Show H hydrocarbons hydro adro carbons and oil ai 1 I in i n utah uta h in 1 n 1914 by A V TAYLOR the great war has not entirely neglected utah when the russians overran galicia in their first attempt to reach vienna they destroyed an industry which existed in only one place in the world to wit the mining and refining of on the northern slope of the carpathian mountains in galicia austria hungary the mines were flooded the building destroyed and the population scattered the importers promptly called upon the geological survey department of the U S government to help them out with a view to getting their supply of elsewhere the departments field men promptly visited utah in an endeavor to revive the mining of in this state the only place outside of galicia where the substance is found some ten years ago considerable was produced in utah but owing to the drop in price the local product could not compete with the galician women and girls do much of the mining and other work in the galician fields at extremely low wages the territory in which is found in utah is embraced in a strip about ten miles wide running easterly from mill fork I 1 in utah county on the denver rio grande railroad to a point several miles east of colton just lately a new product has been found over the rim in the basin from colton which seems to be a mixture of and asphalt the geological survey department is also experimenting with the oil in spanish fork canyon soldier summit manti and other points in the state and with the asphalt from sunnyside Sunny side with a view to discovering a substitute for the oil found in utah are rich hi paraffin and the asphalts asp halts in this state contain either hydrocarbons hydro carbons of the paraffin series or something very similar thereto As it will be probably a long time before the industry will be renewed in galicia it bids fair for the revival of the industry in this state and preparations are now being made by several of the companies owning deposits to renew operations salt lake city GILSONITE the production of gilsonite for the year 1914 has been steady and except for the war would have exceeded last years production the war has affected this industry to some extent more particularly because germany has been a large user of gilsonite the production this year amounts to about short shor t tons the demand exceeds the supply under present facilities for transportation there are a number of gilsonite properties in the uintah basin remote from the railroad which could supply a large tonnage but the owners are reluctant to open up these properties until railway transportation is brought nearer to them one exception cep tion however should be mentioned the castle peak company is now arranging for motor truck service to run from its properties near myton utah to craig colo the present terminus of the denver northwestern railway A railroad through the uintah basin country would certainly open up some splendid industries may the year 1915 be propitious for such an event 7 asphalt last year the production of rock asphalt showed a considerable increase over the previous year practically all of which was used for paving in salt lake city two large contractors in salt lake city have now installed complete plants for handling rock asphalt and the contention which arose in 1913 over the improper heating of the material was eliminated during last year and the indications are that more of the material will be used during 1915 the proper handling of the material has not yet been achieved but as its use increases no doubt its merits will be appreciated cl abed and the demand for it will greatly increase As utah possesses an inexhaustible supply of the material it would seem that highways in the state will be covered with this material giving an additional boost to utah as a a state possessing the greatest variety of minerals the bulk of the asphalt supplied this year came from the quarries near sunnyside Sunny side carbon county and near thistle utah county dalt Ealter ite erite and Tabb the production of and tabb has been very limited for the year just passed for the same reason noted in the case of the gilsonite lack of transportation these properties are all located in the uintah basin remote from railway transportation and the owners have found that it does not pay to deplete the properties and have what should be profit eaten up in wagon transportation so the mine owners like the farmers and the lumbermen and others in that great basin are waiting as patiently as they may for the railroad why do not some of our coupon clipping friends wake up or stop watching the war game or whatever it is and pick up a good thing the amount of tonnage the uintah basin could furnish a railroad every day in the year is almost unbelievable oil along in 1906 7 those who had the temerity to predict that wyoming would be one of the great oil producing states of the union were laughed out of court so to speak the experts of the big oil operators in the united states and abroad had gone over the field again and again but could see only possibilities for small wells today wyoming is producing and refining over 15 barrels per day and could produce barrels per day if all the capped wells were opened up utah has not yet come into her own so far as oil production is concerned she is lagging behind but the wise ones say wait some day utah will be one of our ranking oil states she has all the indications cat ions in the san juan field during the year there has been considerable activity on the south side of the san juan river the showing is very favorable but drilling has not yet progressed far enough to indicate definite results in the north end of the field several 0 of f the old proper properties tien have passed into the hands of parties connected with large oil companies in california and the reports are that active drilling will commence early in the spring the westwood oil company is now drilling a well a few miles north of fillmore millard county near where oil was struck several years ago while parties were drilling for water the well is down about 1200 feet and a small oil stratum has been struck great interest is being manifested I 1 by oil men in this well and nd its p progress is being closely watched owing to a fishing job the well near brigham city box elder county which has been slowly progressing for something over a year has been shut down indefinitely while no oil was encountered several gas strata were passed some of which showed strong pressure there has been some talk of drilling for oil west of salt lake city near the lake where indications of oil appear on ponds and water flowing from springs the water wells in the vicinity also show considerable gas active drilling has not yet commenced in the vernal field the california oil company has several wells but little has been done this year there has been some talk of drilling near the gilsonite veins in southern uintah county considerable ground having been located last spring but nothing in the way of active drilling has been done to date geologists and oil experts who have visited that country have often expressed the opinion that possibly at some considerable depth oil might be found in the region where the gilsonite veins occur gilsonite has its origin from oil coming from some unknown depth hayden in the report of his famous exploration of this western country in early days comments on the amount of oil that must have come up through these fissures and flowed away in early ages of time amounting in his opinion to hundreds of millions of barrels from an oil geologist geologists ss point of view the uintah basin certainly presents interesting problems in the rio virgin field little has been done during 1914 in the oil industry the of a mixed and oil in this field is heavy base and without proper railway facilities would not pay under the present modes of transportation the utah oil refining co the utah oil refining company was organized of 1909 for f or the purpose in the spring of refining crude oil produced in wyoming and such brudes as in might be produced be available a at t salt in utah which would lake city for refining purposes commencing in the spring of 1909 a small refinery was built in north salt lake during that year with only a capacity of fifty barrels per day or 1500 barrels per month but the management soon discovered that the cost per gallon running on such a small daily capacity was very much higher than it should be and in addition to this the demand for all of the products refined from crude oil was constantly growing this especially applied and does now apply to a marked extent to the gasoline and naptha used in automobiles and stationary gasoline engines consequently every year since a material increase has been made in the equipment until now the company is running from to gallons or from to barrels per the principal stocks that the refinery produces out of crude oil are as follows gasoline several grades gas oil naptha presidium kerosene road oils no 1 engine distillate non viscous neutrals 42 power distillate pale neutrals light and dark 38 power distillate red engine oils mineral seal cylinder stocks several grades 34 power distillate baraff ine wax sev era eral 1 grades j from these principal stocks numerous J grades of oils are made by compounding nd i and blending re until the utah oil refining refilling Re fillin 9 company now has listed in its annual catalog over kinds and consistencies of pe oils and greases while there has been a general reduction in price of the finer grades of lubricants there has been a decided reduction in the cheaper grades of lubricants and all road oils and and also distillates and similar products used for fuel purposes the utah oil refining company has hag made it possible to reduce these oils in price so that the prices are now such that all can use them to advantage from an economic and efficient standpoint during the month of october the company handled pounds of i inbound bound n and outbound freight from this one can readily see that such an industry is a valuable asset to salt lake city and utah at large it has a steady payroll pay roll of high priced artisans it burns large quantities of fuel and uses materials that are manufactured in utah this especially applies to cases and cans the only money that the company sends out of the state for its crude material the balance of the moneys distributed tri buted remains in the state of utah the principal territory covered by the utah oil refining ning company on its general line of lubricants is utah baho montana the western part of wyoming and the eastern part of nevada although the company obtains orders quite frequently for its duck back shoe oil from all over the united states the company has been marketing most of its baraff ine wax in carload lots on the pacific coast |