The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-05-10

Washington, D. c., May U.-WnAt
the scientists say IL the last known
great oil neld In the United States
will be thrown open u TIE public
under the oil leasing act, On June
Is. All preparations for that
event, which ID expected to put
thousands Of new gushefs into &C
ton, are now being made BY the de-
partment Of the interior here.
The Held In question IL the Salt
Greek on Field. near Douglas,
Wyo. The leases, on tracts 0e not
more than $40 acres each. VIII
be sold at public auction An Doug
las, beginning on the above data
and continuing until Ill are sold.
Under the oil-leasing act Of. 1880
1t is provided that proven oil lands
in the public domain shall be dis
posed OF in this way. The lease on
q given tract will be sold to the in
dividual or company offering the
highest amount for 1t. In addition
to this bonus, the individual must
give the government Is to IS la
per cent of the oil which he ex-
tracts as Z royalty. The fee title
to the lands remains in the govern
ment.
OF the money which the govern
ment receives from the sale OF the
leases and from royalties, 52h PEI
cent must go into the general re-
clamation fund which 10 used In
placing the arid lands OF the pub
lie domain under irrigation; 37h
per cent Of the money goes to the
state Of Wyoming for use in the
development OF schools and roads
and the remaining 10 per cent goes
into the treasury Of the United
States.
This opening Of the Salt Creeh
Field may be regarded az the part
Of the last act in the drama Of oil
production here in the United
States. Ever since the great value
Of petroleum began to be realized
oil ,booms have been one Of the
most spectacular features Of our
national life. The history Of them
is rich In sensational incidents OF
fortunes made In Z day, OF fierce
struggles over titles, Of gushers
worth millions.
The opening Of the Salt Greek
Field will not repeat any Of that
history. There will be no Coal
oil Johnnies," no unexpected gush-
ers, no sudden aud easy fortunes,
and above all none Of that waste Of
a precious substance which char
acterized the early booms. Science,
business and government will Co
operate to make the development
of the Salt Greek Field an orderly
and conservative affair. It will
produce less melodrama and more
oil than the older fields.
A Model Field.
For one thing, the scientists say
that this field is an almost ideal
specimen-that is. 1t follows the
laws which usually control the &C.
currence Of oil almost without e1.
ception. In the old days. boring an
Oil well was a great speculation.
But science has been constantly
learning more about the nature OF
oil deposits, and 1t has learned SO
much about this oil field in particu-
lar that 1t has made maps and dia-
grams showing exactly where the
Oil is and how It may be reached.
When a man buys q lease on a Sec
ton OF this land. he will know
about how much oil he Is buying
and how deep he will have to bore
to get it. AS a result there will be
no speculative excitement about the
undertaking. 1t is not improbable
that there will be some brisk trad
ing on Wall street in the stocks Of
these companies, for the very rea-
son that to an unusual extent they
will represent known values.
The undeveloped character Of this
field may be guarded from the fact
that 1t is estimated to have a capac-
ity of 5000 wells. but that only 200
wells are now in operation. II is
expected to produce In all about
one-third million barrels of oil
from the two upper oil sands when
can be reached. The whole product
OF the field is expected to be not