The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1909-03-25
OKLAHOMA'S VAST
MINERAL DEPOSITS
State Geologist Gould Tells of The
States Wonderful Undeveloped
Underground Wealth.

Ardmore, Okla, Mar. 25.-Recently
the mineral resources of the south
ern district of Oklahoma have been
attracting marked attention and be-
cause of this the Ardmore CONNER
cial club has been very diligent in
securing data in this direction. Prof.
Charles N. Gould state geologist, who
has become an authority of promin-
ence, addressed the club recently us
ing maps and diagrams to illustrate
his talk. Mr. Gould said in part.
THE state of Oklahoma has more
kinds of mineral, and more mineral
of the kind, than any state in the
Union.
Il have three maps of the state of
Oklahoma, naked in water colors for
the various minerals One shows
the granite, marble, limestone and
portland cement rock, another the oil
and gas area, and the last number
of minerals including gypsum, salt,
lead and zinc coal and some others.
"The state or the nation that con
tains fuels controls the situation. In
dustries must come with fuels, and
Oklahoma has, so far as we know, a
larger amount of fuel than any other
state, in quantities which for all prac
tical purposes are inexhaustible-co
oil and gas.
Starting at the Kansas line, run
ming south to the region of Coalgate
and Lehigh and east to the region
of Fort Smith, is the area | have call
ed the probable oil and gas area. It
IS the region which from the stand
point of geology should contain large
deposits of oil and gas. In the pos
sible fields l have placed the Wheeler
field, the field at Lawton, at Granite
and some other places, the Wheeler
field being the largest in the possible
area Mr.. Hutchinson, my assistant
has visited this field and he is in
clined to think that it will develop ii
area and that in a few years it will
be one of the largest producing fields
in Oklahoma.
THE production of oil and gas in
Oklahoma during the past two years
has led the United States, outstrip
ping Texas and California, and pro
ducing about 100000 to 5O,OOOOO(
barrels of oil each year in the eastern
and southern districts.
There is really no way of estimat
ing the amount of coal in Oklahoma
Mr.. Taft, the government geologist
estimated the coal in the segregated
lands at three billion tons. On this
estimate | should say that the tota
amount would be from six to eighI
billion tons
frhe fuels are found in the eastern
and southern parts of the state. i
we had the fuels alone the state
would be wealthy, because other ma
terials must be brought to the fuels
for manufacture. The glass made il
southern Kansas is from sand ship
ped from near Peoria, ILL., Fortunate
~ Oklahoma has a great many things
beside uel
"The next most abundant minera
in Oklahoma is gypsum The guam
ity is practically beyond comprehen
sion. | compute it at 1913 billion tons
after an exhaustive investigation. W.
have u plaster mills in Oklahoma
today making an average of 10 tom
daily. If we had 100 MILLS of thii
capacity the amount of gypsum woul'
last $4,000 years.
IN western Oklahoma there are
inexhaustible quantities of salt ant
yet not a barrel of salt is produces
IN Oklahoma today
Lead and zinc are found in mum
Der of places. but so far as | know
with the exception of FIVE counties
in the northern part of the state the
are not in paying quantities
Il think | am safe in saying tha
so far as we know. the glass san'
deposits are larger than those of an,
other state. The Oklahoma sand i
found Just north of Ardmore. San'