| Show AN LAND BILL UP TO COOLIDGE DRILLING TO START ON AT LEAST THREE MORE WELLS IF PRESIDENT APPROVES MEASURE president coolidge today signed the bill passed last week by congress which validates permits formerly issued on execl tive order indian lands according to a message received from washington by J L dougan of the utah southern oil company the approval of the act by the president that drilling operations erat ions can be resumed in the region south of the san juan and east of the meridian the senate bill to authorize tho issuance of oil and gag prospecting permits upon lands within executive order indian reservations was passed by the house of representatives senta tives at washington last wednesday and sent to the president tor bis action if the chief executive affixes hia signature sign aure to the bill exploration for oil in the extreme southeastern portion cf san juan county will be resulted ted the measure in its present form has eliminated certain provisions which caused president coolidge to veto it last fall after it had been passed by congress and it is stated by those close to the president that he will probably ap prove the new bill the measure contains the following provisions to permit tion for oil and gas on executive order indian reservations to give the indian tribes all the oil and royalties to authorize the states to tax the production of oil and gas on such reservations to place with congress the future determination of any changes of boundaries of executive order reservations or withdrawals and extend relief to and applicants who in girod faith expend ed money in development looking to the discovery of oil and gas under the provisions of the general leasing of february 25 1920 upon executive order reservations at a time when such lands were held to come within the terms of the general leas mg act if president coolidge signs the bill it will the end of a controversy which elites back five or six years and which affects all of the land in the state of utah lying south of the san juan river and dast of the parallel of longitude roughly the parallel runs directly north and of a point five miles west ol 01 hat when he held office secretary fall of the department of the interior ruled that his department had the right to issue oil and gas leases on lands in executive order indian reservations he issued a number of permits and the midwest and affiliated commenced drilling a test well on boundary butte structure located within the executive order lands in utah lan F stone former attorney general then issued an opinion that fall had no right to issue the permits and the matter was taken to the courts the federal court at salt lake city held that the permits had been legally issued and the government took an appeal the matter is nov pending before the united states supreme court the bill passed last week if approved by the will do away with any further operation will doubtless be resumed at once on the boundary butte well of the midwest interests this well is down some 1500 feet and encountered what was reported to be a 50 barrel flow of oil in the the objective horizon is tha pennsylvanian sands the associated oil company also has a standard rig erected on a permit on the indian reservation and will probably start drilling the canyon no 1 well of the utah southern oil will also be completed if the president approves the nUe asure this well while located north of the san juan nver will test the east anticline the large portion of which extends south of the river into the reservation er lands the approval of the measure by the president will greatly operations in the san juan district end will open up several promising structures for exploration |
