Arizona silver belt., 1904-06-09
CONFIDENT OIL IS THERE
Hear statement of the Geological conditions in the Field and Sug- gestion of q Plan to Pursue for Further Development

Ol company $ well at Blackberry wasl week ago last Friday, and made { rsrsopal investigation of conditions there. Following is his report;
 Seven days prior to our arrival or ,bs ground the drill, at depth of l53i ,sst had passed through shell into ,r nil zrue which contained some oil and also considerable water, the latter raising in two days to within 90 feet or the top of the well.
 The officials and driller of the com many had confidently expected to strike rbs pjI sand at the pth named, but dI not expect, of course, to find this .,Dd filed with water, and in the face oftbis unexpected disappointment be- ,sme somewhat discouraged. But af. fer looking tha situation over We can mi share in either their diSappoint- m9pt ur Encouragement. In fact, the f,D5itionS at the bottom of this well, taken in connection with the general ys0Iogical conditions observable on tbe surface, greatly strengthen our conviction that paraiiine oil exists in this fed in paying quantities.
 IiS true that the invasion of water into the oil bed We have tapped caused ,aa bulk of the oil to recede before it ,oSume higher point, where it is still held by the pressure of the water fl it did nnl ind an outlet. But enough remained behind in the sand, and now comes up with the sand in the sand pump, tO demonstrate beyond the shadow of d doubt that before the water broke in this oil bed contained parahine oil in plentiful quantity or, in other words, that at the time, or during the age when the strata of this basin were deposited and formed, the conditions which originate oil existed, and as a result of that fact genuine CD. field was created in this great basin Now, if there was anything to oindicate that the oil bed, or Assure, that We have encountered and iound robbed of it's oil contents by an invasion of wa ter is the only oil zone tn the basin, or that ifany exists below they have also been flushed out by water, then ws would be justified in feeling dis outraged. But there is absolutely nothing tO indicate any such situation 0r condition. Upon the other hand, everything, so far as natural condi' tjouS go, point directly to the oppo- site.
 Since the formation of this oil field therehave been many seismic impulses 10 that vicinity, any one of which may have been of sufficient violence to fracture the surface strata of the basin and permit the intltration of surface waters. The water tapped under the shell over the bed of oil sand at the bottom of the Pinal Parsfiine Oil com panys well is not of large volume anC its source is evidently local, otherwise it would have raised in the well more rapidly aud would not have remained stationary 50 feet below the collar o the well. If this assumption be cor rect and there is nothing in the geo Iosical conditions tO suggest that it il iaILacy, then the water strike in thii well should not occasion "colo feetI
 Now, as tO the other horn of the di Iemma. The oil stratum we have passed through lies in the surfac, strata of the basin. Its bedding is { Hudrp grained, very compact whit sandstone through which the drill ha now passed into a stratum of oil shal' anu We have many thousand feet nor, " go through the alternating strati VI Hha,e, sandstone and conglomerat. "eIore We reach the basic rock at tn, "eu 1i the basin, if we judge the deptl
 
 '' the strata by measuring across it DpJufned edges. Then why shoul, we expect the oil zone we have en '''NJered 80 near the surface to be tn "n'y one existing within the course 0 ''e wei" All authorities agree tha o'I7 occur in veins, or irregular an "'Ss'nnected Assures, and in beds. Il u''cH HandStones imbedded in shalet ',' .ohdItlons that obtain in our fielo '"0 'lI occurrences are bed.like, as
 general rule, and where the strat '"." great age and depth, as they d '" 'oe Blackberry field, oil beds unde, 1e one another aud there should be n encouragement until great dcptl Sua.i have been attained in the borln 'n the Blackberry field.
 The Blackberry, or River,ida n neIos' and the Pennsylvania oil field were formed during the same geoloo IcaI period Both are in the upper D. '0p'ap systep, and therefore the ole