Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-05-14

THE first attempt to develop oil in
the Kevin-Sunburst dome was made on
the James Miller RANCH, in Sec. 25, 4 "a
", r. W., in 1912. MFR. Miller in
drilling a water well obtained a small
amount of high grade oil from the Colo
RADIO shale and using this a sample
induced q drilling company to make a
test. The well reached a depth of 1,755
feet and stopped in the Ellis formation
some distant above its base. There was
some excitement over this test, and placer
locations were made ON many of the
surrounding sections under the old law,
TO hold the land for drilling"
1t is a noteworthy fact that whenever
oil Is found in appreciabIe quantities in
the Colorado sands, well as the KoOt-
mai sands, a lime crtck or fissure is
usually found nearby A gusher pool
has been found in proximity TO Sum
burst sand production in early every
instance, in this field. The exception
was the Sunburst sand well drilled by
Gordon Campbell In Section 13-S5-3W.
That was an exception until last week
when the big Acknowledgement well
was completed, half a mile south and
three quarters of a mile east of that
Sunburst sand producer.
The presence of ANY oil in upper for
nations on the Miller ranch is significant.
1t indicates to us that the same cOndi-
lions found elsewhere in Kevin-Sunburst
field can be expected in the new West
Kelvin pool
Says the U. S. G. S. regarding the
source of this oil: ''ShOwings Of oil
have been found in small vertical fis-
sures in the normally compact Madison
limestone, and parts of the Madison core
of the TrOy-Sweetgrass well had the pro-
nounced disagreeabIe sulphur OdOr char
acteristic of much of the Kevin-Sunburst
oil
"a considerable quantity of black
heavy. dead oil is reported TO have
been found near the base OF the Madison
limestone in the Dry Creek well, north
of Conrad, i'm Sec 2, T. 2SN., Rge 3W.
Showings of oil and hydrocarbOn gas as
well as disseminated oil are reported
from the Devonian rocks penetrated by
the Trcy-Sweetgrass and Frazier wells.
in the Kevin-Sunburst field. and the
Bears Den well, northeast Of East Butte.
The Athabaska tar sands, 400 miles
Mouth cf the Kevin-Suuburst oil field
which lie just above the DevOnian, the
~ found Mt points farther north in
Canada; and the oily OdOr found in the
DevOnian limestone of the Little Rocky
Mountains all lead to the belief that the
Devonian contains a considerable guam
fifty of oil and may possibly be the
scUrc" of the oil of the Kevin-Sunburst
field"
TIL" report recites that three wells
drilled in 1925 and 1926 apparently
found commercial quantities of oil in the
Madison limestone less than 100 feet
below the Ellis formation. These wells
the OhiO-JOhnsOn No. 1, and Queen
City-Hanna No. 1, in Sec. 1S-23-1W and
the O'NeiI-Lashbaugh No. 5. in Sec. 27-
2W,-struck oil at IA, % and SO
feet respectively, below the Ellis, prob
absv in parts of the limestone made Dor-
Ous bv solution Presumably the oil IS
similar in origin TO that found I'm the
Ellis Not more than so wells have
been drilled as far into the Madison
as the O'Neil No. well, which penetrat-
ed IL for SO feet"
1t is an odd fact that we are aston
iShed by big flowing well, such as the
Acknowledgement No. 2. Actually, we
should be astOnished that drilIers are
content to quit drilling at the top of
the Madison lime The driIIer who
HAPPENS to drill squarely into a lime
crack or crevice gets a big well. 1t is
astonishing that anyone EVER hits one