Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-04-26
Hundreds Of Oil Wells
DRILLED
On The California Coast.

water there is narrow strip of level
land quarter of a mile wide and
mile long. Five years ago a man
named Williams sunk a well on the
beach in front of the town. struck oil,
and started what is known in Califor-
MIA as "the beach rush. which has
covered the narrow level strip in front
of the town with forest of derricks
A year after this discovery j. b. Tired
we'll built an oil wharf out into the
ocean and sunk a well from it. He
drilled through the first oil sand which
is less than hundred feet below the
! surface, and struck a second oil bear
ing stratum which has proved more
profitable than the first one Mr.. Tired
well now has over 1000 feet of oil
wharves, carrying dozen wells and
his example has been followed by 9th
er prospectoIs until the coast waters
for a mile or more break under piers
which carry hundreds of these der
ricks. Up to date the Summerland
wells have not produced as large a
flow as those in some of the other sec
tions, but on the other hand the cost
of drilling is less and it is not neces-
sary to go down more than 200 feet to
reach the lower bearing stratum. 1t is
a noteworthy fact that the further out
from shore we'll is drilled the thick
er the oil stratum is found to be, and
as the coast waters are comparatively
shallow for a long distance out, it is
probable that within few years there
will be oil-derricks half mile or more
out to sea. One great advantage OF
the Summerland district is that the oil
can be loaded directly from the
wharves on which ii is produced into
tank vessels. 1t sells for one dollar a
barrel at the pier.
At the present time the liveliest sec
tion of the California oil fields is the
Kern river district. The first discov-
, cry in this section was made about six
|; miles from bakersfield, in May, 1899,
at a depth of only sixty feet. Later in
! the same year the Discovery Well
was put down to a depth of $50 feet,
and began producing oil at the rate OF
thirty barrels day. This started the
rush to Bakersfield, and since that
time thousands of wells have been
sunk. Most of them yield flow OF
from twenty-five to seventy-five bar
!. rels per day, althougha a hundred barrel
gusfiers have been found not un-re-
: quently. The oil stratum is of ex'
, ceptional thickness. in many places
from three to five hundred feet
through. This promises long period
! of productivity which will make the
: total return from each we'll extraordi.
narily profitable. A number of ex-
: perts who have examined the field
, have estimated the probable flow ol
oil at from 1870. 600 to 100000 barrels
per acre.
, The Typographical situation of the
| Kern River field is peculiar. 1t lies al
. the southern end of the San Joaquin
= valley just above the junction of the
, Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range
, Thus the field is surrounded on three
I sides by mountains which form @ basin
I filled with shale and Oil bearing sand
t whicn is held by strata of clay above
: and below. This situation has i'm
E pressed every oil expert who has Wis.
e tied the region and it is fact that
' practically every we'll that has beer
l put down within this basin-''inside
E the dish pan" as they say in Bakers
D field-has been profitable producer.
/ Bakersfield is the center point O. the
e Kern river excitement, and it is in al
a respects remarkable place at present
Y 1t was considered dead town in Cal
r ifornia up to the time of the oil dis
< kcoveries. The land was about as un
t promising for agricultural purposes as
: could be found within the limits of the
State and the Southern Pacific railroad
t company which held most of it was
S glad to dispose of it at the rate o
t $3.50 per acre. Even after the first
t discovery the railroad company die
a not awake to the value of the bonanza
0 which it held, and sold good many
}, acres at this price which it would be
0 glad to buy back now at thousand
dollars apiece. Hundreds of acres thai
: the Southern Pacific let go out at from
I $3.50 to 81, have changed hands from
four TO FIVE time since then always al
e a rising scale. which now reaches from
: one to ten thousand dollars per acre
A good many fortunes have beer
!, made in the Kern river field. within
: the past twelve months and some ofthe
e richest men in that section today are
4 men who worked in dry goods shops
and grocery stores for thirty dollars
a a month no longer ago than last year
: For instance the biggest firm in Bak-