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Show r - T - . . . . . - . . - . - : - - - , . - . - . - - - - " - . . Development of San Juan Oil ad Field Was Result sult of of"Seeps of"Seeps ofSeeps , "Seeps Seeps " " of Oil 011 Which Had Been Known for Years YearsA A Northern Counterpart of This Field is Believed Beheved to E Exist ExistIn ExistIn lst lstIn In the Moab Area of Grand CountyWritten County CountyWritten Written Exclusively E'Xcluslvely EXcluslvely ' for The Times Independent by Ray E EColton Colton Sc Se ScD D Petroleum Geologist and Science WIlterI Wnter WIlter Wiiter . . . . . I - - - - - - - - The development of the San SanJuan SanJuan i SarJuan Juan oil 011 field of San Juan coun county county county ty was the direct rnrect result of the thereportmg th threporting thereporting < reporting reportmg of oil 011 seeps for sev several several several eral decades in the area The ThefIrst Thefirst Th ; first location for well drilmg drIhng driling m in mthIs irthis inthis thIs district was made in 1882 1832 1882by 1832by 188 . . by Mr Goodnch Goodrich who made the thehazardous thhazardous hazardous trip tnp through the San SanJuan SanJuan SaiJuan thelhazardous thel Juan and Colorado can can3on cani on fromBluff from fromi fromBluff Bluff Utah to Lee s Ferry wIth . t the he loss of one boat The fIrst fIrstwell firstwell firs firswell t well ( ( Crossing Crossmg No 1) 1 ) ) was drIll drIlled drilld e ed d during durmg 1907 08 and oil 011 was wasstruck wastruck wa ; s struck truck on March 4 1908 From FromthIs Fromhis t this his date until the spring of 1908 1908de 1908deelopment 190 ! de development deelopment ; elopment of the field was wasIapld wasapid walapid Iapld apid i but in 111 Jul Ju1 > ) , 1909 drILling drILlingwas drillingwas drillin ; was in m progress at only one wel well wellm welln in m i n the entire field On the whole wholefrom wholerom wholefrom fg from f rom the viewpoint of field en engmeermg enineering engmeenng gmeermg ineering g m 111 in searches for petrol petroleum petrolsum petrolum eum e um drilling drIllmg was not done accordmg acording ac c cording cordmg ording to present day drilling drillingtandards drillinfstandards ? standards tandards drIllmglstandards s cs and this is believecto belIeved belIevedto believedo drIllmgl to t o have greatly retarded the thecommercIal thecommercial thi commercial output of this area areaof are areaof ; ofsoutheastern of southeastern Utah It is reported reported re ported m scout reports on the thearea thearea tharea ( area issued lssued in 111 1909 that tOOlS toois tOOlSwere tooiswere tool ; were invariably mvarIably lost during durmg cvery cv cvery cvcry ery cry drilling drIllmg operation The lil fil lilmg filng filing mg i ng of early day petroleum petroleumclaIms petroleumclaims petroleunclaims claIms on the area has kept far farahead fa farahead : ahead of development of the thef1eld theield thi f field f1eld ield and at one time a total of o 10 000 locations had been flIed filed flIedat filedat i at the court house in m Monticello MonticelloA A total of 25 shallow wells wellshad , ' had been drilled up to Decembe December Decemberof : ' ol of 1909 all to shallow depthsFrom depths depthsFrom From the data obtained obtamed on the thedev thideveopment ' dev deveopment opment of the field up untIl unti1909 ' 1909 it is interesting mterestmg to note that t ' 20 of the ; wells sel1s \ ells struck oil 011 whIch whIchmay whichmay ' may well be classed as being bemg m in mIthe inthe 11 -i i - Ithe the commercial pay pay2 pay2category ' category categoryand and that some oil 011 was encoun encountered ' tered in m each well drilled where wherethe wherthe ltered the Goodnch GoodrIch and Baby sand sands sandt ; were penetrated Oil 011 in 111 good goodquantIty goodquantity gooquantity ( quantIty is lS no doubt jer.esent jeresent r.eent reent e : . . ent at atlower atlower a ; lower depths ' " such ' as as'Iil0 asIil0 ' , OW o 1500 1500feet 150i 150itis 1500feet i feet 111 in the area The w wefls tis is preVI preVIously previously previously ously drilled in m the Saft Salt Safi Juan Juanfield Juai.field Juaifield . i Ifleld JuanIfleld field have given valuable geological geol geologlcal geological ! oglcal ogical information mformatIon which wIll vill wIllgreatly wilgreatly villgreatly greatly affect the future statu status statusof statusof : i of the field as a producer of 011 oil 011In oilIn oilIn In making makmg plans for the futuredrIllmg futur future futuredrillznE < drIllmg drillznE of wells 111 in the future/ future fIeld / producers both independent mdependent and andmaJor andmajor an . 3 major have noted that the deep deepcut deepcut cut canyon of the San Juan rIver rIvermay rivermay r may already have dramed drained a alarge alarge large proportion of the oil 011 from fromthe the field and this is borne out outb outb ' b > large filiments flhments of oil 011 which whichappear whichappear appear from time to time on thiwaterway thIs thIswaterway thiswaterway waterway This consIderatIon consIderatIontaken considerationtaken considerationtaken taken in m connection with the m in mformatIon information information formatIon afforded by the wells wellsalready wellsalready wellalready already drilled indicates mdlcates that thatfuture thatfuture tha t future production here may be beof beof of a conservative category No Nogushers Nogushers 3 gushers cart can call be expected if 1f the thegeologIc thegeologic geologic dope now bemg being bemgworked beingworked bein , ; worked out pr prwves ves ves accuratei accurateA accurate A major problem prob1em will vill be to toget toget ) get t the e oil 011 to market\ market marketas \ \ as no raIl raIlroad railroad railroad road facilities faclhtIes exist in m the areathe area areathe ; the nearest being bemg Dolores Colo Coloor Cob Cobor tankltrucks or Galiup Gallup N M However tankl tank tanktrucks t trucks and good roads could no nodoubt nodoubt ) doubt handle any refinery refmery out outputs outputs putsIt puts It is lS believed beheved that structural structuralcondItIons structuralconditions outI I conditions in m the Moab area are aresImIlar aresimilar similar to those in III the area areawhere , : where the San Juan field is lo 10 10cated located cated and that these structures structuresare : are a continuation contmuatlOn of those pro producmg producing ducmgNOTEMore ducingNOTEMore ducing ducmg ( NOTE NOTE-More NOTE More - - More about the thegeology thegeology geology of Grand county andthe andthe and the \ Moab l\Ioab l Ioab area in the next artlcle artide ar tide tlcle of this scries senes series appearing appearmg appearmgexclusIvely appearingexclusively appearingexclusively exclusively in m The TImes TImesIndependent TimesIndependent IndependentRay Independent -Ray Ray - Ray E Col Colton Colton ton ) |