HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY: OIL WELL

Posted on by

HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY: OIL WELL

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY 
BY JOHN SIMPSON GRAHAM

Press of
BIRMINGHAM PRINTING COMPANY
Birmingham, Ala.
1923

The Mutual Oil Company, a corporation, is drilling a well in Section 35, Township 8 North, Range 1 West, a mile and a half west of Salitpa postoffice, with the hope of finding oil. Geologists pronounce this the most flattering undeveloped oil field anywhere east of the Mississippi River. There are two separate and distinct anteclines in the county, one north of Jackson and one south of Jackson. The surface indications are said by geologists to be very flattering indeed. Many oil companies are holding leases on lands in this county. Several thousand acres of land have been leased by various oil companies since 1916. Had it not been for the World War, the field would doubtless have been thoroughly tested before now. The war, high prices of material and the discovery of much oil in Texas, all worked to block work in Clarke County. Geology is not an exact science; geologists can locate fields where oil has been, but they cannot determine its present location. For instance, they discover that in Clarke County, some time in the centuries gone by, there was an upheaval, ripping the county open from Section 21 (where it goes into the Tombigbee River), Township 5 North, Range 2 East, to the same river in Township 8 North, Range 1 West. This upheaval brought to the surface all formations of the earth below for a great depth, and from these formations geologists draw their conclusions.

Extracted from: HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY BY JOHN SIMPSON GRAHAM Press of BIRMINGHAM PRINTING COMPANY Birmingham, Ala. 1923