The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-08-05
DAYTON'S OIL PROSPECTS.
Two Companies Are Now Ready TO
Begin Drilling.
INDICATIONS REGARDED AS EXCELLENT
Natural Gas in Unlimited Quantities.
Plans OF Guffey and Tayior--Day-
ton Companies.


Damon Mound and the other places in
TeSas and Louisiana which. while they
have not yet produced oil In paying guam
titles, have attracted much attention from
ifose Interested in oil development haye
formidable rival in Dayton. Little or
nothing has been said about the work GO
ing on here, but 1t Is progressing rapidly
nevertheless and just now has reached an
interesting stage. Two derrlcks are up and
drilling will be commenced at both within
the next few days.
The derricks In question are those OF the
Iaylor-Dayton OH company, situated six
and half miles north OF town on the farm
OF t. NJ. McGowan, and of the J. NJ. Guf
fey company, which is about a mile south
OF here on land owned by Ed pruett. The
former company was the hrst In the field
and has been engaged in preliminary work
Tor some time past IL experienced some
little difficulty In securing an adequate sup.
ply of water, but has inst struck a good
bow at depth of about l25 feet rms
important matter being settled, II only re-
rick In order to begin the actual work Of
drilling. This will not take long aud IL is
expected that the sinking OF the well Viii
be commenced tomorrow or next day.
The Guffey people are Just completing
the installation Of their mAcninerS and i
Is stated on good authority that they Will
tank ear loaded with oil for use as fuel
IN the engine of tue drill has just arrived
here from Beaumont and VIII be hume
dlately transferred to tanks, which nave
already been prepared. Operations at both
wells, Of course, will be pushed as rapidly
as possible.
The various points of interest In the pros
pectye oil fields We're visited today by a
representative of The Post. Surface lndi
atons Of neSsulSTy striking s pe
reports made by experts who have inves'
tiguted existing conditions, would seem To
give those Interested excellent ground FOL
believing that they will succeed in finding
oil. Agents sent here by the Quincy COM
panl no doubt made favorable returns as
is evidenced by the fact that the concern
VIII proceed at once TO drill for the greasy
tiuid which has been such an object Of m
terest since 1t first came gushing IRON the
earth at Beaumont last spring Prof
0tley, the well known geologist, made an
eminently satisfactory report after gong
over the field. Otners who know what oil
Harry and, aside from all this, there are
indications which appeal strongly cen u
the layman. one of these is the pres nee
OF natural gas In such quantities ana IN
such shape as to almost guarantee a lor-
tune for the men who are operating here,
even though they are unsuccessful In lher
The RIG OF the Taylor Dayton company is
situated only fey yards In me rear ear, OF
out on the broad prairie, over six miles
from a railroad Is, incredible as II may
seem, furnished with complete supply
Of natural gas which y used for ilinmiaa mt
house Is quite unpretent Gus. being OF
frame and only one story In heiglt and
the manner I'm which the gas Is secured,
transmitted and distributed is so crude
and primitive as 10 excite almost as much
wonder as does the presence OF the gas ~
self. With the assistance of common
post hole auger two ladders for a derrick
and a homemade system of shaftng, Mr..
MCGOWAN last spring sunk six,inch mole
in the rear of his home, at a point near
the present site OF the REPRESENTATION COM
pony,s derrick; 4 caye.ln occurred and
To about twenty-six feet II Is from this
place that Mr.. McGowan secures his sup
ply of gas. funnel was placed In an
Inverted position over the top OF the hole
and pipe WAS attached TO the small ina
of the funnel and extended to the house:
while In dry weather when the earth Is
friabe, the pressure Is not as strong as AT
other times, it is always sufficient to sup.
ply Mr.. McGowan's needs The water well
To his front yard ut Is something Ike
eighteen years old bubbles continually
WITH gas as does the water well sunk
Dayton company's drill will go down In
search of oil A slx-lnch pipe goes 10 tue
bottom of this well and on the small sir
face OF water exposed in II a constant tur.
moil Is visible. fragment of paper
lighted and dropped down the. pipe resulted
In q loud report aud a rush OF air and
presence OF much gas, An inverted Iunnel
placed over the pipe compressed the gas
TO such an extent that II burned freely, IL
was from the presence Of gas bubbles II
the wells all over the neighborhood and
particularly In his own that caused Mr.
MCGOWAN TO begin prospecting with the r.
sui already named. During the drive 10
and from the MCGOWAN place several wells
were investigated and every one showed
the presence of gas. The water from the
well which viii supply The Taylor Dayton
drill is covered with scum which Is un
mistnknbly oil and tastes much as does
that OF the Beaumont field. II will be re
memhered that this well Is only about l25
feet deep.
long ridge OF considerable width begins
n short distance north of Dayton and ex-
tends In general northerly direction. 1t
is probably fifteen to twenty-five feet high
c. than the town and the biologists who
have examined 1t say that the formation
is exactly the same as that OF the famous
Spindle Top Heights.
A number OF prpspectors have been look
ing over the field recently and the real
estate market Is growing more active daily.
II Is stated here, by those In position 10
know that the Hogg-Swayne people have
some thought of investing extensively In