Show I DEPOSIT OF OIL SHALE IS AFIRE Forest Fire Starts Moun Moun- Mountain Moun- Moun Mountain tam tain to Burn Attracts Prospectors SA SANTA TA BARBARA Cal Cat Jan Ily Dy By The Associated Press Press Press- When a a forest tire firo Ignited an oIl shale deposit far tar up on the tha head headquarter quarters of ot Sant Santa Yn river in Santa Barbara national forest the he smoke mok curling upward became becam II a beacon attracting attracting- Interest ot of o geol geol- l geologists Heretofore knowledge de that such shale deposits exIsted was pos pos- pos only by forest hunters rangers hun hun- hun or tho th tw tew persons who have huo on occasions occasion wandered through that section None had bad given alven thought to the th probable value vilu of these oil aisles Now geologists are making a survey ulVey ot of o the shale and ane oh oil prospectors are ar delving deeper Into the th wilds wild searching for tor oil structures and tea fea tures fea tures TOLLS lULLS OF SHALE Santa Ynez river has Its source tar far back bock between the Santa Sonta Ynes and nd San RaCael mountain ranges It Its IIII canyon la Is narrow and steep with high ridges looming above e a 11 windIng channel These ridges are arthe the summits of ot oil shale deposits One such deposit Is heaved hea up some om three miles below Gibraltar dam which Santa Barbara city built hullt across the tho canyon canon to conservo flood waters water for municipal use ur The forest tire fire swept across this shale Ignited the th brush which had bad found root In earth covering the shale and helt heat t started the th shale FEEDS MES IiA Three miles above this blue blaze a column of ot smoke shows where an another other large larf deposit has haa been Ignited ed d These The oil all II fires tire are ar on the th sur- sur surface ur-fac ur face an and 1 as u the th oil I Is burned from the shale shale the tho shale hale having no binding slips down the mountain u uncovering other live livo shale for tot the I fires fire's tinder and nd In tn this way these tires gradually are burning the mountaIn elopes Unless quenched b by heavy heaY storms the th fires tires would In lime time change chanc the appearance ot of the country MAY 1 tVS UFo BE Geologists believe bellev that underlying Inc Ing these thellO shale deposits there may maybe maybe be natural oil iI reservoirs but bo- bo fore bo-fore ore fore they could bo be b developed large would be Involved in III I I building roads Into the region be- be because b cause cause It Is wild and strewn boulder boulder I accessible only on ott toot foot or horse horse- horseback horseback back |