The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-19
WORK TO BEGIN AT EARLY DATE ON CARNEGIE LIBRARY
 PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF HANDSOME BUILDING

former company's prospects:
 What Is supposed to be one of the Is that reported by the Alabama On and Gas Company. The find was made in a well which t Is drilling for oil near New Dssss At .bs Gepta finest of @ o, less as struck, and the indications for strik1ng a producer are very promising.
 After a depth of about twenty feet mineral water was struck which flooded the well to depth of several feet. The mineral water tasted very much like tha water and oil have been sent to chem
 Russeiiviile oil and Gas Co.
 The Russellvilie oil and Gas Company of Russellville, is drilling a well near Littleville. in Colbert County. about sax- well is down about 500 feet and So far the indications have been most favor. able. At forty feet six foot vein of asphaitum was penetrated and oil and oil sand have been found which leod ita promoters to look for good strong pr oducer.
 Alabama-CaIifornia Oil Co. The Alabama-California Oil Company which began drilling at Cherokee in Dc- cember. have already gone through two stratas of Tredton limestone, and on Frl-s day of last week struck Gordon oil sand. The sard bucket also brought up small
 
 high grade Illuminating oil.
 The work of drilling has been suspend- ed until the we'll is piped to the xand in order to keep the water from get ting in and spelling the well. The thick ness of phs oil sand cannot be deter mined until this is done. The present indications are almost conclusive that on petroleum gas had been previously struck. indicating that sscond oil sand will be found from 800 to 1000 feet.
 The Alabama-California oil Company has the best standard machinery and practical and expert driliers have charge of the work under Superintendent Fouche formerly of the Standard oil Company. The President of tho Company. John 4. Pirtle, is a successful California oil man from Los Angeles, who has been efr-s gagged for eight years in the oil busf- ness. and has brought in more than Angeles districts. He was formerly Pres- ident of the Oil Exchange in Los An geles. and is considered an expert in oil matters. The croppings in Colbert Conn- ty extend for several miles both north and south and east and west from Cher okee. where this well is located. Soms of them are several hundred feet tn length and from ten to thirty feet thick, All are impregnated with oil and in some places oil Is actually running out Of the rock in small quantities: The oil is Of a very high grade and the surface rock contains 2 per cent. oil.
 Major John W. otley's Report.
 Major J. w. otiey. a Virginia geolo- gist of national reputation. and better known to the world as the locator of the Beaumont field. made the following report on this immediate section In Col- bert and Franklin counties: This field is the extension of the great Appalachian Oil Belt from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
 "The development of this section of Alabama will undoubtedly prove a very rich field in both Illuminating and lubri- eating oils.
 "The essential geological features in much of this territory are so pointed that the question of securing oil in paying quantities, is only secondary. The struc- tural arrangement is such that the pools are necessarily broad and where the ca- too violent, deep pools may be antict- pated. With such evidences at your com mand there is practically an assurance OF rich reward in discovery,
 This belt continues in the same gen. eral direction of It's northern fields. of which system 1t is great factor. An- ticlinals all run northeast and southwest correct lines by structural difficulties.
 "The points critically examined. by ms were the most pronounced have ever met with and I unhesitatingly pronounce Colbert Lawrence and Franklin coun~ ties equal to any field east of the Mis- sissippi Basin."
 The Passport Well.
 Another we'll is being bored at East> port in the west end of Colbert County on the Tennessee River 5by Mir. Beatty. an old Pennsylvania oil. man. Reports
 CContinued from Page s1I)