Evening star., 1901-04-20

long. Five years ago a man named VIII
liamS sunk well on the beach IN front of
the town, struck oil. and started what is
known in California as the beach rush,
which has covered the narrow level strip
in front of the town with forest of der
ricks.
a year after this discovery ]. 3. TredweH
built oil wharf out into the ocean and
sunk a well from it. He drilled through the
first oil sand. which is less than a hundred
feet below the surface and struck second
oil-bearing stratum which has proved more
profitable than the first one. Mr.. Tred%ell
now has over l. 300 feet of oil wharveS car
rying dozen wells, and his example has
been followed by other prospectors until
the coast waters for a mile or more break
under piers which carry hundreds Ct these
derrickS. Up to date the SuInmcrland wells
have not produced as large a flow as those
in some of the other sections, but on the
other hand the cost of drilling is less, and
it is not necessary to go down more than
200 feet to reach the lower bearing stratum
1t is a noteworthy fact that the further
out from shore well is drilled the thicker
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 a few years there will be oil der
ricks half a mile or more out to sea. One
great advantage of the Summerland dis
trict is that the oil can be loaded directly
from the wharves on which it is produced
into tank vessels. 1t sells for a dollar a
barrel at the pier.
Wells by the Thousand.
At the present time the liveliest section
of the California oil fields is the Kern river
district. The first discovery in this section
was made about six miles from Bakers
field, in May. 1899, at depth of only sixty
feet Later in the same year the "Discov-
cry 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 a flow of from twenty-five to
seventy-five barrels per day although hun
dred-barrel gushers have been found not
infrequently. The oil stratum is of excep-
tional thickness, in many places from three
to five hundred feet through. This prom
iseS long period of productivity which
will make the total return from each well
extraordinarily profitable. A number of
experts who have examined the field have
estimated the probable flow of oil at from
10000 to 2O0,Gn barrels per acre
The Typographical situation of the Kern
river field is peculiar. 1t lies al the south
ern 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 sides by mountains
which form a basin filled with shae and
il-bearing sand, which is held by strata
of clay above and below. This situation
has impressed every oil expert who has
visited the region, and it is a fact that
practically every well that has been put
iO"L "llIill lIiS DbSlll-| INSIDE the dish
pam as they say in Bakersiield-has been
a profitable producer.
Bakersfield is the center point of the
Kern river excitement, and it is in all re-
spects a remarkable place at present 1t
was considered dead town In California
up to the time of the oil discoveries The
land was about as unprOmising for agri-
cultural purposes could be found within
the limits of the state, and the railroad
company which held most of it was glad
to dispose of it at the rate of $50 per
acre. Even after the first discovery the
railroad company did not awake to the
value of the bonanza which it held and
sold a good many acres at this price which
it would be glad to buy back now at a
thousand dollars apiece. Hundreds of
acres that the company let go at from s. 30
to 81 have changed hands four or five
times since then, always at a rising scale.
which now reaches from one to ten thou
sand dollars per acre.
Sudden Rise to Fortune,
A good many fortunes have been made
in the Kern river field within the past
twelvemonth, and some of the richest men
in that section today are men who worked
in dry goods shops and grocery stores for
$50 month no longer ago than last year.
For instance, the biggest firm in Bakers
field district is Chanslor G. Garfield and
the head of the firm. Joe" Chanslor, now
the most prominent figure in California oil