Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-12-04
EVERYTHING WAITS
ON CRESCENT WELL
WORK OF CLEANING OUT CAVE.
IN IS PROCEEDING
SATISFACTORY

Two words tell the principal news
of the oil developments of the week
-"watchful waiting
ed, Of course, with the reports of the
intentions of various companies, the
scramble for leases, the preparations
being made by different concerns for
immediate drilling, and the entrance
of capitalists and various closed cor
porations in the field, said "watchful
waiting" applying to the attitude of
every one as to the progress being
made in cleaning out the Crescent
Discovery we'll.
Until that work is finished-and
Emery c. Williamson does not ex-
pect 1t to take more than three or
four days more-and the extent Of
the Strike" in this well is determin-
ed, the activity in the field is natur-
ally more or less suspended. That
there is oil in the we'll was demon
strated to the satisfaction of all when
the we'll was uncapped Tuesday Of
last week; now everybody's waiting
for the answer to the question: How
much oil have they got?"
Work Well Under Way.
The ~ Inch casing is down now
to within less than 15O feet OF the
bottom of the we'll and the work OF
cleaning out the cave-in, while not
being unnecessarily rushed, is pro-
ceeding more satisfactorily than viii
Hanson and MCGOWAN and Horne.
his drillers. had hoped. They appear
more confident every day as to the
showing the Discovery we'll will make
when it is entirely cleaned out.
A geological survey Of the local
field was undertaken this week by
Professor Weaver, geologist OF thu
University of Washington. and w. H
M. Ferris. the expert who has sketch.
ed out the field for several oil conn
panies. to trace the axis OF the anti
cline which marks the apparent oil
basin. The past week has seen fur
ther statements from Ferris that all
indications point to an excellent oil
field here and further predictions by
him that the field, when developed,
will surprise the world.'
One notable event of the week has
been the moving OF the headquarters
of various oil companies from Seattle
to Tacoma, prompted by the attitude
of the. Post-Intelligencer, and the pre-
paration of the various business in
terests Of Tacoma to corral for their
Icity and to the detriment of Seattle.
all the benefits that will accrue from
the development Of the Olympia-Te-
nino field. Seattle took the Alaska
trade away from Tacoma and grew
by leaps and bounds, Tacoma does
not propose to be caught mapping
again. Incidentally weekly oil paper
has been established in Tacoma and
I is being circulated from Bellingham
to Portland.
Olympia Watching Events.
Olympia's business men are watch
ing the developments closely, too.
determined to bring to this city as
the logical distributing point and first
tidewater outlet, the product of the
field If enough oil is discovered to
make it a large producer, as every
one hopes 1t will be. The resolutions
adopted by the Chamber of Com
merce last Saturday and printed in
another part of this issue. are indi-
cative of the views of the local men.
Whatever is done along this line,
however, depends of course on the
showing the Discovery we'll makes,
as does very largely the rapid devel-
opment of the field by various stock
companies, though oil men assert that
the mere fact that the Crescent we'll,
the first one drilled, is able to show
any oil at all. as it does, more than
warrants further prospecting, even
hough it may not produce the ''liauid
wealth" in commercial quantities.
Not an oil man or geologist has vis-
tied the well and come back with any
other prediction, however, than that
1t would be commercial producer.
the only difference being in the esti-
mates of the amount of the produc-
ton, these ranging from 200 to 1000
barrels day.