Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 256, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1910 — The World’s Greatest Oil Well [ARTICLE]

The World’s Greatest Oil Well

HITI'ATED tWjO miles north or Maricopa, in Kern cotnty. California, in wl.at is known as the Kern River oil field, there is the greatest oil well known to the world. It is known as Lakeview No. 1. For some months It has been spouting forth a daily average of 50,000 barrels of oil, worth 65 cents a barrel where it gushes from the earth. This extraordinary well has an interesting history. Its sinking was begun in the simmer of 1909, and by October a detith of nearly 2,200 feet bad been reached. jAt that point the drill encountered an enof&ious pressure, which forced earth, gravel, and rock upward in the hole for a distance of several feet. New r wells are often filled in’ that way, the matter forced upward in the tube being so loose that in can be removed with a bailer. In she present case, however, the well was packed so t’ghtly that redrilling was necessary. Sometimes the drillers would gain on the pressure in the=>ep.rth; at other times they would lose. The result was that in five months, or to March 15, 1910 the net increase in depth of the bore was only 50 feet. The wc-11 had been sunk into aa oil sand, but' it A r as believed that by going to a greater depth the chance of securing a targe flow of oil would be increased. Finally, however, when five months' work had accomplished no greater result than is often gained in a single day under ordinary circumArmnces, the directors of the company owning the Lakeview well decided that it would be unwise to try to d/111 farther. The local superintendent, accordingly, was instructed to strip drilling and to permit the well to" producing at the depth -e/vc' rfl Cit C-trne V/ith a Pcsr. v,- .{ojlvercd.

the Well was spouting oil at the rate of 10,000 barrels a day. This was on March 15. In 24 hours the flow Increased to 20,000 barrels dally, and In a week the average output was 40,000. In another week the average yield rose,to 50,000 barrels, varying usually from • 46,000 to 54,000. Occasionally, for a few hours, the well produced at the rate of 90,000 barrels a day. This enormous production followed the ejection of rock and shell from the tube, these having formed obstructions that temporarily checked the flow. The oil came from the earfh with a roar like that of a great conflagration. Forced by tremendous pressure, it shot as high as 350 feet into the air, the black, smoky-looking ebb® umn being visible miles away. It was scattered In spray for a long distance around the well, making it impossible to rontinue operations on adjacent j properties, owing to the danger of ’ Are. A hundred-barrel well is a good one, and a well that yielded 2,000 barrels daily bad been regarded as a phenomenon. Such a gusher as the Lakeview was beyond all previous calculations, and the problem of saving and storing its enormous output was no easy one. The tanks had been provided were like infantile clothing for a giant. As many men and teams as could be secured at double rates of pay were put to work, night and day, building earthen reservoirs. . Finally, a dam was thrown across a canyon a mile.from the well, and a mniion-barrel reservoir formed. Fortunately a pipe line Just completed between the Interior oil fields and tidewater passes near the well, and soon oil was running through it to tank steamers, - Controlling the Output. In the meantime there was another p-obtem, that of controlling the flow ;o< *be well, so that more of tho out-

put might be saved —for much was being lost by scattering, and by evaporation and percolation—and to hemove the danger to adjacent property. The tubing or casing that is put down from top to bottom of an oil well can ordinarly be capped by the use of valves at the top of the well, but with the Lakeview that was impossible. There was no practical method of applying weights or force sufficient to restrain the great pressure coming up from the depths of the earth; and had it been possible to do so, the destruction of the casing and the ruin of th® well would probably nave resulted. Such a problem had never been presented to oil men before. But, after many efforts, it was solved, and the solution seemed as simple as it was efficient. Working in a shower of oil, a large number of men built rapidly around the top of the well a huge bank, which was buttressed with stones and with sacks of sand and earth. This tank filled quickly with oil. Into which the stream of petroleum from the well was shot. With all its speed and force, the outflow could make its way but a few feet above the springy mass of Impounded soil. Thus the monster was fettered. The conquered pressure now expands Its final energy in hissing and writhing, making the oil tank boil like some huge caldron. A small river of oil flows as gently as a brook from the well to the reservoirs. At first it was impossible to approach the well nearer than a mile without being spattered with oil. People who traveled from all parts of the state to see the gusher watched it from adjacent hills. Now visitors can go within a few feet of the welL They are watched constantly by more than a score of guards, whose principal business it is to see that there are no lighted cigars or matches that might start a conflagration.