The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-11-23
THE WESTERN OIL FIELDS.
4 WIDESPREAD BOOM THAT BE-
 GAN EYE FEARS AGO.

4 WIDESPREAD BOOM THAT BE-
 GAN EYE FEARS AGO.
 Has Reached California After Taking
 in Much Intervening TerritOry-The
 oil Valuable as Locomotive Fuel.
 About five years ago an oil boom started in Texas. The Lucas gusher was brought in. as the oil men say, and flowed for a week entirely beyond control, filling hollOws for hundreds of feet around and forming creeks of oil which extended for several miles.
 That was in January. 1901. and since then the East has lost supremacy in oil production. News of the great strike spread with such rapidity that fortune hunters flocked to Texas from all parts of the country and the pro- spectors already at work toiled all the harder, spurred on by the success of others.
 Land near the gusher sold for $40 an acre before the discovery. A month or two afterward it was divided into little lots and in some instances an acre thus minced up brought s40,0O0.
 In the Spindle Top district land jumped from $S an acre to $35, ,0OO. Everybody in that part of Texas was oil crazy and within two months af- ter the Lucas began to flow no less than 400 companions had been formed with total alleged capital of $175 ,O0O,- 900 to bore for oil. sell land or oil ma- chinery or to build refineries and pipe lines.
 Beaumont became the center of the field and in three months it's popula- tion grew from 1000 to 3O,O0O. Then came the reaction. Within eighteen months derricks planted over dry holes had been abandoned, and in July, 1902, the daily production of the whole Beaumont field was only about twice i that of the single well which had caus- ed the influx O. people and capital into eastern Texas.
 About 15OOOO barrels of oil were be- ing secured every twenty-four hours. That was all that. the investors were getting for the $10,OO,00O they had put Iii, Ten per cent. of that amount had l b}e,n sunk in valueeSs borinss ] The development of other Texas 1 fields followed, however, and Louisina, i Califv rnia, Colorado, Kansas, Wyom- 1 ing and Indian Territory and Oklahoma began suddenly to come into notice as oil producers. According to Day Allen Wiley in Cassier's Magazine, the 1 Western and Southwestern fields are now producing n1cre oil than even the Appalachian and nma-Indiana terri toryh, which includes Pennsylvania Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
 In 1904, MT. Willie! says, no less than 6S GOO, ,000 barrels cane from the West and Southwest, while the total from the Eastern field was about S,OOo,0OC barrels less. To snow the enormous growth of the new eil regions, MT. Will ley declares that ir 1898 Pennsylvania Virginia, Ohio and Indiana furnished actually 94 per cert. of the output and in 1903 the Western States con tributed only 45 per cent. of the entire quantity.
 Of the Western States, California and Texas are the leaders in produc" ton, although the Kansas field prom ieses a yield of about 1O,0Oo,OOo barrei this year. The estimate for Califcrni; Is 25,0OO, 900.
 Geoglogists who have made a study of the gulf fields, as the oil bearing territory of the southwest has beer called, believe that the belt is fully POI miles long. Only a small portion of thi strip has been tested by the well borer but unless the opinion of many experts is useless the supply from the entir' field will make it one of the greates producing fields in the world.
 In Texas and California the oil camt so fast when 1t did appear that tht storage facilities for 1t proved to- b entirely inadquate, and in the earl, stages of the industry much of tht product was wasted. Excavations Wer' hastily made in the prairie, taking ad vantage of the natural depressions II the surface and these earth tanks pro bably suggested the idea for the huge reservoirs which have succeeded them l IG tGSGINOlE IS uSucliS SlISuAeAh AA form, with walls composed of the eartl removed in excavating the big bowl The interior is covered with dovetaile, blanks or concrete and the reservoir covered to keep the oil free from dus
 and rainfall. In the hottest weathe there is even danger that the suns ray may ignite the fuel, and asbestos ha
 been used as a covering on that ac count.
 Some of the reservoirs in the Bakera field district hold 100000 barrels, and { single one suffices for a series of wells
 The petroleum from the West differ considerably in consistency from tha of the Pennsylvania. The Westerl product is viscous in it's crude forn and yields but little Illuminating oil even by double distillation. It is classi fled under the oils having an asphal base, and is, therefore, suited for ; variety of purposes for which the Alp palachian product cannot be used.