| OCR Text |
Show HE WAS NO CRANK Man Who Understood His Business Finds Oil. CAUSES BOOM IN WYOMING Romantic Story Regarding tho Discovery Dis-covery of Petroleum ln Evanston Region Sudden Transformation of the Little Burg of Spring Valley Astounded the Natives Crude Oil Gathered From a Spring ln Early Sixties Known as Brlghnm Young Pool Tho Jager Oil Hnd Hvanston J0 Oct 11 Eack of a simple announcement of the oil strike ln this district as sent out In these dls latches a fw days ago Is a romantic story of unusual Interest Few people who lead the innoun etrent stating that the Jager Oil comi any had made a big strike 01 petroleu n on Its lands near bpiing Vallej knew the conditions that brought cbout the rich And Spring alle is a small hamlet located about twenty miles northeast of Evanston on the Union Taclflc railwa It had a s'atd sober population of less than IM people until the news of the oil strike went forth now It Is growing bv leaps and bounds ln a manner that Is astonishing to those unicaunlnted with booms and the nitlves are beginning to wonder where the are at To speak franklj they don t like this sudden transformation, of their quiet burg Into a town of bustling iiotUlts although thej are willing to profit b the greatlj Increased monetirj Income It brings to them PRrDICTION' OP OIOLOOIST The change Is due solely so the reel dents siy to the predlitlon nude by a geologist from Chicago Last winter 1 stranger giving his name as Trof 1 D Daniels ippcared here anl wos tnken In tow bv Mr James J Hnrdln the su-perlnten su-perlnten lent of the Jager Oil companj, who seemed to be expecting him Up to this time Mr Ilurdlns romiany, although al-though It had been In the Hel I Tor nulto n while, hal not nciomplMied much neither, for that muter hi 1 any of the other oil rompmles that ute operating operat-ing here although It is a matter well supported by Governin nt survejs th it olilti Is one of the greatest petroleum petro-leum districts ln the w irld CAME I.N MIDWINTER It was midwinter when the stranger arrived und when lie nnnoumed thit he vvns a geologist nnl wus going to tell Mr Hardin Uherc to drill for oil with a certainty of finding It u loud Bureau went up The thin, was too ridiculous ri-diculous for terlous lunslderatlon Allowing Al-lowing thut a geologist under oidlnnry circumstances could scent out oil territory ter-ritory vvhlih In Itself was too big n morsel to be snnllowcl how was Prof Daniels going to tell an thing about It when tho surface of the ground was covered with n blanl et of snow that made all the Hnd look alike'' ALL LAND NOT ALIKE As subsequent events have proven all the Ian I dldn t look alike to 1 rot Daniels Dan-iels Ha went carefully over the ground with Mr Ilardln and made his selections selec-tions ot the (.round where he wus positive posi-tive oil would be found Mr Hardin a hard-headed business man who had been sent out here to develop the Jager OU company s territory, was non-I non-I lused He dldn t know exactly what to do Then he hethoitght himself of the fact that the geologist had been strongly recommended, by his friend Dr 1 T. Hums also of Chicago and ln whom ho had every confidence HARDIN' 1AKLS A CHANCE 11 nail j Hardin decided to take a nance on the scientist knowing moro about the geological conditions than n. tenderfoot, and began to make prepir-atlons prepir-atlons to follow Prof Daniels s Instructions Instruc-tions Taking the spot selected for the tlrst horlntr, while the snow was yet on the giound he 1 Iped In a water supily from a spring three miles awa erected qunrters for his men nnd grade 1 1 imd over which Ihe drilling outfits could he haulnl from the rallwij It was well Into the rummer before he was ready for the actual work of dtllllng bin Hist well, and he approached the matter with a reverent amount of dread TIND OP PLTROI Tl'M All too slowb the well went down to suit Hardin who wus ipprehenslve lest he had made a fntnl and costly mistake Pver thing tended to delav tools broke the hole went crooke 1 and had to be re-lilleil re-lilleil ml tho drill started over again, necessarj supplies were avn behind time In arriving and It was after the last of August lffnrc oil was struck This was at SH feet and the sight of the dark colored fluid smelling sttong ly of gavollne was a Jojous one to tho superintendent He kept pushing the drill deerer and deeper nnd flmllj at KWO tee' It penetraiel the sands thit held the main deposit They hid tipped n Inexhaustible imantltv of petroleum of high grade i lubricating and lllu r .. .; T ou,i" 1 oairei at the well Pin' mnlels the despised geologist was indnised nnl Hardin was happ M.WS SPItrD FAST The news spr n1 fast and the solid men of A joining ca ie In pairs and by fours to Inspect the find such men as n M Aushermon A Co George I. Pexton A F Bridbury M M Ketch um the Rlythe A Fargo people anl others of like tejutf It vvns the first big producing well Wjomlng hid evr had and It es tl llshed bejoml question the worth of the oil terrltor In this State They vvre nitutall enthuslas-tic enthuslas-tic and geve exi relon to theli enthu sl.um In genuine estern style H UWIN bELF POSshSdFD Through It nil Harlfn was was calm and self poewscil Somebodj slapped him on the tack ind sold h don t vou whoop it m oilman' This Is the biggest thing that has ever occutred In Wyoming' H rdln s replj wasihar acterlstlo of the ma 1 He sold I am onlj n Instrument In currying out nth er mens Ideas One of these vns I rot Daniels He tH rr where to put the drill down t id I have follow 1 his in-sttucttons in-sttucttons Ihe other 11 in If Frank la gar after whom the well Is named anl who flninced the o,erutions ' All tn tanki- ir the lager wall have been filled and the hole Itself has been capped pending th construction nf a switch tiack or a pipe Hue to the main line of tie Union I arlilc toad three miles distant by which the petroleum can be brought to ivanston where refinery Is alrend in the course of erection UNUSUALVi U I AllI.E I IND Ihls qll while valuable us a natural lubricant, Is of more value for retlulng purposes as It rant Una an unusually high rrcentage of high priced 1 rod nets Analtsls shows 33 4 er lent of kerosene J71 per ent of signal or headlight oil 17 1 pir rent of gasoline nnd bentlns nnl 20 I fer cent of r irif fine One qualltj i,ienil nipreclited by refiners Is thtl It distill without foam Ing or ' kicking as It Is railed h the trade The specific gravity nf the crude petroleum at the or Unary temperature of 6 deg Iahtrnhelt Is 17 nnd It llashei, ut thai t 1111 1 tture Ihcse are the things that hive made the peo le of Wyoming enthusiastic hive removed the 1 loud of doubt from Ihe utility of geologists In general and I'tof Daniels In putlcular, and are Inducing scenes of excitement that will outrlvil anything any-thing that ever happened at Beaumont STHANOLRS COME BV SCORL8 Strangers are coming In by 'cores som with money some without but all Intent on making fortune some or thein will do It others wont It will be the same old stor over again ex cept In one particular If the people ot vomlng can help It there will be no wild crazj speculation ln lands or stocks, no fabulous fictitious prices for wind allies of lands on which there Is a suspicion of oil are advancing fast It would be curious If thej dldn t but Ihe gambling element Is held ln check UNCLE SAM AIDS MATTERS This Is made nossible by the fact that Uncle i has had the tate sur veyed and the oil belt Is well defined on his official maps There ar.. places in this belt of course In which no oil will be found and herein lies the worth of a skilled golog st In locating the llkel snots Narl everj section has Its oil deposits and if the Investor buys bv the section or takes an Interest ln pome concern that has ilready developed devel-oped Its holdings the element of chance Is entlrelj eliminated The Wyoming oil belt as laid out bj th Government Is from three to ten miles lfc width and extends diagonally across the Stite from northeast to so ithwest Ithln this belt crude petroleum of an unusualls fine grade exists In tremendous iiiantlttes All this was well know 1 before th Jager eompan made s strike which has merelj cinched as it were th com-merenl com-merenl aspect' of the oil lndustrj Since the lager well came In It Is defl-nltelj defl-nltelj known the depths nt which the oil will be found in paylt g quantities how much of a rtlpplj can be depen led on what the grade Is and how much onsuuers are willing to pn for It DRIOHAM OUNO TOOL vAjomlng was an oil producing terrl-tor terrl-tor as far bnck ns the das of Brig ham oung When th Mormons were tolling across the 1 lain to their Mecci at Salt Iaik befoi tho Union raclflc wns built thej used to gither crude petrole in from n spring near where rvonston Is now looted nnd which to this ill j Is called the Urlghnm loung Pool This oil wis then used exclu siie-lj for mellclnil purposes prlncl palls as a lubricant lrom eUht to ten gallons 1 day wrre skimmed from the spring in 1 carted across b train to Silt I ike where It was sold for JJ5 u barrel This !s hlstorj f IRST OIL WELL IN' STATE So also Is the further fact thit the first actual oil well In the 'West 1 hole flft feet deep was dug In lSnd by Col John Flere nnd Judge Cirter vvho vvns then the post trader nt Fort Urldger Inter this well which originally ylelde 1 about ISO barrels of oil all told was deei ened to 100 feet and became vers ptofltable until It was bought up by an Faetetn roniern which following follow-ing the methods now In oguc, tilled up the hole nnd abandoned It Thla vvns not because the 1 astern llrm was afraid of the output of this one well but It was afraid that the news would spread nnd tint the development of the field might leud to serious competition competi-tion liter on DISCOVERY BV UNION' PACiriC 1 10111 then on thetc Is nothing ot Interest In-terest to record In Wyoming oil hlstors until a little over two years ngo when the Union Pacific railway started to sink an artesian well near bprltig vul-Ie vul-Ie to secure u much needed water sup-plj. sup-plj. Instead of finding water they got oil Ordltiurlls, perhaps, the railway leoplc would have been gli 1 nf this but the fact Is they were not They dl In't say a word ubout It On the contrary con-trary they cautioned everyone concerned con-cerned to keep quiet, filled up tho hole cemented the top, nnd put a guard of armed men theie to keep Inquisitive strangers aw as RESON I OR THIS ACTION' The reason for this lies In the fact that the Union I acllle, In order to avoid pa lug taxes had not, as yet taken out atents on Its old Congres-1 Congres-1 slonal land KTant which Includes every odd numbered section for twents miles back on cither aide of their line 'iheoe were (.ranted us grnzing nnd agricultural lands and until they are patented nnsbody who locates oil on them has tho privilege of filing a claim under the mineral-rights cluuso of the ledcral land laws fcrCRET LEAKS OUT What the Union Pacific wos afraid of vvns that the news of the oil Held I would become ltnown and that In the mad rush of prospectors mans loe 1-tlons 1-tlons would le made on Its unpatente! linds and the compans would thus lone title to them hence the utmost s creey v?as observed about the ills covers Despite this the fact leaked I out several smart men got at the well I found It eont lined oil and filed on 11. clilm of 610 acres which aie known in the Interior department records as section 2" Out of this grew a long and bitter litigation which was onlv settled bs the fecretars of the Interior Inte-rior sending a spiclal ag it a Mr J S evels hete to Investigate The Union Pacific stoutls avsertel ther was no oil In the well the claimants Jutt as stoutls assrtd there was The hole was uncapped In the presence of Mr 7evej and a number of experts and found to be full f oil of a high grade and levels s teport reciting this fact Is now on file In the Interior deputtment at Washington WHTRE -WORK IS DONT Between the odd numbered sections claimed 1 5 the Union Piclfio lie the even numbeied ones part of whim title has ln perfected hv private ner ties the rest being open to settlement Most of tie valuable oil terrltorv as I fir as known Is alttads owned ty In dividual? although It Is well within the possibilities that good strl es will 1 be made on th adjoining Government linds Ml the work that has been don to amount to anything thus far that is systematic drilling etc l on I sections 12 11 K and 31 where exten slve development has been done by the Jagr the Vmerltan Consolidat d and t e Wjomlng companies and i mm her of satisfactory strikes have been inad The bist of these la on section 12 whl h Is owned by the Jager con pany Heie tlitr Is .in actual pro hieing hie-ing well of good size and a number of ut er are to b sunk at once EI r ECT OF DItlCO lt Th effect of this dlcoviy Is nl reads appaitnt in the Inilux of strangeis and th ilr of actlvits that pervrdes th whol country between Fvanstm and , -Ing valles Arounl the veils little lentd cities are spilna- Ing up as If by magi, while the towns aie ove run by people making vain hunts foi lvlnjj accommodations The two hotels hct are Jamtne I fun of peo pie nd evers house In town the owner of which Is willing to take boariers I has It full quot of guest- Many of I these newcomers are lan.t .iT.. . others me Invesle-, who are trvint t, gft In on th ground floor while n few I aie looking tor wotk Wage and the cst nf living are high an! eonsiamiv advaiKlng There la 1 boom er Idem! In the atmosphete but there Is Utile or none or the wild i .dilation In I, ,K the conditions are not favoiable ni," whole leniency and this Is encoiirug 1 bs our bankets nnd 1 uelnesn men is 1 promote legitimate development cnti r prises only nmr |