The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1910-04-21
KERN RIVER
HOLDS RECORD
FOR OUTPUT
Has Yielded Petroleum Worth
S9I,OOO,OOO at Present
Prices
Old Wells Keep Up to the Stand
ard and New Ones
Come In
Pieces of Land Along the Bluffs
Attract the Attention
of Operators

Although the Kern river oil field has
Of late been largely overshadowed in
the public interest by the excitement
OF discovery in the newer portions of
Sunset and Midway, the old king of
the California fields can still lay claim
10 the largest number of producing
wells. the greatest return on the money
Invested. and quite as much romance
and human interest as any of its rivals
Since the warm June days in 1899
when J. NJ Elwood and his sons with
their picks and shoVels and primitive
windlass sunk a 80 foot shaft by the
river bank and found the thick, black
oil. upward OF 1000 wells have been
drilled on approximately 10 sections of
land. Within these 10 sections there has
hardly been a failure that could not be
traced directly TO bad management or
the work Of inexperienced drillers.
Wherever the drill dropped within
the well defined limits of the field the
great rich pool of oil was penetrated
Nearly 1,400 of these wells are still
producing, and their monthly yield in
round numbers is 100000 barrels In
the Il years of its history the Kern
river field has produced 100000
barrels Of oil, worth at present prices
ksL000,o00 at the we'll
ADVENT OF AGENCY
II was the producers of the Kern river
held who led the way in solving the
problem Of markets. The Independent
Oil Producers agency, now a state wide
Institution, was organized by Kern river
producers and was the outgrowth of
OemOralized condition of the marketing
end Of the industry that sent the price
Of crude petroleum in 1905 10 the ruin
Gus figure Of 10 cents per barrel The
az n~Fa y n
IS Z cents the first year; from 1872
cents TO 27h cents the second year;
from p = cents TO 601k cents the third
year; 10 $50 cents the fourth year.
The NTH year the Bakersfield agency
fortified by producers from the other
fields Of the county and working in
full harmony with the Coalinga agency.
Joined forces with the Union oil COM
pany in planning and putting into eff
feet arrangements for transporting and
marketing oil that promise TO put the
industry on solid and permanent
foundation.
The building of the Producers Trans
portation cOmpany's pipe line from the
valley fields TO the coast and the ar
rangement whereby the Unions tank
steamers and storage and marketing
facilities all along the coast are util-
ized 10 handle the independents oil are
- Al HNElIS Al NlAlS great SCnSulG-
The building Of the California-Arizona
pipe line and the extension of the mar
ket for California oil into Arizona and
Mexico are steps projected.
Kern river suffered the hardships
that forced the producers into de-
fensive alliance against the Standard
oil company and the railroads. No oil
field less magnificent in size or rich
ness could have withstood the hard
ships without bankruptcy or made the
night without certainty of failure Nc
hlttrick and Sunset are both older
fields in point Of years than Kern river.
but Kern river had TO make the fight
at the time when the odds were des-
perate, for Kern river alone was able
TO do it.
In the lean years around 1905 the oil
Industry on the west side was dead
The swarming activity in Sunset and
Midway at the present time is directly
due TO the battle that Kern river
mainly helped TO win, and that field
may well claim TO be the mother of the
states new oil industry
KERN WELLS HOLD UP
In the last year Kern river has
fallen q little behind Coalinga in num-
Der Of barrels Of monthly production.
but for total yield il is still supreme
Its wells, moreover, continue to pro-
Hest wells are still doing good work on
the pump and the use of compressed air
is making good producers out of many
others that long ago were supposed to
have gone TO water. A glance at the
map shows a large amount Of undrilled
land in the proven territory, and Of late
there have been encouraging signs of
an extension Of the field to the north
and west.
The wells in the field are from 900
TO 1900 feet in depth. the strata dip
ping 10 the west al the rate Of approx
imately loo feet TO the mile The oil
sands pumped are from $50 to 400 feet
In thickness Deep drilling by the
Grace oil company and the Santa Fe
has so far failed to develop another
stratum Of paying sand, but the theory
that there is light oil beneath the Kern
river field viii not be wholly dissi-
pated. The Santa Fe drilled almost a
mile in depth close to the southeast
edge Of the field and was stopped from
going deeper by the loss of tubing in
the bottom Of the hole. Gas and light
oil were both discovered.
\ WORK ALONG BLUFFS
Another possibility Of new life for
the Kern river field lies in experiment tai
drilling now in progress on the bluffs
south Of the river, where the Santa Fe
Is down 2,465 feet. Continued trouble
with water has so clouded the true
status Of the well that opinion is al
most equally divided between the sue
cess and failure of the experiment
Just now an effort is being made TO
cement off the water near the bottom
Of the hole so that the value of a sand
uncovered just under $500 feet can be
fully determined. If oil is found in
this well others viii be drilled south
Of the river
A number of parties are preparine
10 drill on Cottonwood creek. a wet
weather stream that empties into Kern
river a short distance below the point
where the latter energies from the
mountains. The location of these pros
pective wells is u miles due east of
Bakersfield and about 10 miles south
east of the Kern river field. It is pos
gible that the Kern river field may be
greatly extended in this direction and
also TO the west, but these are specu-
lations for the future to verify or dis
prove.
MILLIONS IN DIVIDENDS
Meantime, Kern river may rest on its
past achievements and the splendid
reality Of the present. After the i'm
mense amount of oil it has yielded, ii
takes three eight inch pipes and rail-
road to handle its present production.
In Kern river is the biggest assem-
blage OF oil reservoirs in the country.