Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1915-09-19


 interested in all oil venture. How ever, this we'll established the fact that there was oil down in the ground and it was the forerunner of the phe,- nomenal development of the field to it's present proportions. af.sf .s,..
 During the years of 1905 and 19O6, a few small wells were drilled, the total production for 1916 being only 4,56O barrels. Drilling at this time was in a more or less experimental stage, and it not, only took long time to put down, but the results frequently were discouraging, and not until the year 1908 was public inter- est aroused generally and the mad scrable for leases was on.
 < Vast OIL Production.
 "In the year 1909 the production of the field amounts to 100000 bar rels, and this increased steadily until 1914 the production for the year amounted to 12,192,441 barrels in the entire, field. At the. price of high grade oil at that time, \ 90 cents per barrel, this produced in wealth $9,- X, <. &.| sNs5.11 5s$iyE
 sA"Solne, of the stories Of the fproduc ;tion( of, certain oil wells in E,Nsrth Louisia11a sound like treasure HaIs HaIs $. The great bonanza we'll and largest producer in, the, Caddoo, district, was one drilled on they Atlanta Oil & Gas company's lease by the eProdllcers inil company, which Flowed 3Q0,0OGe ;tar- rels' of oil in thirty days. { g'ads|F5satas making money at the Tate .ofat three and one. half million dollars a year.. < During the past year there, has been .littlee new development rin. the Cadoo district. but this has had veasy little effect on the daily production of athe field, which is practically the same as it was a year ago, ,6 Il f,Ts
 '.Tlle discovery of various new oil pools followed one another with great rapidity, and each find has been ac- companied by so much excitement that it has been manifestly impos- sible to develop one field thoroughly away by the force of enthusiasm to other and newer territories. It has been not unlike the sudden and ap- parently senseless gold 'rushes' in California, and later in Alaska, where men on richly paying ground, hear ing of a strike have stalnpeded blindly leaving sure weAlth behind them for the promised El Dorado further on.
 "So it has been that oil towns have sprung up over night like mushrooms after rain, and derricks have arisen suddenly in erstwhile somnolent cot ton fields and pastures.
 Farms which for generations have lain half cultivated, over which the land owner has ridden placidly. not suspecting the wealth. beneath him. and from which hel and his fore fathers have been content to coax g. scanty livelihood, have leaped sud- denly into prominence as producing oil fields.
 "So were De, Soto and Red river parish oil districts born.
 De Soto Territory.
 "rhe De Soto parish territory was originally surveyed by the Christine Oil company, and g. great deal of money was spent by it and other pioneers in development work before the celebrated Naborton pool finally was found,
 "In 1911 gas was discovered in De Soto parish, but it was not until a year or two later that the town of Mansfield was piped for gas and lines were laid from the NabortOn field to furnish it. Development in this ter ritory was almost entirely confined to the largest companies, the indepen- ,j nnC,nonilpS ip, fnr inc most part in the Caddo field, where hauling facilities and shallow sand production made drilling less expens- i've.
 Then "Gusher Bend."
 '"Nhcn came the sensational de velopment of 'Gusher Be0, that small neck of land that formerly was known as Stallion Bend. Here oil companies ran riot to get g. bit of land on which to drill well. The suc- cess of the Sure Shot Oil company, which paid a dividend of 30 per cent a month on its first we'll, and now has six wells producing or in process of drilling, started the ruction. The price of lease-holds eoared fabulous ly, and royalties were aacked upon royalties until it seemed like mad ness. But as well after well was brought in, each seemingly "a bigger producer than it's predecessor, it was seen that 'Gusher Bend was litteraly one big oil pool from which hum dred or more wells were sucking an.. parently inexhaustibie quantities of cil. The anomaly was that there was not a dry hole in the lot.
 '"Then followed Nhe scramble for land close to 'Gusher Bend but Stan dard Oil and the Gulf Refining con- panies had leased the most ot it long before 'Gusher Bend' tore into the field so sensationallv. These com. panies at once began to expinit their own holdings on the west side of the river and soon began to bring in pro- dncers. It seemed that every well that came in toward the south was 3 bigger producer than the one before. :. .'As, a matter of fact, the Red riVeS field is one of the most stupendotis possibilities. Experienced oil men be- lieves thats thesg!e2test producing dis f.ricts sin the country will be round