Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-04-16
Hotel Gossip

Former Lieutenant Governor A. T..
Spriggs. who has been on tour of in
spection of the oil districts in Kern
county. Cal, for the past three wee,.s,
returned to this city last evening Ills
observations have convinced him that
the country has very bright future
which. under certain conditions. may
appear even more roseate than at pres
ent.
Capital Is simply rushing into the
country" he said this morning. "and /,
ll-defined boom is on. | visited both
the Kern district. along the Kern rive.
close to Bakersfield and the McKittriciI
district. about So miles from Bakers
field.
Take the Kern district. for instance.
Perhaps $50 companies are Interested IN
OIL properties there and while the dis
trict has been opened only abou. a year,
l.ooo wells are III active operation. They
Will average 100 barrels of oil per day.
some produce as many go barrels.
and others only so, but think 100 barrels
is fair statement of the average pro.
duction for a we'll.
AT present the oil is used only for
fuel purposes, and in many instances
mas even supplanted the use of coal on
railway engines. The only question with
factories and other large users of fuel
is whether the supply will lbe permanent,
thus Warranting them in changing Their
fuel. A change will necessitate differ
ent machinery to some extent. especiaH!
With regard to furnaces. My opinion is
that the change is entirely warranted.
as the wells have now been in active %.
GRAFTON long enough to show that there
is little likelihood of the supply falling
short. Coal sells pretty high down the; ..
averaging Sc per ton. The fuel oil can be
purchased for little more than so cents
barrel, and three barrels will do tn.
work of a ton of coal. This means Il
saving of $3.50 on every ton of coal now
being burned. OF course, if the supply
should fall short. the price of oil woult
naturally advance.
The only difficulty encountered At
present is the lack of a cheap ana 81.
fective method of refining the oil so that
it can be used for illuminating and lubri-
eating purposes. The oil fields of Kern
county have an asphalt base. rendering
it very difficult to refine. If the base
We're paraffine. no trouble would be ex-
perienced in it's refining
Mr.. Spriggs spent a short time san
Francisco on his way home. he says
that the Golden Gate metropolis shows
the same activity that has always dis
tnguiShed it, The weather in California
dun ing his sojourn there was warm AMI
pleasant. A few pleasant hours were
spent in the society of John 3. Read of
Butte, who is a guest at the Palace hotel
in San Francisco. Mr.. Sprggs says that
Mr. Read appears in excellent health,
and before many days pass will again
be shaking hands with his numerous
, friends in this city.
| Jack Leggatt, who went to Spokane
! with Thomas B. Miller to meet the re-
turning Honolulu Shriners, returned to
this city last evening The two gentle
! men rode with the Shriners from Spo-
kane to Helena. The Butte Shriners
through Mr.. Leggatt. presented each OF
|. the returning Shriners with a copper
lngOt as a souvenir.
. Adolph Jacobs. former resident OF
Helena. who now lives at Globe, Ariz..
is in this city on a snort business visit
Mr.. Jacobs is interested in several min
ing propositions In Arizona.
| Thomas Wright, editor of the Great
Falls Trib me, was in this city last ever
ing.
w. Ziegler, superintendent of the BIZ
Metallic mill at Phlipsburg, is at the
! McDermott.