Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-09

The thirteenth semi-annual meeting
of the counties committee of the Cali
fornia development board, held at Ne
vada City last Saturday, had more to
do with mining than any other subject
and among the papers read was one
by Courtney De Kalb, editor of the
Mining and Scientific Press, San Fran
cisco. This paper was the best ever
read before the counties committee, so
the members declared, and had to DO
with the vital things now uppermost
in the oil industry.
Concerning the political situation in
oil Mr.. De Kalb expressed himself in
accord with the oil men themselves IN
differing with the administration in its
conservation of natural resources as
applied to oil lands. He said a man
should be protected in what he has
legally obtained, that If it be contrary
to the public welfare that further To-
cation of public lands be made, no one
could protest that he had been
wronged by legal general withdrawal
of that privilege, that common law
right is crystallized common sense jus
tice and the common sense of mankind
rebels against retroactive legislation.
The counties committee of the Cali
fornia development board in the hope
of aiding the oil men indorsed the fight
they are making at Washington and
forwarded the Endorsement to con-
gress.
Mr. De Kalb's paper follows:
ENTERS AGE OF OIL
'"The Golden state has entered the
age of oil. From modest beginnings it
has risen to pre-eminence. Ten years
ago California produced scant 4,O00,-
900 barrels; in 1909 her wells yielded
5S191, 1928 This year it will exceed
u T1rtppr fh6 month Of
April the output was 061 barrels,
which is at the rate of 80000000 per
year. Moreover, the permanency of
the fields is assured for an indefinite
period. w. w. Orcutt, the geologist
of the Union Oil company, has esti-
mated that California can maintain its
present yield of petroleum for fifty
years.
"This is evidence Of the conservative
spirit of Mr.. Orcutt, for the indications
are that the Midway and Sunset fields
alone could contribute that amount.
1t is not the phenomenal flood of oil
from the LakevieW and other gusher5
in those districts that gives color to
the claim. There are 225 producing
wells in the Midway field, and ten of
these are veritable geysers of oil. The
LakeVieW has been spouting $4,000 bar
rels- per day for over three months,
until now it has outstripped Baku and
holds the record for the world. But
these are mere incidents. The signih-
cant point is that these wells are so
scattered and have given such evil
dence of the geological conditions eX-
listing there that seventy-fVe square
miles of territory may be considered
definitely proved,
"a government report sacrifices val
ue if not Immediately accessible. In
the case Of an industry which is de-
veloped by leaps and bounds like that
of oil production in California the
time when a report appears is most
important. When the report of the
McKittrick-Sunset fields was written
the exploitation Of the Midway flats
had not fairly begun. Mr.. Arnold
showed acumen in suggesting that the
impregnation OF the sands might be-
come greater as the exploration pro-
gressed farther away from the coarser
sands Of the anticline, but from the
evidence at hand he sounded a warning
in regard to water. He said:
"'It has been the experience in an
alagous structural positions in other
localities to find that the water in the |
beds increases toward the center of
the syncline and as the Midway val |
ley is in general way a great syn
cline it is more than likely that the |
beds underlying it will be found to
contain more water than the same
beds nearer the edge of the valley
GREATEST ON EARTH
"California now ranks as the great
est oil-producer in the world, and It Is
a free field. I mean that there exists
the healthy condition OF a free market. |
One of the most vital factors is the
independent agency, which Is a com
bination of a large number Of inde-
pendent producers. II is the effort of
this agency to obtain the best price
possible for the oil, while the large
marketing companies naturally seek
to buy oil as cheaply as they can. The