The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1902-10-29
The Texas-Louisiana Oil Field.

United States Geological Survey, con-
tains report by DR.. G. W. Hayes and
Mr.. William Kennedy on the Texas
Louisiana Oil Field, which is of
particular interest at this time.
From the Mississippi River westward
through Louisiana and Texas to the
Rio Grande, along the border of the
Gulf of Mexico, and extending inland
from so to 100 miles is the Gulf
Coastal Plain. The existence of petro-
leum in this part of the country has
been known as far back as 1860. Since
the beginning of the present oil devel-
opment, the coastal plain has been
examined, and it's general underground
condition to depth of about 1000
feet has been brought to view, al
though many questions as to under
ground structure remain unanswerable
until further drilling.
A generalized geologic description
Of the formations of the Gulf Coastal
Plain is given, and is followed by de
tailed descriptions Of sections of the
coastal plain formations, including the
logs of number of the wells drilled
in the region.
The geology Of the oil pools, which,
SO far as they are now known, occupy
an extremely small fraction of the
region described, is discussed. The
districts discussed are: In Texas,
Beaumont district, Sabine Pass dis
trict, Sour Lake district, Sara
tago district; Dayton district; !;
High Island district; Colombia
district, minor Texas districts; in
Louisiana, Jennings district, Ansa
la Butte district, Sulphur district,
Vinton district, blackberry Island dis
trict, minor Louisiana districts.
With regard to the Spindletop OIL
rock, the report states that it's excep-
tional character explains IN measure
the remarkable features of the Spindle
top pool. Its extreme porosity favors
the storage of very large volume of
oil, and also favors the yielding. of
this oil with very great rapidity when
the reservoir is tapped. It also favors
the early exhaustion of the oil in the
pool, and its rapid replacement by the
underlying salt water. Beds OF sulphur
bearing sand are reported from some
of the wells on Spindletop, and beds of
gypsum and CT salt from others.
4 list is given of 2S0 wells in the
Spindletop pool which have shown a
yield Of oil sufficient to be considered
of commercial Importance. The list
was completed, as far as possible, Up
to June Is, 1902. The structure of
the Spindletop pool appears to be that
of.a dome with steep sides and rather
fat summit. Judging from the normal
thickness of the Gulf Coastal Plain
formations, and from the structure of
the Spindletop pool, it seems evident
that we'll in this region less than 5000
feet in depth does not reach the Oil
bearing horizon anywhere except upon
the Spindletop dome. The shallow
dry wells already drilled outside of
Spindletop prove but little. One CO.
operative test we'll put down at some
carefully selected locality to depth
of 5000 or 3, 5000 feet would probably
be of much greater value than large
number of shallow wells put down in
various localities.
As shown upon the map accompany
ing the report, the indications point
to the possible development Of oil along
the following lines, all running north
east and southwest: A line from Da-
mon, in Brazoria County, Texas,
through Dayton to Saratoga, in Har-
din County: line from Big Hiilss. in
Matagorda County, through Columbia
to Sour Lake, in Hardin County: a
line from High Island, in Galveston
County, through Big Hill to Beau
mont, in Jefferson County, line from
Sabine Pass, in Jefferson County, Tex
as, through Vinton TO Sulphur, in
Calcasieu Parish, in Louisiana:
line from blackberry, in Cameron
Parish, to Spring Hill, in Calcasieu
Parish, Louisiana. The well-known
oil ''ponds'' upon the surface of the
water point strongly to a source OF Oil
near the south end of the west ietty
in the Gulf, at Sabine Pass.
With regard to the origin Of oil in
the Gulf Coastal Plain, the report
discusses briefly the obscure geological
problem of the origin of petroleum
in general: ~ According to one
theory which explains the origin OF
oil by inorganic agencies, water
percolating downward through assures
in the earth g crust comes IN conJacI
under conditions OF high temperature
and great pressure with metallic car
bides, and the resulting chemical re-
action produces metallic oxides and
saturated hydrocarbons, the latter as
cending and impregnating porous beds
of sedimentary rocks in which they are
now found. No geological evidence is
at hand that these reactions actually
take place in the earth's crust. The
inorganic theory is attractive but not
proven. ~ According to the theories
of organic origin, first, petroleum is
indigenous to the rocks in which it is
found and results from the primary
decomposition of organic matter, and
was formed when the rocks themselves
were formed; and, second, petroleum
is derived from the organic matter
disseminated through great masses OF
carbonaceous shales by the process OF
slow natural distillation at low tenn
peratures, and that it has subsequent
iy migrated through the strata to the
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