The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-21
Are Now More Than. $50 Pro-
ducing Wells There.
is NO MARKET FOR 1T.
Most of the Holes Are Shut in
for the Present.
Standard will Soon Have It's
Caney Tanks Complete.


independence district. Rigs can be seen
on nearly every forty in the proven dis
trict pegging away and wells are com
ing in at the rate of 25 a month. Not
all of them are being shot. however, as
the Standard is unable to take all the
oil now. The wells are drilled in and
then shut in to await increased facili- |
ties for handling the output. Many of
the old wells which have been produc-
ing have also been shut in. 1t is only
a matter Of a few months however, /
when the Standard will be able to take
the entire product. 1t has just started
work on big tank farm at Caney in
tended to store oil from the Chautau-
qua and Bartlesville districts until its
refining capacity can be increased.
The oil section in Chautauqua takes
in the southeast corner of the county.
1t runs east from Sedan to the county
line and south from Sedan to the In
dian Territory. It includes Peru and
Chautauqua Springs. On the townsite
| of Peru, now, there are more than 100
wells. They are being drilled in there
at the rate of two a week The capac-
ity of the wells at Peru keeps up not
withstanding the vast number of wells
| on the townsite. This leads oil men to
believe that Peru is. supplied by big
lake of oil that is much larger in extent
than the town itself.
Oil in the Chautauqua district is de-
/ fined by pools. While there is a gen
eral trend of pools it has not been well
defined. But it will not be long until
| the trend is defined because many con-
Germs are wild eating. The Dennis
| bunch of wells a half mile east of Sc
dan are all good producers. There are
seven of them; also two gas wells.
Four are drilling. East of the Dennis
wells are the Buckles wells-five in all
and east of them comes the Peru
wells. Sedan gets it's gas supply from
/ the Buckles tract.
Just south of Sedan are the Huffman
wells. A most important discovery was
made on the Huffman Monday. Drill
| erS went through a vein of oil sand at
/ the usual depth of 1000 feet. The sand
| didn't yield much oil. So they decid-
/ ed to dig a deep well to see what was
down there. At the depth of 1900 feet
they struck another vein of oil sand
/ and brought in one of the best wells
in the entire district. The oil is of fine
/ quality. Oil men are elated over the
! find of a second Vein of oil sand.
Around Chaltauqua Springs there
/ are about 70 wells. and more are drill
! ing. It is one of the most promising
oil sections in the field. The wells are
/ all good producers, and busters are few
and far between. The chain of oil
/ lakes takes in a territory, seemingly,
| three miles wide and five miles long.
| The chain runs almost due north and
south. In other districts the trends
/ usually run from northeast to south
west. But here it is different. Oil
| leases in this section are soaring. w.
/ H. Sproul and his associates yesterday
sold a $50 acre lease on the Sterling
farm for ST. 900, and they get an eighth
royalty besides. This lease few
months ago cost them $3.50. The Mrs.
Durham 160 acre oil lease is valued at
! $780, 600. It is now in litigation between
1 D. w. LOngwell, of Kansas City, and
some Pennsylvania parties. The Crane
/ lease, which is almost as valuable, is
also in litigation between the Sedan
| Development company and p. D. Nc
| COnnen. Land is leasing around Chau-
/ tauqua Springs for from 800 to $175
an acre. Much litigation is growing
out of lease transactions in this section
| since the discovery of oil pools. These
are in the nature of injunction suits
| and grow out of the owner leasing to
| two or more different parties. The liti-
! giants are not the land owners, but the
| cOntesting lessees. Ejectment proceed
| ings cannot be invoked by one lessee
| against another. Injunction is the on
| ly remedy. And right here is fine
point. No application is made for
temporary injunction. This would tie
up things. The one who brings the
! suit asks for a permanent injunction
/ only upon the final hearing of the case.
! Then he lets the other fellow go ahead
and drill. If he finally wins out, he
] gobbles up all the oil wells the other
man has drilled in. If he loses. then
he cannot be held for damages for re-
tarding operations The courts here
are clogged with litigation over leases.
| 1t is rich picking for the lawyers.
When oil development started in the
Kansas field. home men leased up
most of this country. Now they are
| either selling their leases to Eastern
men or sub1easing at a good profit
I through royalties
AS stated, oil sand is found in the
Chautauqua district at from 1000 to
| to 1900 feet. and it is from thirty to
sixty feet thick More than half Of
4 the wells are flowers and some of
them produce 800 barrels a day But,
4 the district over, they viii average
barrels.
M. L. Lockwood. the veteran oil
man, has a snap furnishing gas to the
oil rigs. He has bought up the sur
4 plus gas and runs it to the center OF
the oil field, and from there he pipes
it to the various rigs at work in that
vicinity. He charges IS a day for gas
& to keep each rig running. This is a
j good thing for him and it makes a
cheap and handy fuel for the driller.
The first oiler was drilled in at the
Chautauqua Springs locality last May
by Colonel D. w Iongwel, of Kan
sas City. Since then development has
gone forward with leaps and bounds
Senator Matson, of Pennsylvania, is
one of the largest operators in the
field He also has some good oilers
in the Usage country, near BarUes-
Vile. The Sedan DEVELOPMENT Com
pany is perhaps Interested in fifty
producers. It started out under ad-
+ verse circumstances. The first seven
wells it drilled were busters. Under
ordinary circumstances this would
- VIVA Up an average OuNAi1r D0I II oAtAS
4 set the hair on the stockholders of
the Sedan concern. They got their
81 neck bowed. They, s7vore they would
either get oil or all go broke. And
the next we'll they drilled was an oil
er. Since then they have been having
all sorts of good luck and are among
| the largest producers in the district.
In this case at least. a bad beginning
made a good ending
The Lee farm of eighty acres east
OF here and north Of Peru is good for