The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-07-01
STATE SURVEY OF
OIL DEVELOPMENT
-FOUR WIDELY SEPARATED OIL
STRUCTURES PRODUCING IN
COMMERCIAL QUANTITIES
Cat Creek Production Is TOtaling
About 100000 Barrels Monthly;
Activity of Standard Oil Subsi1iar.
les In the North; the Bowes Devel.
Opment,

A survey of the oil situation in
montana which has just been COM
pleted disclosed that there are four
OIL structures in Montana where COM
mercial oil has been developed. The
first OF these, in point of production,
Is Cat Creek, with 40 producing wells
and production of approximately
100000 barrels monthly; the second
Is the old Elk Basin field. on the
Mountaineering boundary, with Is
or more wells ON the Montana end
OF the structure. The Soap Creek
field, over 100 miles from either of
these structures, and situated about
~ miles southeast of Billings. comes
third and has two good wells. the
first one capable of producing per-
maps ESQ barrels per day, and the
second, recent strike, said to be
much larger; in fact, the claim has
been made that it is the most prolific
we'll in the state. The fourth district
is the DEVILS Basin. near Roundup,
with two wells which will produce
perhaps 100 barrels daily each.
Six years ago the total production
OF wyoming was about 100000 bar
rels annually, and Montana's output.
with limited period Of intensive eff
fort, is close to this figure.
Aside from these developed dis
trlcts there are probably so wells be-
ing drilled in as many wild cat struc-
lures in various sections of the state.
Standard in the North
Northern Montana is attracting at
tention because of the activity OF the
Standard Oil interests in that section
OF the state, four subsidiaries of that
concern drilling as many wells in
widely separated structures. Among
the Independent operators of the
north Is Louis Hill of the Great Nor
them, while Texas oil men. operating
through Montana corporation, the
Bowes Structure Oil company, are ar
ranging to develop the structure
bearing that name south of Chinook
and Gordon Campbell is drilling al
Kelvin.
Among the companies affiliated
with the Standard which are now
operating in the north, are the ELL
Basin company. which is drilling al
Browns coulee; the Ohio company
which is drilling below 1000 feet a
Clear creek. In Blaine county; tn,
Transcontinental company, which i
set up to drill few miles out of For
Benton, and the Frantz Corporation
which has recently taken over a larg
acreage of Indian lands north q
Browning and has drill on the way
i Louis Hill Will Drill
| Louis Hill and his associates hav
also acquired holdings on the Black
feet reservation, and are under a con
tract to drill we'll; while on tn
other side Of the International line
the Imperial Oil company, a Standar
subsidiary, is drilling several wells.
Certainly there must be justifica
ton for all this work, meaning tn
expenditure of hundreds of thousand
Of dollars. Mining engineers an
biologists from all parts Of the coun
try have worked over this field, find
ing conditions very favorable for tn
existence of oil pools.
! The Bowes Structure
! The geology Of the property tina
has been taken over BY the Bowe
Structure Oil company has bee
worked out in detail by Stewart