Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-09-14

This is written on Friday the Thir-
teenth, which brings to mind the ele-
ment of LUCK in our daily lives and
particularly in the oil business. There Is
much superstition in the oil business
perhaps no more than in any other bus
mess There are lots of oil men who
would not think Of spuddng a well on
Friday and as for starting a well on
Friday the Thirteenth-that would be
done only by an operator who would
boldly assert that Friday the Thirteenth
is a LUCKY day. So he is superstitious,
either way.
Those who read our publications per-
haps recall that we stated early this
year that we believed that 1910 was to
be our LUCKY YEAR. Why the bunch,
we could not and can not explain but it
has been by far the most fortunate year
in the history of this organization. There
have been no sensational happenings, but
we have had development Of many of our
properties; we have had a market for our
OIL after long years of waiting, and we
have been most fortunate in our buying.
The completion a week ago of a well
on the Davidson farm, in Section rs
35N-3W, in the high gravity pool west
Of Kelvin, was one of the high spots of
the year. not only because the well is
natural 80Ibarrel producer without acid
the largest natural well ever drilled in
the high CAVITY pool-but because this
is one farm where the full 121a % land
owners royalty is held by members of
this organization.
1t is seldom that we have been able
to buy ALL of the landowners share on
big producing farm such as this prom
Uses to be. We were able to get in on
nearly all of the big producers of Kelvin
Sunburst,, excepting ON state lands and
1t was the exception rather than the rule
when royalty investors got ALL of the
royalty The William Howling farm in
Sec. 9-35-2W, was one of those ex-
ceptiOns. Howling sold all of his royalty
because he did not believe in oil. AS a
result the royalty was divided among so
or 60 royalty investors who have col
lected more than ONE HUNDRED AND
EIGHTY THREE THOUSAND DOL
LARS out of the s1,469 357,59 worth of
oil produced up to January of this year.
On the Davidson farm if there is a
million dollars worth of oil recovered,
our members will get the full ~ per
cent all for themselves. They bought this
royalty on the basis of wildcat royalty
on the theory of w. M. Fulton that
there was a fault or some other obstruc-
ton in this region that prevented the
mixing of the 3S gravity sweet" crude
of this west pool with the low-gravity
sour" crude across the coulee t. the
East.
We are great believers in the theory
that the accumulation of oil in this field
results from the upward migration of oil
through cracks and assures in the Madi-
son lime. There is not an intelligent per-
son in the industry who believes that
this oil comes from lateral migration.
There are some who believe in doodle
bugs who can see mythical trends, run
ming across the field-indicating that
oil migrates in rivers and brooks, hither
and yon-but none has ever been able to
make drill find enc of these trends
beyond the first we'll.
We know very we'll how the highbrows
of geology poo-pooed the suggestion of
any faulting in Kevin-Sunburst field in
the early days. They discounted the
Jameson & Howard map which showed
two principal faults-the Emmons fault
on the south and the Kelvin fault on the
north. The authors of the map said there
was possibly or even likely a third fault
running through the Baker-Howling
group. There is surface indication of this
faulting- Typographical features which
might mean something or nothing. But
drilling of wells revealed no DISPLACE-
MENT-and to a textbook geologist there
must be displacement else it is no fault
So the theorists discarded the Jameson
& Howard map.
YET 1T is TO THEM A PAINFUL
FACT THAT EIGHTY-FIYE PERCENT
OF THE OIL PRODUCED IN THIS
FIELD HAS COME FROM WELLS
ALONG THE TWO ALLEGED FAULT
LINES