The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-05-19
bIk. BBB TALKSF OIL;
0ou1crI.. WILL oo1rsIp1n onpI-
 MANCE 1roNDAy NIGHT.
olaisvsd That Montgomery is in the Lane Cf,the Oil Bearing Strata. , Work ct Cullum
 Springs.

The ordinance presented to the City Council at its last meeting by MT. Bonan. authorizing Mir. W. c. Bibb Gna others to bsre fer oil on Pollard 91Eoet will, no doubt. come up for pas- nnHo by the Council Monday evening. Discussing the question of striking oil in Montgomery, Mr. Blob said in an Interview yesterday:
 s1 have been engaged for several mpnths in the investigation of the sub- 5ect of petroleum. As is well known. it abounds in large quantities in every country of the world. and has been rnown since the birth of civilization. rhe oil bearing strata in which Ameri- cans have been most interested up to this time, runs in a notheasterly and eoufhwesteriy direction, beginning in the western part of Pennsylvania and foNoWing the Apalachian Range of mou11fains. It has been found as far South as Alabama. The recent gushers whfch have made Beaumont, Texas, the centre of all eyes, Is the terminus of the line extending from Pennsylya- nias Through West Virginia. Tennessee. Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to zsxAs. This line is not very far distant from the city of Montgomery. make a short extract from a letter WExE&Sn Oy UdTs w. IA 6AiAH OL 2Ad6On Springs, Choctaw County. Ala, aa fol- lows:
 ..tAbout the year 1884 the Alabama Mineral and Oil Company of Mont gomery. Ala, prospscted in this im- mediate vicinity for oil. and found traces in the Bladon Springs Creek. and negotiated with the proprietor of the Biadon Springs Hotel to sink a we'll. Not succeeding in arriving at terms to, both in interest, the cor poretion decided to operate at -Cullum Springs, about q mile from Bladon on the Seewarrior Creek, which has its source some two miles distant in the Seewarrior hills. They began boring and were encouraged at nearly every depth1they proceeded, and at one time were 90 sure that oil would be struck, that Mr. R. M. Hearne, their agent, went to the nearest telegraph station, twenty three miles distant, and wired that 1t eniy lacked a few feet more of bexfng to get a flow of oil There had been misoa1culations, however. Start ing with an inch pipe instead of a IS, when they struck the first rock ob- mtructipn at 200. feet they had to con- tinue with a 5-S inch pipe till the next rock was struck. and another change made, and so on. When re&entHg 1.5eO rect the pipe had mar rowed down to l 1-4, to be, on account of it's smallness neFfectly useless as oil conveyor. The cohtractor maintained 10 the last that the oil was there, and with the proper material he would have brought 1t to the surface. The stock holders sn the meantime had become discpuraged. the contractor had been extravaganti and further attempts to operate were abandoned. the company Nissoiving. Thirteen miles from Bla- Zen q we'll was sunk during the war to fbtain salt water to evaporate for salt.
 lt, or about 200 feet water and gas
 fere struck. the volume of gas being
 ? great as to blow the crude derrick to
 feces, and catching fire, burned until
 was finally extinguished by caving in.
 I have been corresponding with Mir. Fred Crosby. the former efficient SUI. periptendent of the Montgomery Wa ter Works; I quote from his first let- ter: