The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-11
HOW TO FIND AN OIL WELL.
Driller, Promoter and Witch Give
Their Different Methods.
(ChaLLte CKon.) Cor. Kansas City


(ChaLJte Kon.) Cor. Kansas City
Starr
And how do you locate an oil well
IN wild country was asked a driller.
promoter and the witch" Each
answered after his profession and his
Kind, and each believes himself in
tallible. 1t is comparatively easy in
well developed territory with prOduc-
ing wells on all sides. to pitch the site
FOR derrick almost anywhere and get
the oil. But in remote districts. where
the derricks are not in sight, il is an
other story
Well said the driller man after
pause. lit is like this: You don't know
a thing about il, and the more you look
at the land and the more you think
about IT the more muddled you prob
ably will become Some rather take
their chances on a hillside and others
in the valleys. Some follow so-called
surface indications and others follow
the advice of The witch. 1t is all a
guess, however, and when all is SAID
and done, you probably viii find it one
place as well as another. I had Il con-
tract not SO long ago to drill a hole for
fellow who wanted il on a ridge. ne
mad picked out the exact spot and
marked it off, 50 that ali 1 had to do
was TO put up She rig and begin Ne
started for the place on a wagon, but
IN the river bottom the wagon got
stuck I'm the mud. We fused around
for a while, and then saw we were in
FOR it, My man got tired. and finally
said he believed he would locate the
well as close TO the place where we got
stuck as possible. We did it and got q
good oil wei. After we got the we'll in
the river bottom we moved up on the
hillside 10 the spot he had first picked
out and We got a dry hole l knew
another fellow who went 10 a wild
country When he came TO pick out
site for the first well he shut his eyes.
Whirled around two or three times and
threw a rock as far as he could Where
the rock fell was the site Of the we'll
He got oil. There was still another
fellow who used TO tell us 10 drill any
old place, and ne sometimes found oil.
But these are merely samples of eX
perience. Every man to his notion
Il try" said the promoter. appearing
as dignified and wise as an owl, first
TO ind out the nearest well and the
direction the pool seems to take. Then
take a ruler and measure OF the line
of the trend and place my derricks
somewhere along that line. But if
was distant, say ten miles from the
nearest production it would be all a
matter of guess. Especially is that
true of the Kansas field, where the
trends are contrarywise and some
times cross each other In case Of
doubt / should let the driller pick the
spot and abide the result Even the
first hole is no indication of the value
Of a lease. / have known Of as many
as five holes drilled or Fl lease in this
field and every one of them dry. when
some tenderfOot would come along and
get good oil wells on that same lease.
have in mind the case Of a firm that
drilled some holes around here twelve
years ago and reported the district dry
when. within q stones throw of these
dry holes are some of the best produc-
ing wells In the district. / remember
also ease at Richburg, y. Y. The
men drilled thirteen holes. an unlucky
number and did not get the oil. After
that came a man who got oil in every
one of the fifteen holes he drilled. II
the original promoters had surveyed the
ground they could not have gone
around the oil producing territory
nearly 50 closely as they did by acci-
deqt. You have 10 take your chances.
and that is what I am doing"
1T is easy" said the witch. "All