The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1901-08-11


| to the west, northwest. north, north
| east and east. demonstrating that the
| field, or pool, did not extend in those
| directions, and in the territory to the
south alone remained the hope that the
| field would be still further enlarged by
the opening of future wells in that di-
rectiOn. At that time 1t had thus been
shown that If the territory to the south
proved to be as dry as the territory on
| the other three sides of the $50 acre
| tract the field would be a mere pool of
limited area. and yet, despite the fact
that 100000 barrels of oil had already
been taken from the 100 acre tract, the
Haywood No. 8. the thirteenth well
drilled. seemed to be as great gusher.
seemed to be capable of producing as
much oil as the first gusher, the Lucas
well. which conservative men say was
good for $4,000 barrels of crude petro-
leum per day when it was first struck.
Pools ordinarily open up for business
In a sensational way by producing vast
quantities of oil at the start and then
speedily dwindle to insigniicance. They
go up like the rocket and come down
like the rockets stick. Yet here is APP
parently a pool of n very few acres
whose 13 curbed volcanoes of oil have
already produced 100000 barrels. and
the last well comes in as strong as the
first. Old oil men cannot understand
this, and there are many other things
about the Beaumont field that puzzle
them. There seems % be practically
no gas worth mentioning. and yet the
wells all flow with wonderful strength
and do not need the usual jolt given by
the explosion of several hundred quarts
Of Ditroglycerin in the oil bearing sand
or rock. When the stream of oil in the
Haywood No. broke loose. II shot up
213 feet in the air, forming a fountain
OF oil that was very beautiful but ex-
pensive luxury. and yet when this well
was shut of 1t only had a pressure Of
80 pounds to the square inch at the
casing head. The oil is unlike any 9TH
er ever discovered In this country; the
wells are drilled In new way because
quicksands prevent the use of the old
apparatus. The new method mixes up
the rock and sand so that no one can
different formations are encountered,
and the conditions and indications are
so different that the veterans are all
unable to tell what the outcome will be.
The consequence is that no one knows
anything as yet concerning the true cal
iber of Beaumont. There has been a
great deal written in the newspapers
about gushers that produce 10000 or
$4,000 or even 100000 barrels of oil per
day, though $4,000 is said to be the true
figure for the Lucas well. but no man
can tell how long the gushers will gush
whether they will continue to pour
forth seas of oil week after week and
month after month or practically run
dry In few days or fortnight. 1t
must be borne in mind that owing to
the lack of tankage not one Of these 13
producing wells has yet been unbrdled
and permitted to show what it can do
1t is one thing to have a $4,000 barrel
well In good working order and another
to care for such an enormous produc-
ton.
The oil must be stored somewhere
and the favorite receptacles for this
purpose-huge iron tanks. each with a
capacity OF $4,000 barrels-are very
expensive structures and cannot be
built In week or a month in a new
oil country. Some of the tanks even
hold $4,000 barrels. and supposing tat
Guney & Galley, the owners of the Lu-
cas- well, were able to perform the i'm
possible and create a new tank each
day this vast, constantly growing
tankage scheme would only be capable
Of caring for one well, provided 1t