The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-26
Special to The Minneapolis Journal.

Special to The Minneapolis Journal.
Butte, Mont. Dec. I3.-That there were
OIL indications in Canada, just across the
line from the Kintla lake district. was
known to men in Flathead county fully
twenty years ago, but the discoveries
We're not exploited until some years later
IN 1886 Fred Bowman exhibited In Mis-
Soula bottle of crude petroleum he had
sklmmed from a spring on the Canadian
Slde or the line near Tobacco plains.
, Inc sample was good enough to excite d
lively interest even then. but il was not
until SIX years later that oil indications
were discovered in the extreme northern
enc OF what was then Missoula county.
IN that year John G. Leonard and W. A.
Leonard. of Tobacco plains; Michel Their
rlault and w. r. Ramsdell of Kalispeli
j. A. Talbot Of Columbia Falls. Shipley
OF Mlssoula and some few others pros
pected the oil fields and made the discov-
cry that the indications on the American
sue OF the line were even better than
those on the Canadian side where the
nrst discoveries had been made.
Ihe result was that the records of
HlssouIa county were burdened almost as
heavily as the Flathead county records
are today with placer locations for the
appropriation of oil land. Most of these
locations were held for two years with
out the usual representation work. under
the me provisions of the act Of congress Of
1hat year exempting miners from the
ourden or representing their ella inns dur
ing the panic years of 1894. The follow
ing year the land covered by these loca-
or its federal land grant. and this fact
together with the inability to interest
capital in the oil proposition, resulted in
the abandonment OF all the claims locat-
ed the previous years A year or two
later the state coded the land back to
the general government and it now forms
part OF the Flathead forest reservation.
butte Men Take Hold.
The fields began to attract attention
again ABOUT year ago. when ]. o. Rem
der and Fred Whiteside located several
claims adjoining Kintla lake for Butte
men The reported intentions Of the
or those who had abandoned their previ-
Gus claims and for the past nine months
me county recorders office has been lit
orally flooded with placer locations in the
oil fields. During that period 1850 ioca-
lions, representing 100000 acres have been
NED NED in the county recorders office, and
ed; upon which the location work has
not yet been perfected. The recording
Iees Tor these claims for the wear SO far
nave reacEed the sum of $780, enough
a. 20 pay aso ne annual stipend of the clerk
Practically every foot Of the country
aIong the north fork of the FIathead riv-
or from the International boundary to the
railroad-a distance of about twenty
Imfles-has been located. Scores of men
nave gone into the North Fork country
and located thousands of acres of land
and sold their rights to spectators. but
retaining in every instance an interest In
the claims. AT first tEese claims co1IId
be bought as low as IS each. but now
tthey sell at from $25 to 500 each and
there are few to be had at those figures.
The theory is that if there is oil At
kIntla lake. the field extends the fulI
length or the valley Of the North Fork
ana tEat the theory is plausible is shown
by the fact that there are positive oil
indications in the valley Of the Flat
mead clear to Montford, seven miles east
Of kalispell. Indeed. it is not at all m
likely that at least one Of the numerous
companies now organizing for oil pros
pectlng will commence operations in the
Montford district
Experts Give a Favorable Verdict.
The Kintla oil fields have been .ex-
perted' by men who have had years of
experience in the oil fields Of PennsyI-
one Verdlct-tEat the indications are of
the most promising character 1t is the
quality OF the Kintla oil which has an
pealed particularly to these experts,
among whom are D. w Rhodes of Ore,
gon. j. H. Clayton Of the Standard Oil
company. and P. W. Francis Of CaIiforl
MA, a geolcgiSt OF recognized STANDING
Mr.. Francis has been in the Kintla dis
trlct all summer and is now in Kalisnell
making arrangements to take boring ma
emery into the fields in the interests of
the company he represents
Analysis of the crude product gathered
from the natural seepage has shown that
the k1ntla oil has the paraffine base
If this were not so, said Mr.. Fran
CHS recently, the Kintla fields would
the asphaltum base - the nro T5Cg
OF the Texas and California fields - Mon
tana has several asphaltum oil fieIdc
with every surface indication of great
quantities OF petroleum In the anticIines
that would be more productive than any