The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1919-11-08

1aVOFlCeS, u0LpoHly Win Lne prOIeS-
sional operators, but also with the
general public. There is a constantly
increasing investment demand which
is expected to be stimulated by any
favorable news suggesting a satisfac-
tory outcome of the labor unrest.
Hail stones as big as your hat that
killed young stock and broke down
fence posts; rain that covered fields
with more water in twenty-four
hours than during the past three
years, and a record fishing" job
that was not contingent on the
amount of water falling, are among
the stories brought to the head office
Of the General Oil Company in Hous-
ton from West Texas this week by
L. B. House, field superintendent for
the company. He states that the hail
storms actually endangered life. The
fishing" job at the Mcdowell well
of the General Oil established what
is thought to be close to the record,
the tools being recovered under 40
hours from the time of the accident.
Mr.. House reports that the General
Oil Company in addition to its drilling
wells, has three more rigs up and two
more ready to be put on the ground
as soon as locations are decided on,
in Howard and Glasscock counties.
While the bad weather has handicap
ped drilling in West Texas to quite an
extent, the chief difficulty seems to
be in getting oil well supplies in when
wanted, a condition that is not con-
fined to West Texas by any means.
The superintendent of the company's
refinery at Wichita Falls and wells
in Burk extension and Jolly, report
progress both as to drilling despite
bad weather and the improvements
at the refinery. The General Oil
Company has made practice of CIV
ing employment to returned soldiers
wherever possible and Mr.. House
says that they make the best Oil well
workers for the reason they all take
readily to the cooperative spirit and
are not only always on the job but
take an interest in their work.
The southwest section of the Ran
ger field or that portion south of the
town of Eastland, is now coming in
for a little attention after the north
west portion of the field has been
greatly exploited. This section was
condemned to some extent by the
No. 1 Connellee of the Transconti-
mental Company which was COM
pleted for a twenty-barrel we'll at g.
216 feet. Recently, however, the
well through one of the strange
freakish pranks of petroleum holes,
has "come back" and is flowing its
two hundred and fifty barrels day
with the utmost complacency. This
had the result of preparations for a
thorough testing Of this portion of
the field and further production may
be opened up if all the holes disgorge
as well as the Connellee No. 1.
While it is not definitely known,
Stephens county is about the busiest
place in West Texas and it is stated
that there are seven hundred wells
being drilled or preparing to drill and
in fact Stephens county has more
tests under way than any other field.
Probably one of the reasons that so
little has been heard about Stephens
county is that the work there has
been largely in the hands of the lar
ger companies who do not seek pub
licity. Those Sin the know" how
ever, still predict a great future for
the county and many insist it will be
one of the. truly great oil fields of
Texas.
The last week brings but the same
story from Burkburnett--a falling
off in production, due to the same
lack of transportation facilities that
has been the trouble all summer. In
dications of further extensions of
the field are gathered from the find
ing Of the Skyline Oil Company in
Block 819, large part of which
has been generally regarded as dry.
A sand was struck at about 1875
feet after the well had been practi-
cally abandoned.
Another church helped by oil. A.
C. Parker, oil operator at Wichita
Falls, was formerly minister of the
Christian Church at Dallas, and Mr..
Parker and his wife have just made a
donation of $4,000 to be used in
building a church for the use of the
students of the Texas Christian Uni
versity at Fort Worth.
The meeting of the producers at
Wichita Falls recently resulted in a
large number of those in attendance
pledging themselves not to dispose
of their product at the cut price of
So a barrel which went into effect
there some days ago. About sixty
per cent of the producers of the field
were represented at the meeting.
One feature of the meeting was that
there was little criticism of the larger
companies. "Bootleggers," or those
who deal in what are considered un-
fair practices. were criticised instead