The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1905-01-18
Anse La Butte Oil Fields.

criticism than any other oil field in
the South. The public may be right
in some respects. They see oil-men
going to the fl cid and coming back,
they hear of new wells being drilled
and still no gushers. They hear OF
thousands of dollars being expended
for the development of the field and
still no oil in large quantities. They
ask why don't they bring in wells-or
say, they don't want to bring in q
we'll. These questions and remarks
are only due to the fact, that the pub
lie will not interest themselves
enough to 20 Out to Anse la Butte
and see how a we'll is drilled. 1t is
not an easy task to drill a wild cat"
we'll: the driller must contend with
many disadvantages and these are SO
numerous that they would be hard to
explain in a few lines. Aside from
this. it is the broken formation at
Anse La Butte which has given the
driller the most headache up to now.
We all know that there is oil at Anse
La Butte. but in what quantities we do
not know. But we do know that as
far as surface indications are
ed. they are bigger and better than
any Oil-field in the South. The gas
seipages are extraordinarily pro-
nOunced: therefore Oil-men of repu-
| <C<:o~ a1O:~o That A0co n prfto - nm
dermined with enormous O~il-strOkes
somewhere. And for that a he
search for gushers will cotinue on,
till the proper place has been found.
The drillers have chosen places TO
|! drill as near the gas seipages rs pos
| sible and it seems as if the broken
formation rules near all these places.
If once the natural and unbrOken
stratas will be penetrated. oil wells
will be brought in. Up to-date
three-hundred thousand dollars have
been spent for drilling purposes at the
Anse La Butte field. Besides the
broken formation the driller has mel
with another disadvantage: this was
with q ridge of salt, which cuts
through the field. Three important
wells have been drilled in this salt,
one at the depth of eighteen hundred
feet. So the drillers gave these
wells up as salty propositions. The
next we'll which proved up a stratum
is the Hayward we'll No. I. This we'll
was drilled through five hundred feet
of rock salt. At the depth OF twelve
hundred feet, an oilstratum RAJ pene-
trated; the gas in this we'll, vas -
strong, that it crushed the strainer
and disabled it so, that only . few
barrels of oil can be secured from it
daily. But this well proves one
thing; that oil is there in quantities.
1t continues to produce the same
quantity to-day as it produced the
first day that compressed air was
used. The next six wells were drilled
in the broken formation. Some Of
these wells might have been good
pumping wells, if the salt water could
have been shut out. Others again
were drilled in . very fine oil-sand
which would clog up the strainers and
let no oil penetrate through. Some
of these wells 1T times would produce
q roaring sound, which is produced
by big volumes Of oil gas. But
being in the broken formation, either
the right oil pockets wers not struck
or the gas was hemmed by other
strstas which interfered with the oil
pockets. BY right oil pockets, 1
mean pockets which r probably cut
on from the main pocket by rock clay
or other stratas. That the Anse La
Butte field is probably very extern
sive is proven by the fact that Hey
wood we'll No. 2 is about five-hundred
yards from we'll No. l, and the Pioneer
we'll is about one mile from Haywood
we'll No. 2. The Pioneer we'll Is said
to have produced several barrels Of
oil and three or four oil stratas hsve
been penetrated in the same. But the
Pioneer we'll being amongst the first
wells in the field could not be made .
producing we'll on account Of 80 little
knowledge 1t that time shout the
Southern oil fields. Mr.. Scott Hey
wood has recently started to driln .
new we'll and probably with = little
more perseverance, and good luck .
gusher hight vt last be brought in