The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-12-28
DRILLS ASPHALT
WELL IN LAKE BED
California Company Expects to
Produce Heavily From the
Utah Field.
OPERATIONS ARE UNIQUE
PURE PRODUCT OBTAINED FROM
SALT LAKE BED.

Or. /. r. Palmer who is i'm charge
of the asphalt we'll drilling operations
of the California Oil & Asphalt COM
pany, near Promontory Point, in Great
Salt lake. expects the coming spring
10 have completed a sufficient number
Of wells to guarantee steady production
il commercial quantities for an IN
definite period. The well already com
pleted would produce perhaps twenty
live tons a day of pure asphalt, but IN
view of the fact that q dozen wells
can be operated at little more cost than
one, economy demands that NUM-
Der be brought in before regular pro-
ductiOn is attempted.
THE PromOntory asphalt deposit is
in oil sand-not in the form of lake.
said Dr. Palmer, who was in this city
yesterday. land for that reason IL is
assured that the deposit is virtually
ineXhaustible. 1t is the purest asphalt
known, and the oil sand in which it
occurs covers a tract of at least forty
acres. From the well that we have
there is normal exodus of several tons
of asphalt a day. as It seeps from the
sand in 'shoestring' form. By heating
the pipe the flow would be greatly ac-
CELEBRATED, until there would be tempo
rary exhaustion. Seepage wells when
or every few hours, as individual cases
may warrant, nature providing a new
supply during the period Of rest
OIL Derrick on Raft.
The operations of the California Oil
& Asphalt cOmpany-sO-called because
it is backed by California pe0ple-are
unique in that they are conducted I'D
the lake. approximately 1000 feet from
F-.r ion mil Ia
the enormous power developed by
waves when the Great Salt lake is
I'm motion will realize at once some Of
the difficulties which had to be over
come before an ordinary oil rig could
be operated in the water that distance
from shore. The problem was finally
solved by constructing a raft of spe-
cial design, The raft is constructed
of drift logs, to which heavy new tim
mers are bolted, and the whole is an
chored by piles driven on four sides.
What saves the raft from demolition
by the waves is that spaces of several
inches are left between the logs, pro-
Viding circulation for the water as 1t
sweeps over and under the raft, Near
the center is an open space large
enough FOR the working of the drill
and the placing of the pipes. An eX-
tension of the open space to one end
Of the raft Is provided with gates,
which are fastened with bolts when
drilling is i'm operation. but which are
opened to permit of backing the vaft
away from the protruding pipe after
a well has been completed.
Drilling in Lake Bed Is Easy.
With all the extraordinary expense
attached to surrounding the difficult
ties of drilling wells in the lake, DIT
Palmer says that the cost in the long
run viii be less than it would be TO
operate on the shore. The ground on
the shore to considerable depth is filled
with huge bOulders, which would make
drilling extremely difficult. The for
nation in the bottom of the lake is blue
clay, inpregnated with lime, and the
drilling is easy. At ninety-five feet
shales are encountered and a strong
flow OF gas occurs; at 100 feet clay of
indigo blue again comes in and at
lao feet the asphalt-bearing sand is
found.
Dr.. Palmer is confident that the Pro
mOntory field will prove to be one of
the most prolific producers of asphalt
in the country and the high-grade or
the product of course makes it very
valuable. The original discovery in the
field was made eleven years ago. when
Ferdinand Schenck put down a hole
near the first well of the California
people. The lake did not at that time
cover the ground where the drilling
was done. The top of a mound of
asphalt which flowed from the original
wen shows now above the water. De-
spite the showing he made. Mr.
Schenck was for some reason unable
to interest capital in developing the
field.