Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-07-20
EASTERN n. NJ. IS
COMING OIL. FIELD
IS EXPERT VIEW
], ], Clark Satisfied PecoS
Valley Possesses Wonderful
UndeveIOped Resources De-
veIOpment Under Way,
(By j. j. Clarkc.)


the next largest, if not the largest oil
field in the United States will be found
in New Mexico. The fertile fields of
the Pecos valley have been showing
signs of oil for the past twenty five
years and few and ineffective efforts
! that have been wasted in the blind and
unintellgible methods of finding this
pool have not shaken the faith OF
those who have had occasion TO come
and visit the field and make reports
on same. The discovery of oil in the
! Pecos valley section was accidental,
and made in the effort to find deeper
artesian water strata.
In the early development when ar
resian water was found, it was noticed
! that in certain localities that little
showings of oil We're found with the
water but little attention was p9'd
this by-product until a well was
brought IN known as the Brown well;
this well gave a greater showing of
oil than any other IN until the time
| that it was brought in. Steps We're
taken to separate the oil from the
| water and it was found that the well
| was producing as high as fifty-twO
barrels of high grade oil every TWEEN
| ty-four hours. AS soon as the news
was heralded to the world it seemed
| that every crook and confidence man
| took notice and a wild scramble for
leases took place. Very unfortunate,
indeed, was this happened for it kept
out the man ready to do development.
A half dozen or more wells have
! been drilled throughout this section
known as the Roswell basin (Fisher
/ geological survey, affording oil and
! gas in varying quantities, usually in
small quantities, along with the ar
| tesian water. The estimated amount
| produced in these most promising
wells has been from two to fifty bar
rels per day. this under normal con-
ditions. The Brown we'll IS situated
| between Artesia and Dayton, also the
Muncy Frisch and Everests wells,
About two and a half miles southeast
of the Brown we'll is the Belt we'll.
Oil from this we'll IS caught by means
of a settling tank and sold to the To-
cality ranchmen. Both this we'll and
the Brown well have a flow of ESQ
gallons per minute. The oil being
| brought to the surface with the water
! being accompanied by a strong flow
| of gas The oil is of a dark green
color, a paraffine base. and appar-
entity contains a large percentage of
| gasoline. other wells in this section
all show a small amount of oil, scarce
| ly enough to give to the water good
coating; these wells also exhibit a
small gas pressure. -...
With all phases which nave bear
| ing on the possible future oil value
of this district are considered. it is
one that must be regarded as wonder
| full prospects. The fact that oil is
present in so many of the wells so
widely scattered throughout the dis
| trict, that the oil accompanied by con-
siderable gas pressure. to force
| through a column of water SOC to /
100 feet high and these wells continue
to produce the same amount of oil for
period of eight or nine years. is
| there any reason that some faith we
must have in the oil possibilities of
| the Artesia- Lake Arthuf-Dayton dis
| tricts.
The geology of the field is similar
! in many ways to that of central ant
| west Texas fields. The rocks are oc
| cupyihg the surface are consolidated
! sediments laid down in the form o.
/ successive terraces, which increase il
| elevation from the Pecos river west
ward to the foothills bordering the
Captain and White mountains. Be
meath the recent unconsolidated valley
sediments occur the older red sand!
and clays, gypsum and porous lime
stones of probable Permian age. The
! strure of the rocks in this general re.
| gion is monicinal, the older formation
| dipping at a very gentle angle from
the base of the White mountains east
ward to beyond the Pecos valley
|
structure is concealed by the overly
| ing recent unconsolidated sediment!
| but to the east of the Pecos river,
| where the bluffs rise 100 to zoo fee
| in altitude, evidence of local folding
on the monocline is afforded.
In bulletin No. said, entitled, Pc
troleum near Dayton, N. M, by G. b
Richardson, of the u. s. G. S.. the
following statements are made rela
| tive to the geology of the Pecos val
ley: "The rocks of the Pecos valley
are of carboniferous age, the loves
Pennsylvania and the uppermos
| Perman. The red beds of the Pecos
+, valley on the evidence of fossil shell!
and photographic position, are be
lieved to be of the Permian age anC
are correlated with the well known
| Permian red beds of North centra
Texas and Oklahoma, which outcroI
east of Llano Estocada. 1t is of in
terest that oil in the Electra field
Tex, east of the I.lano Estocada, oc
ours in the same photographic posi-
ton"
1t Is the consensus of opinion o
/ students who have made a study o.
the geologic section of the valley tina
well drilled to depth of 5000 fee
will cut five sand horizons. This is re
ported to be the opinion of A. Leste
| Furber of Furber Bros, London, Eng.
and Mexico City. Muir. F'urber made al
extensive reconnaissance survey of thi
valley and his statements demand Sc
rious consideration. The great mono
cline of which the Pecos valley is ;
part, is severed by series of anti
clines and synielines that may b,
easily detected by the use of artesiaI
we'll logs. The structures in size ant
extent compare favorably with Ell DO
RADIO and Cushing and entirely out
ranks Ranger, where the accumula
ton of oil and gas due to sub-surfac,
conditions that could not be predict
ed from the surface. Reverse dips O
as hight as 200 feet have been note,
in the valley, while the reversals o
Cushing and Eel Dorado are only 16,
feet. The following companies are a
work or have holdings in the Peco
valley: Interstate Drilling associa
ton, Illinois Producers, Kansas Ney
Mexico. Lincoln OIL company, tn
Carter Oil company, and the Edd
County oil company. With these com
- ~