Arizona republican., 1914-04-16
T0NT0 BASIN
 0|L HUNTING
Work is Proceeding Satis- factofily on the Field Near the Roosevelt Dam. Letter from Col. Fleming Describing Operations

pr. G. W. Vickers yesterday re- | ceived a letter from Colonel James 1 I. Fleming, president of the Tonto | Basin oil company. who had just re- 1 turned to Globe from the oil field. 1 Colonel Fleming wrote that drilling 1 was proceeding satisfactorily and that he was hopeful of results. The Arizona Record has the follow ing to say of the field:
 For many years speculation has been rife as to whether there is pe- troleum in Arizona, and companies ahve been formed from time to time to prospect fields in the state where the indications for oil were believed to be favorable. Wells have been drilled, and in several instances oil and gas have been found but in such small quantities as to have no commercial value Generally those making the tests were persons of little or no experience in locating and drilling oil wells, and consequently sites were not well chosen, or else the companies were not sufficiently 1 financed to continue development to a point that would insure definite results
 Carefully Planned Project
 What is probably the most care fully planned project to develop oil in Arizona has been undertaken by 1 the Tonto Basin Oil company, or ganized by Colonel James A. Fleming. 1 it's president The property which the company is to develop comprises l more than 1000 acres Of the promis- ing bed of oil-bearing sandstone situ- ated at the lower end of the Tonto basin. two to four miles northeast of l Roosevelt dam. It is claimed that the Tonto basin oil field is on an oil l belt which extends in northeasterly l direction to Pennington, New Mexico near which place oil having q paraf- line base has been discovered. Paraf- line oil has also been found at shai- low depths in wells near Gallup. The formation all the distance from the ] Roosevelt dam to Pennington is flat and sedlmentary in character This Hat geological structure is interrupt ed southwest of Tonto basin by the Mazatral range of mountains. formed by a great granite intrusion that up- lifted the sedimentary rocks, which have been exposed by erosion, show ing different kinds Of sandroek, lime stone, shale and other layers of scdi- mentary rock, and from which can be estimated approximately the depth at which the oil sand will be encoun- tered in drilling-about 1900 feet One of these strata. where exposed. IS described as an ideal parmfine oil sand eighty feet thick.
 "SynclinaI Fold
 The tilting of the strata hv this intrusion has resulted in the corma ton Of broad syncllnal fold, and Engineer Botsford, in his report says: Tn the western limb of the fold, where the beds are exposed. the uniformity in the change Of the dir IS interrupted in places by flatteninc and by local domes and anticlinals It is well known that interruptions ot this nature, i. e., local fIattening ot ! the dip, domes or anticlnes in an oil formation afford ideal conditions fol the retention of pools of petroleum.
 Colonel Eleming's experience 1T the oil business began in 1865 at Oi City. Pennsylvania, and for fourteer years he filled about every position rom helper in an oil tool manufac
 turing shop to driller and owner 0 oil wells. More recently CoIone Fleming was engaged in the oil busi
 ness for q time in Oklahoma and i,
 kansas where he succeeded in re
 habilitating the Uncle sam Oil com
 pany. Colonel Fleming. although ap
 preclaung the uncertainty of strikin
 oil and bringing in q paying well he
 lleVes the conditions in the lowe
 Tonto basin are ideal and that tn
 Tonto Basin Oil company win h
 successful in it's present operation,
 The company has installed a com
 piete rig of standard pattern an
 drilling was started last Wednesda
 with Mir. Hastings in charge and NJ,
 room as helper. Both are competen
 men and Nr. Hastings has had man
 years experience as a driller of q
 wells in Pennsylvania and sever;
 other states. He stated to the write
 that he had never known condition y anywhere more favorable for oil tha
 exist in the lower Tonto hasin.''