Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1902 — JASPER COUNTY OIL FIELD. [ARTICLE]

JASPER COUNTY OIL FIELD.

Observations and Opinions of An Old Driller On its Present and Future. Under date of Nov. 19, the following letter relating to the Jasper county oil field, and over the signature, “An Old Driller,” appeared in the Oil City (Pa.,) Derrick: The main pool in this part of the Hoosier oil field is located in sections 33, 28 and 4 in Gillam towship, and section 32, Walker township, Jasper county, in the northwestern part of the State. On the west half of the northwest quarter of section 4, Gillam township, five wells have been drilled that are good for about half a barrel a day each. On the B. F. Rouse farm in section 28, eleven wells have been drilled and a few of them are showing for small producers and will pay operating expenses. The northeastern quarter of section 33, Gillam township, on the A. J. Wilcox farm, seventeen wells have been drilled and about one-half of them will pay to pump. All this property is inside the pool and will pay to operate. All of It is owned by the Federal Oil & Asphaltum Co., with headquarters at London, England. I have drilled all around this property and in drilling over 100 wells, I never found one that would pay. About one in sixty had a showing of oil, but I never found one that would make any money for the operator. There are several small companies operating all around the Federal’s holdings and I hear every day about big finds. I take no heed of them, as I am waiting to see some production pumped in the tanks. Then it will be shown how much they know about the oil business. It is very laughable for me to listen to those new beginners; they look so serious and tell what they have done all along the line in operating and drilling for oil. But it will be a long time before they get any returns from the kind of wells that have been drilled and few of them will ever realize ten cents on the dollar for money invested in producing lubricating oil in Jasper county, Indiana. My experience in drilling these wells has proved that many of them contain a pocket of oil. This, to the inexperienced oil man, looks big, and he is apt to get excited and declare a gusher had been struck. When tested with the pump, these wells are very short lived. The number of wells drilled in October was 14 and six were dry boles. The production tor all the field, when all the wells are put to pumping, will be about 350 bbls, per week. At the present time, for want of tankage and no market to speak of, the field is almost at a standstill. The Federal company has 8,000 bbls, stored in tanks. The outlook for a market in the near future looks bright, as the Federal company is going to put in a refinery and refine its own production. This oil will not need much refining, as we find it a good lubricating oil in the crude state. We have tested it on our machinery for the last three years and I have the first pumper to kick or find fault about the oil. The cost of drilling for this oil is comparatively small. The average depth of all wells in the field is 130 feet and cost for each well 1125. The Federal company has drilled 248 wells on its 32,000 acres it has under lease at one-eighth royalty. The Federal wells that are non-producers are 20 out of 100 before the wells are shot. After shooting some of those dry holes, as it intends to, it may lessen the percentage of non-producers one fourth. The Federal Oil & Asphaltum company has drilled one well to the Trenton rock. It was finished in July of this year. The well came in dry. This well was drilled on section 28, Gillam township, Jasper county. It got the Trenton rock at 960 feet; total depth, 1,020. The hole is full of salt water. This well was watched by many prospectors, who had invested in real estate close to the field. All of them had an idea that this shallow oil came from a greater depth than from the Oarniferous formation, in which we find this heavy black oil We have the best teas in Rensselaer or 60c a pound. Laßue Rroh