Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 15, 1925, Page 15

* Btate, AND MINING * “VOL. 34 WYOMING OIL FIELDS YIELD FORTY MILLION FOF OL | Vast Wealth In Minerals Untouched Total Value Is Placed At $135,000,000,000 By State Geologist. BY ALBERT B. BARTLETT State Geologist Part of the duties of the State Geologist's Office is the collection of information regarding the various mines aifd mining projects in the State of Wyoming, reporting on mining districts and mining property and the publishing and circulation of such information as\ is deemed advisable for advertising the min- eral wealth of the State ‘and also taking any steps which would be likely. to advance the development cf the mining indust ‘The intent of this brief article is to give the people of Wyoming an idea of the vast mineral resources of this state with a short discussion of conditions effecting the mining industry at the present time and the possibilities of future develop- ment. The mineral resources of. Wyo- ing, which probably are not ex- ceeded by any state in the unton, are set forth in the accompanying tabulation which was prepared by estimates from the United States Geological Survey and the State Geologist. It will be observed that coal exceeds all the other resources combined in its value estimated at only ten cents in the ground. The estimate of this tremendous tonnage is from the United States Geologi- cal Survey. It is-without a doubt a fairly reliable esimate including only coal of a workable quantity and depth, Oil Shale Important Oil shale is second in importance and the estimate probably is not ro reliable. There are however, some 3,600 sqvare miJes of ofl shale terrt- tocy in Wyoming, which, in addition to ofl, will yleld considerable gas and ammonium sulphate. It is evi- dant that the Ticea States will uct suffer for lack of oll if these re- sources can be properly developed through the costs of extraction may ke the prices considerably high- than those prevailing at present. The estimates of oll and gas are made by the State Geologist and should prove to be ‘fairly reliable, Prices used may seem a little high but it must be remembered that this ofl and gas will be taken from the ground during a long perlod of years, and will, without doubt, bring more money than it does at tho present time. The potash and alumina estimate 1s also from the United States Geol- ogical Survey and is a result of de- tailed investigations. With respect to metallic and nonmetallic miner- als, stone of various kinds, it is al- most impossible to make any reliable estimate as no comprehensive sur- vey of these resources has ever been made and undoubtedly, the greater portion of them still remains undis- covered. It is a matter of history, however, with respect to such est! mates of mineral resources that the ources nearly always exceed the original estimates. Mineral Resources Staggering The total value of the mineral re- sou of Wyoming, nearly $15 000,000,000, represents approximately 900.00 for each man, woman, population n these al- 1d child comprising our 50,000 people. = Whi incomprehensible figures of eloped natural resources are red, {t is at once apparent that the development of the mining industry of this state should be given every encouragement. The won- derful development of the state in the past few years as the result of the disccvery of oil, is fresh in our minds and may serve to give us fome slight idea as to the possibilt- ties of future development of these reat resources. The unfortunate and serious de- Prersion which has been prevailing during the past four years in the agricultural industry has been re- Meved to a considerable extent by the mineral wealth produced in Wyo- ming, approximately $75,000,000.00 in the year 1928, an amount great- er than all of the farm crops pro Gaced added to the total assessed valuation of all the livestock in the and yet from n glance we cy# realize that in tho production Sf this considerable amount of Wealth the total resources of the state have hardly been scratched. Coal, exclusive of oi! and gas, is by far the largest item, amounting to nearly $21,000,000,000, while the pro- duction of cther«minerals comes to $1,508,502. Considering this compara- tively small amount {t is evident that & tremendous increase can and should be made in the production of metallic minerals, precious metals ‘nd non-metallic ‘minerals, and it leads to the inquiry as to why this Production is not greater. The early settlement of most of the western states was caured by the (isccvery of rich gold fields which brought thousands of people and (Continued an Page Four.) INDUSTRIAL EDITION - SECTION TWO CASPER, WYOMING, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1925 CRUDE PRODUCTION OF WYOMING BY FIELDS FOR THE LAST YEAR PRODUCTION OF STATE FOR 1924 Field Salt Cre Big Muddy Grass Creek Elk Basin Byron Dallas and Derby . Ferris Greybull aes Hamilton Dome ... Hudson . Lance Creek Lost Soldier Mule Creek ...... Notches ...... Osage Pilot Butte Sonn Poison Spider afid South Rex Lake .... Rock River .. Teapots cnet : Torchuigntt’. oc'eees ehaban MODAL Yc oe Number of Prod. Wells Barrels seceeeeeeee 1,375 30,875 + 201 1,232,460 336 1,090. +» 140 438,860 17,160 11,580 135,000 21,220 204,680 soe 2 31,300 s\siele 57: 1.160,700 o 62 990,370 on 14 1,500 2,547 39,321,070 DIL HISTORY OF WYOMING HARKS BAGK TO DISCOVERY OF SPRINGS Oll was not “flowing gold” to the Indian tribes of Wyoming who dis: covered it in seepages long before the white men ever crawled up over the eastern horizon tn a covered wagon westward bound, but {t was “heap big" medicine to be used in salying the sores of the savages. At a place in southwestern Wyo- ming now called Hilliard, in Uinta county, a spring that bubbled greas- fly and sent out a slippery stream of crude petroleum, was reported in 1849, three quarters of a century ago. Many an ox-drawn emigrant train headed for Oregon, stopped ‘there and took the shriek out of pro- testing axles, and, too, those ploneers of long ago dug around in wagon beds, brought out bottles and filled them at the of] spring with an o!nt ment used for many inner and out- er file, 4 Settlement of this ‘territory re- sulted in the discovery of seepages of petroleum and at Bonanga, for instanos, was a pool of light, or it might be called that for Big Horh basin ranchers obtained ofl from {t for illuminating purposes. That was in 1882, South of Lander a well was drilled in 1883 that spouted oll, putting Dallas field on the map. It was the first flowing oll well to be drilled in Wyoming. It was not long afterward that tn- terest in this state's ofl possibil{- tles stirred up activity and discov- erles began to come in with some degree of frequency, INDUSTRIAL !|DITION Oil Company Payroll. Over Ten Millions Railroads Come Next In Outlay for Labor The ol! industry and the railroads of the state of Wyoming came very near running a neck-and-neck race in the amount df money paid out in payroll labor for the years 1923 and 1 according to statistics com: | piled by Labor Commissioner Frank j Clark. However, the ofl companies exceeded the railroads by nearly «| million dollars paid out to their em: | ployes in the two years. The following comparative tables show some Interesting facts; Railroads. Total amount of pay- rolls of raiiroads for 1923 --$ 9,892,700 Total amount of pay- rolls of railroads for 1924 ~~ 13,126.419,04 Total amount of pay- 3 rolls for 1923 and S904 (ne $22,958,796.50 Ol Compantes. Total amount of pay- rolls of ofl companies for 1928 --$13,462,606.65 Total amount of pay- rolls of-oll companies for 1924 .._--_---2_~ 10,270,103.16 Total amount of pay- rolls for 1923 and 1924 .. $23,732,709.8) Pipelines Valued At Ten Million For Taxation Purposes Ol! and gas pipelines in Wyoming were valued for tax purposes last year at more than $9,534,000, a de- crease of about $234,000 over nase ments mado the previous year. Mile- ago filed withthe etate board of equalization amounted to 3,984 miles. LARGEST INDUSTRIAL ELECTRIC PLANT IN U. S. AT SALT CREEK GENERATES OIL. PUMPING POWER trifi lis in the world’s, premier light tated the erection nearing completion. Power ge industrial electric plant in the Uni into the pipelines toward Casper fo: tion of pumping equipment to lift the crude In hundreds oil field at Salt Creek, 45 miles north of the mamoth plant pictured above, nerated here, said to be the largest ed States, will keep crude oll flowing years to come. ‘The building cf this plant, installation of equipment at the wells and the running of power lines constitute d the major operation in the Wyom- ing ofl fields in the last*year, the cost running into millions. OIL PROVIDES ‘BULK OF MINERAL WEALTH OUTPUT IN WYOMING New wenlth derived from Wyo- ming’s mineral resources during the year 1924 amounted to $213,328,425, of which petroleum and its manu- factured products contributed $191,- 578,425, con) $17,750,000, iron $500,- 000 and miscellaneous minerals §2,- 500,000, Decline from the record established in 1923 1s accounted for by a falling off in crude of! produc- tion and ft the value of refinery products, which underwent a slump that Insted into the new yenr, Wyoming coal mines during output a tonnage estimated 250,000, which was 4 at 6,- approximately 1,300,000 jess than the 1923 tonnage, 7,564,066. The reduction was due to curtailment of demand, this re. sulting in perlods of slack produc- tion and, ‘at some mines, of {dle- ness, The value of the 1924 produc- tlon was $18,750,000 at mouth of mine. Mine Tragedy Recorded. One of the most serious mine acci- Gents in the history of Wyoming's coal ‘industry occurred September 16 nt Sublette, Lincoln county. An explosion in the No, 5 mine of the Kemmerer Coal company killed 39 (Continued on Page Two.) Paved Highway Extends for Mile Passing Standard Refinery at Casper TTS 7456 MEN IN COAL INDUSTRY Earnings of Employes Amount to Over $5,320,000. panies operating in th oming, employing four coal state of Wy: com: 8 men, pro duced 4,086 tons of coal in the year 1923, being moré than a million and a half tone in excess of the pre- vious year, according to figures com Piled by State Labor Commissioner Frank Clark and contained in his annual report submitted to the gov- ernor for transm lature now lon to the legis- in session. Out of these 7,458 mine employes, 126 lost thetr lives while at work {n the underground passages and 538 non-fatal injurles were recorded Fifty-elght widows were left by tho men who lost their lives and 107 chil dren were left fatherless. The figures for the year 1924 have not yet been complied-and are there fore not available at this time. A re- capitulation of the 1923 statistics show the following interesting facts Number of men employed 7,458 Number of tons of coal mined Number of tons of coal mined in excess of pre vious year -.---.-... 1,577,591.57 Number of tons mined per employe 1,012 Total number of fatal accidents ..-__- Total number of non fatal accidents —_. Number of widows Number of orphans Annual earnings per em ploye 713.34 Total annual earnings of all employes $20,106.27 Total amount a into compensation fund 1} roe lust 152.1 c of production per 1.42 > ORE THE PIPELINES. Through the mud for 40 miles four. six, eight, ten and twelve-horse string tean ght Shannon field ude to the Pennsylvania r Manu facture ° ° ue | s Nea The comparative ull manu facturing indu of ne 4 steadily increasing in importance The output of manufactures during was worth xbly $20,000, n increase of approximately 10 per cent over the value of the pre ceding year's output Wyoming manufactures include r, mill work and timber products. plaster, con ery, ico cream, bakery products, cigars, carbon black, clothing, shoes, saddles and harness, fancy leather work, Indian work, machine shop y products, glasx, art goods, electrical power, manufactured gas, chemica! Aisinfectants, mo products, printed matter, carbonated drinks, cement, stock foods, cereal products, products, o souvenirs, etc Beet sugar is rapidly taking rank one of tho state's most important a On h Golden Flow Is Maintained In Salt Creek Over Three Fourths of Entire Output Comes From Premier Field. Salt Cr With S vast output of nearly 31,000,000 barrels leading the wa. Wyoming fields last year sent golden flow of practically 40, 000,000 barrels of crude ofl Toward the very out a nd of 1924, af. ter a great drilling campaign had been waged in the field and the largest industrial electric power plant in the world had been installed to take care of pumping units, Salt Creek production The falling off 1 year was traced, started climbing. n output during the not to a diminished supply of ofl, but to the dissipation of natural gas in the structure which had in the past afforded pressure to insure flowing produc tion. This problem was met by the start of what was announced Ja spring as the inceptive work in a five-year program of Salt Creek de velopment to cost $100,000,000, This included the Midwest the largest the installation by Refining company of industrial electric plant in the world to provide power for pumping wells. Competent geologists and petrol eum engineers having figured Creek as a 500,000,000-barrell fi it stands out today an immenso assurance of wealth being poured out far into the future. Fields in Wyoming showing th atest Increase in 1924 were H ilton Dome, Lance Creek, Lost dier, Polson Spider and South C per Creek combined Hamilton high grade black oil field in Hot Springs count produced 248,000 barrels last compared with 184,812 barrels year previous, Lance Creek Shows Gain. Several rather sensational strikes gave Lance Creek in Niobrar county an output of 780,630 barr Is in 1924, In 1928 this field's produ Uon was 327,088 barrels. There was therefore a doubling {n {ts produc- tion, Lost Soldier tn Dome, a year the Carbon -county, one of the more important fields, turned out 1,761,840 barrels in 1924, or 412,610 barrels more than in 192 An increase of 142,142 barrels was shown in the pr tion of the | bined Polson Spider and South ( per Creek fle their of the previous year I me s- output iS over x Lake in Albany county got its mune in the list as a new field just before the first of 1924 and it put more than 31,000 barrels of ofl in the total for the year Another «field finding an outlet last year was Mule Creek in Nio- brara county, Its production was 178,200 barrels. Though the figure 40,000,000 looms up as tremendous sum, the plans for drilling the state during the present and future years prom- se to put that amount whic resents such enormous produ tion of crude ofl in Wyoming, far into the background — IN ONE BARREL OF CRUDE. . = #8 as Ol 49.5 oi - 45 and asphalt 1 9 neous 1.0 4 4 s 100.0 42.0 icrease 20,000,000 e r t+} {Manufactured products to amd expansion of sugar beet cul Jture. Sugar plants located at | Worland, Lovell and Sheridan, and beet growing {8 now proving profite ble in many sections of the state, with prospects that the next Tew rs will witness the erection of © sugar plants Refined products of petroleum and datry manufactures are not included in this estimate of the 1 manu: ures output of the state, having been credited to other divisions of Industry Employment conditions in Wyom. ing during 1924 were good, aside from enforced idleness in the coal campa and perfods of extensive lay- offa of railroad employes. The la- bor subply generally was adequate, Butlding activity was on a moderate scale, but sustained,