South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-09-08
BY GARRETT p. sERVIss.

The United states geological sur
vey lends its authority to the state
ment that the conditions are en-
codraging TO exploratory bOrings for
oil under the great central PLAINS
north of latitude 81 degrees. 1t is
q part of the hidden wealth of this
country elf it eXists), the necessity
for developing which is pressing
Think what the discovery Of vast
new American oil fields at this
GREATNESS moment of history would
mean for the whole world Petrol
cum in its various forms has sud
denly become one of the strongest
sinews OF war, and the sudden ac-
quirement of abundant supplies of
it might DE the deciding factor in
the great struggle of nations.
How many tens OF thousand Of
airplanes il might sustain IN thar
victorious flight, How quickly and
decisively it might put into our
hands the mastery of the new kind
Of wIr-war in and from the air
a war so terribly effective i'm its
nature that it may Kill war itself,
The days of blind, lucky strikes
are past. Science LEADS the way ana
points out where TO bore, because
science has discovered the outward
indications Of the lurking places OF
natural oil. If the Greeks had
known what we know they would
have had another image of mother
earth with her breast filled with TIE
milk of power. an image that would
curiously accord with the facts for
the characteristic seats Of petroleum
are broad rock domes, gently swell
ink upward i'm 'auticlines" and con-
sisting of porous rock. or meta
mOrphoSe1 rock. filed with cavities
These are the reservoirs of OIL
which, being lighter than wafer, rise
along the slopes. the gas. lighteSt
OF all. attaining the SUBMITS. But
such "dOmes' are only to be Tecog-
nized By the eve of the geolosist.
They may be very extensive. and
often almost fat IN Ohio and In
diana the SLOPES ordinarily vary from
one 10 ten feet in a mile, but even
the smallest of these inclinatiOns il
sufficient TO produce, by gravity, the
separation of the oil from water. and
the descent of the latter into the
troughs between the anticlines OF
domes.
one thing essential to the exist
ence OF an coil Held" is that the
porous strata containing the oil shall
/ pc covered by an impervious mantle,
which often consists of shale. This
! Is necessary on account at the VIOLA
, tile nature of petroleum.
The promisins-looking "domes"
that the geological survey has ex-
pIored are described in a report is
sued by the department of the in
/ terror. one of them lies on the Dor
ders of Nebraska and South Dakota,
northeast of Chadron, the crest be-
ir on White river IL is believed
that il extends southwark under the
! Nebraska sands, and may Join an
other anticline which reaches into
Norton county, Kansas. The loea-
ton of others. i'm Kansas. Colorado.
south Dakota and Wyomins. may be
found IN the report.
Two are situated west ana south
west of the Black HILLS. and iE the
sides of one OF these are oil springs.
2 The geological survey does not
guarantee that great quantities OF oil
: exist i'm the localities indicated, and
I il even states that no oil or sas has
actually been found in most Of the
wide area OF the great plains. but
+ il points out that the wells thus far
drilled by explorers have IN most
cases not been sunk in localities
where the rock structure was favor
able. or have not been carried deep
enough 10 make a decisive test. on
I TIE other hand, at the point which
the report mentions, the indications
are regarded as encouraging ana
such as ousht 10 be thoroughly
f tested
The mode Of origin OF petroleum,
/ or rock oil. is still an unsOlved prob
! lem. The great chemist. Mendelceft,
thouht that the oil arose from the
action OF not water vapor On iron
| carbide in the esrth's crust, and 9th