St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1918-04-27
PINE PRAIRIE OIL
FIELD BEGINS TO
Be WELL DEVELOPED
TWO OF Old Wells Again Put Under
Pump, Pipe Line Laid to Rail-
road and Shipment On
PROSPECTS SEEM FINE FOR
BIG FLOW or GREASY FLUID
DrIIIers Prospecting at Point Nearer
Easton Station and II Oil Is
Struck viii Greatly Widen
the Proven Field

Some seven or eight years ago
drilling operations were started near
the Village OF Pine Prairie Evange-
line parish, on the Rock Island Rail
road. At the time there was consid-
cradle talk OF the work going on
there but finally nothing was heard
about the field and few people ever
knew that oil in paying quantities
had been strulk in two or three wells.
AS a matter of fact some dozen or
more wells were sunk and oil was
gotten out OF two or three. A man
on the grounds stated to represen-
tative of this paper, more than a
year ago, that several thousands of
barrels of oil had been pumped out
and shipped and after that all work
was abandoned At the time that he
gave this information the oil field
presented sight of desolation, ruin
and abandonment-old derricks had
! already fallen down and others were
on the point of tumbling over, while
rusty and badly eaten pipes of vari-
Gus sizes lay strewn about as mute
indication of what had gone on there
some time before.
Oil operators as general rule are
very closed-mouthed and it is almost
~ {vFn aa&f
from them as to prospects for the
future or what happened In a certain
field in the past. In the matter of
the Pine Prairie field, however, it
was not difficult matter to ascer-
tain that at Ieast one man had abun-
dant faith in the paying results to be
gained by going after the greasy
stuff. This man is Mr.. j. w. Cham
pion, noted driller and the one who
did much OF the former work in the
field. Through the entire time OF
inactivity he stuck to his post and
when the recent rise in the price of
oil came about he managed through
means known to himself to secure
control Of the holdings of the old
companies there and brief time ago
silently began work again.
Erecting new derricks over two OF
the old wells was matter of short
time and within brief spell after
that preliminary work he had these
two wells under the pump and the
old storage tanks-three in number
are filled with oil and then 1T be-
comes necessary to secure some
means of disposing of this oil before
further operations we're started or
resumed. So, to this end he last
week laid a pipe from the storage
tanks to Easton station on the Rock
Island Road where he had previous
" erected wooden storage tank and
a loading rack This pipe was being
tested for leaks Monday evening and
it was Mr.. Champions intention to
start pumping oil through 1t before
night.
In the matter OF putting down wells
Mr.. Champion has rig at work on
another prospect some hundred yards
north of one of the producers, while
near Easton Station one well sunk
last fall encountered some difficulty
and was abandoned, while the same
people who put it down have rig at
work about hundred feet east Of the
abandoned we'll What progress has
been made in these two wells 1t was
impossible to find out. But that
there viii be something doing at
the oil field very soon is apparent
on the surface, for Mr. Champion ana
those back of him evidently have an
abiding faith in the future possibii-
tiles of the field and are stalking
quite bit OF money on their bellef.
The price OF crude oil has ad-
vanced remarkably the last rev
months and there seems to be an
ever increasing demand for the fluid.
This, then, explains the feverish
activity in opening new fields ana
further exploring old ones. When oil
was a drug on the market and the
price less than dollar per barrel
there was no incentive to make new
discoveries. That state OF inanition
has disappeared with the world de-
mand for more Oil and the old-timers
and independent operators are busy