The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-15

required 10 produce OH IS 50 Sihdh A-' comparison that many operations are conducted by individuals and small syn
 dicates. who do not hesitate to person.
 ally supply the amount necessary, and these are known as individual or inde- pendent operators
 oil operations do not require compli- cated machinery, engineering problems tc be solved or labor to any very great extent. After the wells are in and put on pump and connected up with others, one or two men can look after and take care of a dozen oil wells, and pumps, pipe and tanks are practically all the equipment required in handling oil production.
 OIL INDUSTRY A SPECULATION?
 Most assuredly oil operations for production are somewhat specula- tive" They are more than that. They are speculative. Why not? One cans not invest $10O with q good chance of
 making $1,000, or s2,000, or s1O,o00 without taking some chance. The original holders in the Fowler or dis covery well of Burkb7Irnett, Texas, re- ceived s15,000. for each sl00 invested. Purk- Waggoner, or Northwest EXten- sion, Burkburnett, Wichita county, dis covery well returned S3,333.33 for each S100 invested. on a sale of the prop erty Immediately after it's discovery. This property was bought by Allen l Ryan and associates of New York and , formed into the Ryan Petroleum Com pany and capitalized at several mil lflion dollars and the stock sold and TOW traded in on tho open stock mar 1 l1et in New York. The property orig | nally consisted of only 60 acres in l Block S4, Northwest Burk Burnett field, and which field is now extended to in- clude some $500 acres, making it one of tI l,x- ff,f fofr oil world. The Kemp -Munger-Allen | field, Wichita county, proven up but a ! few weeks ago and the shareholders ] of that company were offered as high as sS 900 for each s100 share. and the Hog Creek Company in North Central Texas, paid their original sharehcld- CTS s20,000 for each $100 share and | hundreds of oil companies and syndi- cates have paid handsome profits in varying amounts several times their original investment.
 The main thing is that the men oper- ating the undertaking are capable, ! honest and sincere. In order to raise the money to develop their property, the promoters must naturally make | the proposition very attractive. With l this money they must strike oil in or | der to make any money for themselves. The property all around them has de- l veloped oil and the percentage of | chances are in favor of their striking l oil, too, and if they do their holdings will be worth considerably more. prob- ! ably ten or twenty or a hundred times what was paid for it. However, it is | chance. but life Is made up of
 chances and many have reaped big profits and returns from taking a
 chance in the oil industry.
 ORIGIN OF OIL AND GAS l Tha uuhstion of thp origin of oil and 1 gas has been discussed many times and | from many different standpoints, but | no one theory of origin has ever found universal acceptance.
 !, Some geologists believe that oil and 1 gas were part of the original earth material and others believe that they were formed from the decay of plans. animal and fish life of the land or sea. Another common belief is that metallic i carbides come in contact with great l heat and pressure are forthwith changed into oil and gas.
 THE WILDCATTER
 The wildcatter in the oil industry Is ! the pioneer in the oil and gas busl-
 ness. who does the costly venturing
 referred to in this article His occupa- tlcn is searching for Gil or gas in un- developed territory and he is the man whose nerve and faith and money have brought into existence every great producing oil and gas pool in the world.
 It is the wildcat operation which pays the largest profits when success. full and should pay the investor in such ventures profits ranging from at l least $50 to $200 for each s1 invested, for the reason that the chances of loss
 are in about that proportion. Although one of the most successful wildcat op- orators known has been for years en-