West Virginia daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1894-1902, 1902-02-17

ad1oiHing the Bertram farm, which
Is the farm that gives the Somerset
company its oil, all dry except the
Mckay, which Is small well that
will probably make a paying pro-
ducer aftet 1t Is shot.
On the south there Is the Geary
Oil company No. I, which was
made 10 Dbl, producer by shoot
ing and the Geary Oil company
No. 2 which Is dry. A little west
OF southwest there Is the Flanagan
No. of the Sun Oil company,
which Is small producer, probably
10 bbls. Where oil has been found
On the west the wells are all small,
Somerset Nos. and 3,for instance,
which Is a location from Its other
wells, being no exceptions. These
two wells were to the side of almost
straight line. The Nos. 2. 4 and
$ of a straight line are all large
wells. No. S was the last one, and
1t Is making I25 barrels today,
which Is more than 1t made when 1t
was brought In few weeks ago.
1t seems to be increasing just as
No. 2, the famous producer, In
crossed for months. No. Is now
doing 1873 bbls., having showed the
first decline In her life within the
last 80 days.
Looking over these operations 1t
will be seen that there Is one open
Ing and that Is on the. southwest.
Just why there has been no drilling
on the southwest, which Is deemed
the magical line, Is peculiar. One
reason Is that the Somerset OH
company had considerable of the
territory down Flat run between
the hills In that direction, and
owners of adjoining territory were
able to get closer to the wells with
their operations by going on the
sides. It was not a reasonable ex
pectation that a territory that was
giving monster wells In one, two,
three, four, FIVE order to one COM
pany and one, two, three, to an
other was only as wide as two der
rick floors. It was not reasonable
expectation, and 1t is probably not
so.
George Backer owns the oil
privileges on the farm adjoining
the Bertram farm on the southwest.
He Is about 1000 feet away from
the Somerset No. S, on an air line.
The farm that Backer has there is
known as the Dave Beatty farm,
and Backer has begun to drill In
confidence of tapping the Sunny
brook pool. It would be just
Backer's luck to do 1t. He has
never missed anything yet. He Is
not an extensive operator, but he Is
an independent one and what he
has Is his, without any company to
share in 1t. His usual method Is to
take small tract In sure producing
territory, pay for 1t and go to work
and rest contented with what he
finds, whether 1t Is big or
little. When he entered this field
he bought 40 acres over on Beaver.
This was desplsed territory at the
time. because 1t gave only 4 or 5
barrels wells and anything less than
a hundred was not thought worth
while during the fever of expecta-
ton that followed the Suunybrook
strikes. Backer pounded away on
his little 40 acre farm just the same
as he brought in three wells one
after the other, one of them good
for IS barrels. These wells cost
him very little to drill as they are
above the shale and only about 400
feet deep. Now at the expiration
of a year Backer still has produc-
ton of IS barrels a day, which sup.
ports him quite comfortably, and
and the wells require no attention
from MIN. On this little tract ne
can safely drill IL or IS wells, and
1t Is to this work he Is going to
turn his attention If his mascot fails
him southwest of Sunnybrook.
Here Is where new possibilities
open up. That Beaver country has
been overlooked. Old oil men will
tell you that all they want Is 5 and
10 Dbl. we'll territory that holds.
No one coming from Wayne county
has dreamed of tackling the S or 10
Dbl. territory of Beaver. 1t was too
small to bother about, with the
glare of the Sunnybrook light be-
fore them. Yet all this small we'll
of Wayne has been highly
satisfactory from a commercial
point of view.
The Penn Lubricatiug company,
owners of most of the Beaver pro