The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-12-02

IHe CdSulcI tOlu The uOHlcSIeduor IL
would be.
Baker secured a rig and started
to drill. The lease was secured in
early July, the we'll was "spudded
i'm in September and Nov. l the
units which were sold to the orig
inal sc subscribers were quoted at
$12,500.
Did they sell for that?
Big Profits on Units"
Well, only n man wanted to
sell. He vas a taxi driver in Miles
City who borrowed his wife's saw
ings to help pay for the unit. So
when the well on the Petroleum Sc
property came in, producing 1000
barrels per day, he traded his unit
for q four-apartment building in
Milestown and $4,000 in cash. For
a taxi-driver he did very we'll, but
when the "56" gets to selling it's
1000 barrels per day, he would like
ly have been better off had he taken
his earnings.
This is the well about which there
has been more talk than any other
we'll because it was wholly outside
the big companies, had no big money
il it and was only the private enter
prise of a handful of Miles City bust
ness men. All kinds of stories are
told of its value, but oil men know
of but one way to estimate the value
of we'll. They say a flowing well
in a promising field is worth $4,000
per barrel production per day.
If the $50" continues to give up
1000 barrels per day, filling it's four
5%OO-barrel tanks every "a hours, it
is worth at this rate $4,000 If
it is only a 1,000-barrel we'll when
900.
Homesteaders Are Happy.
Now who else gets in?
Using Arthur Spaulding, home
steader, as an example, some idea is
be gained of what oil lands are
worth today in the Cat Creek dis
A year ago when his crop !
failed Spaulding had a shack and
q fairly good outfit for an eastern
Montana farmer. He offered to sell
he land-320 acres and his COM
1lete outfit for $500.
Today S%paulding has received
5000 for leases and his royalties
1y Christmas will be equal to about
he same amount. He bought a fine
in Lewistown, a big automo-
,ile, and has fitted up an office in
he Montana building where he will
collect his royalties, sell some more I
md if he used the least bit of thrift,
le is a wealthy man instead of a ]
'oor homesteader.
There are a dozen homesteaders {
round Lewistown who have done
S well as Spaulding and some of
hem will eventually do better, de- t
ending on the kind of a deal they Y
ot, but the oil men securing these
eases are not wolyes-they don't {
rant a homesteader's land for moth
lg-they pay him enough cash to
a Montana homesteader and :
ley give him a share in the profits !
)r the rest of his life. If they give '
i'm a 10 per cent royalty, he can a
Ill this in fractions of one-half of !.
ne per cent n more and reap a for 9
Inc at once. A royalty of one-half :.
one per cent in the future produc- :
of some Cat Greek wells is held =
$4,000 today and will doubtless y
} worth more as the field is devel- :.
,ed-bearing in mind all the time !.
at nature may have put only a :
nall pool under the Cat Creek field, =,
at it may all be draining down y
the big mother field somewhere u
nth or west, but the chances are, =
the opinion of biologists, that the Z
gh grade oil from the sands of pre-
Mt depth, may be only a forerunner
larger producers when wells are
filed to greater depth and they
ny come in 1000 and 10000 bar
wells.
Impossible" you say. Well, the
est property of the great Sinclair
rporation brought in a well pro-
cling $4,000 barrels of oil per day
in Mexico.