Texas Petroleum. Page: 4
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TEXAS PETROLEUM.
0.840. The coefficient of cubical expansion, as determined by Mr. Fitz-
hugh, is 0.02568. Its weight, its high boiling point, its non-solidification
by cold, and its property of not gumming make it a splendid lubricating
material. The practical tests that have been applied to it confirm this
opinion."
Interest in the Nacogdoches field, the oldest producing field in .the
State, has again assumed an active phase and drilling is to be resumed in
the vicinity of Oil Spring and Chireno. It is proposed to carry the wells
down to a much greater depth than the first ones and to attempt to
secure oil from different horizons.
No statistics of the amount of oil produced in this. field in the early
days are now available.
In connection with the early history of prospecting for gas and oil
mention may be made of the Cervanke well bored at Greenvine, in the
southwestern part of Washington county, in 1879. In August of this
year William Seidell bored a well to a depth of 150-160 feet and found
a strong flow of gas from the sandstone. It was eleven inches in diameter
and eight inches in the clear, with a wooden curbing. The gas was
burned in a house near the well, but no commercial use was made of it.
Between 1879 and 1883 two or three wells were bored in the same
vicinity, but they caved in so badly that it was found impossible to do
anything with them. Work was suspended until 1888, when three other
wells were put down, one to a depth of 1.54 feet, near the first well,
another about 350 yards to the southeast, 134 feet deep, and the third
about half a mile to the northwest, 114 feet deep. It was stated that the
three new wells gave 1,500,000 cubic feet of gas per day.
This was, perhaps, the first successful attempt to secure gas in com-
mercial quantities ever made in the State, and it is of interest to note
that prospecting is again in progress in that vicinity.
This gas area appears to extend toward the east and to continue into
Waller county, near Hempstead, and into the northern part of Harris
county, north of Houston. It would appear that thh towns in that por-
tion of the State might enter upon the prospecting for gas with a high
degree of probability of finding it in commercial quantities. The fact
that a strong flow of gas was found at depths not below 200' feet would
indicate that the expense of boring would not be excessive. So far as
concerns its fuel qualities natural gas need fear no rival; it is easily con-
trolled, makes a very hot fire, leaves no ashes and in conjunction with the
Welsbach, or other similar mantle, gives a beautiful light.
The first appearance of Texas as an oil producer, in statistical tables,
was in 1889 with forty-eight barrels, and in 1890 with fifty-four barrels.
At that time the conditions in Texas were held to be similar to those in
Kansas, New Mexico and Southern California. The product in 1889 was
from two wells on the ranch of George Dullnig, seven miles south of San
Antonio, Bexar county. These wells are about 300 feet deep and the
value of their product, in 1889, was $7.08 per barrel and $4.20 in 1890.
Jos. D. Weeks (Mineral Resources of the United States, 1889-90, pages
359-360) stated that this was a natural lubricant of twenty-eight to
thirty degrees Beaume, and that the capital employed was $1,650,
divided as follows: Value of rigs, wells, engines, boilers, etc., $1,200;
value of tanks, $1.00; value of pipe lines, $10; value of oil in stock, $340.
This oil retailed in barrels at twenty cents a gallon, in tin cans of five
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Phillips, William Battle. Texas Petroleum., book, July 1900; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth130185/m1/18/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .