Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-03-16
OIL EXPLORATION
NOW BOOMING IN
THE SOUTHWEST
Vast Areas of County Laid
Out for Test by Drill as Fast
as Companies Can Get Into
Action With DerriCkS,

|
per week-sufficient to drill at least
| one oil well into pay sand--is the rate
! at which FL Pasoans and their neigh !
pors are turning money into the doz-
| ems of oil exploration companies in
Texas and New Mexico. The hard
shedding of last year to put over the
| Liberty loans and other war funds
seemingly has been forgotten in the
great enthusiasm witnessed every dav
! in the stories of oil pools penetrated
! and the chances next door, to gush-
ers for the newest ventures. Not since
this border citys gambling DAYS has
so much cash changed hands for spe-
| culative purposes as during the past
few weeks News that a flow of pc
| troleum has been struck anywhere
near FL Paso would electrify thou
sands of optimistic people here.
! Reason For Optimism.
| And there is good reason for their
optimism. At a depth of 1000 feet
the Valley oil we'll, five miles east OF
Columbus, ~ NJ. the casing is being
! lowered into the black lime cap un-
der which Manager F. C. Kniffen be-
lieves there is oil. He is. confident
that he will win the legislative bonus
of $4,000 for bringing in the first
producer in New Mexico. Land for
miles around the well is under lease
and other men are ready to drill.
Besides having leased $50, 900 acres
around Pecos, Texas, the Sunshine
Oil company is rapidly sinking its
Laura well, six miles north of Pecos
City. and will sink two other holes
Not far from there the Toyah well
has encountered gas.
Whole Country Taken Up
East of the Franklin mountains,
nslfr FrprA I, ,61Ix
is taken up by leasers, said to be
backed by big oil producing con-
Germ. w. w. Cox, treasurer of Dona
Ana county for seventeen years, Is
out with an offering of investment
for oil drillers on his goo acre ranch
just north of FL PasO, where geolo-
gists, he says. have predicted oil
would be found
Six miles up the valley from FL
Paso, a local company headed by J.
f, Sadler, ir., is starting its first well
and has laid out acre leases for the
! investor
One I'll Pasoan is endeavoring to
convince the city government that a
900 foot water well on the south side
of Mount Franklin should be drilled
to 5000 feet for oil. Another insists
that a well should go down about five
es-saHthsastzisa-the valley.
Oil Stock Exchanges.
Five oil stock exchanges have pre-
| tentious offices in El Paso handling
all issues of stock in the Texas and
New Mexico wells and there are at
least twenty companies with offices
and statesmen and saleswomen plac-
ing stock first handed. Among the
companies formed by well known Ell
| Paso business men are the Ell PaSo-
Burkburnett, Ell Paso- Ranger, Ell
Paso- Burk, Southwestern Oil Devel-
opment, Ell Paso Valley, Valley Oil of
C"Iur'h''s Texas Pure Oil Ocean Oil
and Refining, Ranger-Burk and Sum
|. NE en-. besides these there are
dozen companies of Burkburnett,
| Ranger, and Comanche fields with
agents in the city
Edward d. Hodge, trustee, of the
FL Paso- Burk, and J. o. Crockett, or
ganizer of the FL so-Burkburnett,
two different promotions. tell wonder
full stories of the Burkburnett pro-
duction.
Crockett Interested.
Mr.. Crockett, who for six years
was the vice president and active d.
rector of the Pearson lumber inter-
ests and railroad in Northwestern
"hihuahua, the builder of the Mexi-
co ..orthwestern railroad from Pear
son 10 MADEIRA and of the big lum-
Der mill at El Paso has just returned
from Burkburnett, where he spent
the greater part of the past three
months. He has seen lease values
rise from a few hundred dollars 10
as high as $4,000 per acre within
short distance of the town, and town
lots grow in value almost overnight
from a few hundred dollars per lot
) to as high as $25, 600.
| rfS,-. rly Il
discovered by the drilling of the ia
nous Fowler we'll on the north side
of the town of Burkburnett, which
was completed on July "a, last year,
and which, prior to its completion,
was considered by everyone as wild
cat. inasmuch as Fowler ignored the
e shallow 600 and S00-foot sand, with
! the determination of drilling his test
/ hole to sufficient depth to reach
Y the Pennsylvania oil sand.
| Since the Fowler well was brought
: in. within eight months, over 500
wells have beeI drilled or are drilling
within a radius of three miles Of the
town of Burkburnett, including those
in the town. limits, which amount to
almost one on each town lot.
The oil production of the Burkbur-
nett pool has risen from nothing to
approximately $4,000 barrels per day
at present, and new wells are being
brought in daily.
Few Dry Holes.
Reports collected by the oil jour
nails show that of the III wells
brought in during December there
were but three ''dry holes" while in
January approximately 11s wells were
brought in. with but five dry holes. :
The total dry holes" in the district
to date is less than per cent, some
thing unheard of in any pool in the
world.
Mr.. Crockett's company offers the
: unique features of four leaseholds and
, guarantees to sink three wells on
ground surrounded by producers. The
, personnel of his company includes j.
e. Benton, cashier Of the First Ma
tional bank, FL Paso, and r. c. Ware.
{ prominent banker, landowner and
merchant Of Plainview, Tex.
: The Southwestern Oil Development
company. capitalized at $2,000.00o. IL
I headed by j. J. Mundy, pioneer real
; ty owner; T. D. Love, cattleman; w.
. S. Crombie, merchant; Crawford
|. Harvie, banker and laundry owner;
Judge Ed NJ. Whitaker and Ed p
Lerner, merchant.
, Edw ID. Hodge, trustee, for the FL
: Paso-Bu Oil company, in which
: men local business men are in
g. Id n