Arizona republican., 1902-01-26
THE PHOENIX OIL FIELD
Boring for Oil Will Begin at Once
Near Comeback.

II has been claimed for several |
months that there We're prospects of |
pr occurring oil in the Comeback region, |
and. believing this to be true, a number |
of citizens of Phoenix have been quietly |
casting about for suitable lands and |
machinery to bore for oil. Through the |
indomitable energy of c. F. Morrell and |
the assistance of DR.. ]. w. Foss, ]. NJ. |
Aiken, c. w. Pugh and a number of |
other enterprising men. machinery will |
lie placed on the ground and drilling |
begun.
The company has been organized
with a capital stock of one million |
shares and the plan will be OF interest
10 the reader. Some months ago there
vas considerable oil excitement in this
valley. Many persons took up placer
Claims. expecting to either form COM
ranies and sink or wait till somebody
else developed oil and then come in for
the benefits. The result was that bur
one company went below the surface.
and that was only for n few feet The
Gil excitement then went to sleep tenn
porarily. But so many experts gave en-
couraging reports that claim owners
Il 1t a growing interest IN the value OF
their property. This organization was
perfected on plan that will enable all
and share in the profits without other
expense. and those VINO have no land
lray buy stock, at present at least and
get in on what seems to be an equitab bic
basis.
One-half the capital stock. 500 900
shares. is set apart to pay for oil lands
in the following manenr: There are al
present about forty valley claim own
eIs. owning 5000 acres of land who
l., 4. .1-.l
company. The par value of the stock
is 81. If no more land owners associate
themselves. when the Wen is sunk and
oil is found the 100000 shares will be
pro-rated between the above forty men,
ma king about 1865 per acre for the
land. if more land owners come in the
rate per acre Will be less. Dut the value
of the stock will be more. for it Will be
nearer cooperation of all interests,
| the idea being of course to give the
company finding the oil a sufficient
oSptrol over the situation to keep the
| price of the product above the expense
Of production. thus preventing the
| trouble that has followed the over-pro-
duction of oil in Kern county, Cali
| fOrnia, where well owners are working
| the ruination OF each other, or were till
| recently, when they began operations
OF this same system. If no oil is found
/ the stock will of course prove worth
les -. but no fairer plan for testing the
matter could be evolved. and if oil is
found it will prove bonanza to all in
terested- On the other hand if no pros
pectinS is done the rand is worthless
| anyhow.
For the man who has no land the
other half of the capitai stock is avail
ahle. and the officers of the compny
| Rave announced that no more shares
| WIZ be sold than are necessary for de-
| Velopment purposes. AS soon as there
iS sufficient money in the treasury for
this purpose all stock will be with
drawn from the market except that
; available for land holdings. The COM
! pany has wisely decided to pay no
salaries to its officers.
The services have been secured of ].
e. Breitwiser, the inventor of a number
of new well tools and man well known
all over the United States by reason
of the flowing wells of Californoa, pro-
duced by him, and he will be man
ager of the new company. which is
known as the Rand Oil Company"
with offices at No. West Adrnas
lstreet. Lumber has been purchased and
Will be hauled to the location near
Comeback. beginning Monday, and
work will be begun on the derrick and
roomlng houses at once.
a model, true to the scale of the der
rick. which is an invention of Mr.
Breitwiser. who is a mechanical oil
| expert, has been made and is placed
on exhibition in the window of the
office of the company. 1t is certainly
Il model of strength. and well it NAV
| be. for 1t must sometimes stand a
strain of 200 tons, when used for pull
ing casing. The machinery is being
! q m nj
the derrick is built, and will be placed
immedia tely- 1t is one of the heaviest
| rigs made up to date, and will be so
constructed to drill by either the
old style walking beam process, or the
new style rotary process. as occasion
and the nature of the drilling demands
All the wooden bookings and rope belts
are replaced with iron. and no expense
will be spared to secure the very best
AS soon as it is in place drilling win
be begun and pushed to oil. Mr.. Brett
| wiser. in company with Mr.. Morrell and
Mr.. L. o. Wiley. examined carefully
| the entire region and has picked up
many specimens of rock that to his ex-
perienced eyes prove the existence of
oil. He has brought with him from
California samples of OIL gypsum,
asphalt. oil sand, etc. which certainly
look strikingly like the samples from
| the Comeback. and they prove. as far
as surface indications can, that there
| is oil there. These specimens are now
ON exhibition at the company's office. !
The similarity of the countries
is most remarkable when the
the numerous protos of the notable |
fields and wells are examined, and he |
has full half hundred of them.
The gentlemen Interested are en-
thusiastic and thoroughly believe that |
in very short time oil will be found |
here In commercial quantities, and if |
their faith is rewarded it will be one |
of the red letter days for Phoenix as