The Columbus commercial. (Columbus, Miss.) 1893-1922, 1916-12-21
BIG OIL WELL BROUGHT IN
NEAR ALABAMA TOWN
ON TUESDAY.
EXCITEMENT SAID
PREVAIL THERE
Well Has Capacity of About
One Hundred and Fifty Bar
rels of Oil Daily.

According to advices received her,
yesterday, oil has been struck at Cor
dova, Ala, a gusher with a capacity
of about one hundred and fifty bar
rels daily having been brought IL
there Tuesday afternoon.
The announcement occasioned nc
surprise, as it has been thought for q
long time past that there was a stra,
tum of oil in that vicinity. 1t will
be remembered that natural gas was
discovered near Fayette, Ala, about
six years ago, and as gas and oil are
generally found pretty close together
geologists predicted at the time that
oil would sooner or later be discov-
cred in the same territory.
Soon after natural gas was dis
covered at Fayette company was
formed to develop the property, and
thousands of dollars worth of stock
was sold in this. city. The company
had on foot a scheme to build pipe
line to Columbus, and assured local
manufacturers that they could fur
nish them fuel for much less than
they were paying for coal. The
scheme petered out, however, and
those no purchased stock lost prac-
tically all the money that they in
vested.
II is understood that the we'll which
was brought in Tuesday is owned
by an Oklahoma concern, which be-
came convinced some time ago that
! IN ~ wa7 oil, ns<r Cord3va, and 80
gan an effort to locate the strata.
This effort has proven successful, but
the full value of the property is yet
to be determined, as some wells flow
freely for a hort time, and then
suddenly stop. Both the owners of
the well and residents of Cordova be-
lieve, however, that the flow will con-
tinue and are even hopeful that adj
ditional wells will be brought in in
the near future.
Cordova, which is about eighty
miles northeast of Columbus, is al
ready a prosperous town. The Sou
thern and Frisco roads cross there,
and the town is the home of the In
dian Head Mills, one of the largest
plants in this section devoted to the
manufacture of cotton goods. II is
also the head of navigation on the
Warrior river, recent improvements
by the Federal government having
made it possible for steamboats, to
reach that point.
The oil well is located on the prop
erty of the Pratt Consolidated Com
pany which maintains headquarters
in Birmingham, but the drillers were
operating for a Tulsa, Oklahoma,
company, of which former Governor
Charles N. Haskell of Oklahoma is
the head.
Erskine Ramsey, vice-president and
chief engineer of the Pratt Consoli-
dated Company, on Tuesday night
gave the Birmingham Age Herald the
following interview regarding the
well:
"0ur information is that the drill
lers struck oil at depth of about 500
feet" said Mr.. Ramsey. "They were
drilling about quarter of a mile
from the river and before they could
get the flow under control, the stream
of oil ran down into the, Warrior
river 1t had already flowed over the
whole premises where the drillers
worked.
"We understand tonight that the
men drilled into the oil-bearing sand
only about 12 inches and they esti-
mated the flow already at something
like $50 barrels day. The drillers
state that it is the best well they ever
saw in all hteir experience.
"They state that the oil is the high
est grade green oil and that it prom
ises to be very valuable asset.
''The Oklahoma company, under
which the drillers are working, is
headed by former Gov. Charles N.
Haskell of that state. They leased
some property from US several
months ago and began their drilling
operations. Our company made the
lease with Governor Haskell whereby
we are to get royalties on whatever
success they had.
"The most encouraging thing about
the whole affair from the Alabama
standpoint is the fact that the oil
is located on the river and that ii is
of such high grade. As is well known,
the oils along the Appalachian sys-