Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-12-16

Ottumwa people who hold stock in
oil wells in the Beaumont district in
Texas will be Interested in the follow
ing interview with G. e. Burrows, for
merly manager of a large oil syndicate
il which he gives what purpoTts to
be the true status of matters. Mr..
Burrows arrived in Davenport yester-
Gay and a reporter for the Times i'm
mediatcly sought an interview. This
is what Mr. Burrows says.
Hundreds of Wells.
There are about $50 wells in all on
Spindle Top" said Mr. Burrows, "but
of these not over 100 are in operation
Most of these hundred however are
doing big business and are making
money for the stockholders every day.
The trouble with large share of
those that are lying idle is that they
were never drilled right to start with
and it will take large sum to fix
them over SO they will be in working
order.
These wells are all owned by COM
panies whose office is hundreds of
miles away and there is SO much red
| tape to go through with before money
can be secured to make the repairs
| that it will take months before they
| are again in operation. Then there
are many of them that will never be
started. The promoters of these are
men who have organized a company
and placed the capital stock way
above what it should be. Now they
have the money Of the stockholders
and they are glad to find an excuse to
| let the well and company go to pieces.
The greatest difficulty that is be-
ing experienced by the oil men on
Spindle Top now is the water ques-
| ton, or rather this is affecting a GER
tain part of the hill now and the 9th
ers fear that it may in time affect
them. BY the water question is
meant that many of the wells on the
| lower section of the hill are filling up
with water and when the pumps are
set to work they bring up the real
aqua instead of oil. This is due in
large measure to the imperfectly drill
ed wells and the lakes Of water that
have been used in drilling.
''When the rush to the oil fields
first began companies would be or
ganized and would drill down few
hundred feet until they struck the
first strata of oil and then would put
in their pumps and start to work Or
rather the Oil at first would spout
forth and they would have gusher.
Caused by Gas.
"The real fact of the matter is, how
| ever. that the gushers were formed
simply by the large amount of gas
| in the ground and not because of the
immense quantities of oil. AS soon
as the earth had been relieved of the
gas the gusher stopped. Then the
pipe was simply imbedded in loose
sand and SO the water would step in
and as a result the wells are now
partly full of water.
In many of them also the casing
which lines the. hole has become
cracked and broken and this admits
the surface water and fills up the well.
MANY of the promoters are claiming
that the water in the wells is salty,
and that it is from the gulf hence
they claim that the esupply of oil will
soon be exhausted and the stock no
good. These companies are claiming
this, however, for the same reason
that the promoters are claiming that
their wells have given out, simply be-
cause the company has been over-cap-
italized and they are anxious to get
out.
Want to Get Out.
The true condition of affairs is that
there are three stratas Of oil The larg-
est one, which is about forty feet
through, is about 1000 feet from the
surface and directly over this is a
heavy strata of rock called cap rock.
The oil men who are there for bust