Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1939-06-01
HORIZONTAL WELL
---NEW METHOD OF DRILLING

/ saw oil flowing in stream from
the side of a hill. It's the world
first horizontal oil WELL the resul
of a series of experiments that ma.
revolutionize the entire industry.
Two or three entirely new prin
ciples are involved in the new we'll
And these in turn call for a whole
catalog of new TOOLS patents and in
ventions which have brought OF
men and drilling experts 1ockint
here from all over the country.
The basic principles behind hori
Zontal drilling are almost too sim
pie Even I can understand them.
First, by entering an oil-bearins
sand horizontally you can tap it fol
1000, 1000 or even 5000 feet. j
you miss pay pocket here, you hit
another a few feet farther along
When you drill in the conventional
vertical fashion, you get from two
to 20 feet of the sand and you're
through it. You've either hit OF
haven't, and that's about ALL The
horizontal's chance over the verti.
calls is roughly 10O0-to-1.
Then, by tapping sand horizon
tally you get at it from the bottom
and literally drain the oil off by
gravity. In theory, properly drill
ed horizontal we'll will not require
pumping. The oil should flow out
like sap from March maple.
And, the inventor contends hori-
zontal drilling is cheaper than the
vertical kind You need nc rigging
or casing, just the standard rotary
diamond bit to bore into the rock.
But I wouldn't know about that.
The minute discussion starts to
get technical, Dudley's lost
But the story of the idea, and the
man behind it, is as dramatic and
fascinating as anything Hollywood
might ask. And, it's just possible
Hollywood might be seeking out this
story some day.
The basic idea is that Of mining,
but the war is involved, too. The
long trail leads from Alaska through
London, Lisbon and the Texas fields,
clear to the foot of this stone cliff
on Tavener Run in Morgan county
And for a touch of seasoning, there's
a glimpse of revelation, an ambas-
sador and high admiral, midnight
assassination and grand gesture by
officers of the U. S. navy And
maybe we'd better be getting to it.
Leo Ranney was an Iowa teacher.
He was born in Cedar Flals, 50-odd
years ago, graduated from Iowa
State Teachers College, and started
work in the high schools there.
But he'd always been interested
1~s,
when he was called to head high
school in Alaska he had chance to
study mining at first hand. In his
spare time he covered all Alaska,
becoming more and more fascinated
with Mother Earth and the various
ways of getting at her pocketbook.
He experimental some himself,
had a whirl at placer mining, but
decided he needed a more exact and
scientific knowledge.
Back he went to Chicago and
Northwestern University where he
won his degree as bachelor in
science in geology in 1911. Then
there were some years of mining
engineering in both coal and met
ais, and then came the war.
hdHHey went W dSHlhSlOu do
special assistant to Maj. Cen. C.. C.
Williams, chief of ordnance Cen
eral Williams was greatly worried
that our oil supply would not be
enough to see us through and he as
signed young Ranney to see what
could be done.
Almost from the beginning, oil
men have known they were getting
but small proportion of the oil
they found. They exhaust by pump
ing, and then by various types of