The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1910-04-21
SIGNS Of new
BOOM APPEAR
At MCkITTRICK
Rigs in the Territory Point to
Enlargement of the
District
Twenty=seven Strings of Tools
Are Running on Flat and
Foothills
Old Producers Continue to Give
a Heavy Monthly
Yield

Those who have heard so little OF
McKittrick. and so much of other fields.
may be surprised to learn that it has
d monthly yield Of 4s1.346 barrels from
l34 producing wells. Twenty-seven
strings Of tools are now operating. The
Associated oil company controls large
portion Of the producing McKittrick
field, and this in part accounts for the
comparatively small public knowledge
of what is happening there.
Tn ere is reason to expect that in the
near future McKittricl1 may be lifted
10 q more conspicuous place among the
oil fields. In the last few months there
has arisen a very interesting question
as to where exactly. the real AIcTlittrick
field may be. The formation which the
present McKittrick wells tap, instead
OF tapping up against the slope of the
hills like shingles on the side Of the
house, dips into the hills almost at
right angle from the direction in which
one would expect to find it In other
words. the producing wells are above
the outcroppings instead of below them.
in many places along the face of the
hills the exposed oil strata may be seen,
some tremendous upheaval of nature
had wrenched the layers of the earth's
crust asunder and lifted half of ii bod
lily some thousands of feet above its
original place.
THEORY or NEW FIELD
But what became Of the other half?
II il dropped straight down after it
was broken off from its mate, drillings
below the outcroppings have failed to
discover il. AS seen from the town of
Nick ittrick, or from the railroad that
runs by it, the producing wells are some
hundreds Of feet up in the hills. Be
low the railroad there are no wells.
But across the fiat and over a little
range Of hills couple of miles away
the Nacirema oil company has found
The oil sand again at a depth Of 1880
feet From the range of hills that lie
between the Nacirema and the old Nc
kittrick field the mesa slopes gently
10 the north and east. Under this mesa
many oilmen expect TO find what they
are pleased TO cali the real McKittrick
oil field.
Among the prospectors in this new
territory are the American oil fields
company. the Union. Barnsdale. Drake
and Yancey. the O'DonneIl group OF
daring operators and other pioneers,
large and small.
This new oil field. if it should prove
10 be an oil field, viii be an extension
practically Of the Elk and Buena Vista
district where the excitement among
the locstors has been so intense And
II the Elk and Buena Vista hills and
the north McKittrick field all fulfill the
hopes Of those who have staked out
claims there il VIII mean an extern
sion Of the whole Sunset Midway Nc
kittrlck district, from three to six
miles in width. The whole district is
30 10 40 miles long, so it is readily seen
what tremendous possibilities these
west side fields may hold in store.
INDICATIONS SOUTHWARK
In addition to the prospecting going
on 70 the north OF the old McKittrick
field, search is being made to the south.
Outcroppings Of oil formation have
been found high in the hills, and it is
the belief OF oil men who have taken
claims in that vicinity that a deeper
oil sand than the one found in the old
field underlies the southern front An
other theory is that the sands discov-
cred in the proven portion Of the Nc
kittrick feed may be a portion of the
same strata that crop out higher in
the hills and that it is also a part of
the strata that the Nacirema found
miles TO the north. If this theory is
correct the old McKittrick sand must
have been torn loose from the remain
der Of the strata and lifted up hun
dreds or thousands Of feet from its
original position The tumbled and
broken character of the formation pen
etrated by the McKittrick wells bears
out this theory. and SO does the pres
ence Of an apparently very extensive
break between the McKittrick and Mid
way fields
BOOM FOR McKITTRICK
The conspicuous outcroppings of oil
sand at McKittrick early drew atten-
ton TO that field. At Asphalto seen
ages from the exposed sands oozing
down the face of the cliff had formed
great deposits of asphaltum of verv
good quality, and large quantities of it
were mined and shipped years ago. The
drilling Of wells followed. In some of
them oil was found at shallow DEPTHS
and in others not far away it was only
reached by comparatively deep drill
ing.
Around the famous Shamrock well
an 1900 barrel producer. a number OF
dry holes were drilled. The earlv davs
Of the field were well sprinkled with
financial tragedies. But the failures
of the early drillers taught some VAL
uspie lessons for the benefit of later
corners and recent drilling has met
with success.
The town of McKittrick boasts of a
branch railroad built from the main
line of the Southern Pacific at Bakers
field for its own especial benefit II is
not filed with a feverish throng of oil
prOspectors. ca ger to get started 10
drilling for gushers, as Taft and Mari
copa are. but its merchants, machin
lists and supply houses are busy every
minute. 1t is one Of the most prosper
GUS towns on the west side, and the
people who live there are content TO
wait the new boom which is rapidly