The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 16, 1900, Page 34

34 FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1900. IN GOLDEN MYRIADS OF TEEMING ACRES Y!ELD WEALTH Forty Thousand Square Mil:s Holding Keeping Promisc of Golden Gains for| the S :ekers of Oil. | EBager Hands of UNDREDS of derricks stand | question of the la e hills 3 in the | fields of Cal The oil Ultimately nk lower. rid s 2 WO els and ihe true p the greater depths £ infon, wiil it be in California t be er o a le one mount of oii wealth sting qualities of the oil | a | the troubic as the present gene: en is concerned. How area of Califorr | i 1 | | ILLUSTRATIVE 1D WHERE PROC ANCE DINGS OF CLUSTE ARE ACTIVE G OF DERRICKS UPON LANDS IN THE KERN RIVER FIELD, THE COLLECTION IN THIS CASE BEING THE PROPERTY OF ONE store for the State, di- " OMPANY e b s g et e COMPANY THAT IS TAKING OUT MUCH OIL. offered for saie in the St s R e ARG R B, o P congi P el from th an artic rocks cover which e« All evid Channe 1 the irface ands of tI miles in le d. F These ridges m longed for or hu ireds of mile THE SANDS ARE RICH Some Possibilities. ant than the area the possibility finding petroleum, of yossible richne E more, a . that of the icate hy ne s to be true, as bit 1 on Point the lower portion The basin is ngth and ming the Sierra The Coast n, forms’ the be pro- few miles only or may ex- THAT ARE RESERVOIRS Computation Made by State Mineral- | ogist Are Striking in Suggesting in which is hold one and one-half gallons of | leum ofl; a volun f sand t‘u\mll 1 acre and one hu © facts in one of his pap: The geological furm eum in California on= range a small—very small— | o ) | in different localiti ritory to produce a large izon of the produc strata | point of vertical be made | Hills and at Lo T district | rocks are of Noe at fifieen | tions were first clas: found by | count of the numer feund in them. the south side of the Clara River, Angeles counties_the formations probably ra cene to the Miocene. Bureau on the California in which ng geographical and far ascertained con- | k by Professor n in pal T he reviews geologica! facts cerning the oe petroleum lifornia and also the character of the ding formations and their relations nother. He writes in part as fol- ce in ita Clara River, in lower Eocen formation ra the uppermos 1l the ofl fields which at this contribute to the petroleum pro- u California are situated below the seventeenth township line south of Mount ging from porticr of the Diablo. The productfve oil fields in the : . orti S a <] mations ranging from the Eocenre to the the | portion of ‘the State referred to are dis_} nrocone B o e tributed as follows the Sierras near the In the foothflls of eastern extremity | of the San Joaquin Valley; on the east- cene; but the Orange counties. | “It must not be supposed that the oil- yielding formations are confin to the {ocalities enumerated, for they (‘OHSY"I][P‘ a jarge portion of ihé mountains compos- | o County, which has recently proved very | ing the cos range system. Moreover, | remunerative. appear to be of Eocene age, | in many places they form the bedrock be- | The geological horizon of the ofl 3'|e]dmg neath the alluvium of the valley land. It | rocks at Moody Gulch. Santa Clara Coun- < not necessarily follow that wherever | ty. has never been determined. Some oil i g formations are found | has also_been obtained on the Tunitas ¢ contain oil in valuable quantities any an coal-measures always contain of coal; but it is a reason- on that there are in Califor- which are probably of Eocene of San Franci: and s ares through which these | mations crop out along the coast at Boli- | the | formations extend wherein.new oil flelds | nas Bay and at Point Arena of | Will be discovered. This conclusion applies | places the exposed rock tween the foothills of the Sierras and the Pacific Ocean.” cene or of Neocene age. Venturs “In the foothills west of Bakersfiel Kern County, petroleum is found in for- Professor Watts also mentions the fol- ers: rielding pe the s to the quaternary; and, he geological hor- | differs in | from »; these forma- Pliocene, o Pliocene f and )n the north side of the valley of the County. there is evidence of petroleum iIn rocks ranging from the upper Neocene to tho formations: the productivce the Miocene cene. e ope of one of the coast ranges |Sunposed to be of Miocene age. The Coast | ormem D o o nast TAPES | “Natural gas and oil have also been ob- series of more or less | San Joaquin Valle: 4 in other localities | tained in the foothills of the Slerras, east anticlinical ridges. broken by | of the coast ranges which traverse Santa |Of Bakersfield. the formation being either and_separated by syn- | Barbara. Ventura, | Los Angeles and |°f Pllocene or of Neocene age. | “In Fresno County and Kings County there are exudations of petroleum from rocks of Miocene age, but the petroleum vielding formation near Coalinga. In Fres- and the Purissima creeks, in San Mate | County, from wells which penetrate strata North co petroleum vielding for- age. At these | are either of | the rocks penetrated being either of Plio- On Bear Creek, ! of the Los oil-yielding ge from the Neo d, in | world. The percentage was not large for as Pllo- oil-ylelding formations, which have been tested by drilling, are | s 5 . gas and ofl are found in ge. Tt Is reported that In some places petroleum is found permeating eruptive or other crystalline ts. At Stockton, in San Joaquin Coun- natural gas is obtained in remuner- ive quantities from wells permeating strata of quatenary age. At Marysville Buttes, in the Sacramento Vailey, natural gas is found in rocks of Eocene age. There | are several places in the Sacramento and San Joaquin vaileys where wells are vield- Ing sufficient patural gas to be of local value. Gains in November. November galned over October in the matter of number cf wells that were com- pleted, and the estimated advance over | the preceding month was over 1400 bar-| rels. Of course there were faflures. Not every one can expect to strike ofl every time in any oil ylelding section of the the failures In proportion to the number | of new wells opened and completed. The list of counties that are now producing ofl | or searching for ofl are as follows: Hum- | boldt, San Benito, Fresno. Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los An- geles, Riverside, San Mateo, Monterey. Colusa, Contra Costa. Santa Clara. Ala- meda, Mendocino, Tulare, Napa, Shasta. | Marin, Glenn, Kings, Orange, San Ber- | nardino, Riverside and San Diego. — e Doing Assessment Work. ! This is the season when assessment work is required and in the Sunset dis- | trict much of it is started. In order to hold ifs claims, one company is about to erect twenty-five derricks and another | ate, company ls getting ready to run a water pipe line which will cost some $1800, ful- filling the requirements of the law on| eighteen quarter sections. e Producers’ 0il Company. | not only to the portions of California de- | Pliocene or of Neocene In Humboldt | The Producers’ Ofl Storage and Tran: »d in this bulletin, bu also to a | County several wells ave been drilled | portation ('flmpa“,\' will begin to do busi- | Portion of the State which lies be- | from which some oil has been obtained.| ness th Kern County January 1. Tne Standard Oil Company in the meantime continues the work of erecting tanks. | rou; STATE’S VAST OIL FIELDS, CALIFORNIA BELT IS LONG AS THE STATE | Covers Vast Arca in Its Course Between Repubiic of Mexico and Frozen Ficlds Peninsula. ot the Far Ofif Alaskan LL the surmises and predl tions that the sc'entists make are likely to be verified or otherwise in the not distant future, for prospecting for \petroleum has never been carried on in California in so | great an area as at present. An article written by Edgar F. Howe for the Loz Angeles Herald has many interesting points concermng the area of the oil belt of Californfa. T is in part as follows “Beginning down in Mexico at some un- located point. there is a bitum'nQus belt which extends along the entire Pa Coast as far as Alaska. In some places this is manifest in the form of coal, and In others as gas or oil. It is true that in many places there is meither ofl nor coal in considerable quantities in evidence, but the formation in which bitumens are found Is continuoys, and the absence of ofl is due to the fact that there was no provision for Its retention in the rocks. Thiz belt enters California in San D'ggo County, passes by Elsinore and Riverside, Fullerton and Los Angeles, whence it reaches the various ranges of hills and mountains which bear the collective name of the Coast Range, though many of the ranges have independent designations. hese mountains are generally formed into five or six parallel ranges, and ex- tend far beyond the northern confines of the Btate. The careless observer may noticed that these ranges are entirely dis- similar to the Sierra Nevada Mountains The latter are of granitic build, while the Coast Range mountains and hills are de- vold of granite, being composed of shale sandstone and fossiliferous conglomer- the three principal factors in oil- bearing formations everywhere in the world. As there must be natural reser- voirs In the shape of sandstone overlald witly shale, it is evident that ofl could ot e expected to be present in all places whete the formation is favorable, and thus it is that the great belt reaching through the State is not uniformly rich in ofl, which is found only in small pools or_beits. Moreover, oil tends to rise to the sur- face, as it is always under greater or less pressure in the rocks, and it is very possi- ble that where the most evidence of oil is found on the surface the least will be found in the ground; though experience in California has shown that this is not the rule to be depended on. It is simply a factor which enters into the problem of focating ofl. The ofl belt of California is thus of immense proportions. * * * The belt has an- average length of about 600 miles and an average width of 70 miles, thus giving an area of about 42,000 square miles, or about 27.000,000 acres, in which the formation is favorable for the finding of oil. A rough estimate is made that there are now 2500 ofl wells In California. Another h but approximately correct estimate is that the output of these wells this year will amount to 3,000,000 barrels, or three- quarters of a million barrels more than were produced in this State in 18%9. The Kern River fleld has made up a large share of this increase, for the wells of Los Angeles will not probably be foufid to have produced as much this year as they never have | y did last year. editoriall x he_ imm ing betw er year.' Industry in the East. The Oil City Derrick’s monthly of | port for November of oy tern of! fiel shows m rigs ! A lcwer market h: cised a somewhat depressing eff operations ir smal! territory decilne is noticeable for th but this was more than cot by a decided gain in the wi in the In the Pon van cna flelds there w completed Of . and t mpleted wells of 1 number of failures of off in new producticn of 2 vember 20 there were in the 630 rigs, as against 597 October 1053 we’lls drilling, as against 1094 t vious menth s show 1682 and wells drlling November 30 pared with 1691 Oectober 31, or s crease of eight ————— Records of Some Countics. | The oil product of California by coun ties during the year 1399 was as fol Countfes— Fresno (Coalinga Kern Los Angeles Orange Santa Barbara Santa Clara Ventura stals , 268 Last year there were produced In Cal fornia 15.060 tons of asphalt, valued $308.120; b ous rock. 40.321 tons, val ued at $116.08 115,110.000 cuble feet natural gas valued at 395,000 The cem- bined values of California petroleum, as phalt, bituminovs rock and natural gas in 1899 were $32,180.029. The value of the antual product of hy- drocarbons and gases in_ California fn- creased from $19.58 in 1879 ta 33,180,020 in 1895. —_——— 0il in San Diego. In San Diego County thousands of acres have been filed on in the interior, one com- | pany securing a block. of 30,000 acres. An- other company has 10,000 acres and several others are after a porticn of the territory. The land les in a series of hills, exten ing In the same general direction as o belts in other sections of the State—from northwest utheast ——— | Standard Oil Operations. Materia! for three Ol Com- pany tanks is now on the ground at Me Kittrick. The compa ing its tanks up the ri ten-inch pipe on han mile line. Lines are projec parts of the fleld. 3 be one leading up | commodate the many 3 30 and 29. O. S. June, res perin- tendent arrived this morning.—Bakersield | Californian. Standard P e e e O R R e e R A RS SR AR AR AR AR AR DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS: L. R MEAD srisisisisens PTRSIOERY C M. BELSHAW Vice President FRANK McGOWAN. Secretary R. HARKINSON. ....Treasurer R. G DEAN. Capital Stock, 500,000 Shares Par Value, $1.03 Fach, CONTRA COSTA OIL AND PETROLEUM COMPANY. Rooms 311, 312, 313, Hearst (Examiner) Building, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.. TELEPHONE—BUSH 152 Contra Costa Couy of the most probable ¢ v is looked to now as being one sections where actual discov- eries in paying quantities have not been made, but from indication it may not be long until a new oil dis- trict wiil be opened up in Contra Cpsta County ihat v surpass anything yet discovered. Some of the best s have asserted that there is every indication of stern Range of foothills expe large oil deposits along the | in Contra Costa County. There are now fifteen or twenty companies who are doing development work in this district, and any one of them may make a strike at any time. The Contra 1 Oil & Petroleum Company, whose map and hold- ings we print in this issue, are making rapid progress in their development work. At a depth of 350 feet they uck a strong flow ot gas and which has continued to increase in volume as the drill goes down. At this writ- ing the company’s well is down 430 feet, and they are now in a blue shale which seems to be identical with the shale formation encountered in Section 28, at Coalinga. 1 which would indicate that underlying this shale will be found oil deposits. As shown by the map, the Company controls over 1500 acres, whicl: is almost at the very door of San Francisco and within easy reach of tide water. The Contra Costa Oil & Petroleum Company are very much elated over their prospects, and should they strike oil in paying quantities it will give an impetus to the oil business of this State which can scarcely be con- ceived of by the most sanguine. . ¢ The Company will dispose of a limited number of shares if taken at once at twenty-five (25) cents per share. Conra Costa i« Peroleum Company Rooms 311, 312, 313, Hearst (Examiner) Bu'lding, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. Cost - + + > - + - + + - - + + + - + “ - -+ + + -+ -+ + + + -+ - + + - + + - + + ~ + - - + - - + + + + . - + pe -+ + + + . - - - + - + ~ K - - - + + + + + + pe pe + - “ + + + + + . - + - pe -+ + + “ + + . e + - “ e+ D e e R G e e CALIFORNIA Rock-0il Company. Incorporated Und 'p the Laws of the State of California. Capitalization, $1,000,000. Number of Sharss, 1.000,000. Par Value, $1.00 Each. LOCATION OF PROPERTY—B0 Acres Proven Oil Land in Section 28, near Coalinga. 80 Acres in Contra Costa County. 700 Acres in 3ig Panoche District, San Benito County. HE development of crude oil in the State of California is no longzer an experimer It has been demonstrated that petroleum exists in large quantities in many parts of our State, and at this time it looks as if the development and production of cil would overshadow every other industry in the State of California. OIL CITY and the adiacent territory. situated near Coalinga. ia Fresno County, California, and 2specially Section 28, lying adiacent to Oil City, is too well known to need more than to call the attention of the reader merely to its location. It is now a well-known fact that Section 28 is at this ti one of the best, if not the very best{ oil producing sec- tions in the State of California. ICTION 28: The Independence Oil Company., which was the pio- neer in developing this Section. has forty acres of land and now has four producing wells and the fiith in oil, is now shipping in the neighborhood of 300 barrels of oil per day. The “28”" Oil Company, also in this Sec- tion, has three producing wells. The Oil City Petroleum Company. also located in this Section. has three producing wells, and each of above mentioned Companies is pushiag the work of development with all pos- sible speed. and withinytwelve months from now without a question each of said Companies will be producing not less than 1000 barrels per day. It has been demonstrated beyond doubt that underlying the whole of Section 28 is an almost inexhauctible supplv of petroleum. THE CALIFORNIA ROCK-OIL COMPANY.towhich we desire to direct the attention of the reader, conirols 80 acres of said Section 28, location of which can be determined by reference to map herein. The Company began to develop this territory about the first of July, 1900. and in October struck the first oil sand at 1030 feet depth. which proved to be as prolific as any first strata of sand encountered on said Section. The well is now being finished. and the Company expects at an early date to have a paying output from Well No. 1. PIPE LINE: As an evidence of the enormous output of oil from Section 28, the Union Oil Company at an expense of more than $30.000 Luilt a four-inch pipe line running from the center of Section 28 to Oro Station. the nearest railroad point to said Section, and large tanks of oil are daily emptied into this pipe line and conveved to the railroad sta- tion, where other large tanks are located to receive the oil, from which it is conducted into oil tank cars BIG PANOCHE AND CONTRA COSTA DISTRICTS: The Company also has other territory in other oil-bearing sections of the State, the most prominent of which are 700 acres in Big Panoche District. Sa: Benito County, and 8¢ acres in Contra Costa County. These latter prop- erties it is the intention of the Company to hold for the time being, while devoting all its time and money to the development of its territory in Section 28. AN EXCELLENT INVESTMENT: The Company has already expended some $15.000 in building roads, buying machinery and casing and drilling Well y 1. It is the intention of the Company to sell a lim- ited amount of stdCk in order to continue tlg development work. and this stock for the time being is sold to the pretent stockholders and out- siders alike at the low price of 20 cents per share. The Company having at this time passed the experimental stage, purchase of this stock may be “egarded as an investment and not as a speculation. Its lands in Section 28 are proven as oil bearing lands, and expenditures on same will in a short time produce solendid returns. Par- ties desirous of investing in oil stock would do well to consider the fore- going facts and invest in a company that has proven lands. thousands of dollarst worth of machinery and well casing and a well already over a thousand feet deep and in oil sand, rather than speculate in some oil company that is still but “on paper.” The officers and Directors of the Company are: Duncan Hayne, President; William Craig. Vice President: Victor F. Seawell. Secretary: C. J. Tallon, J. P. E. Heintz. D. T. C. Perkins, M. E. Stanford: Union Trust Company, Treasurer. The stock mav be nurchased throngh our authorized agents or at the office_of the CALIFORNTA ROCK-OIL COMPANY. SECRETARY’S OFFICE—616 Hearst Building, S. ¥, Cal. MANAGER'S OFFICE—311-312-813 Hearst Building, 8. F., Cal. ] rd CHANSLOR cCoO ®. ca @® & CANSFIELD : HOME | GOOS @ | Ol after striking first oil ke TOWNSHP 19 SOUTH RANGE 15 cAST /D Fresno CounTy CALIFORMA REF gn!_nez&. W [ bored. RO 'OlLCcn ANF O CALIFORNIA I8 ROCK 011 i LRt g 00##0#0400000440#0t¢#0’0¢¢#660¢§¢¢§¢¢¢0+¢¢¢000000000**0*0+§00#00 e aanas s s eSS s S A0 8 ad Reproduced from Photograph c"T Well No. I, Showling Cverflow of ! e A S S S et e a R aad ] sand. } R R R R R R R R R e e e e e e e R A AR S AR A R A A - Bttt tttttttttttttttttttttitttts