared
from the opening up of these deposits.
The country will quickly find use for
all the fuel oil that will be produced
along our Southern coast. The de-
mand fc. a crude petroleum for illumi-
mating u"~~oses will not be diminished
bv discoveries of the Texas kind.