Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-01-30
CRESCENT OIL TO
START DRILL HERE
IN NEXT TEN DAYS
Second Carload Of Machinery Ar.
rives and Is Now Being
Erected.
80 DAYS MAY PROVE WELL
Local Field Widely Known, Says
Former Californian-Pros-
poets Very Favorable. q


be completing the erection of the oil
drilling machinery on the site of the
Crescent Oil companys prospect in
this county near Tenino and the prob
abilities are, according to Emery C.
Williamson, treasurer of the COM
pany, that drilling will be begun with
in the next ten days. If that is the
case men connected with the company
say the first l 1000 feet of the we'll will
be drilled within thirty days there
after and a fairly good idea of the
prospect will be gained by that time,
for it is confidently predicted that the
well will be proved" in less than
$500 feet.
The second carload of machinery
which had been lost somewhere be.
tween Los Angeles and this county
and delayed the promoters of the en-
terprise considerably, reached Tenino
Tuesday night, three big wagon loads
were hauled to the prospect Wednes-
day and more yesterday and no fur
ther delays are anticipated. The sec
ond carload contained the engine. rig
irons and 12R-inch casing and had
been on the road from Los Angeles
since early in January.
The we'll rigging had been erected
and all of the first carload of machin-
Woc in vpho.,
rived. so that workmen commenced
Immediately to complete the outfit and
General Manager Miller, who is in
charge of the work. states that the
outfit will be ready for drilling within
at least ten days and perhaps sooner.
On the estimate that from thirty to
fifty feet can be drilled per day, it is
expected that the first months oper.
ations will see the we'll down 1000
feet.
Coinc;dent with this renewed activ.
ity on the part of the Crescent Oil
company, which is largely a local
proposition, comes the report that c.
VI. III SCOioS cADClt VI tuS
Washington Oil company. which has
been drilling a we'll at the Forks in
Clallam county for some months, has
been in the local field again during
the last two weeks, going over the
ground with Frank Kotick. and an an.
nouncement of some activity on the
part of that company, which has some
1000 acres under lease in this county
will not come as any surprise to those
In touch with the situation. The
Crescent Oil company, however. will
be the first to begin actual drilling
and consequently is most likely to be
the first to strike oil II it exists in
this county as has been frequently
predicted.
Mr.. Patterson, who Joined the com
pany's sales force this week, has just
recently come from the California oil
fields, is man Of considerable ex-
perience in the oil business and brings
the report that the favorable prospects
for this local field have been a sub
ject of comment and conversation
among oil men and engineers
for eight or ten years. Why the field
has not been developed before he is
at loss to know. "They must have
been too busy elsewhere" is the only
way he can account for 1t.
The seepages at Messy Rock In
Lewis county. which biologists have
determined is the southernmost out
cropping of this field. and those at the
Hob river and on up at the Forks
on the coast side of the Olympics, the
northernmost outcropping, lead to the
belief that If oil is found here 1t will
be of a paraffine base instead of the
asphaltic base oil which prevails In
California, and so will be higher
grade volatile oil. bringing from 81 tc
$3.50 barrel, where the asphaltic
base oil sells for about 40 cents.
The outcroppings as noted in the
preceding paragraph, together with
the general slope of the rock forma
tions and the geological conditions as
discovered in the log of the old Chris
topher we'll drilled in 1908, lead te
the belief that the biggest part Of the
oil basin lies in this territory. The
fact, too, that oil Is found in sedi
mentary formations such as exist II
this county and is generally though