The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-06-09

I tn0an
ens are derived from the upper cretaceous
s,rats the indian Territory oil helds
,,hore the oils are derived from the carbon
,,aro,s strsta. or the oil fields or Penn
svlyanla. Ohio and West Virginia, wnlen
a.. derived from the stll older paleozoio
rocks as late as the Trenton. therefore,,
the prospector who goes into tnis ne,o
with Ideas based upon previous experiences
elsewhere will find them OF little vaiue.
Fortunately. the Beaumont conditions arg
the simplest In the world.
$50 far ag known, there are no percepu'
| hIe folds or basins IN the strata OF the
| Beaumont fields such as confuse the Ohio
and PENNSYLVANIA fields, although these are
probably very long low entlcilnes OF ,s
/ OF the oil reservoirs as the oi-containlns
| strata may be called. In general, tue
structure OF the region Is monotonously
/ monocllnal
"Not only this, but the structural ar.
| rangement Of the strata containing them
| is entirely different from that of AL other
| oil fields In the United states except the
"For present considerations the forma'
| tions Of the coastal plain may he classl'
field into three categories, the cretaaceo,ps,
/ tertiary. and the pleistocene, constituting
| In general way the outcropping lorna
/ lions Of the black prairie, the East Texas
tmber belt, and the coastal prairie re
| epectlvely.
"in general, all these formations consist
Of uuconsolidated sands and. clays; the
| former sediments Of he Gulf Of Mexico,
| exactly similar 20 those now being depos-
/ tied and hut little altered by ndurntlon
/ or chemical change from their condition
/ when originally deposited.
1T may be said that the classification
I Of an the formations Of the coastal plain
above the cretaceous Is still In an unsht
lsfactory condition, and this is especially
/ true Of the post eocene formations Inc
fa4 hnas eVR AZ
4 fact they have not yet been finally deter.
( mined. much less defined. delineated and
described Therefore we can only present
| fragmentary knowledge existing concern
| Ing them.
IAN interesting feature In connection
with the Beaumont oil field is the occur.
renee Of sulphur In close association with
the oil
1T was the accompanying phenomena Of
oil in his Investigations Of sulphur at Lake
Charles that largely led Captain Lucas
into his Investigations for oil. He was
prospecting for sulphur when he encoun
tered indications Of oil which led him tC
further Investigations in that line ana
resulted In the wonderful discovery which
has attracted the attention Of the entire
world
The following is given out in reference
to the new well, which was bored by
Brouehton & Wynn, by the Higgins OF
company The drillers claim that the OF
pool strucS by theh wen is forty feet
deep aud that the oil rests upon bed Of
sulphur After the oil was struck tht
borers permitted the pipe to sink until Il
struck bottom, which It did at a distance
Of forty feet The drillers then claim T.,
have bored four feet into bed OF pure
sulphur Should these statements lie cor
rect ana the honesty of the parties con
cerned oon not he questioned for mo
ment' even II their technical knowlc1s,
should prove wrong the fact is established
AT least, that there is an oil lake thu
~ one point, anyway Is forty feet deep
THIS, vel is located about 500 feet from
In 1890 Captain A. F. Lucas. the discov
eIer u the Beaumont oil wells, found sal
on Belle Isle. In boring Mt depth o.
3I8 feet. II is impossible NJ present Il
state with eXactnPss the extent O. the OF
yielding embed which supplies the Beau
mont wells, and this eau only be finally
uetermined by drll experimentation. The
problem can only be approached by can
collation.. The following deductions how
ever, are plausible.
theoretical section along a line OF i3'
miles long from the scacoast near Sabine
u InsS through Beaumont, ~ IL w. {,
!, Nacogloches, should nrst be drawn, i
held About fifteen miles southeast of ga
Ccgdochgs the Oh City wells occur ar
depth, Of 40 feet. The oll.benring stratum
At this point may hc assumed to Nc lO'
feet above sen level Al Beaumont tn,
nrst sign OF oil was reached ar 500 fee
hel9w%- sea level, and the hrst signs of Of
Qt 52a feet below sea level the gushei
flow, was reached at lol5 feet below sef
level
field 20 the eastward toward Louisiana ar,
as follows.
Il Experience derived from borlugs fo
sulphur In the vicmity OF sulphur CITY
+ eprings nca. Lake Charles
?. The structural conditions to II,
east which shows that the preplestoccn
foundation in that part consist Of ereta
! ceouS rocks. as ascerIalned in the vicintl
ot Petite Anse and Belle Isle. in the dis
trict known as the Five Islands where tn,
that the underlying structure Of coas
G nraires IS quite different rom that 10 tn,
westward, and that horines have beer
+. oil.bearing strata encountered In Texas ar
not met with there
I Furthermore, the .oil.horing strata .
{ the Beaumont oil fields DO not occur II
. syncllnal basins or structural troughs Ia
q strata being OF the simplest monoclina
/ "Therefore, the prospector in the Beau
a mont oil fields. must be prepared to cas-
Q aside the previous conception based upoi
{ The structure, and age Of the prediScoV ere
{ iirely dissimilar from them. Fortunately
{ however, these new conditions are no
those Of complication hut simpliNcatIo,
{ and the wel-drlller may experiment Il
n safety In the Beaumont oil Geld withou
p fear or structural complications with rca
S sonahle assurance that oil Is APT to n
O found anywhere within the region Of IN
5 coast plain above the oll-mpregnate,
u sands.
!, The oil should he found M decreaslut
e depths AZ the rate NJ about seven 10 lei
,. feet per mile along a line drawn from
y Beaumont 20 on CITY IN southern Nncog
q doches county The pressure aud quantit
9 will both likewise decrease away frou
q Beaumont along this line.
~
Wells at Lake Charles, Ia. have ZEN,
trated the oil strata without securing ~
: troleum in sufficient quantity 10 iustif
- commercial development. Az Sour Lake
: about TWENTY-FIVE miles northwest Of Beau
n mont the oil is encountered at denim
), stated TO he 800 feet These wells are r.
Il ported to produce from four 10 aftee,
i barrels per day. Unless there is SOM
= structural inequality In the beds underlyin
i. the coast prairie or that the Sour LAX
- wells are derived from a higher horlzo
/. than The Beaumont wells these wells a
\ Sour Lake have not penetrated 10 the dent
Of the main oil-hesring strata M Be,r
a mont The first Indication NJ oil IN IN
., Bennmont well was at $50 feet. ana 4, ,
e barely probable that this Is the horIzo