El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-05-11
To B0REF0R OIL
NEAR CITY SOON
Ell Pasoans Form Com
pany; Engineer Finds In
dications Good.

QlcdGlOQS GOOQs
Boring for oil near El Paso Will be
commenced soon by the El Paso oil
company. organized recently, with W.
n. Glenn as president, z. T.. White,
vice president; Lee H. Orndorff,
treasurer and trustee: y. N. Van Epps
secretary; John S. Curtis and Wheeler
Shropshire, directors. When incor-
porated the FL PasO Oil company is
to have a capital stock of $40. 900, di-
vided into 10000 shares. Active op-
eratiOns viii be started as soon as
the total amount Of S400 is sub
scribed. 20 percent Of which viii be
paid at once the balance as the
board Of directors may call for IL.
This is an FL PasO enterprise and
all of the money subscribed is TO be
used for operating expenses
After months Of prospecting, COW
ering the territory north. east, south
and west of FL Paso. the company
was organized 1t proposes drilling
for oil at some point north and west
Of FL PasO in what is known as the
upper valley" The exact location
viii be made public after the visit
Of a well known oil geologist. whose
experience IN the southern and east
ern fields is almost unlimited His
report viii be used in connection with
that Of G. B. Morgan. of Casper, WyO.
OIL Mans Views.
Mr. Morgan was brought here in
March 10 pass upon this field. for the
reasons that geographical conditions
in and about FL Paso are similar TO
those in Wyoming AR Morgan is
not only a well known geolOgist. hav-
ing served in this capacity for the
United States government. but is at
the present an active oil operator at
Casper. Among other things, Mr..
Morgan says;
Il have made a geological survey
Of the area lying north and west Of
FL Paso. between the Franklin noun
tainS on the east. and the Rio Grande, !
on the west. and the New Mexico line I
on the north. for the purpose Of de-
termining the oil possibilities. espe- l
cially Of that territory which lies Z
north Of the cement plant and be-
tween the Santa Fe railroad and the 1
New Mexico line. on the north. and I
the Franklin mountains. going almost ]
as far north as the Texas line
IN connection with this and other /
work, I have spent about a week in 4
this region. and feel qualified to say /
that I have examined all of the ma |
terial points Of interest and the places /
where the structural and oil indica-
lions viii be found.
OutcrOpplnEs Covered.
with the exception OF the out
crops Of the rocks at the base OF the i
Franklin mountains. an outcrop about /
five OF six miles northeast OF Ninton /
and some OutcrOps east Of Montoya. \
the exposures at the cement and 4
brick plants. the entire structural 4
area is concealed by wash. thus rem
dering the structural determination
very difficult
The Franklin mountains have up
lifted and faulted through the crust.
bringing up the different sediments
with them, thus giving us a fairly
good opportunity TO study the form I
alton underlying this area I exam
ined the OutcrOps on both sides Of
the mountains and am confident that
the area is underlain by the cretaceous
and carbOniferous sediments. together
with the older rocks Of the silurian.
ordovician and cambrian systems.
The cretaceous rocks. consisting Of
limestone and sand shales. underlie a
large portion Of this area west OF
the mountains. with the exception of
the strip along the west foot Of the
where they have been
eroded- The cretaceOus are confined
mainly TO the Comanche series of
the lower cretaceous.
OIL Bearing Rocks.
These rocks are oil bearing fin a
great number Of places on the east
arn slope OF the Rocky mountains
and have produced large quantities
II oil All Of the shales and lime
stones OF this series give off Odors
IF hydrO-carbon gases when struck
With hammer Oil seeps have been
in this formation. The IN
Terrifying HuecO limestone. which rep
-esents the Pennsylvania formation
II the carboniferous system. is also
highly impreEnated with gases This
limestone also carries beds of shaIe
which might be carriers Of oil The /
Underlying rocks are generally hard Z
md massive. although beds of shale
lave Deen found in some Of them and I
sas odors have been noted in them.
specially in the Montoya limestone
# the ordovician system and the Il
'asO limestone.
Hunting Drilling Locations.
In order to determine the best
-rilling locations, it was necessary to
work out the structure as nearly as
'Ossible. and this became very diff
ult, owing TO the valley fiji which
les uncOmfOrtably upon the solid
Generally speaking. this
rea east Of the railroad and west of
he mountains presents "A gently
looping mOnOcline approaching the
Mountains. where the dip is greatly
increased and where the faulting has
AIKEN place Subsequent to the
tructure forming upheaval Of the
rankin mountains, there have been
Their forces Of nature operating in
his area, which caused notifications
( the monoclinai structure. These
orces were the igneOus intrusiOns Of
later period They are exemplified
D a deposit Of an andesite porphyry
-hich lies between FL Paso and the
melter. and deposits Of a similar ma
ure near the south center Of the
eld. The forces thus operating have
yidently caused a flattening Of the
lonOcline in places and anticlinal
-ructure in other places.
Comes Close to City.
7 have come TO the conclusion that
he anticlinal fold Of the structure
i'll be found running in a, north and
1uth direction in the north part o.
he field. a mile or so west of thu
fountains. The southern extremity
this anticline in the area covered
y the cement and brick plants is
JmeWhat faulted and the cretaceous ] 4
lales and sandstOnes and limestones
re exposed. Thus one at this point <
ould have to depend upon the lower
Irmations for petroleum deposits. e
he northern extension of the north p
n anticline contains the cretaceous
ailments. although the southern eX-
nsiOu Of the same reveals the Penn
-lvania limestone.
Picks Places to Drill.
Therefore there are two locations
hich I would prefer for drilling pur-
lses and they are best described by
.ferring to a blue print on which
ave marked 'ellipses' in red pencil
These locations viii be made public