The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-06-07
OIL BILL MAY
COME UP AGAIN
SutheFland's Efforts to Take It
From PigeOn.hOle.
MANY PROTESTS FROM WEST
COMMITTEE DOESN'T KNOW
NEED OF WEST.
Especial to The Herald.)

AAJ ASillNGTON, d. c., June 6.-The
wv announcement made i'm these dis
patches some weeks ago to the
effect that the bill introduced by Repre-
sentative Sutherland of Utah, providing
new regulations for location of oil claims
on the public domain. had been pigeon
holed in committee, has been followed by
numerous protests which have been for
warded 70 western members of congress
by parties engaged in oil prospecting in
several western states, and especially IN
Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.
Under the present law oil claims on the
public lands are located in accordance
With the requirements of the placer min-
ing laws which were originally intended
10 cover only precious metals. It is OBJ
NlOus Lnat the work OF prospecting for
gold and silver differs materially from
the search for oil. and one of the most
difficult provisions of the placer mining
laws which the oil prOspeCtOr must meet
is the requirement that he shall perform
certain amount of labor annually on
each claim This is "a reasonable require
ment when applied 10 the precious metals,
Wnlch are supposed TO exist on each claim
taken up; but ia prospecting for oil il is
necessary frequently 10 examine a con-
siderable extent of territory and prospect
1t. 60 a certain extent before attempting
90 put down a well Tt is also obvious that
m searching for gold or silver little or
no preliminary expense is necessary. and
the work may be suspended at amy stage
and begun elsewhere without loss in oil
prospecting, however. the rig is a COM
parauVely costly item and the well must
therefore be sunk in the most promising
location and frequently to a great depth
before any results are secured On ac-
count of these reasons the bin in cues
ton proposes that the entire assessment
work on series of claims owned by the
same parties may be done at any point
and If necessary entirely within the
boundaries of a single claim. but that if
sufficient money is expended it shall be
pro rated among all the claims and be ex-
pended in fulfillment of the conditions OF
the statute.
Committee Lacks Experience.
The committee on mines and mining. to
which this bill was referred has been
occupied chiefly with the propositions in
volving deposits of the precious metals
rather than petroleum. and its members
are not experts on questions involving the
commercial production of oil. For this
reason they have been disposed to insist
that the existing statutes are adequate
and that Mr. Sutherland's bin is unnec-
essary. That this is not the case is evil
denced by the avalanche of memorials
now reaching members Of the house and
senate from the western states an. of
which urge the enactment Of the bill as
ing to proceed on the public domain The
tone of these memorials NAV be gath
cred from the following letter sent BIZ a
prominent operator i'm oil lands and ac-
companylng a formal petition in favor Of
the passage OF the bin &
/ have been informed that this measure
mas been practically killed. in the COM
mlttee, but i trust this is an error In
the absence Of laws governing location Of
OIL lands, the government for years has
forced us 10 locate under the placer law
and has made rulings I'm regard to il
conform TO those practice BILE for mining
precious metals. but not in harmony with
the facts pertaining to the discovery OF
oil it is not just. for example,. to rule
that in order "a make a valid location
that oil must actually have been found on
the ground selected, for often the mere
fact of oil on the ground IS the least indi-
cation 10 the Intelligent OIL miner of its
actual presence in commercial quantity.
Oil Not Found Like Metals.
Precious metals usually lie lh strata
tipped 10 the surface. while oil lands
usually are found In anti-Clinal waves
and lie in blanket form and the less
oil that has reached the sHrface the bet
ter. rs long as the geological formations
are what are required In dozens Of
cases. companies have set uD rigs and
expend from $500 to 5000 in one well
with not a whit Of oil i'm sight being
guided by the formations alone. r my
self nave hundreds OF acres of land To-
Gated that has no OH i'm sight. but much
of il has thousands Of tons of shales and
rocks that are saturated7 with what was
once ell. but is now called GROUPINGS or
Indications. 1t seems but consistent that
congress should enact a law that will be
definite on this subject, for I'm the abb
sence of such legislation we must expect
the interior department 10 rule in ac-
COTdanCe with the usages pertaining TO
precious metal mining, and nothing could
be more unjust
The active interest shown I'm this meas
ure has induced Mr.. Sutherland to again
urge his measure upon the attention of
the committee on mines and mining aud
a subcommittee viii grant him hearing
in the course of "A few DAYS. He hopes
i'm view Of the great pressure now being
eXerted in favor Of the passage of some
legislation TO take the place of the in
appropriate placer mining laws that his
bill may be passed during the present.
session IF congress.