Show LAND PAWN PATENT patentroom I 1 IIOOM ROOM RESULTS FROM OIL SHALE RESEARCH REJSEARCH feverish on m mithikh ti011 of developing the oil rich sl11lq ilii alii I 1 of western colorado cistrrii eatern batern utah and southern W wyoming ming has created a boom boorn in g the pro bessing cesslng cessing of land patents effat kfforti effmt to utilize the energy locki lock q 1 l up jil in these mountains 0 of f oil mn make it possible to prevent wnr enr or to win a war and lie the re sultant saltant scurry to file patent claims on this important rp re source of the public domain li iq understandably treat great the united states bureau of mines has proved feasible the tile development of 100 billion barrels of oil from the mahogany ledge of the green river formation of oil shale in colorado twice as much oil as has ever been produced in this country I 1 from underground petroleum and several times the nations 1 proved reserves another 200 billion barrels of oil lie in the less productive shales of the same for formation matlon in addition vast reserves of largely unexplored oil shale exist in other states what this means to a nation whose life blood Is oil needs no re emphasis the strategic eetroleurn petroleum like resource in oil shale ale is a complex lex organic compound called kerogen terogen te kerogen rogen which Is composed chiefly of partially putrefacted putrifacted re remains mains of primitive microscopic aquatic plants and animals animal S which flourished in the lakes 0 of f the middle eocene times american ingenuity and perseverance have developed new methods of mining retorting and refining from kerogen the bureau of mines has through a retort method developed and demonstrated that the distillation of oil Is nodonly notonly not only practicable but an economic possibility the most important products of kerogen en refining at present are odaly odavy heavy fuel and heating oils but gasoline and many other byproducts can also be attained b hagai started in scotland while the first real interest in oil shale was probably cevelo develo developed it in scotland in 1850 it was m 1914 that farseeing far seeing mining men and industrialists of the united states began to ex explore lore the tile pos pog siblhtlcs ibilltics of our western western oil shale resources in a 4 year period peril from 1916 to 1920 many thousand ollshale oil oll shale placer claims claim were located primarily in western colorado on public domain lands landr to a lesser degree this same ame activity took place in utah and wyoming on february 25 1020 1920 the mineral leasing law wa was approved and oil shale was included inc eded uded as one of the leasable minerals this effectively stopped the further f U r location of any placer placet aln mln 11 ing claims for oil shale on p public domain lands with the approval apxroval approval of the mineral air eir al leasing act ct and the 1930 withdrawal of all oil shale lands by executive order which was predicated on the study made by the geological survey of the vast oil shale lands all shale lands subject to valid existing rights were temporarily withdrawn from lease or other disposal and reserved tor for the purposes of investigation examination and classification qlalnu clialms invalid from 1920 until 1830 1930 little or no development work waa was done for the benefit of the oil shale placer blacer mining locations and the department of the interior took the stand that where no development was made the claims were invalid this was set aside however by the supreme court and the claimants of the land relaxed in their knowledge that their claims were secure and they undertook little development work until world war 11 in the past 5 years the oil oll 011 shale industry has been boom continued on page 16 ruuajhrt 01 .01 ik LAND PATENT BOOM RESULTS FBOM OTI 011 SHALE neseahch fiesenticu I 1 continued from rom page 0 ing ahe ihe 1he gale sale value per acre hai haq risen rixen and a vigorous mining missing technique albeit still in the in ant fant state lias haq developed in the past 2 years it lg estimated that more than 40000 acres of land in colorado have proceed ed to patent and are now on 0 1 I tax ax rolli rolls of the counties countiess the bureau of land management recognizing the need to assist and facilitate the growing oilshale oil shale industry has cooperated in every respect with the mineral patent applicants where patent proceedings at one time took a period of years the aarne innio qarne iq i now being accomplished within wit lilii a few months the tho bureau of 0 land management through its experienced field engineering force Is also assisting the patent applicant in advising how to do future development work leading to patent capital needed technological advances research se r C h and development have reduced e du ced the cost of extracting and refining shale oil to the point where it may compete with w ith oil from underground reservoirs ervo irs but a great capital investment will be needed in mining refining and transportation equipment beffie befoie befoic shale oil can be widely used increasing demane for more oil plus the difficulty and cost I 1 of finding new oil reserves ma may soon cause the nation to loo 100 look to colorados mountain of oil for greater production meanwhile interiors three agencies bureau ol 01 of mines geological survey and bureau of land management work together to make one of the greatest resources of the public domain available for the use of the nation from our public lands |