Show IJO possibilities ki IN southeastern UTAH by E B emrick ax grand pur and r the discovery so of oil in U the big six anticline weal lead to 01 ue an 1925 az will we n nf juan county utah mi in december oc I 1 southeastern folds 10 sp UT in aitos domes or ao 10 other search jol for so of the po oil is s 11 not 40 yet tah the amount and value possible in quantity sufficient ut denb lumous own but even if J the aall oil HO found is ious not believed to 04 be the ial tobe 01 be of jo commercial am value which is s not jou ss its case by even the most pessimistic as 01 oil jo men C and pit geologists quan in greater that 4 oil HO ut occurrence naturally inspires hope du ad both ut in the biga bix ty may be houndt PT greater depths structure pul and ui m other anticlines anti clines ui in southeastern utah possibility sivility lity that 4 this country would yield oil ao 10 was sm pointed out by atia balim athes ui aal at that time it 1 was sum note that T the calbom erous rocks so of the area p do 0 not correlate aitho logically 2 jivoin with the carboniferous rocks so of the al san als rafael ijams UE and P ID circle DID gid cliff area balu c and pu that the latter area was sleak considered unfavorable aj the pennsylvania formation west of 10 the OLI green river consists mainly so of white wes sandstone pur and white limestone with very SIDA little shale and a very LIDA conspicuous sn absence so of carbonaceous material monumental extends over a a larg large e area ur in A broad and guv high lq iwada d line dull southern utah it 41 begins near atau the arizona utah state of jo the oil meridian and trends miles west few lc at a i point c a monumental the jian known si as miles this uplift north iol for qu about so of the the main UIL structural IL features so of ILU is mental uplift I 1 S one DUO domes PUE and JUU anti there oxe are tunu numerous snola colorado bood plateau L didul the most prominent lal this arch sl superimposed du upon clines and southern northern found coq being on the ju been that have that others wil im ibe found parts div although it 41 si is quite probable lockhart and the big aig six shafer es aal I 1 ui in the central part northern part so of aps dj s 26 lie all ut in the dill indian 01 U creek aid 31 anticlines anti clines TZ 21 E 21 the DU eckridge elkridge Elk ridge structure aimon z 27 Z 28 and P 29 S R U OZ 20 pul and about fifty miles atu sa ynos south of 10 the al central part is s located ul in the twenty five miles due west isam so of a six xi ils structure imon D and about having big 21 proportion of 10 large is st 01 this SIRL lis structure monticello j between pul and embracing aup Z 2000 feet IDD a 1 solo closure DIn so of about r about q 1000 jaaj feet put and DIDE acres s it 41 st is is the northern and nos southern lying luxl 0 ul in lower bomol than the structures found on the southern naon adi sdi are 0 the highest structures the al east 21 asp anticline d parts of 10 which q iu are part the most prominent dome buop dome pujop is s west anticline and monumental anticline 0 and PU 1 is s i the west A isa I 1 lies sat dome superimposed upon uplift the uon monumental the digest on the aal clit dome I it 1 is s five DAU miles west 10 of 1 the i pul and somewhat higher about about feet lower than u this group 0 of structures cainion lie all than the big 2 six is structure alon OV 43 S z R 16 91 1718 al 81 C and pu 19 61 a ur jn adl 39 60 40 ilot 41 zt 42 pul and development history U and pu JOS for 02 gold PI ul in goodridge ohp tA while Iq iata prospecting miles west caff E 1 L about five discovered UL an oil seepage would ltv jig fill with oil io over IDAO 1882 which U holes were dug it 41 to 04 be of 19 very bluff showed of J oil qs 0 so of the value pula and up an we analysis kissir at that time Q was SIUA of 10 ou no great ezia 4 nh 2 grade especially that which was discovered in the west and lying many miles from a railroad however a company was formed in 1901 which endeavored to get a drilling outfit into the field A well was drilled to a depth of feet the first sand being reached at feet this sand it is claimed produced at the rate of twenty three barrels per day the well was abandoned at feet owing to the difficulty in securing supplies six years later another effort was made to strike oil this time at a point twenty five miles west of bluff inaccessibility to the field and lack of machinery and repairs delayed drilling but in march 1908 a sand was reached at feet oil flowed to a height of twelve feet above the casing therlow the flow continuing for a month and gradually sunk until forty feet from the top in three months five other wells were drilled all of which produced oil from the same sand at depths from to feet probably sixty wells have been drilled all to a shallow depth and oil was found in all except a few located off the structure none of these wells have tested a sand that is not cut by the san juan river the lands upon which drilling was done were held under the placer mining laws which made it necessary that discovery should be made before patent to the land could be secured consequently wells were drilled only to a depth at which an oil discovery was made in the fall of 1910 the government withdraw all the prospective oil lands in san juan county and most operations were suspended after the passage of the leasing bill of february 25 1920 activity was again commenced but it was not until 1922 that titles were in proper legal shape to renew operations the monumental oil company one of the pioneers in the field was the first to perfect title and renew operations mr perry A dark clark of salt lake city their representative deserves all the glory that can be bestowed upon a pioneer developer from the early days he stuck with his belief that there were large quantities of oil in san juan and regardless of wh who 0 came and went the remoteness poor roads adverse opinions of oil men and geologists indian troubles the withdrawal and what not mr dark clark never had anything but the most optimistic attitude when he first went into the field in 1910 it took many days for him to get from thompsons Thomp sons to bluff the trip into the field being made by saddle horse or buckboard buck board the country was and is yet uninhabited except for a few navajo indians and those working in the oil field areal geology and more than feet of strata consisting of carboniferous triassic and jurassic formations are exposed on the the surface rocks found on the highest structures in the area are permian and pennsylvania of carboniferous age the eastern mid continent some texas and at least one of the rocky mountain oil fields are found in this formation the pennsylvania formation is locally known as the goodridge this formation consists of sandy shale sandstone and limestone red is the predominant color in the top beds but gray is the prevailing color in the lower sandstone and limestone of the formation contain the oil some oil bearing beds occur near the top of the formation but others are much deeper there are 1338 feet of goodridge formation revealed in the san juan canyon where it crosses the crest of the west anticline at hunaker trail there are ten oil sands exposed in this section all of which are said to have produced and seven of which have been named it is possible to identify but five of them of which the goodridge at a depth of 74 feet is 28 feet thick and the mendenhall is feet deep and 35 feet thick none of these horizons contained oil in the midwest well on the big six structure but a cubic feet flow of gas was struck at 1480 feet and wlben wen the well came in at 2028 feet the bottom was in a porous lime with some shale and sand the thickness of the pennsylvanian formation is not known for the entire section is nowhere exposed the lower part of the goodridge is not represented in the grand canyon section however it is believed that it rests upon the mississippian with a thickness of about feet the beds of the goodridge formation where they have been examined by the writer display uniform thickness and character there are numerous exposed in the district in which there is an abundance of organic remains it is a common occurrence to find ledges where fossils can be scooped up by the shovel full having been left by integrated disintegrated des limestone and shale the extent of the goodridge formation over the monumental is shown on the geological map accompanying U S G S professional paper ore deposits of utah petroleum oil seeps several oil seeps deriving their oil from the goodridge formation occur in the bottom of san juan canyon between mexican hat and the mouth of Slick horn gulch the largest of these is a rather continuous series y of seeps extending for a distance of one fourth miles up the canyon from the mouth of the gulch the seeps were observed on the right bank of the river the left bank was not visited the oil cornes comes up as bubbles in the water and as minute streams through sand and also through boulders of sandstone and limestone at the edge of the water the boulders which have fallen falle from the adjacent cliffs are cut by cracks through which the ol 01 oi 1 l passes the drops of it on reaching the surface of the river br brik bra a and spread as thin iridescent films the oil is a brown liquid that flows easily and although r its odor is strong the odor of gasoline is not noticeable A black residue cements rather large patches of sand and rock fragments at one seep a film of oil covering several feet of sand bar is used bv flies as a breeding place and hundreds of larvae live in the oila substance on the bare surface of the sand bar in spite of the intensely hot rays of f a summers sun which beat down on them during the day west dipping r beds of the goodridge 1 formation which form the lower canyon walls near the seeps are cut bv a normal fault with a northeastward trend and a of four feet on the east side its presence suggests that the oil ascends along the f cult plane to the alluvial material through which it passes to the surf surface ce seeps are reported in johns canyon about two irp les above it mouth about one and one fourth miles southeast of the held 0 or honaker trail minute trickles of oil and gas issue from a sand bar in the edge of the river A chip saturated with nl m 1 l was set nn 01 fire gasoline as indicated by its strong odor in this of the canyon forms a considerable part of the crude petroleum A seep seen is reported to occur on the right bank of the river in ii or near the second narrows the Goodri goodridge Goodrid dize gp oil sand which forms a gorge and a sut r adjacent adia cent bench st t the goodridge bridge contains small dark areis of the oil along its points and cracks for a distance of feet alonz the river east of the bridge the restriction of the oil to the cracks and points in the sandstone indicates hat that the sand sann stone is not uniformly uniform lv porous the stand stone which is here 27 il feet thick dips 20 2 east the goodridge Goodri dve e 01 oh sand also contains showings of 0 oil ii on the right bank of the san tuan half a mile northeast of the village ot of mexican hat some blasting has been done here recently in in ord r to make a dit in which it was hoped oil would accumulate at A the lie time of visit 1921 the pit was shallow and no oil ha had d run rtin into it A seepage of brown oil not visited bv the writer issues fron the conglomerate on the right bank of the colorado op cosite the rincon the oil is on the west flank and near the the crest of the et fold which here plunges toward me sou south th U S G S bulletin D the oil from the seep referred to above which is 10 lo c bated it ed near the crest of the west anticline where it is crossed by the san juan canyon is believed by the writer to originate in a lower oil bearing formation and that it comes s to the surface through small cracks or fissures oil well developments the present san juan oil field is situa situated ted north of th the river on the east flank of the west anticline T the he most r productive wells are located on on small local folds A of the most notable wells are as follows galloway well 1425 feet deep 9 inch hole strong now 0 ot f gas S encountered in in goodridge sand some oil in in this and other sands no water belo below belov V feet attempt made to reach the honaker honker sand was abandoned because of lost tools drilling resumed march 1910 subsequent records show that the galloway was continued to a depth of 1690 feet where it entered the sand below the level of the san juan river this sand was penetrated for only three feet it is a coarse brown loose sand from which the oil was forced 1300 feet up in the hole the oil differed from the goodrid goodridge e basin oils in that it had a gravity of 53 degrees instead of 43 degrees be and by transmitted light was of amber instead of green color A L raplee arcala well no 2 18 feet deep 4 inches in diameter and is a remarkable well in that its daily capacity is barrels per dav despite the fact that it was never cleaned out after being shot and the tubing could only be lowered to a depth of feet H H vinson anderson oil and development no 1 in october 1910 this company started to drill the first well on its location about a mile from mexican hat in the goodridge basin on november 16 1910 at a depth of feet a very prolific sand was encountered and continued for 28 feet oil was bailed baided out from the pure seepage of this sand without the well being shot this sand will produce from 50 to 75 barrels per day of the high gravity oil found in these regions P A dark clark jackson well monumental oil company drilled to a depth of feet an oil sand was encountered at feet A fine showing of oil is reported in the goodrid goodridge ge sand at feet and another in a stray sand at feet at this lower point the well was shot in 1910 oil stood 90 feet below the surface woodruff was inclined to think that when proper correlation is made the sand encountered at a depth of feet will be found to be not a stray sand but probably the little loop sand U S G S bulletin D hudson well anderson oil development company now the property of caples larsen the well is said to have reached 1222 feet with oil standing feet from top 1920 about one barrel of oil was being bailed baided out weekly and ll 11 used ed for lubrication at the well U S G S bulletin D bryce no I 1 well western investment company feet deep 8 inch hole cuts baby sand which yields oil well sunk in april 1910 to a depth of feet raplee and spencer think chink that this well was never pumped but that it yielded 2 or 3 barrels a day when bailed baided they say that 10 or 15 barrels was bailed baided in going through the sand after the casing was drawn mr raplee says he drilled deeper upon commencing work he found two barrels in the well in 1920 it was said to be full of casing which someone had dropped in and it would not produce U S G S bulletin D bryce no 2 well oil johnny no i 1 western investment company feet deep 8 inch hole well sunk in a wash below the horizon of the Goodrid goodridge gelp sand at feet oil was e encountered n in no 3 sand this oil and the water was cased off oil mendenhall sand according to mr delemeter was again struck in the 11 attorney for the arcola oil company b barrels of oil were taken from this well and sold for fuel to other drillers drillars dr illers in m the ane field besides many barrels that were either wasted 0 or r burned by the company in its own operations the sales were ill made ade in in 1910 i fw 11 after the well was drilled at first there was some production but none was sold then the well was shot when the casing easily was down feet 20 or 30 feet of the bottom was caved in the and ana after that the pump could never be got below the caved casing me shot c caved aved barrels of oil sold wast was then produced another in the bottom which could never be reopened the production f |