The San Francisco call., 1910-02-20
PALMER COMPANY
SEEKS GUSnFRS
Four Wells Drilling Near the
Famous Producer,
No. |
Experts Believe That New Wells
Will Equal Those OF the
Earlier Days

one of the most remarkable wealth.
producers in California is an oil well
in the Santa Maria valley, Santa Bar
bara county. which is now gushing
forth $3.50 per day and more and has
produced as much as $4,000 in "a hours,
1t is the famous gusher of the Palmer
oil company. Palmer No. l. and around
the world it is known as one of the
wonders of the oil industry. For two
years the gusher has been flowing and
al the present time il bids fair to pro-
duce steadily for years to come.
Underlain as the field is with enor-
nous quantities of oil and gas. the
great gusher seems assured of score
or more years of productivity, and the
five other wells now being drilled on
the same property, two of them now
almost at the point themselves of being
brought in as producers, promise to be
as successful as the great well that
has in the last "a months earned so
much for the stock holders of the
Palmer oil company. That the new
wells will equal the record of the
gusher is the opinion of many experts
who have made a careful study of the
geological and geographical conditions
of the Santa Maria fields. At one time
the big, freely flowing well sent up
10000 barrels day, and, after increas-
ing and decreasing as the natural gas
pressure that forces the oil to the
surface varied, the output can now be
relied upon TO flow from 1,400 to 1,5O0
barrels in each "a hours.
Even a cursory investigation of the
Palmer oil company's property VIII
indicate what close study of the field
will prove-that the $50 acres held by
the company in the two sections in
which they operate promises, from the
results already gained from the ter
ritory. greater and more certain re-
turns than any other district in the
wonderful Santa Maria valley.
A consideration OF the Palmer oil
company's tracts and of the region sur
rounding the holdings is more than
worth while. improvements costing
more than S325,000 have been made in
the equipment of the Palmer camp,
which is termed the most modern one
in California. The Palmer property is
in two holdings about two miles apart
and both in the midst of the most
productive regions of the famous Santa
Maria fields. One hundred and sixty
acres of land comprise the parcel upon
which the Palmer gusher has been
spouting oil for the last two years.
This lies about IA miles southeast Of
the town of Santa Maria, on the north
erly limb of and about three quarters
of a mile from the longitudinal axis of
the anticline forming the eastern eX-
tension of the Santa Maria field The
oil horizons occur in Monterey sands
interbedded with soft blue shale, and
the structural conditions are perfect
and ideal In the sinking of Palmer
No. 1 the first oil bearing sands were
encountered at a depth of 2,113 feet,
and well saturated oil sands appear at
intervals to depth of 3,200 feet, at
which point the gusher was finished,
having passed through the oil horizon.
There is no place in the world where
the oil measures are so massive and
thoroughly saturated as in California,
and this condition, found on the
Palmer property. insures long life
to the productivity of the wells.
What resources behind the Palmer
oil company that produces its regular
dividend of S1S,020 on the Goth of
each month becomes of great interest
to those who regard with astonishment
the prosperity of the company. First,
the gusher for two years has been
steadily producing immense guam
titles of oil without the use and added
expense Of pumps, and this has meant
sum of money for the treasury with
which to sink more wells. Expert en-
gineers who have examined the prop
erty report that the total $50 acres
easily could support a well TO each
10 acres, and this would mean SS wells
in all AS the wells are completed the
dividends they pay will be used in part
for new work, and the final returns to
the company can not be computed.
Ralph Arnold, consulting geologist
and engineer. and former United States
geologist, surveyed the Palmer prop
critics for the government, and later,
when in private service, made a second
examination for the company. He
submits a report that comedies the IS
wells which will make the final COM
plement of the company at least 200
barrels Of oil per day each, but. to be
conservative, he lowers the probable
output to 100 barrels This, too, in
the face of the fact that the gusher,
Palmer No ], has flowed 637,75s bar
rels in the two years of it's life, an
average of approximately $40 barrels
a day.
Mr.. Arnold calculates the life of the
wells, considering the depth and sat
uration of the oil sands, at at least
Is years Taking 100 barrels per day
as a conservative estimate of each
wells output, he totals the produc-
ton for Is years at 4S,1S0,00O bar
rels. This great figure, multiplied by
a conservative price of SO cents per
barrel would give a gross income of
S24.090.000.