davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-04-13
The Age Of Gushless Gushers

II ECENT completion Of flowing
X wells in Kevin-Smburst field
have excited no fanfare and
brought no excitement, yet their i'm
portance is even greater than would
have been the case decade ago
when there were 10 wells drilling to
every one now drilling.
The writer on Sunday visited the
newly completed Superior Petroleum
Haugen well in the Rocky Ridge pool,
five miles north Of Kelvin That we'll
flowed 40 barrels in the first 20
hours. 1t has quite little gas with
the oil but showed no water on Sun
day. 1t flowed steadily. without the
Snorting and banging of wells which
have more gas and less oil 1t had all
the eyemarks of a Baker No. or a
Howling No. 3 or a Byrne No. 3. The
important difference is that it was
never allowed to spill barrel of oil
onto the prairie
In the teeming 'twenties such a well
would have been a guSher; would
have squirted oil all over the place.
In those days a well that didn't dec
crate the rig wasn't of much ac-
count, in the opinion of the drillers.
If it didn't put on a good enough
show the drillers would agitate it and
make it perform Thus the early-day
wells frequently developed water soon
after they were drilled in Other wells
which did not flow were drilled deep
or in an effort to increase the produc-
tion-deeper, that is. until they hit
the sulphur water strata near the
top Of the Madison lime. That water
was then allowed to invade the oil
horizon above.
Our visit to the field Sunday was
in company with an oil man who has
had a lifetime Of experience in oil
fields of the Midcontinent, Texas and
California. He has been making a
careful study of Kevin-Sunburst and
we were interested in his conclusions
and comments We pointed to one
pool, in which the Standard of Cali
fornia wells are located, and pointed
out that the wells in this area pro-
duce very little water Farther south
and higher on structure is the old
Queen City group where nearly all
of the wells developed large quantities
of water.
Why should there be so much wat
er higher on structure?" we asked him.
His reply was interesting:
The wells lower on structure were
doubtless properly completed. They
were not drilled into water below the
oil horizon
Then you believe that much of the
water that comes with the oil has mi
grated up into the oil horizon from
normal water horizons belowY"
"That is my conclusion" he said,
adding that every well should have
been cored, with cable tool core bar
rel before it was drilled in: something
that has rarely been done in this
field
Our bulletin issued this WE
that our members are fully {
service of our organization.
This coming week we will s
important development of Il
Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-04-13

We recalled the "good old days" of
the Queen City pool, starting with Bill
Mansfield great gusher on the
Storm permit That we'll wasn't half
as good a well, in our humble opin-
ion, as the recently completed Super
ior Petroeum-Haugen well. But Bill
Mansfield needed gusher. He thrill
ed his friends, including the writer,
by opening the well up, allowing it TO
shoot high over the mast. When it
stopped flowing he put in a swab and
brought it back. The result was that
within day or two it was making
wafer and within a few short weeks
was making practically all water and
il had to be Abandoned. The water
invaded the whole lease On an adj
joining lease d. A. Mcdonald had
drilled to the lime contact but did
rot get a gusher. He kept on drilling
until he got a big water well, then
quit. His well made some oil but the
water was never shut iff. We doubt
that the bottom water was ever shut
off
Such was the history of the early
days Of this field and it is remarkable
that Kevin-Sunburst has produced as
much as 81, 800 worth of oil per devel-
Cper acre, in view of the wide-open.
gas-burning slapstick methods en-
ployed
Contrast with the old methods is
found today at the Aronow- Ellingson
well in the Kelvin pool which has been
flowing steadily since last Deem
Der. That well blew fiercely for few
moments after the bit hit the sand.
but it was quickly closed in before it
could damage itself, and it was
promptly pinched down so that it
flowed through a 5-32nds-inch open
ing and it has been allowed to make
66 barrels per day, which was all the
oil the owners desired
Just before our arrival at the we'll
the owners had run two-inch tubing.
with a packer. Before it had been
flowing through the casing 1t is
claimed that with tubing and packer
the pressure can be better maintain
ed. 1t was flowing a steady stream
through the tubing while we were at
the well. It appeared to be making
more than 68 barrels.
However, the important fact is that
this well might have been a greater
gusher than the wild wells of the
Hart pool which caused humid
red times as much excitement but
which turned to water. The Aronow
well was showing no more than a trace
Of water, we were informed, after four
months of flowing, as a result of hav-
ing been produced with sufficient
back pressure to hold back the water.
A successful Kelvin operator re-
Gently told us: "The secret is to mold
back the water with adequate pres
sure so that we can gently skim off
the OIL Our best friend is the water,
if we can keep it under control. Once
the water is allowed to rush in and
k contained news of utmost
Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-04-13

bulletin
that members fully patve of the advantage provided the information
This field
important development of the future
Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-04-13

displace the oil, then the well is r11:I..
cd. y Every WELL flowing or pumping.
he said, should be produced with some
back pressure
In the light of modern production
methods, these flowing wells in Kelvin
field are of great significance. We
note that there have been eight com
pletions since December Three of
the eight have FLOWED. That is a
ratio comparable with the record of
the exciting 'twenties when every
flowing we'll made the headlines. 1t is
very apparent that with modern pro-
duction methods, the operator and the
royalty owner will get lot more
oil. in the long run Furthermore, we
believe that there will shortly be in
troduced a method of cementing off
bottom water in many pools in this
field, through modern squeeze" or
pressure methods Entrance Of the
Halliburton people leads to this hope
If not expectation. Doubtless this will
result in revival of many of the
flooded areas. We know of one well
in the eastern part of the field which
was taken over by a skillful operator
who has recovered some $4,000
worth of oil from an old water well
that was making 95 barrels of water
to each barrels Of oil.
From the viewpoint of the royalty
investor we know that the days of
great profits are by no means past
The Superior Haugen flowing well is
within a few yards of dry hole, with
ether dry holes north, south and east
Of it. The possibility of converting a
showing into a producer through use
of acidization, has made operators
fearless to drill in otherwise icon
demned" areas. The Haugen pro-
Queer came in without the aid of acid.
Later on it may be acidized into a
larger well than its present initial.
There are opportunities for greater
profits through royalty investments
than there were back in the 'twenties.
The prices are today based on true
values rather than on guSher hysteria.
The person who buys royalties today
has assurance that the wasteful
practices are a thing of the past and
greater recovery per acre will profit
the royalty owner as well as the OPP
orator. The profit in a royalty is not
in the RATE of production but in the
yield per acre. The short-sighted in
weston might want to own royalty in
a gusher, but we all know that the
greatest profit comes from taking
the oil at a slower rate and thus
the ultimate yield per acre.
An investor who pays So per cent per
acre for royalty is far better off to
get a ten-year yield of 5000 barrels
per acre than to get one-year yield
of 1000 barrels per acre, with the
wells turning to water after one
year.
Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-04-13

Red Why is it you have 20 many
boy friends?"
Blonde: II give nm
Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-04-13

A Shelby contributor whose mi
tails are j. w. ]. sends this one
Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-04-13

The Badger has a pretty fair
collection of contributions as a re-
suit of the recent QUESTIONABLE" Of
north Montana oil operators. Some
of them are included in this week S
column.
Evening star., 1940-10-12

willing to kill and destroy to hold their
sinecures has no bearing on the point.
This body is in no sense a "rump' con-
gress, although the term rebel con-
gress' can be applied to the illegal
body in armed possession of the legis-
lative chambers.
Can there be a revolution? The
word revolution used politically, means
a radical change in the form or ad-
ministration of a government. Gen.
Almazan has no wish to change the
form of government; his mission is
simply to restore the democratic form
guaranteed by the constitution, by estab-
fishing the rights of the legitimate con-
gress. He cannot change the admins
tration because the people, by electing
him administrator r-to-be, have taken that
step in complete compliance with the
constitution. His only plan is to assume
the Office to which he has been elected
at the designated time, December l.
I do not ask your interested readers to
take at face value what has been said
here But I do ask them to go back to
the newspaper files and check the facts
as reported effectively. Then, believe,
their sympathetic interest at least will
rest with the democratic forces in the
country next door.
FRANCISCO A. CARDENAS.
San Antonio, Tex.
September 30.
Evening star., 1940-10-12
SELLING Democracy

A rural school in Bucks County,
Pa, has conducted with interesting
results a novel educational expert
ment to make youth appreciate the
form Of government under which
they are living. Details of the expert
ment are told in a recent study by
the Educational Policies Commission
of the National Education Associa-
ton, which has been investigating
practices used by American teachers
in citizenship instruction.
Hearing the frequent assertion that
relationships are more successful in
getting things done than democra-
cies, members of the social science
class decided to try it out and see for
themselves. For a two-week period
they agreed to submit to a dictator
ship by the teacher. The instructor
dictated the thinking and conclu-
sions of the class, prescribed all
classroom activities and acted as sole
Judge of all debatable questions. He
Evening star., 1940-10-12
Lambeth Palace

The London residence of the
primates of all England is a vener-
able monument of medieval archi-
lecture which has a particular
significance for many citizens of the
United States. In its chapel the first
American bishops were consecrated
in 1787-an incident of the Revolu-
ton which separated the Colonies
from the mother country far less
drastically than some may have
thought then or others think now.
A certain Countess Coda nearly a
thousand years ago made her home
on the south bank of the Thames.
BY what process the property came
to be owned by the Archbishops of
Canterbury is unknown, but there is
no question about the fact that it
had passed into their hands by the
final quarter Of the twelfth century.
Five of them carried forward impor-
tant campaigns of construction.
Baldwin sponsored work begun in
1889, Boniface an effort started in
1862. Then Chicheley in 1434 began
the so-called LollardS' Tower in
which the reformerS later were
imprisoned.
Visitors find the gatehouse, raised
by Morton in 1890, and the library,
initiated by Bancroft about 1905, in
teresting. The chapel, however, is
the heart of the whole pattern. It
was part of the enterprise Of Boni-
face, and each of his successors has
been inducted into his holy Office
there. Perhaps the stones which
currently cover it's floor we're trod
by Wycliffe when he was summoned
to trial for his heresies in 1878. He
escaped because Ibis cause was just"
and he had the support of the
Princess of Wales and other powerful
friends of intellectual freedom. The
followers of Wat Tyler deservedly
were less fortunate in 1881, when
they beheaded Archbishop Sudbury
and burned his books. A second in
vasion was attempted in vain by a
mob in 1641. The regicide Scott
bought the entire estate after the
execution of Charles I, but his tenure
did not extend beyond 1860, when he
himself suffered at Charing Cross.
More recently Lambeth Palace has
meant the periodic meetings of the
pan-Anglican clergy for the Lambeth
Conferences. From one such gather
ing the quadrilateral basis for Chris
tian unity, embracing the Scriptures,
the Nicene and Apostles Creeds, the
two sacraments and the historic
episcopate, derived. Bombs falling
from the skies have no power to
demolish such a sacred hope nor
greatly to disturb the solemn in
spiration which even in the midst
of prevailing horror gives that hope
strength to survive.
Evening star., 1940-10-12
An Absurd Fiction

Wendell WILKES vigorous attack
last night on the Presidents mon
political" defense inspection tours
serves to emphasize the absurdity of
the pretense that these trips are de-
void of political coloration.
Shortly after his nomination for a
third term, Mr.. Roosevelt announced
that the pressure of his official
duties would prevent him from max
ing a conventional campaign, al
though, it was added, he might make
a few trips to inspect national de-
fenSe projects. The eighth of these
tours is now in progress, with more
to come.
No one would seriously contend
that Mr.. Roosevelt, once having de-
cided to run for third term, should
not campaign for reelection. To
deny that privilege to any candidate
for public office would amount to an
infringement of the constitutional
ban on the imposition of cruel and
unusual punishments. But a candi-
date, in exercising his privilege to
campaign, ought to do SO candidly.
Mr.. Roosevelt, it is true, has done
a minimum of public speaking on
these trips. But there are other ways
of campaigning, such as the recep-
tion aboard the presidential train Of
local political leaders and the healing
Of breaches in political fences, as
eXemplified by the restoration of
harmony between Pennsylvania S
Senator Guffey and the States ma
tional committeeman, David Law
renee.
In the American scheme of things,
there is nothing inherently objec-
tiOnable in these activities. They are
the normal rather than the abnor-
NAL characteristics of any political
campaign. But the atmosphere would
be clearer if Mr.. Roosevelt were to
abandon once and for all the fiction
that he is not engaged primarily on
political errands.
Evening star., 1940-10-12
Labor Law Reforms
Believed Needed.
To the Editor of The

Though 7 belong to the ranks OF
American labor, believe that the Ma
tionaI Labor Relations Board should
either cease encouraging radical labor
in its decisions or be abolished and
new board set up that will render fair,
impartial decisions in disputes between
labor and industry. I also believe that
the wage-hour law should be amended
to allow labor to work at least 441a
hours week for straight time for at
least as long as we have to prepare the
Nation for war Of course, the New Deal
administrators may not know 1t, but
thousands of small industries will be
unable to run if they are forced to pay
time and half for all time over 40
hours week. Many of them have to
keep their plants in operation 44h to
48 hours a week in order to keep their
production schedule straight, but they
cannot afford to hire new labor and
break it In just for four and one-half
or eight hours man in order to keep
going Small industries must keep their
old, experienced employees on the job
all the time. In fact, I believe the
Roosevelt administration should cease
meddling in labor and industrial af-
fairs anyway, because experience shows
that the New Deal crowd have only
made conditions worse since they started
making America over. Here's hoping
that Mr.. Willkie will win and will also
have a Congress that will back him up in
his policies. IND1V1DUAIIST.
Nofo
Evening star., 1940-10-12
THIS AND THAT
As soon as the catbirds finished raising
their young they vanished from the gar
BIZ Charles +. Trdce1Del1.

As soon as the catbirds finished raising
their young they vanished from the gar
den
This was not true Of other species. The
wood thrushes, the cardinals, the bluejays
and others, all remained for time.
The cardinals, Of course, will be here
all winter, as will the jays. And most
of us will be glad, for there is no better
bird than the cardinal.
1t possesses certain something which
makes 1t the universal favorite of all
those interested in bird life.
1t is bird which minds it's own busi-
ness very well. AS the whole world
seems to go in for minding other peoples
business, the creature which sticks closely
to its own knitting becomes more and
more valuable.
Surely there are few birds which do
this better than the cardinals.
They are with us the year around,
every day all year long; watch as you may,
you will never see them chasing other
birds, or ousting others from their nests.
They are good sports at feeding stations,
where they eat amicably with all comers.
We do not mean that the cardinal is
a bird angel Far from it, it is very
human, if we might say so. 1t pecks at
other birds, now and then, as if it meant
business, but it doesn't.
For all its jaunty air, and vigor, the
cardinal is a pleasing, peace-loving bird.
No doubt this is one of the reasons it is
such universal favorite.
Sometimes the bird watcher in the
home grounds is inclined to put the en-
phasis on the rarer species he Sees
This is only because there is more con-
versation value in the unusual.
II the truth be known, the average
bird observer prefers the old favorites,
the standby birds which come every
day. and with whose habits he is thor
oughly familiar.
Maybe that is why this column likes
the English sparrows. Not only do they
give great shows. and fill the winter air
with music, choral singing of good SUBJ
stance. but they are such home bodies.
We may not be sure of Baltimore orioles,
but we can always count on the sparrows.
1t is the same with the bluejays. Here
is a gay bold and confident fellow, who
is not always around. by any means. but
who will show up every few days, just as
if he had never been away.
The catbirds come and go. and are gone
long before we realize it. Even the
faithful robins leave us for the South,
almost before we get used to them.
But the cardinal is with us the year
around Perhaps we should say some
thing in favor of the mockingbird too,
in this respect. Not all Of them stay
here, by any means, but some of them do.
If you have a mockingbird this win
ter, you will have to decide for yourself
whether TO rejoice. He will not sing, Of
course, but he will be as saucv as ever.
And he may make a considerable nui-
sance of himself, by driving other species
Evening star., 1940-10-12
An Influenza Vaccine

One attack of any of the great
family of diseases caused by infini-
tesimally minute filterable viruses
results In the production of anti
bodies in the blood which protect the
victim against a second attack. This
is the case with smallpox, typhus,
yellow fever, encephalitis, polio
myelitis, plague and a host of other
Affections, including some of the
most devastating maladies known to
man. The protection may be tempo
rary or permanent, depending on the
nature Of the disease.
The great problem of medicine in
this field is to stimulate the produc-
ton of these antibodies without ag-
gravating the disease. In some cases
notably smallpox-success has been
marked. Almost perfect protection
can be given against yellow fever,
spotted fever and probably, typhus.
In every case it is essential that an
experimental animal be found which
is subject to the virus, and men,
bers of this group of viruses are
likely to be very specific in selecting
their victims, although much less so
in the animal than in the plant king
dom.
One of the most difficult to deal
with has been the virus Of influenza.
Man, it appeared, was the only crea-
ture subject to the ravages Of this
particular virus until it was found
about five years ago that the ferret
also could be an influenza victim.
That discovery by four English doc
tors may turn out to have been the
beginning of the end of "fu." With
out it nothing could have been done.
With it, despite the hurdles that
remain to be Surmounted, expert
mental medicine is on the way to
wiping the naalady from the earth.
Now what seems, from laboratory
tests, to be an effective preventive
vaccine has been obtained It's value,
in case of another virulent epidemic
such as swept over this country and
Europe in 1918, hardly can be over
estimated. 1t might well save mil
lion lives, if its promises do not prove
to be illusory.
In passing, it may be well to men,
ton that even without the virus
Evening star., 1940-10-12
Warns Against Hitler's Genius
For Treachery.

To the Editor Of The Star:
Before we can properly appraise the
chances of the democracies. we must
take fullest note of the almost unlim-
tied possibilities of Hitlers foremost
weapon, treachery. Representing evil
in its meanest form, treachery offers an
advantage fully equal to any physical
advantage on earth. A small man can
stab a giant in the back; one gangster
can bring many honest citizens to sudden
death And it is possible for nation
willing to do so to gain all>the world
in exchange for its soul.
Clearly, the dictators have their peo-
piles well in harness, not only physically,
but also, to an ever-increasing extent,
mentally; today's slavery expands in
degree as we'll as in extent And If, in
their egotism, their fanaticism and their
belief that "the end justifies the means"
the dictators call ever more deeply upon
the powers of darkness, employing, as
Winston Churchill warns, novel treach-
cries." we who count only the more
physical factors will continue to under
estimate the destructive power Of the
aggressors, whose depravity we cannot
know.
Our hope lies in the fact that not
even a dictator is absolutely evil, and
the fact that no people can be harnessed
100 per cent. Yet the danger is far
vaster than we think. And our hope
has meaning only if we make full
effort in behalf of human freedom.
Salvation is not for the half-hearted
soul; nor is it for half-hearted Amer
lea. wanting to win the war without
really trying to win it!
October 4. BOILING SOMERVILLE.