The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-10-09
Prominent Operator Discusses
the Rich Promise of the
State.
EAST WILL EVENTUALLY
HAVE TO LOOK TO WEST
Quality of the Oil Found in
Wyoming Is First
Class.

7. Fl. Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Bros,
on business connected with the Green
River Townsite and Reservoir company,
and is q guest at the Wilson hotel. MIR.
| Fitzgerald is also connected i'll an of
fetal capacity with the. Chicago.Wy.
oming Oil corporation. In a conversa-
! ton with Tribune representative, Mr..
! Fitzgerald talked Interestingly of the
| Spring Valley oil fields, where his cor
poration is now actively engaged in
| sinking oil wells.
twelve miles cast Of Evanston. The oil
producing area of the valley is about
| eight miles wide by twenty miles in
length, as demonstrated by develop
ments already made and the survey as
made by Prof. Yeach of the geological
| department of the Government.
The Chicago Wyoming Oil corpora
lease 1O,1s0 acres Of oil lands IN the
valley. Last May the vice-president
and field manager of the company com
menced to sink we'll It was drilled
| TO completion, or rather to a depth of
1920 feet, which took them through
the third oil sand strata. At this depth
| the oil produced is 100 barrels per day
| The company IS now sinking second
well, which is being driven with all
| possible vigor by two shifts. kept going
night and day, the best drilling machin.
| cry that money can buy being used by
the company IN doing the work.
Work Is Expensive.
The sinking of an oil well is some
what expensive. In going down 10 the
third oil sand vein the following sub
| stances are encountered; After going
| through the soil, a coal vein is encoun.
tered; There is coal in all that region,
says MIR. Fitzgerald. Then a thick vein
of shale Is gone through, which overlies
| the first vein of oil sand. This sand
is usually encountered at a depth of
from 400 to 600 feet, and will aver.
| age IN thickness about twenty feet
After the first sand is gone through
| sandstone Is gone through when at
usual depth of 900 TO l00D feet the sec.
| ond strata is struck. This second vein
is usually about thirty feet thick and
| gives production Of a few barrels of
oil per day. Between the second and
third strata of oil sand lies a solid
body of the hardest limestone,
The third oil sand strata is usually
encountered at a depth of between
100 and 1900 feet, and the thickness
in the company IS well is 80 feet aud
the well produces 100 barrels of oil per
daY.
The specific gravity of Spring Valley
oil is 80 per cent. The best in Penn
sylvania is 43 per cent, while the best
showing In Kansas is 80 per cent. The
Chicago Wyoming Oil corporation is
composed of a coterie of very wealthy
men, most of them residents of Chi
cago.
Large Sum Expended.
The company has already spent in
drilling machinery, operating and devel~
opment Of wells, etc, exclusive of
lauds and leases, over $4,000. 1t is
the intention of the company. at the
operate an oil refinery. The crude oil
can be refined at cost of less than
81 per barrel. The selling price of n
barrel of this kind of refined oil is
said 10 be about $S per barrel, This
will give some idea of the great fuan-
cial possibilities Of that portion of our
nelghboTlng State, as measured by dis
tanee almost at our very door, and of
which so little is known by the aver
age Salt Laker. Many a city has
grown up of greater business capacity
than Salt Lake and fourished with
little other resources than the oils that
were made TO gush from the oil wells
surrounding them. Especially is this
true of Pennsylvania, Texas and some
OInPC EoUaUCS.
Adyerting again to the magnitude of
the oil possibilities of Wyoming, Prof
Kwhngelin, a director of the Noble
Bros. Oil company of Russia, wns sent
t. this country by the Russian Govern.
rent to visit and report upon the OH
fields of America. He stated that the
Wyoming field was the greatest virgin
oil field that lie had ever visited, and
it was his opinion that the far East
JUnt hDx= 10 1nn1r 10
its high-grade oil. Russia, he said, pro-
duces no high grade oil Another thing
in this connection that will tend TO |
bring the oil fields of Wyoming into |
public notice is this: The Pennsylva- |
MA oil fields are gradually giving out. |
The production has been slowly but |
constantly decreasing for the past ten |
years.
Standard Has Withdrawn.
The Standard Oil company has with
drawn from market it's high-grade gas
oline. No other field has yet produced |
any high grade gasoline; so that this
country, yes, and other countries, will |
have to turn to Wyoming for this quail
ity of gasoline. The existence of oil in
Wyoming OF such quality and OF such
apparently lnexhaustible quantity
means much for this intermountain
country. aside from It's intrinsic value
to the men whose pluck, money and |
enterprise have made it commercial
commodity. 1t means that in this great
mountain wash nature has planted
every material thing necessary to the
comfort and luxury of man.
Several Salt Lake capitalists are in.
terested in the Spring Valley oil fields.
and it is expected that now that oil
refneries are being installed the -eopIe
of Salt Lake will hear more of Wyom.
ing oi! fields IN the future than they
have in the past