The St. Louis Republic., 1902-06-15
Saturday, !Kas NJ,
OIL TEST WELLS
PROVE BIG AREA,
KING CRowTHER CORPORATIONS
WORK OF DEVELOPMENT.
All Wells So Far Drilled In Live Oak
and McMuIIen Counties Have
Proven to De Good Produ-
GERS. New Machinery.

OakvilIe, Tex, May 1.-THE development
| of the oil lands Of Live Oak. McMullen and
! Atascose counties is being watched with
| great interest by the citizens Of Oakville
| and of all Live Oak County because of the
| extensive holdings of the King-Crowther
| Corporation which is engaged in the work
| In this county. The most active develop
ment is being prosecuted in the neighbor-
| hood of Campbellton. near which place is
| situated the new town of Crowther. found
| ed by the King -Crowther Corporation and
! designated as the principal office of that
| corporation and its affiliated corporations.
the San Antonio and Crowther Railroad
| and the King-Crowther Pipe Line Com
| pany, the two last-named companies hav-
| Ing been incorporated under the laws OF
Texas last week. one for the purpose of
constructing a railroad from San Antonio
to Crowther and the other for the purpose
of building a pipe line from Crowther to
the Gulf Coast of Texas at either Rock
port, Corpus Christi or Aransas Pass. the
Gulf terminus to be settled upon at an
early day. The pipe line company will also
build branch lines TO San Antonio and other
points which offer a profitable market for
the output of the oil fields.
Its Vast Territory.
The King-Crowther Corporation holds
leases on vast tracts of land situated in
leases being the Whitsett, Yates, Brown.
Jacobs and other large pastures compris-
ing an aggregate of about 100000 acres.
In addition to the vast bodies of land
held under lease, the corporation has
bought outright the Van Meter pasture in
McMullen County upon which oil was first
discovered several years ago by Sam Crow
ther who is vice president and general
manager of the King-Crowther Corpora
ton. and under whose personal direction
and supervision the work of drilling ana
development is now being carried forward.
The operations of the corporation have up
to this time been confined to McMullen and
Atascosa counties. in which wells have been
sunk at widely distant points, and oil has
been found in all the wells thus far put
covering such wide sxpanse of territory
Is taken as convincing evidence of the OIL
producing character of all the corporations
holdings. and hence the widespread interest
of the residents and land owners of this
section of the country IN the operations OF
the concern.
in the Tom Orth pasture for the purpose of
securing a water supply, and this discovery
adds largely to the. area of proved OIL pro-
ducing territory and is attracting attention
of other prospectors to this district
OIL of Fine Duality.
There has not been great deal of in
formation given out as to the character of
the oil produced by, theg King-Crowther
wells, but it is known that its quality is
excellent, and the directors of the corpora
ton who recently came from distant cities
in the East TO make personal inspection
of the product and the character and extent
of the field were emphatic in their declara-
tions of pleasure and satisfaction. The un-
derstanding among those here who have
watched the work in progress and made
Investigations on their own account is that
the promoters of the field anticipate when
their improvements are complete and facil-
tiles for reaching markets are provided that
the product Of their field will exert marked
and satisfactory influence upon the markets
of both lubricating and Illuminating oils
The nearest well of the King -Crowther
people to this place is twenty-five miles
distant and as there Is little travel from
here in that direction. 1t is only at infre-
quent intervals that news of the work is
brought to Oakville. Most of the travel
from the wells and from the town of Crow
ther Is to Karnes City or Falls City. where
railroad facilities are obtained. The bulk
of the corporations freight and machinery
IS handled through Karnes City. from which
point an enormous amount of material has
been carried by teams to Crowther and the
scene of drilling operations.