The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-05
NO SIGNS OF OIL
HAVE YET BEEN FOUND IN CHARL-
TON COUNTY, SAYS CAPT. LUCAS.
FEARS "0IL BLOOM" STORY
IF 1T REACHES HIS FRIENDS WILL
MAKE THEM THINK HE'S CRAZY.

Can't. Lucas Just from Washington
EN- Route to Point Near FOII<stOn
Where He is Preparing to Drin
weII-WiI Do This to Secure
Fncts About Geological Formation
OF That SectiOn-Says There Are
No Surface Indications of Oii-Of-
fers 81 900 to Anybody Who VIII
Bring Him Drop of Oil Taken
from Soil of Charlton Countrywide
MES story That Quotes Him as
Making other Than These State
ments.
Capt Anthony F. Lucas, expert in
mining, engineering and economic geol-
ogy, known chiefly to fame through
having discovered the Lucas Oil Gush-
er at Beaumont, and now engaged in
drilling for oil on the st. Mary's river
near Folkston, reached Savannah last
night from Washington, en- route to
the scene of operations, for which he
will leave this morning. He has been
in Washington since early in Deem
Der.
Capt. Lucas was both amused and
displeased with the statements alleged
to have been made by him to another
person. The statements are to the eff
feet that he said in a recent interview,
that there is oil and plenty Of it in
Charlton county: that the surface in
dications are as fine as he has ever seen
anywhere, and that he has found in
Charlton county a flower known among
oil experts as the "oil bloom" which
does not grow except in oil districts.
No Surface Indication Theory.
II am a conservative man." COM
! mented Capt. Lucas as he read the
first of these statements, land 1 never
made such a remark about Charlton
county, for, in the first place, one new
er knows that oil is in a place until
it has been found, and as yet none
has been found" Then he read the
| second statement Surface indica-
| TONS" he remarked, why no surface
indications are to be found on a fiat
country like Charlton county. The
only way one can find indications of
oil is to study the geological formation
of the country; now, in rocky, or pos
| sibly hilly, countries something may
| be discovered from surface indications,
but where the land is perfectly level
the only way to discover the geologi-
cal formation is to get below the sur
face. That is what l am now prepar-
ing to do"
Good Lord" CALCULATED the captain
when the 'oil bloom" portion of his al
legged remarks was reached, Il hope
none of my friends see that as coming
from me, for they'll certainly think I'm
v1,A
ing on top of the earth possibly show
of the conditions of constituents of the
earth a thousand or two thousand feet
| below it?
Now, see here" he said, neither
nor any other man can possibly tell
| where oil is to be found until we find
| it. Sometimes there are surface indi-
| cations, sometimes there are not-there
| were absolutely none at Beaumont
| but even where there are surface in
| dications they may be misleading.
CharItOn's Possible Wealth.
80 far as Charlton county is con-
cerned, nothing is known; not a drop
| of oil has been taken from it'll give
| the person that will show me one
drop taken from it's soil $1,000-there is
| no precedent to show that there is oil
| there at all, or anywhere in the state,
for that matter, and to be perfectly
frank 1 don't see any signs of oil, but
I'm going to bore to find out the geo
logical formation of this part of the
country, then I'll know more about the
| outlook"
| The alleged interview with Capt. Luz
cas- is only one of many humorous eX-
periences that he has had since he
made the Beaumont fields famous.
why" he said, reminiscently, IF
| walk across a farm and the owner
| finds out that it is l. that farm i'm
mediately goes up in price to twice It's
| former value.
Land Owners Anxious.
Even where I'm now preparing to
bore, my holdings have already been
| hedged around by land held by per-
sons who are simply waiting the re-
suit of my experiment. 1t is true I
| have options of some thousands of
| acreS-options are cheap-but these
about. "A boom brings spectators
| spectators prowl around until they
| find something 1 haven't got, then
! they pounce upon the poor, unprotected
| property and never let so until they
| see the result of my experiment, for
they never conduct any themselves
Capt. Lucas is decidedly opposed to
boOms and the consequent excitement
| in community that they bring
and land sharks" he said, coil COM
panies are formed, people buy stock,
and as often as not are stuck and al
together they are uhdesira BILE. That is
why got out of Beaumont; the boom
made things too uncomfortable for
me-"
New Tailoring Establishment,
| Peters & Co. have opened q tailor