The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-29

and its indebtedness Is also small. AT
present the lands of the company in Tus-
caloosa county are undeveloped, but were
selected by experts as having great pos
sibilities for oil and gas, and the company
will develop these lands soon and acquire
other lands in the same territory. The
lands under lease in Fayette county are
partially developed and are being devel-
oped as rapidly as possible at present.
These lands are well selected, and the fact
that we have five producing wells now on
the property with an output of over 2O,OOO-
900 feet of gas per day prove this to be a
fact, and within the next 80 days it is our
belief that we will have five more wells
completed, and there are strong prob
abilities that one or more of them will be
oil gushers.
The gas has been found at a level of
about 400 feet from the surface In
all of these wells, and show an aver
age pressure of more than 500 pounds
per square inch when closed in on all
of them, and it Is the opinion of all of
the experts who have examined the
| field that it Is matter of only short
while when the oil will he developed
The gas Is one of the purest and
highest grade gases that has ever been
discovered.
| Under our contract with the Consum-
ers' Natural Gas company We Will re-
ceive 3 cents per 1000 cubic feet for
this gas at the wells, and by the time
the pipe line is constructed we Will
have a capacity of perhaps 100,000.o0O
feet per day The price of cents per
| 1000 cubic feet at the wells is as good
or better than the average price paid
In other fields, but the gas is absolutely
valueless SO long as it remains unused.
We need Birmingham to consume our
gas and Birmingham needs the gas,
and for this reason this contract was
made with Mr.. Miller who assigned the
same to the Consumers Natural Gas
company, In case the Consumers Nat
ural Gas company fails to complete the
pipe line to Birmingham on or before
the LIST day of January. 1912, the FRAN
chises conveyed in said contract revert
to this company.
1t was necessary for this contract to
be made for two reasons. The first
was that the company had to have cash
| to meet the pay rolls and the operating
expenses or suspend operations and go
into bankruptcy; and second, to pro
vide a mark ct as early as possible. The
Providence Oil and Gas company VIII
| have time to make good its franchises
| in case the Consumers Natural Gas
company fails to perform its contract
within the stipulated time. The com
| pany has been hampered on account of
| lack of funds to prosecute it's work, and
| is now badly in need of funds to prose-
| cute its operations which have been SO
| successful.
| The reason of this is that whenever
| the company has tried to sell treasury
| stock, some avaricious stock holder with
| a total disregard of the companies well
| fare and wrapped up in blind selfish
ness would always undercut the com
/ DanVg nrica and the stock holder n
| get the money and the company would
| be double crossed. Practically all of
| the money that the company has had
| during my term of office has been ad-
| vanced to it by your humble servant,
| and at great personal sacrifice and
privations. The litigation against the
company heretofore spoken of has done
| perhaps more to cripple and impoverish
the company than any one cause, and
| yet they say that the assets of the coin
pany are in jeopardy. Who has jeop-
ardized them, the wolves in the Sleeps
clothing or the man who has shared his
| last dollar with the company? Who
| has stood between the company and
| bankruptcy, your humble servant or the
| man or set of men who have plunged
| the company into expensive litigation
with no other cpd in view than to aid
| the speculator to despoil you of your
NdludDle 6tOCh Ill the company at penny
prices? Who has tried to make your
stock sell at par, he who tried to
| shackle the company with an injunc-
ton, or he who drilled the rock and
| caused the cheapest fuel earth to
gush forth in inexhaustible quantities
| and, lastly, what were the motives that
actuated the one and the other? On
August 80 you shall judge between us,
| and may your eyes be opened to see
the truth that you may be able to dis
criminate and see who 1t is that has
done his utmost to protect you, and also
who has tried to frighten you into CIV
| ing your stock away.
We want to give you brief synopsis
| of the work which has been done. We
| have drilled all told since being in the
| Fayette field about 1900 feet of drill
holes. We have on hand six incom-
plete wells, one of which Is near the
| town of Fayette, which is 2200 feet
deep; another near Newton's mill about
| 1900 feet deep; another near Bankston
about $50 feet deep; well No. IL about
400 feet deep; well No. IL about 1880
feet deep and well No. 13 about 900
| feet deep. We lost well No. 10 at a
depth of some 900 feet by losing our
| tools in the well and the failure to re-
| cover same We lost well No. 2 near
| Sipsey on account of the loss of tools
| in the hole, and we abandoned well
| No. Z, about three miles to the west of
| Fayette, when it was down about 700
| feet. While we lost the first No. TO-
we drilled another well within a few
| feet of 1t, which is now one of our
biggest gas wells, and we have strong
hopes that the other six incomplete
wells will be finished before the end OF
| September, and that at least five OF
them will be producing wells.
l have served the company without
pay. and have given the aest mental
and physical effort for their benefit IN
| my power.
Unfortunately there has been those
within the company who have been
jealous, men who have spent no none
and who would rather see the company
fail than to see it succeed under MY
| management.
The contract made with Mr. S. P Miller
was a very binding one on our company
| and we had to allow him to have 1t his
way or not get from him his cash to keep
us from going into bankruptcy The price
| of cents per 1000 cubic feet for this gas
was above the amount paid In the ma
| jority of the gas fields by the pipe line
companies. Mr.. Miller was the only man
who had the nerve to back his Judgment
with his money and 1t was after careful
| and deliberate consideration of his propo-
sition, and Mr.. Nelson's proposition also,
that we decided it was to the best in
terest of the Providence Oil and Gas COM
pany to accept Mr.. Miller's proposition.
We refused Mr.. NELSON'S offer for several
| reasons. First, 1t was tentative offer.
| offered to sell him 100000 shares of the
stock of the company for $4,000 and to