Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 136, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 8, 1980 Page: 15 of 42
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Small boom, but a boom nonetheless
Home of first well is booming again
Bv Tom Tiede
A
TITUSVILLE. Pa. (NEA) -
When £ol. Edwin Drake set
out to initiate a petroleum
industry in America he kn^v
just where to look Indians
had been getting oil from the
streams of Western Pennsyl-
vania for centuries, and pre*
Revolutionary maps of the
state often marked exact
locations of the subterranean
ooze
So, in 1859, and under the
employ of Eastern industrial-
ists, Drake erected a wooden
obelisk to tap an oil spring
here and thereby establish the
first commercial petroleum
well in North America. More
than 10,000 people rushed to
this region, and the nation was
never to be the same again
The Titusville boom turned
out to' be short lived As oil
was discovered elsewhere, in
greater quantities, people
followed But the industry did
not by any means die in its
cradle. And today, more than
a century later, thereds some-
thing of another boom taking
place here where it all began
This time the rush is being
encouraged by high energy
prices A barrel of uncon-
trolled Pennsylvania crude
that sold for $14.79 one year
ago now commands $38
That's $10 a barrel more than
comparable oil from Saudi
Arabia, and, quite naturally,
local folks want a piece of the
new action.
Independent oil njen are
leasing land by the millions of
acres. Property owners are
erecting derricks in their back
yards. No one knows with cer-
tainty how many wells are in
operation now (one granddad-
dy has been pumping since
1861), but Pennsylvania drill-
ing has soared 20 percent in
two years.
The wells are not blockbus-
ters, it should be noted. Much
of the activity concerns pain-
VETERAN OIL EXPLORER Mer»m Tirr gets atoet 1* barrets m ermie r»«rs ti< trow
each of his Western Pennsylvania stripper »elh. At SU per barrel, that sttam a
small well is worth almost $1- 940 per month
discovery **%%*%r 3
* SUNDAY, JUNE 8,1980.
Cuff Notes
Assembled by —
JOE WOOSLEY
fully small holes whose yields
have not yet been worth pro-
duction costs The wells,
called strippers, provide 10 or
fewer barrels a day One
entrepreneur owns 300 of
them, and gets only about 250
barrels a week
But at $38 a barrel, even
strippers are black gold
mines. For example, veteran
explorer Merwin Tarr has a
handfull of wells that yield 10
barrels a day In terms of
income, he says, that s $380 a
day for each well, seven days
a week. So in one month a sin-
gle small well is worth almost
$12,000
And, as Tarr tells it. the glo-
ry is that the riches are com-
parably easy to come by in
macn of the Pentylnasa
belt Many people have par-
chased homes or farms wax
abandoned, wells oc the land
Thousands of these wells have
been reactivated, at $7 V>r-J
15,000. and can pay for them-
selves m months
Even new exploration is
quite simple here Tarr says
most of the erode is close t©
the surface of the ground at
an average of I 500 feet This
means searching can be rela-
tively inexpensive > about
$25,000 to $30 900 and quick.
With luck. Tarr clainss opera-
tors often strike otl after 19
hoars of drilling
Moreover it s struck wits
encouraging regularity The
Pennsylvania field is thm. bat
»atf xsc the teslbeg Me-
re® not a nsrt tias tnpie
is* aataamai average Mary'
tfeservers say tie Qead 3 at
last -:m "at tie stsxm ■ warn-
tae na a sera tsat a»era,
people car afford to gen atc-
od
Tarr says a xt A average
pe«p»e are 4stag - Hes a
fnaatej etraer k——w j®;
only a part-tane si spent®
Otter people a tie re-g**
save qpet ttesr jpata, as>: gzot
expaarag w.ti secn«d sasn-
gages I eves iee a let
jomg men m tte teasT mm —
aad they ares: teed
either "
Not that Si aS sagt ate
3.,vsev at coarse Gives te
Boe* whs Hairfid Reedy,
pact mamagg af Banten. lac.
xl Sa-pear Sprags m a short
tafc to zaetabers ef the Hapten
Coaesy a* Waters A unction
ae a- treakfatK meeting the
•Iter day. repined that the
aperaaoc s menog ahead
iictiT...;EaiplofiB«st at the
teal faebaty. wtact has been
eslarfed mnfcraWy after the
rompary be«£tx tte tad Car-
aaUfic Kii piaea. has doubled
since a began operation
here. 'There are 'mm 40 em-
acyees here and demand lor
the products, murijr yogurt, is
tfroesg. k fact Reedy foresees
that the pact is projected to
xobat zs dpkytnent during
the year Reports also indicate
that srtdDctax is running well
at Ocean Spray Cranberry's
part here .As may be ex-
penses. my few people m the
dntong
rapidly
:es are
arr says
activity
rraeg
- = • ;■
aad itere ares". wjugh oil
sorters U go arauad .Also,
property wwn have learned
to play :®e stee against aootn
er W get tigter seasag rates
TVt tere are tte govern
aoeecal regulations Tarr
tfeaws tte roles of tte Eavi-
'tcroesta.L Protectaon Agency
atese are terrendwus and
» afflrsts he camax OMBpiy
' I figured a up one tune, and
Dairy Capital have ever seen
cranberries growing...The 1930
graduates of Sulphur Springs
High School staged their 50th
anniversary reunion Saturday.
This class, of course, had many
members of the great 1929
Wildcat football team, one of
the finest the local system ever
produced...As the years move
along, stories about the team
enhance its accomplishments.
More notes: If you are
thinking about ordering ad-
dress labels for letters, it might
be wise to take a look at the
immediate future. Zip Code
numbers are expected to ex-
pand to the ninedigit level in
February 1981...There’s in-
flation everywhere...Retired
Judge Grover Sellers and
William (Pick) Strother were
recently presented 50-year
I found that 1 was breaking so
many federal regulations that
I could be sent off to prison
for 50 years " , v.
As if these problems
weren't enough, Pennsylvania
oil men say the recently
passed “windfall profits" tax
threatens to take the bang out
of this area's boom The tax
amounts to about $7 a barrel
for most well producers For
land owners collecting royal-
ties, the levy is closer to $14 a
barrel
service pins from the local
Masonic lodge...Mrs. W.B.
Kitts received a 50-ydar pin
from the Order of Eastern Star.
Another local ihetpber, Mary
Coffey, who resided in New
Mexico, also was recognized as
a 50-year OES mem-
ber... Mention was made of Sam
Cochran in this department last
week, and Jimmie Luce
provides a follow-up. He
reports that Cochran, who was
district manager of Texas
Power & Light Company in
Sulphur Springs in the early
1960s before transferring to
Cleburne, is retiring this
month.
Last notes: Remember DPS
Trooper Gene White, who was
stationed in Sqlphiir Springs in
the late 1960s? He has resigned
from the Department of Public
Safety, effective June 30, to
take over the management of a
new FM radio station expected
to go on the air soon In
Some here say the new tax
is a cruel deterrent And there
are predictions that both
exploration and production
will fall sharply But it hasn't
happened yet Actually,,
pumping equipment manufac-
turers say they have orders
well into next year, and
drillers say they can’t keep up
with demand.
Indeed, the optimists feel
there is no end in sight. Geolo-
gists think that 14 billion units
of oil are still here, all these
Gilmer...White, who also ov
a piece of the radio station, I
been stationed in Gilmer fo
several years...Mooney Enlo
owner of the Boyd Build
which was damaged by fir
May 31 ’ says the structure'
be restored. He’s also thinkii
about moving his office onto t
second floor of the building...Hd
has committed his present
office building to Wayne
Galyean, who will utilize a par
of it for his insurance business,]
which is next door...There are
some hurt feelings and a pretty
good rubarb going in the Talco-J
Bogata Independent School
District. It seems the school!
officials announced that one!
girl was the salutatorian, then]
backed down after a]
"weighted” point system edged}
her to third by about five one-1
hundredths of a point]
...Attorney George Preston off
Paris has been employed to
carry a protest to the Texas
Education Agency.
years after Col Drake's lead
And, too, the price is increas-
ingly right Merwin Tarr, for
one, thinks in a year or so the
folks in this historic field will
he getting $60 a barrel
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN )
TOM TIEDE
THE SAVING PLACE
OPEN DAILY 9-9
MONDAY THRU SATURDAY
SHOP THESE POP-PLEASING B^S'’
Mirrored
Antique
Car Clocks
21" x 27"
s Corvette
^Packard
vniip ^ Duesenberg
^Thunderbird
CHOICE!
Only.
29
96
Wall Clock In Old
Fashioned Ad Look
A precision quartz clock hand-
somely mounted in an old-time
od. Colorful silk screen prints ond
mirrored background moke it
perfect for recreation room or
bor. 16x20” pressed-wood frame.
MON., TUES., WED. open daily 9-9, closed Sunday
auto service
SAVING PLACE.
ppp ppp
4-PLY
Polyester
BLACKWALLS
Our Reg 29 88 — A78x13
0088
•adCSave!
P*us F E T 1 62 Ea
Whitewalls 2 88
More Each
AJi Tires Plus F E.T Ea
v* 7 Multi-siped Tread Ribs
^ Affordable Bias Ply
MOtMTIK INCLUDED
M TRADE-W REQUIRED
SIZES
REG.
SALE
F.E.T.
171x13
32.88
25.88
1.77
C7lxl4
34.88
27.88
1.92
171x14
37.88
29.88
2.12
F7Sx14
38.88
31.88
2.23
G78xl4
40.88
31.88
2.38
G7txl5
40.88
32.88
2.60
H7lxl4
43.88
32.88
2.46
H78x15
43.88
34.88
2.66
*171x15
50.88
37.88
2.96
m
l |§
• Whitewall Only
•EMMZajt
fSuiDF
1.01 change (choice of S qte.
any •»*(?* Pwmzo* off
2.fewM1Kmort’ofl(Mor
l "W
Single-stage filters I
for most cars. H
Labor included. |
LO.F. With Kmart Air Filter... 11.45 f
Limited 3 Month Free
Replecomonf: Limited
4th 4fth Month
Prorete Adjustment
Werronty
m2.
Our 54.88
with Exchange
Maintenance-
Free 48-Mo.
Battery
Naver needs wa-
ter. For most U.S.
cars, and light
trucks.
817 S. Gilmer
Sulphur Springs
Ea
Carry-out
Van And
Track
Shocks
1%” piston. y8”
piston rod. For
light trucks, vans.
Installation is extra.
Mon., Tues., Wed Only
SERVICES INCLUDE:
1. Replace front brake pads
2. True rotors
3. Inspect calipers
4. Refill hydrsullc system
5. Repack inner and outer
bearings
6. Replace front grease
seals
7. Inspect rear lining for
». Inspect master cylinder
48ffp*.
Front Disc
Brake
Special
For most Lf.S. cars.
Additional parts
and services extra.
I
/ *
PIP
*
..■igSlfe:
Appoi ntments Taken
for Your Convenience
Phone
885 9861
S. Gilmer
.......—I
VISIT OUR SERVICE DEPARTMENT
088
Om Sale Price
Oil, Lube,
Filter
Special
.
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 136, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 8, 1980, newspaper, June 8, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824897/m1/15/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.