Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1901-05-23
THE OIL FIELDS!
They Are Located in
Mckinley County.
Visit TO Lands Where Drilling
Will Soon Commence.
The Mariana Oil Company Will Drill
Near the "Hot Holes"
AN INTERESTING TRIP.

WIN - oho ~ t'hh', |
sentative was on the oil fields of Nc.
Klnley county. which are located all
the way from fifteen to thirty miles
from Gallup.
The newspaper man left Gallup i'm
mcdiately after dinner Wednesday,
May 10. in company with w. H. Woln
and Dr. &. q. Foulks. president and
| treasurer respectively Of the Mariana
! oil company. and j. ID. Clements, who
Is the authorized agent for the Cali
fornia Consolidated Oil company OF
bakersfield. Cal. j. u. Smith was the
driver. and the wagon. besides the gen
| tlemcn mentioned. contained the nee
essary camplng-Out supplies.
inE ROUTE.
The route was along the Rio Puerco.
and as the drive was through canyons
and valleys, with high and p~rccipitous
mountains on each side, 1t gave the
party "a fine opportunity TO get a good
glimpse of the formation of the u
try-the oil bearing sandstone and
shale that crop ont prominently along
the huge sides OF the mountains.
Camp for that night was made ut a
Navajo Indian hogan or 'tepee,' and
after discussing plans for the next
day. President Wolf gave the nigh
sign" meaning that II was time to re-
tire, and soon thereafter all members
of the party were sound asleep with
nothing to disturb them except the
cracking of a pinon log fire on the
inside OF the hogan and the occa'
sional howl Of coyotes on the outside.
At i:30 O'Clock the next morning
everybody was up and at work prepar-
ing for an early start to the
FAMOUS HOT HOLES"
on the lands OF the Mariana OIL com
pany, near which. according to kan
nations recently made by Prof. G. l..
Herrick. the company can drill with
promising success Of striking oil at n
depth Of not over 800 feet.
Breakfast was cooked and served,
the horses fed and hitched up, and
with everything securely packed on
the wagon the drive Ia the hot holes"
commenced promptly at $3.50 a. m.
Along the entire route from the
hogan. which had served as a lodg.
ing place, to and beyond "a large body
Of water known as the Mariana lake,
through valleys and onto and owe
mountains. locators had tramped and
stakcd off section after section OF
ground in anticipation of
! STRIKING 1T RICH
] sooner or later, II not by drilling
themselves, by holding the lands for
: speculation purposes. II can be said.
, IN connection with this paragraph,
that many thousands of acres have
been staked off and located for Ger
! tain parties in Albuquerque and else
where by certain people who are not
familiar with that country, who have
got their locations on lands far from
the oil shale and in sections where ev'
cry geologist who has examined the
fields say positively that no oil exists
and will not be encountered OF drill
ing. 1nis Is n pointer to the enthusi
asst to be careful, for IL Is a fact that
4 cannot be denied that
EVERY FOOT OF LAND
showing any indication or %outcropping
of oil shale and seepages have been
staked off, located and properly filed
several months ago, when the oil ex
I element out there was greater than
Il is now.
The Hot Holes so named from
the fact that out of the crevices OF
seams Of some huge rocks hot air car
rying strongly the odor Of burning oil.
Q Is emitted, were reached at II O'Clock
a. m, and at this point the oil shale
n Is very pronounced. and dips over the
4 divide to a valley a mile distant to q
o point where the Mariana Oil company
r viii soon establish camp and begin
r. ACTIVE DRILLING FOR OIL.
v Here said President Wolff. point
d Ing to the selected site where the com
n pany's drills will o o be In operation
r we intend to strike oil II there IL an,
oil In this section of the country. Tn,
@ oil sand indications are here more
d pronounced and the formation NOR,
m strongly fortified than at any othe1
q point In what Is correctly known a
h the oil fields of Mckinley county"
II Prof. Herrick. who made a scientin,
examination of the country for tn
In above company, In his report as L
A. this particular spot, says:
Above the Punta de la Mesa sand
stone Is a thin band OF shales of q btu
q minous nature that have special inter
est as being closely connected witt
the oil sand and probably with oil
I. production. The shales sometimes re
: semble a highly bituminous coal an,
at other places seem like almost pur
asphalt or %gilsonite. Near Batttl
. mesa and at other places along the OF
}, corpment north of the Rio Puerc,
there are
SEEPAGES OF HEAVY OIL
along this zone and the oyerlyln
coarse sandstone is for large area
thoroughly i~mpregnated with the oil
which has q heavy asphalt base an
a specific gravity OF about eleven d,
grees b. II would technically be Gale
a maltha, but IL Is certain that undo
cover II would be found of a lighte
gravity.
This lower oil sand Is about nft
feet thick, though II varies conside'
ably. as do all of these strata. Abov
this is a long series OF very soft
PECULIAR YELLOW SHALES
and their sandy layers. The shalo
are capped with sandstone, formin
the base Of upper or Ignite cretaceoui
The entire thickness of the yello'
shale and sand Is probably less tina
200 feet.
In several places the sand imm'
diately above the Ignite showed IN
) dications that IL had been at one tim
saturated with oil and 1t is probabl
W that this will be found to form a
- upper oil sand under favorable cond
; tions. The shales below In some case
, make coal beds, but II Is likely tina
~ they may elsewhere form oil.
Ia Near the west boundary OF sectio
~ toNHoulp -, iauSc TO- tuht VI III
~ Navajo reservation and eXtendin
upon the latter. Is a fold and fau'
il which Is interesting from the eyidenC
II affords that active metamorphism
now going on, From cracks in IN
sandstone everything the Ignite ther
III Is issuing a constant
STREAM OF HEATED AIR,
carbon dioXide, sulphurous oxide an
vapor, This solfataric action may d
attributed to the slow oxidation Of III
shales In the presence Of water. Froi
this point eastward Is a series 4,
cracks that have been filled with ire
and lime, serving sim further to sho
that along the line of this fold an
Y. breakwater at n time assembled"
II was the opinion OF Prof, HerricI
after an exhaustive examination an
analysis OF the sands. that drillin
OIL 10 80