The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-28

% those who are watching the de-
/ velopment Of the Wyoming oil
field it may be of some interest
TO know something of the discovery of
petroleum In that state. It is claimed
the first trace Of the article was found
near the central part of the state about
the year 1892 by Captain Bonneville.
and was described by him and in the
works of early writers as tar springs, -
II not being known at that time just
what 1t was. In the year 1868 oil was
collected from a spring near the Poison
spider creek and was sold along the
mormon trail as axle grease, also to
, the Uinta county coal mines to be
used as a lubricant. but the article
peing taken from near the surface was
round TO contain more or less grit, and
It's use was soon discontinued
Few persons have any idea of the
large number Of oil springs in Wyo-
ming or the vast area in which they
occur There are hundreds of them
scattered over the state, their occur
renee being most common in Uinta
county. and the most notable of these
being the famous Carter oil spring, To-
Gated about ten miles east of Evans
ton. This spring was discovered in the
trader at old Fort Bridger, from whom
II derives its name.
First Oil Well.
Upon making the discovery he re-
ported 1T to General Conner, COM
mander of the federal garrison at Fort
Douglas, Utah, who sent John Fiero.
an experienced well-digger, to Fort
Bridger. who, together with his asso-
ciates, dug a fifty-foot well, from
which they obtained in the neighbor-
hood Of $50 barrels of OIL which was
sold to the Union Pacific railway and
the Black Buttes Coal company, re-
eeiving SIS per barrel for the article. it
being used as a lubricant in the crude
state just as it came from the well.
and is said to have contained no grit.
as did that taken from the Poison
Spider creek
However, IT had to be carted some
distance by team and was not found
to be paying proposition, and the en-
terprise was abandoned on account Of
insufficient capital to operate it on a
paying scale. The old pole derrick and
log house used by the operators re-
mained for years. Later a modern
derrick was put up by the heirs of
Judge Carter, soon after his demise,
and they sunk a new shaft 100 feet
from which they obtained a consider
able amount of oil. This we'll was in
operation several years, but was finally
abandoned on account of the railway
company purchasing a refined Iubri-
cant, the produce of a coarser grade
or petroleum, at a lower price, from an
eastern concern. The Carter company.
not knowing the real value of their
product, made no further attempt to
dispose of it, The derrick was re-
moved and the buildings finally de-
stroyed by fire and the well, being I'M
cased, caved in and today there is
nothing to mark the spot but a steady
oozing of oil from a slight depression
in the ground.
Union Pacific's Surprise.
From this time on there is nothing
of interest TO record in the Wyoming
oil industry until about two years ago
the Union Pacific Railway company
hired l.. e. Nebergall of Omaha to sink
an artesian' we'll to provide a water
supply for railroad purposes near
Spring Valley, near the east end of
Aspen tunnel. Mr. NebergaH went
down 1900 feet without striking a vein
of water, but at that point his drill
tapped a copious flow of petroleum.
Now the Union Pacific was not look
ing for oil, and it didn't want to find
oil especially on such of its land as
had not been patented.
The reason is simple enough; il the
discovery became known there would
be a. mad rush of prospectors and adj
venturers. and wherever oil was found
there would be a mineral claim filed
and the discoverer would make appli-
cation for a patent and the railway
would be in a fair way of losing title
to an immense area of valuable prop