The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-11-08
OIL WELLS NEVER FOUND
BY USING OWNING RODS
BIOLOGISTS HAVE MADE MUCH
PROGRESS IN STUDY OF
OIL FORMATIONS.
(By Chas. n. Gould, in the Oil and Gas
News of Kansas city,

some IuluIe liSlUIidU hnOSt BIdHu-
father is yet unborn, must write the
history of the romance of Oklahoma
and Kansas oil. We who are now liv-
ing the history of the development OF
states are too busy to be interrupted
with writing about these things. Each
of US. in his own way, is worshipping
his own particular little tin gods, and
so it must be left to future genera
tons to set forth the facts and prop
erly correlate" them. We who are in,
and a part of, the history now being
made are so mixed up with the whirl
of events, that our sense of prospect
i've is blurred, and we cannot properly
is to attempt to set down a few of the
facts as we understand them and re-
cord certain of our impressions, and
trust to the future historian to set
them in their proper order.
Romance Of Oil.
No more interested chapter of these,
than the chapter dealing with the
search for oil. No pen can adequately
depict the joys and sorrows, the anti
cipations and the realizations for the
few, and the disappointments for the
many, connected with the search for
oil in these states, For the oil bust
ness is peculiar unto itself. The lure
of oil is equally potent with the lure
of gold.
Ever since oil was first discovered in
the earth. men have tried all sorts Of
methods to determine in advance of
drilling where it is to be found. Divin-
ing rods, mineral rods forked sticks,
and contrivances, implements and ap-
paratus of various kinds, and almost
without number have been used in the
vain hope of locating oil beneath the
ground. Seers prophets and men
supposed to be gifted with second
sight have been abroad in the land at
tempting to locate oil. Some consult
the stars while others claim to have
some unusual and supernatural power
vouchsafed unto them.
OWNING Rods Fake.
There is scarcely a week that some
one in my office does not call my at
tention to some new method of smell
Ing out OIL" Many men, some of them
men of real intelligence still believe
IN some sort of a mechanical device
for the location of oil and gas, and q
willing to spend good money in drill
ing In places located by divining rol.
1t is needless to say that neither
scientific investigation nor the expert
ence of those who have tested the mat
ter thoroughly, times without number
gives any credence to these methods
None of the government authorities,
either in the United States or in Eu-
rope, and none of the larger oil COM
panies, with years of experience in the
business, use any method of this kind
for the location of wells
In the early history of the oil game
wells were largely located by guess.
Many men worked on "hunch' If
they got the idea that oil might be
found under certain tract of ground,
they simply secured leases and drilled.
One old operator told me that his
method of locating an oil well had al
ways been to tie tin can to a dogs
tan and start the dog off across the
prairie. Wherever the can came off,
there he would drill Other methods
were equally scientific and equally eff
fective. In about one case out of
twenty, or perhaps one out of thirty,
these wild cat wells located by guess
were successful.
Cost Of Indicating.
The average cost of a wildcat we'll
certainly is not less than $4,000, and
In many cases runs as high as $4,000,
or even $4,000. Counting the lowest
price, $4,000, for the cost of the well.
and estimating one wildcat well out of
twenty to be successful, it will be seen
that on an average, at least 100000
must be spent in wildcat prospecting
before paying well has been found.
In point of fact many experienced
oil men believe that fifty, rather than
twenty or thirty, would be fair aver
age for the number of wildcat wells
that must be drilled before oil has been
found 1t is also a well known fact
that many wildcat wells cost as much
as $4,000 or $4,000. SO one would be
safe in doubling the estimate of $780,
900; that is to say, an average of at
least 100000 must be spent in pros
pectng before an oil field has been
brought in.
Biologists Study Oil.
Some thirty years ago biologists be-
gan studying the structure of the va
ricus oil fields with the idea of find |
ing out whether or not it would be
possible to determine in advance of /
drilling where oil was most likely to |
occur. During the past twenty years
many scientists, both in Europe and /
America, have studied the problem,
until at the present time, petroleum
geology is recognized branch of the
science, and the subject is regularly
taught in many of the large univer-
sites and technical schools.
There is nothing supernatural, or oc-
cult about oil geology. The geologist