The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1918-03-09
.HEALDTON FIGHT
ON WAY TO TOP
TULSA OIL WRITER GIVES
GRAPHIC PORTRAYAL
OF ITS HISTORY.


Line Company is going to lay its
Texas line through the Healdton
district calls to mind the bitter
struggle which the Healdton pro-
ducers have been making for all OF
these seven years for recognition OF
their oil at its true refining value
and for recognition of that district
as the one best bet in the oil coun-
trv when it comes to staying power.
Literally it has been a march
through tribulation to the stars for
the old timers at Healdton, and it
is good TO know that the fortunes
which have been made there belong
principally to the tenderfeet who
had the immortal courage to stay
BY the hunch and, in the face OF
almost insuperable difficulties, 90
ahead with their development work
lust as if they we're getting an
equal break and fair price.
Red Beds Considered Oil Joke.
TO begin with, when it was first
noised around that there was oil
in the red beds of southwestern or
south central Oklahoma the old time
oil men turned up their noses. They
would not even dignity the report
by discussing its remote possibility
OF truth. They merely greeted the
story with sniff and went on look
ing for wildcat leases i'll real OIL
country
Soon after the first well in Head
ton one OF the most eminent geolo-
gists in this part of the country,
whose name carries far all over the
land and whose salary is that OF a
cabinet officer. remarked faceuous-
" that he would drink all OF the oil
which was ever produced in the red
beds, thus paraphrasing the cele-
brated remark OF the late John ~
Archbold that he would, at one sit
ting. drink all OF the oil produced
in Oklahoma. And all the other
geologists followed the lead OF the
bic wig and all OF them hit the
Ilealdton district a good hard bio"
right where the epiglottis tranverse'
the trapezal nerve. As the big com
panies were all rather dippy on geol'
ogv about that time the inevitable
and natural result was that the
Healdton people we're passed up,
told to wait till they got some OF
before they could expect pipe line
and other marketing facilities hk'
the fellows in Glenn Pool and th'
Usage and other parts Of Oklahom;
possessed
But Pioneers Drilled On.
These adverse reports developed
not only more oil in Healdton ter
ritorv. but it stihened the backbon
of every man in that part OF tn
state almost to the breaking point
They continued to chuck their mon
ey in lust as if all of the geologist
had given them a gilt-edge recon
mend and all OF the pipe lines wer
lust waiting on the delivery of tn
pipe to begin laying lines to tn
field. They have not only mad
good, but they have made every
body else admit it. They develope
almost without outside assistanc
the greatest producing oil pool /
the country today.
Everybody in the oil country re
members that when the productlo
at Healdton did reach appreciabl
proportions, when it became nece:
sary for the big folks to recogniz
that it was a real oil pool and not
pocket or a flash, the first thin
that happened was the declaratio
that it was a realize, ,fflucvobhQ Qleit
that it was a sulphur oil and there
fore more expensive to refine an
for that reason not worth as muc
in the open market. That was I'll
excuse for the differential OF
cents a barrel which has stood fC
wears despite the fact that the orig
nal argument for its maintenanC
has long since been abandoned b.
cause experience proves that Heal'
ton oil is desirable for refining pu
poses. Otherwise it would not
used. But the sulphur theory die
hard.
Lost Money to Get Pipe Line.
Protest and appeal to the marke
ing concerns proved absolutely il
effective and then the Healdton pr
ducers appealed to the corporate
commission and that body took
whirl at the game for about fol
months but finally wound up Wi
the declaration that the HealdtC
oil was good oil without giving Il
district appropriate remedies
measurable relief. Expert after c
pert testified on that occasion al
the sulphur theory had some OF
ablest representatives on the jc
but they could not make their fl
ures stand up.
Then followed the unfortuna
pipe line and refinery contract
which the Healdton producers,
order to get market for their c
agreed to pay half of the cost
the pipe line to Texas and to &
liver so many thousand barrels
oil per day at ridiculously Il
price to the refinery. This contra
was lived up to by the produce
at a cost of several hundred tho
sand dollars to the individuals a
local corporations who signed t
contract. But even though that lt