The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-10
SOUTHERN. PROGRESS REVIEW BY THE MANUFACT-
 URER'S RECORD. Increasing Importance of This Sect ion as an Oil Producer as the
 Older Fields Tend to
 Decline.

Baltimore, Oct. 9.-(Spec1aI)-Corre- spondence in this weeks issue of The Manufacturers Record throws interesting light upon the increasing importance of the South in oil production as the older fields tend to decline From Beaumont, Texas. comes the following:
 Equipments of Beaumont and Sour Lake petroleum by water and rail during the month of September aggregated 100000 barrels, of which 800.000 barrels went by tank steamer and barge from Port Arthur and Sabine. Pass to New York New Dr. leans Philadelphia. Port Tampa Fla. and Plymouth. England. The other 7O0.- 001 barrels went by tank car from Sour Lake and Beaumont, more than 600.000 barrels being shipped from the former point. Under the arrangement now In ef- feet, the Southern Pacific hauls fuel oil for the Santa Fe Railroad from Sour Lake to Beaumont where the Santa Fe has Its own tracks. In September the Santa Fe received 60.000 barrels of Sour Lake oil for its own use as fuel on its locomotives on the Gulf Division. The Southern Pacific is getting vastly more oil out of Sour Lake than is any other one company. Every effort of the man. agement IS directed toward filling the company's storage tanks along its lines from New Orleans to Fl Paso. and while oil is at the present figure 1t is especially to the roads advantage to get as much into its tanks as possible for future use. Probably 15,000 barrels a day are being hauled out of Sour Lake by the Southern Pacific for its own consumption.
 ''The Louisiana fields are showing up better. In the latter part of September the Jennings Pire Line shipped two solid trains of oil from Jennings to the sugar planters in Louisiana. great amount of wild eating is in progress in Texas and Louisiana, and strikes from several wells at different points are reported though no confirmation of these rumors has been obtained. The largest tank steamer in the world. the Pectan. owned
 by the Shell Transport and Trading Com pany of London. took a cargo for Eng land of 75,000 barrels of desulphurized Beaumont and Sour Lake petroleum from the Guffey refineries at Port Arthur this week. This is the biggest single cargo of Texas oil that has yet been shipped" During September, too, there have been encouraging developments in the Ken tucky-Tennessee field. Correspondence from Barboursville, Ky, describing con- ditions of the field, still in its first stage. though milVons of dollars have been in- vested there, says:
 | "The new production Is steadily in- creaslng. and productive pools outside of the regular developments are being prov en. Increasing activity is apparent in all the older divisions, especially where the marketing of oil has been progressing for some time. This is due partly to the de- sire of operators to get as big produc- ton as possible before winter sets in and partly to the advances in the prices of crude oil. During the past month there have been no less than hundred wells completed. Several rich strikes in Wayne County are attracting considerable atten- 1 ton to that section which is at present leading in production. One of the best strikes in several months was made in the Steubensville territory. It came in in the upper formation and Is good for 15O barrels Down in the Southeastern part of the country work Is equally ac- tive. Operators who are now at work In the Richland division hall from the North and East and consider well if 1t pro- dures but two barrels daily as a paying proposition. To this class of operators the field owes more than to anything else. During the past few weeks number of contracts have been let for the drilling Of new wells. Tests for deep oil continue to be made and several wells of that class are going down.
 The past few weeks have witnessed large increases in the pipe line runs from the various ulVlSlonS' Dotn ol lHo loWel and central fields. For the third week in September the runs were 15,4 5 barrels This Is an increase of about 3.C00 barre 8 over the runs of the preceding week. The runs for the fourth week in September were 16,39l barrels. At this rate of in crease it will not be long until the Ken lucky and Tennessee field will contribute largely to make up for the decreasing production in the older fields. On the whole, the oil developments in Kentucky have already resulted in great good as far as industry Is concerned. Towns have doubled in size. land owners have realized great deal by leasing their lands. and capitalists have come in to make the bus mess centers their permanent headquar- ters,"