Show OIL SHALE LAND evaluation by james M mcclave during 1920 there was considerable activity in the sale of oil shale tracts to large oil concerns and also to investors who believe that the shale deposits of this country will give rise to an important industry large tracts of shale land have been taken over as an investment by some of the great manufacturing corporations investigations investigation n s before purchase so far made by engineers engineer of these corporations have had to do chiefly with accessibility transportation facilities good water rights and lo actions for retorting and refining very little attention has been given to the grade and character of oils contained in the shale the prevailing opinion of the general public has been that the great shale depo deposits in colorado and utah are fairly uniform in grade and that they contain a much higher per cent of oil than the of scotland however this is not the case in mountain states mineral age as the government reports by dean E winchester cl show total oil contents ranging rangin gr liona r forty to ninety gallons of oil per ton of shale and 1 I ammonium sulphate iphar fro from less than one pound to pounds per ton very little attention has been given give to analysis by stratification and to the grade and character of oils and products byproducts by in the various strata and formation samples haye have been taken at random from open cuts on the side of mountains or from shale cliffs cliffa where only the lower strata could be sampled and these samples have been estimated to represent the general character of the entire deposit of that particular section but in some cases engineers Invest investigate igat ing shale deposits for large corporations were not satisfied with the method of general sampling A number of careful examinations were made where the shale beds were exposed in ravines and canyons in such a way as to reveal to good advantage the various strata of formation it was found that there are well defined strata showing different colors and texture of shale the strata ranging from five to twenty five feet in thickness these were carefully sampled and tested for their total oil content and then fractioned for gasoline kerosene ker asene gas oils light and heavy lubricants and tor for byproducts the total oils from ten well defined strata ran from six to ninety three gallons per ton of shale and from two to twelve pounds of ammonium sulphate when the oils were distilled the fractions varied considerably with the shale strata resulting in a great variety of products some were very high in gasoline and low in lubricants and it was also found that some of the strata contained oil that was comparatively easy to refine for the low boiling oils into marketable products many of the strata show a great variety of products in the heavier oils that will require special refining in order to yield marketable products the sampling of the strata show clearly that there are certain portions of the shale beds too complex and low grade to handle and that other othe r well defined strata can be worked commercially with a survey of the land and the value of the strata definitely determined it is not difficult to make a coll conservative serva tive estimate of a given deposit during the pas past t three years many transfers of 01 shale land have been made on cocat location on certificates fi with no description of property and no in investigation vesti gation as to grade and character of oils As a result of this analysis and evaluation eva luil of shale deposits by strata investors are becoming more particular and insist on 0 knowing something about the amount and an value of oil and products byproducts by contained i their prospective purchase as we well 11 as joew tion accessibility physical conditions water rights and nature of asses as work shale lands alt alth h proper crede credential are much in demand |