The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-08-25

: those in which it has since been
found. Now there is ever more rea-
son to expect to find it.
At present drilling is in progress
or is soon to begin in almost every
one of the structures upon which rep
utable "rockhounds" (polite name
for g~eologists) have made favorable
reports. In these tests several of
the largest oil companies in America
and more than one big or
ganized under foreign charter are re-
presented, as well as a host of local
companies and independents from all
parts of the country. Millions are
being expended in these operations,
and it is only a question of time I'M
til every likely looking structure has
a thorough test. That the results
will justify the effort is the confident
expectation of many of the biggest
men in the world of oil, if their pub
lished views and the scale of their
Montana operations may be taken as
a criterion. In many of these struc-
lures the drills at this very moment
are close to the sands and any day
may add a new chapter to Montana's
so far meteoric oil history. (Since
this article was written the Porcu-
pine field has been brought in.-Ed.)
The third important chapter was
written last February when one of
the by-products of industrial disso-
luton, usually spoken of as a Sub
sidiary company" converted the So
called Soap Creek structure from a
wildcat into a proven field by bring
ing in a 500-barrel flowing we'll, the
field being located fifty odd miles
southeast of Billings, more than one
hundred miles from either of the
other producing fields, and on an
! anticlinal fold distinct from those ON
which they are situated. The import
ance of this discovery was multiplied
only a few weeks ago (June IL, to be
exact) when a second we'll was
brought in, the measured flow of
which is 2,400 barrels per day, max
ing it the largest we'll in the state to
date. This is believed by many oil
men to be the mother pool for
which they are all searching, but as
to that only Father Time can tell.
The most intensive development so
far has naturally been in the Cat
Creek field, and, to tell the story
briefly, there are already fifty pro-
ducing wells. with scores drilling
and scores preparing to drill, a prov
en- zone ten miles in length along the
axis of the anticline Gall same spinal
column) two sands proven product
i've, three pipelines to the railroad,
and a monthly production which had
passed the 80,000-barrel mark with
less than half as many wells last No
vember, when inadequate transporta-
Ysa. faas1,+,1- o,l AfLA. 41~o+s--
conditions caused a temporary cur
tailment. And this oil as it comes in
virgin form from the bowels of the
earth averages n~inety-five per cent
gasoline and kerosenel
Right here you conclude, perhaps,
if you have not done so several inn
ings back, that l would be quite at
home swapping yarns with Ananias.
/ don't blame you. The state chemist
of Montana wouldn't even believe
what his laboratory analysis of this
oil showed. SO he made a personally
conducted tour of the field, took oil
out of one of the wells with his W
hands, so to speak, and made an
other analysis which, as he then an
nounced, showed "a per cent gaso-
line. six per cent kerosene, eight per
NCht u ISoIlo WILL Pol OdOCg
and two per cent asphalt. If your
engine is warm, you can take this
Crude oil as it comes from the
casing head, put it into your gas tank
and drive away as blithely as if you
had paid 35 cents a gallon for the
refined product.
In the Devils Basin in the mean
time various factors have retarded
ara1onra ant ona tho fio1J n date
has only three producing wells, but
more thorough and extensive explo-
ration is now under way. The oil in
this field runs about 81 per cent
lubricants and thirty-one per cent
gasoline and kerosene, which is about
the same as that of the Soap Creek
field, 60 per CEN and 81 per cent,
respectively. In Soap Creek large
scale operations are already on foot.
Now to shift on the last reel from
fact to fancy, it is interesting and
in no way risky to speculate upon
the coming events before which tow
ering derricks are casting their sha-
dows. Where will be another Cat
Creek, another Kitten River" as
one of the early arrivals facetiously
called it? You have a picturesque
aggregation from which to choose:
P~orcupine, Ragged Point, Rattle
snake Butte, Woman's Pocket, Duck
Creek, Rotten Grass, Shawmut,
Black Butte, DEVILS Pocket, Antelope
Point, Big Wall, Big Elk, Milk River,
Basin, Arrow Creek - to
only a few which breathe OBJ
.rusively the atmosphere of the van
lshing west that was.
Some of them are sure to live up
the promise of their names, and
Is they do, SO will Montana's Tulsa
)r Casper or Fort Worth be born. AS
yet the question as to which of many
lard-hitting towns shall cop the COW
tied title of Montana's heavyweight
champion oil burg stands unsettled,
Ind it is with hesitation that l men,
ion any of them, fearing that l may
an unknown, destined mayhap
O corral this proud and profitable
/ hazard no prophecy, venture no
,uess. You studies the railroad map
nd the oil mans and Won roads tho