The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-09-20
ALABAMA CAPITALISTS SECURE
LEASE ON LARGE BODY
OF LAND.
ALL INDICATIONS FAVORABLE
That Mississippi's Handsome State
Building is Pobaby over Lake of
Oil.
Special to The Nes1s.

Special to The Nesos.
Jackson, Miss, Sept. 20.-Express-
ing implicit belief that underneath the
soil in the vicinity of Jackson they
will find one of the largest oil and gas,
fields in America, party of prominent
Alabama capitalists have acquired
leases on over 100000 worth of land
near Jackson, and will shortly com
mence drilling operations
The promoters are not Offering any
stock for sale, or engaging in the
game of promotion so often played in
communities where indications Of oil
and gas have been found. They are
men of high repute in the business
world, with plenty of capital to back ;
the judgment of the noted biologists
and engineers who have been here sew
eral days engaged in research work.
The company is chartered under the
laws of the state of Alabama, known
as the State Line Oil Company, and
has been operating in northwest Ala.
bama and the extreme northeastern 4
portion of Mississippi for severa&
years.
Failing to find the large deposits ON
oil and gas expected in that section,
their geologists have traced the dip"
to the vicinity of jackson. and it is
their theory that great body of oil
and gas can be found directly under
meath this city and it is only a ques-
ton of going deep enough to get it.
One Of the chief stockholders is p.
G. NJ. Harding, a wealthy banker -
capitalist of Birmingham. Another
Maj. Elliott, consulting engineer
the Louisville & Nashville railwu
who built the Y. & NJ V. road throux1
this state, and a man of the highe1
repute in the engineering world
Mai Elliott brought with him u
Jackson an expert geologist fri o1 =
Yale, whose identity has not been re-
vealed but who has been employed
at research work by the company for
several months
This Yale professor has held sever
al conferences during the past few
days with DR.. f. N. Lowe, state geo.
logist, for the purpose of confirming
his own findings relative to the geo.
logy of Mississippi He has been ex-
tremely reticent in discussing his
work, but it is known that he has
made report to the State Line Oil
and Gas Company declaring that the
oil and gas deposits they failed to
find in Alabama and northeast Mis-
sissippi will be located here.
, Maj. Elliott makes the statement
that some of the artesian wells re-
Gently drilled in jackson have come
: within a few feet of striking gas; that
s If the well at The Edwards Hotel had
been sunk twenty-five feet deeper, the
= gas therefrom would have blown the
q hostelry off of the map.
q The we'll at The Edwards was drill
v ed several years ago for the purpose
of finding artisan water, and is now
= serving that purpose. While it fur
nishes water of good quality. =
has also been a flow of gas there IN
ever since the water was struc IA
lighted match applied to the Jt|
of water causes bright gas fla p
spring into life, and it continu
burn until eXtinguished This 81
y was bored four years ago. and thef4|
a has been no cessation of the do'w of
j gas M
The Yale geologist expresses &c
belief that the main body of oil findg
its apex directly underneath Missi]
sippi's million dollar state house, AMI
Sc while making his observations arouna
~ Jackson made the remark that 'itH
a darned shame they put that building
u where they did"