Show A few facts regarding the san juan oil fields written for the mining review by A 0 ezbert egbert A great deal has been said and much more unsaid concerning what is now termed the oil fields in san juan county southeastern utah A county sparse in population and in the elements which naturally attract or induce settlement and appropriation by the present generation A few hardy and adventurous spirits from northern utah invaded this land of the aztec and cliff dwellers some thirty odd years ago and gave hostage to the apparent possibilities of fruit culture and stock raising settlement w was as made along the san juan river the most important drainage stream of the district and whose fertile valleys gave promise of reward these same sturdy invaders of the unknown flourished and waxed strong in numbers which was evidently their right and cerla certainly their privilege and today we find a settle lutat m ot of human beings strung out along the north bank of the sandy san juan as far as the trail goes or the vision reaches and the belated traveler on his route from dolores to the oil fields will be given nay even asked to share the wide hospitality of a corral which is open to domestic animals day or night if the tra traveler veer is unused to restrictions he may bunk outside the bense and the hours not spent in slumber may be spent in batting mosquitoes and other not wearing navajo blankets anyhow the man with a thru ticket usually gets there the route the best route and the only feasible one is from dolores colo the nearest railroad point and from there by stage to cortez colo where arrangements should be made in advance for through trip to the oil fields conveyances can be procured there and drivers furnished it is a three day trip and for the most part a along ong dry sandy roads accommodations along the route are not good and the traveler would be wise to provide himself with a good lunch and canteen or water bag and be prepared to rough it hotel eions at cortez are good and I 1 would advise that a telegram be sent a few days ahead to the brown palace hotel to secure a suitable rig there are two roads practically speaking from cortez to bluff city the point of diversion being at a lonely little place known as dawsons lawsons Daw sons well the water vessels should be refilled there W 3 i 0 X A na 9 IF ewa 0 o q q p photo PO t chas goodman exploring the basin on lime creek since it is many miles to the next good water in leaving there take the other road both are bad upon leaving bluff for the oil field leave with a full canteen as there is but one water hole along the route and the way is hot and dusty some early history the discovery of oil sand and oil seeps the eary early attempt at development and the endeavors made in other years is of little interest and of no spec special al importance since nothing of value was accomplished it remains for the present ent explorers to acquaint qua nt the public with the worth of the field however a little history of the earlier at temps at oil production may be given and I 1 quote from recent data given the mining review by chas goodman a resident of bluff and an old timer in the field he says in part so far as can be learned the first discovery of oil in this district was made in august 1882 by a party of three prospectors returning from a trip into the nava jo indian reservation on the south side of the san juan river where they had been in the endeavor to find the lost merrick and mitchell mine while the prospectors were in their camp one day a friendly navajo came in and told them they had better get away as of the river are some 1500 feet high and the sand found there producing the oil is said to be the ath sand which strata is from to 1200 feet vertical depth below the goodridge sand the topmost top most oil bear ing strata the six intervening oil bearing sands or said to be oil bearing are of varl vari A ja tt f T 1 k nr ma keystone rig no 4 ready to begin drilling photo by bj chas boodman di Co odman soon as possible that the other indians of that section were having a war dance further to the east and would return the next day and that if white men were found there prospecting they would be killed as merrick and mitchell had been killed three years before this little party of prospectors took the advice of their navajo friend and lost no time in striking northward to the san juan river crossing which they were safe these prospectors were cass hite ev everybody evry body in utah knows cass earnest 13 hyde and A R VanAn sdale in crossing the river young hyde said what is that smells so bad why said hite it is petroleum that black stuff floating on the water they camped on the north side of the river and tested the oil by dipping it up in pieces of bark and burning it the first oil location nothing more was done at that time but a year later earnest hyde returned with his brother frank and set up the first placer petroleum location stakes on the ground nothing was done with the property however the time limit of the location expired and the land reverted back to the government shortly after this event E L goodridge who at the present time is on the ground took up the work of further exploration and prospecting mr goodridge was the first to notice oil seeps some thirty miles farther down the river than where first discovered by hyde and associates this latter discovery is at a point where the banks ous thickness and occupy various post positions ions as to distance one from the other A perspective spec tive of the strata near this point cut through gh by the river is shown in the accompanying illustration topography A topographical description of the fie d like vast portions of wyoming colorado utah and par parts s of arizona the country is rolling formed into long ridges with sha low valleys between cut here and there by washes sand and deep ravines dry creek beds here and there bluffs and buttes of fantastic I 1 shape and form the re remnants in of a once horizontal formation or else intrusions of igneous rock these latter might perhaps s be the topmost top most cones 0 or r peaks of mountains around and over which while submerged the millions lf cf ages deposited the newer formations traversing the field northerly and southerly there are two prominent ridges or an ti clines all the exp eap oratory work k now being done is on the west one and for the most part near the extreme east slope near what may be termed the basin or syncline where the oil would gravitate by natural drai drainage nagle the territory being prospected by the various drills is about fifteen by twenty miles square south of the river on and boar dering on the navajo reservation a supposed productive area ot of about the same proportions exist geology in general the geo ogy agy of the field is sedimentary with the exception of the igneous intrusions mentioned so far as I 1 could learn the surface seems to have been at one time covered with red light ligh red and light sandstone of great thickness perhaps 2000 feet vast ridges and bluffs yet remain the district silent witnesses to the ravages of the all destroying agencies of water action disintegration and time the top or covering strata belongs to the jura LW W k 7 N portable drilling rig on way to oil field photo bj chas goodman Gd man is due the reader that is that portion of the field attract attracting ing the most attention and which is the only portion known to the writer what may lie to the north east south or west remains for some other pen than mine more skilled in penetrating the ground to determine the objective view is not un period the underlying or sedimentary deposits are composed of bands or layers of sandstone limes clays silt etc of all widths colors and relationship measurement has been made of this remarkable stratified deposit 1400 feet vertically or to the bed of the river the sandrock and limes interspersed turnout this vast deposit are said to be very porous and give oil indications at various levels but to just what age or period they be belong ong and to undertake to measure with rule and line would be hazardous since pie like to be fizzled and its hard to check the practice I 1 met one of these gentry at dolores he was on his way in and thought I 1 was on my way to the field and probably an advance agent of a syndicate of millions so he N AIE I 1 V W 8 V jc N iaz zw star rig in operation near the bluffs photo hy by chat chas Gf Go odmar inter blending one into the other is certainly evidenced and even in the event metes and bounds were determined it might be radically different a short distance away the age makes no difference to the owner of the well if oil in paying quantities is found in both or all ages penetrated to the depth of his well it may be that the carbonia Carbon carboniferous if drous or devonian form the lower geology but from the surface to the deepest age in evidence the for formation maton might be classified as the gi bantis development and improvements all sorts of stal statements cements concerning the development of this field have been written and printed and fe reprinted printed some of them are quite truthful and substantially correct others visionary and but half truthful others yet are basus falsus in omnibus harmful and misleading I 1 have a report before me written by a california oil editor wherein it states there are twenty six com compau Paules iea operating in the san juan field and seven rigs on the road he does not specifically state however who they were operating on or what was the ailment the rigs re to might mean livery rigs to transport some bethe of the b boards 0 ards of di rectors directors to and from the field such statements as these and many even worse get scattered broadcast and these are not beneficial to any field campor scene of active endeavor but peo opened up in grand fashion he had been to the field been there several years had very heavy interests there had five very strong companies operating there on a portion of his estate oh yes had helped to pump oil at the rate of barrels per day out of a little foot hole that had never been shot no water in the oil either I 1 just pure kerosene etc 5 he knew he was lying from first to last and so did I 1 nothing assists the stable growth of a camp so much as that the truth be told concerning it when I 1 was in the field the last of 0 may there were three rigs in operation two getting ready to start and one well pompi pumping ng this pump had just been started and was the first ever in the fie field d viewed from present day appearances and conditions the barrel per da day well borders closel closely yonto onto the myth it has never been tested for twenty four straight hours which constitutes a day what it might produce under favorable working conditions is altogether another story estimations and prognostications are not proven facts the largest oil seep down the river leaking several barrels per day is a possibility but is only surmised since no one has ever entrained it for twenty four hours A very small leak of oil trickling on a stream of running water makes a mighty big showing the product of the field the quality of the oil itself is an important factor in the searching for lar larger ger quantities it beng a light volatile oil having a p base I 1 have a number of analyses of the oil which vary but slightly in general results the difference no doubt resulting in the varl various ous eap exp exposures after taken from the c ertain certain particular well or wells also in the methods used in making the determinations an average analysis will suffice tor wern all specific gravity daume baume gravity flashing point degrees F naptha Kd kerosene rosene 36 mineral seal oil 5 fuel oil residue or coke 4 it will be observed from the above mat 71 A photo h bf chas goodman Gc odman san juan river near bluff city about 50 of the product can gasoline kerosene benzine and oils the cruder product intended as fuel more than equa equaling ling the california crude oils in heat units the oil as it comes from the ground can be used in a gasoline engine as is now being demonstrated at the good ridge no I 1 well which is being pumped with a fairbanks morse gasoline engine and up to date no trouble has been experienced considering the component e cements contained in the crude it makes a very desirable refining oil one which should be attractive to re finers but the oil and its remarkable mar kabIe quality is not to be singly consid pipe line to the railroad and the growing demand for illuminating oils will establish a market need of deeper wells the drilling of more than twenty wells in this field part of them striking oil in ane first sand is indicative that more oil will be struck with the s aking of more and deeper WW r ITZ ai V V 4 0 aali 7 n 41 4 A the san juan canyon between honaker trail and johns canyon photo 6 y chai goodman ered there are other just as important factors entering into the proposition first quantity qunti ty and second transportation to market and third the act of benevolent assimilation by the standard oil if the first is established the emergency of the second will eventually be met by either a railroad or wells and it is my opinion that it will be only the deep we ls say 2000 to feet that will prove in the least remunerative at the present time there is but one standard rig in the field that of bf the norwood oil company locally known as the galloway well the holdings of this company are near the head of johns canyon at the extreme western portion of the field and report has it that oil in good quantity was struck at the 1350 foot level the necessity of deep boring will be apparent to both present and future operators as time goes on and they w will see the necessity of standard or other deep drilling machinery most of the many ho es drilled to date have not penetrated below the first sand and I 1 doubt if many of them reached half way to it this sort of operation is called assessment work done to hold the claim present activity the utah oil company a partnership is aggressively developing with a no 4 keystone rig the hole has reached a depth of feet no appreciably e quantity of oil has been struck but with the last few feet of drilling a strong odor of oil and gas comes from the well it is hoped by the operators that the next feet of drilling will develop the much sought for fluid the capacity of this rig is but 1000 feet the oil company of san juan of which col A C mis B lis of salt lake is the leading spirit is operating well no 1 by pumping and is preparing to start another well with the rig now on the ground col ellis and associates have drilled eleven wells to date but aa a 1 I have been shallow wells and sunk more with a view of proving the ground and obtaining patent than with a view of production beyond the amount required for fuel the company operating the bryce well re recently shot the well at the foot level but just what results followed is unknown to the writer the connecticut oil company and the london san juan oil company are both drilling the first named having just started the san francsco san juan oil company and the redwood san juan oil company have their rigs on the ground and will begin to explore the earth within a short time these are all the active concerns coming to my knowledge there are a number of would be promoters and stock jugglers in the field threatening co import several carloads of drills but its most likely they have in mind air hammer drills for which they could easily furnish the power and sink as deep as the pockets the outlook the outlook for the production in this field within the next few years in paying quantities is quite favorable since the formation and all that goes with it is favorable for oil the fled field is a large one in scope but the real present producing area may be limited to a few square miles it will require time and many deep holes |