Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-01-21

ures presented here. They include
none of the salaries and wages paid
fer the drilling of oil wells and for
their operation. Nothing is included
for the purchase of supplies nor for
the payments made for shooting
rights where seismograph parties
were emplo-yed The funds describ-
ed were accumulated solely from
rentals, bonuses, and royalties.
At time WHOM agricultural pro-
duction was skimpy, when markets
failed to respond TO the declarations
of new statues, when business lag
gcd when taxes multiplied-at
time when the present generation
was engaged in its most desperate
economic struggle. the oil industry
quietly stepped in To assuge the
strain in this western area.
And so in gratitude and in admir-
alton, Western Kansas humbly bows
TO the Miracle Industry which pays
rs generously for the privilege of
revealing to us the hidden wealth Of
our own possessions.
The advantage of Kansas is that it is
closer to centers of population and closer
to money centers than Montana and its
oil industry swiftly goes into the swing
of the Midcontinent, which is on a far
greater scale than in Montana. 1t is
safe to say that opportunities are few
er for operators and investors in Wes-
tern Kansas than in Montana Certainly
the cost of royalties is greater because
the competition is so much keener. The
investor who gets a bargain in royalties
in that country is one who buys far in
advance of development and in regions,
in many instances where there are no oil
indications.
The portion of the above article omit
ted recited that Ford county, not even
close to production. had 80 per cent of
its total acreage under lease Grant coun-
ty. a smaller county, had so per cent of
its farm land leased, which shows how
entire counties are leased up solid.
without regard to geology, in the new
districts in the Midcontinent. The roy
atty buyer must of necessity follow those
taking leases, and therefore must buy
blindly. in many instances, and must
compete with scores of other buyers
who are following the play"
Here in Montana. away from centers
of population we do not have the rush
of spectators who are always found in
the Midcontnent The North Cut Bank
aera were it in Kansas, would have
started a tremendous BOOM following
the completion of a flowing we'll on the
Lungren farm, which ushered in the
Darling rool. This discovery opens up
perhaps the most important portion of
the Cut Bank oil field Yet none has
taken leases excepting the present opera
tors: no new faces appeared There was
no great competition except for an 0cca-
sional lease such as the Hinterager lease.
Here in the new Darling pool is all
the material necessary to furnish a great
oil boom. A great oil boom means a sud
den rise in prices Of leases and royal
It'll.
the risk of the investor and the lower
the relative rate Of return per dollar
of investment, no matter how great tho
Fortunately we do not get these
noon conditions, but i is not he sault
of the oil field.
The main Cut Bank field is the "oil
chariot that has thus far brought
S17.OOO,OOO to north Montana. The pro-
duction last year-the light" year
was around $2.25OOOO nf new wealth
production of 100000 is ample