Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-01-17
FINDING OIL WELLS.
TT SEEMS TO BE A MATTER OF
GOOD GUESSING.

GOOD GUESSING.
Methods of the DrilIer, the Promoter
and the "Witch"-A Question That
the User of the Divning Rod
Dodged.
"And how do you locate an oil well
in wild country?' was asked a driller,
a promoter and the witch" Each
answered after his profession and his
kind, and each believes himself infalli-
Bile. 1t Is comparatively easy. in well
developed territory, with producing
wells on all sides, to pitch the site for
a derrick almost anywhere and get the
oil. But in remote districts, where the
drill has never made hole and where
the derricks are not in sight, it is an
other story.
We'll" said the driller man after a
pause, ''it is like this: You don't
know thing about it, and the more
you look at the land and the more you
think about it the more nMddled you
probably will become. Some rather
take their chances on hillside and
others in the valleys. Some follow so
called surface indications and others
follow the advice of the witch. It is
all a guess. however, and when all is
said and done you probably will find it
one place as Well as another. / had
contract not so long ago to drill a hole
FOR fellow who wanted it on a ridge.
He had picked out the Aexact spot and
marked it off, SO that all had to do
was to put up the rig and begin. We
started for the place On a wagon, but
in the river bottom the wagon got
stuck in the mud. We fused around
for awhile, ard then saw we were in
for it. My man got tired and finally
said he believed we would locate the
well as close to the place where we
got suck as possible We did it and
got good oil well. After we got the
well in the river bottom we moved up
on the hillside to the spot he had first
picked out and we got dry hole. (
knew another fellow who went to a
wild country When he came to pick
out site for the first we'll 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 well. He got oil. There
was still another fellow who used to
tell us to drill any old place, and he
sometimes found oil. But these are
merely samples of experience. Every
man to his notion"
Il try said the promoter, appearing
as dignified and wise as an owl, first
to lind out the nearest we'll and the
direction the pool seems to take. Then
I take ruler and measure off the line
of the trend and place my derricks
somewhere along that line. But if |
was distant, say, ter miles, from the
nearest production it would be all
matter of guess. Especially is that
true of the Kansas field, where the
trends are contrariwise and sometimes
cross each other. In case of doubt l
should let the driller pick the spot and
abide the result. Even the first hold
is no indication of the value of a lease.
I have known of as many as five holes
drilled on lease in this field and ev-
cry one of them dry when some tender
foot 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 a stones throw of these
dry holes are some of the best pro-
ducing wells in the district. re-
member also case at Richburg, N. Y.
The men drilled thirteen holes, an un-
lucky nrmber, and did not get the oil.
After that came man who got oil
in every one of the fifteen holes he
drilled. If the original promoters had
Surveyed the ground they could not
have gone around the oil producing
territory nearly SO closely as they did
by accident. You have to take your
chances, and that is what am doing"
cit is easy said the witch. 'All
have to do is to take my divining rod
and go out into the territory to be de-
veloped and put it on the ground. If
there is oil there the instrument will
show it at once. You cannot fail If yeu
have the proper kind of an instrument.
The trouble with these people is that
they are not sufficiently posted in met
allurgy to know that you can discover
the presence of mineral Oil in the
ground by the simple device of di-
vining rod But you can do it all the
same Ishave located dozens of wells
in this district and never failed yet.
And in other districts where no wells
have been drilled have located good
oil wells which eventually made
money for their owners. With the
rest of the fellows it is guesswork;
with me it is 'cinch.'"
"And if it is a. cinch with you, why
don't you get rich out of it instead of
making the other fellow rich?" the
witch was asked. But he looked out
over the tops of the. buildings at this
and said he had an engagement with
promoter down the street.-Kansas
City Star.