The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-03-25
BY w. w. Cheely

Time was when the proud resi-
dent of LewistOwn explained the
prosperity of h capital of the In
land Empire with the simple state
ment, Its the wheat Perhaps
in another year swollen bank de-
posits in LewistOwn may be ex-
planned by these words: tits the
OIL" Certainly the petroleum pos
sibilities of eastern Fergus county
+ promising, and it looks as
though the Goddess of Fortune,
wide armed and alluring, is beck
Oning. Lewistown talks and
dreams oil in the night time and
during the day goes down in her
capacious pocket and puts up real
cash for oil development.
Out of Lewistown, all roads in
Fergus county leao 20 Winnett and
the remarkable find that has been
made in the Mosby oil we'll of the
Frantz corporation. A few weeks
ago Winnett was a little town which
banked it's faith in future greatness
on fighting out the question of a
county seat of a new county with
Grass Range, some time in the days
to come. Now it is an oil metropolis,
small but sanguine, and growing
larger daily. Today its prospects
are somewhat on the knees of the
kindly gods, but next week, when
the voracious bit of an oil drill goes
tearing further down into the bowels
of the Lakota oil sands and the full
productivity thereof is loosed, the
name of the town may find favor in
the money changing places of the
world where there is a keenness and
interest in new sections which pro-
duce beautiful light green oil, heavily
charged with gasoline and profit to
the finder.
Petroleum Earmarks
Tor the Frantz bore looks like a
we'll. Some of the wisest oil oper-
ators and the cleverest biologists ap-
prove of it, and the talent is flocking
thither to witness the travail of an
other great Montana industry. Leases
inside the escarpment of the several
domes, are being snapped up eagerly
at fancy prices, by men of experience
in the game. Drilling outfits are be-
ing rushed into the new fields, and
before spring Chambers down from
the lap of winter the eastern sky line
of Fergus county Will be festooned
with the feathery outlines of many
derricks. Easily a million dollars
will be expended in hat section of
Montana in oil development work
during the forthcoming season.
Here are the bald facts about
the Mosby well, from which the
reader may draw his own concIu-
sions. On February 10 the bit cut
into the oil bearing sands, a Sec /,
ond Kootenai, at a depth of 1,O15 -
foot Thn o.T e, 30 no.n O. l.-o p
Al degrees Baume gravity, or .
about so per cent in gasoline con- u
tent, and of high commercial q
value. The sand in which the oil ?
occurs is 20 feet in thickness and "
further penetration should in I
crease the flow. Seventy feet of d
the bore is caved in, and the well u
has been capped, but notwith-
standing the obstruction and the y
Gaping, from 10 to 20 barrels of %
the rich fluid is forcing its way 81
to the surface and flowing away ~
from the well every "a hours. ~
All this, to the oil operator, is ~,
pregnant with possibilities. When h
bore is cleaned out and the bit e.
s sent on down into the sand, some di
hing is likely to happen. And upon
Nudb ndppcuS HULL u0ptuuS. IL II
s good, as seems probable, a flock
If new millionaires will be the re- CT
ru1t and providence will have once is
more smiled on Montana. They are va
ceiling pretty optimistic over in CT
Iewistown, thank you, from Dave m;
Iilger, boss optimist and seer, down frt
o the boy who blacks your boots. so
The Making of PetroIeocrats. It
The Frantz corporation controlled -.
5000 acres of selected land around uu
he we'll when the oil was struck. W
his land, of nc value aside from ue'
before discovery, immediate 30 20.
7 took on fancy values. Rights to luS
rill we're eagerly sought for and a Iei
umber of transfers of rights were GU
lade, sufficient, it is said, to fin
nee a drilling campaign of conse- wa
uence which the company will i'm ~
lediate1y inaugurate, and for which ~
,ven rigs-one heavy, deep drilling 70
and six Star rigs - have o,n'
ordered Tho Pratt naon1o has
ay be all the way from $500, 900 yer
81 0oo nm ahead of Tho come unt
ZEN now, with the great bulk of go
cir lands left. annie funds with rig
hich to drill and J hale ;ntereSt IN OF
! oil dava1onad wbora 49, 49, aut
seed their rigbt On ~ othars. the
ey have, in every instance, %exact-
a SO per cent royalty, which {"
cans that those who are to put up pile
e money to do this outside drilling offe
nsider it very probable that they no
II strike oil. Roc
Picture Winnett before and after o.
scovery: kee
A few weeks ago Winnett was I
Gaming of fields of waving yellow actl
ain n perhaps a court house in cien
future. A pastoral population but