The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1924-05-02
IMID-NORTHERN
sa.SPENT $SlO,2S9
EXCLUSIVE OF EQUIPMENT AND
SUPPLIES, IN MONTANA OP-
CREATIONS LAST YEAR
Drilled Fl Additional Wells in Cat
Creek, Six in Wildcat Structure,
and Eight in the Kevin-Sunburst
Field.
BY Mark Danford

But few people realize the
amount of money that has been ex-
pended in the prospecting and de-
veloping of the oil resources of
Montana. The operation and drill
ing of a well in places remote from
transportation upon the surface ap-
pears to be very simple. AS mat
ter of fact, the general public view
1t simply as an operation of ma
chine that requires no particular
supervision or attention and that
so long as the beam goes up and
down that new hole is being made.
This is not true, however.
In the beginning the area which is
being prospected or developed from
necessity has been very carefully
mapped by technically trained men
to determine whether or not the
structural conditions warrant test.
And unfortunately, with all their
technical knowledge and careful
work, the chances are, judging from
past experiences, no oil will be found.
The biologists are not able by any
mystic power to place oil under the
ground and all we can do is to care
fully determine the structural con-
ditions, which, if nature has been
kind, generally produce oil and a
reward is received by the adventur-
Gus operator.
After the mapping of the structure
and the securing of leases, for which
often times bonuses are paid, it is
necessary to assemble material at the
nearest point upon a railroad for de-
livery to the field. Not infrequently
this requires teaming and trucking
for a distance of sixty or seventy
miles, and over roads which are not
maintained as highways. And it is
often necessary to construct temper
airy roads for the movement of this
material. But in few instances have
fields been discovered where trans
portation facilities have been at all
adequate. Nature has been unkind
in the placing of its hidden wealth
in the Rocky Mountain section and
of the numerous structures that have
been drilled and tested there have
been but few commercial fields dis
covered. In Montana at the present
writing there have been but three
commercial oil fields found, namely:
Cat Creek, Soap Creek and the Kelvin
Sunburst field. There no doubt have
been as many as 800 likely looking
places in Montana tested unsuccess-
fully for oil.
The opinion is prevalent among
most people who are not familiar
with the hazards of the industry, that
great sums of money are realized by
those engaged in the development of
oil. 1t is true that those who are
fortunate enough to have made COM
mercial discoveries usually profit
from those operations, but in view of
the hazards connected with the ex-
ploration work, and the great losses
that are incurred therein, it is neces-
sary that the investor reap a fair
profit from those that are successful.
This profit may appear to be exor-
bltant to the uninitiated, but from
the above statement of facts it is cas-
lily discernible that nature still owes
a great amount of money to the oil
industry as whole, as considerably
more money has been spent in devel-
opment and prospecting than will
ever be realized from the present
three fields.
An oil company to continue in ex-
istence must continue to look for adj
ultlonal Fields. Otherwise, we would
soon go out of business. Nature is
not replacing in the ground any oil
these days and after a barrel of oil