Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-09-11
THE LAUGH IS ON THE
LAUGHING LEASE HOUNDS

manded and none would agree to drill
a well so quickly. Years rolled ON and
the west end of KeVin-Sunburst uelo
was virtually abandoned. The discovery
well was abandoned. No pipeline was
built on the west side and there was no
incentive TO drill 1SOO-foot wells on the
west side when multi-thOusand barrel
wells were being brought In ON the East
side, at a depth of 1900 feet. For q
decade none ever bothered Schmidt.
Then came acidization. Operators dis
covered that while acid was helpful IN
the central field IL brought most sensa~
tionaI results on the other edges of the
field, in new territory where the pres
sure had not yet been released. Asola1ed
wells were treated on the extreme West
side and they responded with greater
production than their initial flow. So 1t
was that drilling was revived on the west
side. This drilling developed the fact
that there was an area which produces
40 gravity oil, whereas the oil in the
east end OF the field averages around 50
gravity Normally, this high gravity oil
is worth a considerable premium. Some
day it viii command a premium.
some of the operators who recognized
these facts organized a Joint enterprise to
20 into absolutely INFESTED territory on
the west side and drill. They picked ont
the Schmidt farm as a likely place.
Schmidt had grown a bit tired OF the
absolute disregard the oil industry had
shown him I'm the intervening IA years.
During that time he had seen the rest
OF the field produce thirty eight million
dollars worth of oil. He saw other
landowners retire from their farms with
all the money they could spend, from
their royalties. Even though he "knew
he had oil. IL was doing him no good, so
he listened when the operators, tnclud-
d.. Il flawuu ff tof he
ed him.
The result was that he gave a lease
on his Land ON terms comparable with
other tracts, with provisions for the
drilling of well. He insisted on an inn
mediate well because he said, he KNEW
that 1t would find oil.
A well was drilled and IL DID find
oil. But 1t was not the great gusher
that Schmidt had fOrseen. Except for
acid, 1t would not have been an oil well.
As IL was, 1t was considerable of a
problem well", even with acid. BY
sl1ilIfuI handling It was slowly developed
into a 0O-barreI producer.
Then second well was drilled. This
too, had a mere showing of oil. But
when acidized and properly completed it
STARTED FLOWING and showed evil
dence Of being one of the best wells In
Kevin-Sunburst field. There never has
been an adequate market to put this well
on a production test. 1t has been estt-
mated at 200 TO 500 barrels. 1t has
produced at the rate of 100 barrels
day whenever there was storage space,
but none knows what it might have
made I'm initial production.
Thus the legendary "sheepherder's
dream became a reality. The laugh
is on the lease hounds who entertained
themselves laughing at Schmidt and his
higher source which gave him such
absolute faith in the value of his land.
third well is now being completed on
this farm. 1t appears to occupy the heart
Of the high gravity pool. At the pre-
sent moment there Is no adequate mar
ket for any of this west side OH. The
crude Is so valuable, containing no suI-
Dhur and having a paraffin base OF good
lubricating stock, that it is bought by
farmers who come for great distances