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Show WYflMiNG LEADS INJE FIELDS Prominent Operator Discusses the Rich Promise of the . State.. EAST WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE TO LOOK TO WEST Quality of the Oil "Found in ; Wyoming Is First .Class. . T. H.-Fitzgerald1 of Fitzgerald Bros., Chicago, is in. the city for a few days on business, connected with tho Green River Townsitc and Reservoir company, and is a guest at the Wilson. hotel. Mr. Fitzgerald is. also connected in an official of-ficial capacity with the. Chicago-Wyoming Oil corporation. In a conversation conversa-tion with a Tribune representative, Mr. Fitzgerald talked interestingly of tho Spring Valley oil fields, where his corporation cor-poration is now actively engaged iu sinking oil wells. Snrinnr Valley is situated about twelve miles cast of Evan3ton. The oil producing area of tho valloj' is about eight miles wide by twenty miles in length, as demonstrated by developments develop-ments already made and the survey as mado by Prof. Vcach of the geological department of the Government. The Chicago-Wyoming Oil corporation corpora-tion owns and holds under perpetual lease 10,7S0 acres of oil lands in the valley. Last May the vice-president and field manager of the companv commenced com-menced to sink a well. It was "drilled to completion, or rather to a depth of 1720 feet, which took them through the third oil sand strata. At this depth tho oil produced is 100 barrels per day. The company is now sinking a second well, which is being driven with all possible vigor by two shifts, kept going night and day, the best drilling machinery machin-ery that money can buy being used by the company in doing tho work. Work Is Expensive. The sinking of an oil well is somewhat some-what expensive. In going down io the third oil sand vein the following substances sub-stances aro encountered: After going through the soil, a coal vein is encountered. encoun-tered. There is coal in all that region, says Mr. Fitzgerald. Then a thick vein of shalo is gone through, which overlies tho first vein of oil sand. This sand is usually encountered at a depth of from 400 to 600 feet, and will average aver-age in thickness about twenty feet. After the first sand is gone through, sandstono is gone through when at a usual depth of 900 to 1000 feet tho second sec-ond strata is struck. This second vein is usually about thirty feet ihick and gives a production of a few barrels of oil per- day- Between the second and third strata of oil sand lies a solid body of the hardest limestone. The third oil sand strata is usually I encountered at a depth of between 1700 and 1S00 feet, and the thickness in. the company's, well is 150 feet and ' the well produces 100 barrels of oil per day. The specific gravity of Spring Valley oil is 50. per cent. The best in Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania is 43 per cent, while the best showing in Kansas is 32 per cent. The Chicago-Wyoming Oil corporation is composed of a coterie of very wealthy men, most of them residents of Chicago. Chi-cago. Large Sura Expended. . The company has already spent in drilling machinery, operating and development devel-opment of . wells, etc., exclusive of lauds and leases, over $50,000. It is the intention of tho company at the oarliest practicable timo to put in and operate an oil refinery. The crude oil can bo refined at a cost of less thau $1 per barrel. The selling price of a barrel of this kind of refined oil is said to bo about $S per barrel. This will givo some idea of tho great financial finan-cial possibilities of that portion of our neighboring State, as measured by distance dis-tance almost at our very door, and of which so little is known b' the average aver-age Salt Lnker. Many a city has grown up of greater business capacity than Salt LaKe and flourished with little other- resources than tho oils that were mado to gush from the oil wells surrounding them. Especially is this true of Penns3-lvauia, Texas and some other States. Adverting arrain to the magnitude of the oil possibilities of Wyoming, Prof. Kr.'hrgplin, a director ot the Noble Bros. Oil company of Russia, wns sent to this .cuntr3' by the Russian Govern-nipnt Govern-nipnt to visit nd report upon tho oil fields of America. He staled that the Wyoming field was the greatest virgin oil field that he had ever visited, and it was his opinion that the far East would have to look to Wyoming for its high.-grado oil. Russia, ho said, produces pro-duces no high-grade oil. Another thing in this connection that will 'tend to bring the oil fields of Wyoming into public notico is this: The Pennsylvania Pennsylva-nia oil fields aro gradually giving out. The, production has been slowly but constantly decreasing for the pust ten 3"ears. Standard Has Withdrawn. The Standard Oil company has withdrawn with-drawn from market its biell-grado gasoline. gas-oline. No other field has 3-et produced any high-grade gasoline; so that this country, yes, and other countries, will Have to turn to Wyoming for this quality qual-ity of gasoline. The existence of oil iu Wyoming of such quality and of such appareutlj' inexhaustible quantity means much for this intermountaiu country, aside from its intrinsic value to the men whose pluck, money and enterprise have made it a commercial commodity. It means that ,111 this great mountain wash nature has planted evory material thiug necessary to the comfort and luxury of man. Several Salt Lake capitalists are interested, in-terested, in the Spring Valle' oil fields, and it is expected that now that oil refineries are being installed, the -eople of Salt Lake will hear more of Wyoming Wyom-ing oil fields in the future than they have in tho past. |
