Los Angeles herald., 1909-05-10
TO EXTERMINATE
FAKE OIL WELLS
AUBURY STARTS BATTLE-AX
MOVEMENT
WILL DRIVE FROM STATE EAST
ERIN WILDCATS
Aims Also to Stop Architects from
Specifying Foreign Materials in
Opposition to Superior CALI
fornia Products

SAN FRANCISCO, May 9.-State
Mineralogist Lewis E. Aubury has in
ltiated two movements in his office
which are calculated to be Of great
benefit to the mineral industries of the
state. one of them is designed to drive
out of business all fake oil corporations
which have been organized and are be-
ing operated to take in verdant and
unwary investors. That the properties
which these INSCRIPTIONS promoters are
exploiting have no present or prOspec-
tive value is a matter of no concern to
them. The lucklesS investor who buys
their stock parts with his money which
is sure to impOverish him and enrich
Themselves This is the sole end which
is sought.
Uusually these wildcat oil enterprises
are extensively advertised in eastern
publications in an alluring form to
catch the eye of gudgeons. The claims
are located in producing oil districts;
but to the well informed they are
known to cover barren ground outside
the productive oil belt. Derricks are,
however, erected on them and we'll
boring started for the sake of making
a showing on which to base the opera
lions in stock which is the sole source
of production.
Legislature Makes Provision
The legislature at it's last session
made adequate provision for the state
mining bureau to enable the state
mineralogist to put Il field assistant
into the petroleum district whose duty
it will be to make a map showing the
location of each well, its status and the
name and address of the owner Fake
oil will ha Mt tn hn tGO1OTpfl
out" of business as one of the results of
the innovation, while it will at the
same time serve as a guide to bonaftde
prospectors in following the course of
the productive oil measures.
Aubury is also aiming to put stop
to the practice of eastern architects
locating in this state or employed TO
draw plans for structures to be erected
here to name eastern building ma
terials, such as bricks from Indiana,
marble from Vermont and cement from
Europe in their specifications on which
contractors make their bids. The prac-
tice is unfriendly TO California products
and Injuries domestic industries in such
materials. To offset and minimize this
pernicious practice and to better adj
vertise the resources of the state
Aubury will make a special exhibit in
the mining bureaus mineral museum
of all natural and manufactured build
ing materials. 1t ought to prove of in
calculable value to California brick, tile
and terra Gotta makers, manufacturers
of cement and stone and state quarry
owners.
No state in the Union contains larger
or better deposits of clays from which
all kinds of kiln products of the best
quality are manufactured; of natural
materials for the manufacture of the
best so-called Portland or Rosendale
cements, and of granite, sandstone,
marble and roofing states than Califor-
mia possesses. When these eastern and
European products are imported here
ii is like carrying coal to Newcastle"
and their importation is an invasion of
a market which legitimately belongs to
California industries and those who
have embarked their capital in their
development and to the army Of skilled
workers employed in them.