Show history of oil in tooele thoele county from early days to date many many years ago so long that I 1 can t remember although my mother and aunts remember them d lived a family at grantsville Grants ville by the name of ex ferd they were farmers and rais ed cattle on their place one day the father decided he needed extra water for the cattle so he decided to try digg ng rig a well they round ed up a well digger and began As the digg ng rig progressed in a short time they struck water but it was so salty the cattle wouldn t drink it so they decided to dig a little deeper water appeared the second time again the cattle refused to dr it the family de aided to take a little sip to find out what was wrong with it mr exferd exclaimed hell no won der the cattle wont won t drink it it s the nastiest stuff I 1 ever tasted the water was left in the pail un touched by the cattle but not by the children they had great fun slopping around in it in several days they noticed an oily scum form on the top of it that was even better more fun now they could rub it between their fingers and smear their faces mother exferd began to scold the children for smearing and splashing around in the water but father exferd began to wonder looks like 0 I 1 were the thoughts going through his in nd so he kept telling his children when mo ther and I 1 am dead and gone never sell this land because there s oil here all through these many years his lame daughter who now lives in salt lake city has kept up the taxes on this land without a re turn of profits from it ering the words and arid advice of her father dont sell this land keep keell up the taxes there s oil here the newly formed association now have this land leased from miss exferd we shall go back now to the time when I 1 can remember as a young girl my father leasing fish ing creek to an oil company from the south the kennedy s and war ren s I 1 remember how thrilled we were over the money we received from the lease because it seem ed like a gift for nothing mr war ren had a very beautiful wife with a charming southern brogue who used to call me her darling I 1 was enchanted over the soft south era ern words and stood looking at her spell bound she her husband and mrs kennedy often visited at our home and the homes of mr and mrs robert halladay and mr and mrs leo johnson later after they kuit drilling at burmester which is near fishing creek mrs war ren sent my aunts goldie and Es ter and my mother many beautiful hand crocheted gifts I 1 believe they still have them at chirstman Chirst mas time she believed in making many many people happy so she told us when shed received a gift she would enjoy it for a time and then send it on to make another person happy she certainly made my aunts and my mother happy I 1 re member them opening the pack ages as they came through the mail and then comparing the beautiful gifts after we can now see that this isn t the first time they have drilled for oil at grantsville Grants ville and that there has always been indications of it being there at the time warrens and kennedys Kenn edys were there they couldn coulden t go as deep with their adril ling equipment now they have a rotary type drull which goe much deeper than the type used years ago I 1 was told that at one time george spiers had made a geology ical survey of tooele thoele county and that his findings indicated a pos sivility lity of oil being here just a few years ago perhaps sometime before the war started quince griffith and his brot brothers herg were digging salt at the territory around great salt lake at this time they noti cedi gas escaping from a hole in the ground thea lit a match to it and it burned for a week or more all of them be came interested because they it was an indication of oil being somewhere in the vicinity the government had a sale of surplus equipment at the ordnance depot early in the spring A texas driller with 30 years drilling ex peri ence mr tarver happened to come here for that government sale he purchased some equip ment and took it to al griffiths welding shop next door to the library while they were fixing the machinery al found out mr taner tarver was as an experienced oil man and driller so he told him about the hole in the ground and the gas escaping mr tarver said it was a strong indication of oil be ing there they began to invest gate the instruments showed in dictations of it being toward grant aville the first derrick has been set up on charley worthingtons Worthing tons land and drilling has been going on for 15 das dabs sixteen local investors have for I 1 med an association to test too ele valley for gas and oil this association have contracted with texas drilling company to thor hughly test any possibilities of these precious elements being in commercial quantities here at home the field work on this structure has been under way for about three months including geological geog physical and instrumental testing expertly trained men have voiced their opinions as it being very very favorable august alth drilling started and this first test is expected t to 0 be completed within 60 days as the drilling machinery is of the very latest design it is a horse power rotary type drill J A harver of san antonio tex as associated with the osborn bros have the contract for adril mr tarver has had thiry years drilling experience and has been very prominent in bringing in many of the great producing oil fields in texas he also has thor ough schooling in geology along with his practical knowledge he should be a great asset to this enterprise enter prize the local group is composed of businessmen who are willing to take a gamble on any good and worthy enter enterprise prize that may con tribute to the future of the coun ty they have taken quite a fin ancial risk in this venture with the magnificent cooperation of our businessmen in the sponsorship of this enterprise enter prize and formation of it into an association we want to wish them a successful venture and we assure you that you will have all possible cooperation from tooele thoele county |