24 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
plies from wells of moderate depth. In California at the present 
time oil and gas wells are not infrequently carried to a depth of 
5,000 feet. When drilled to such a depth the cost is necessarily very- 
great, but is justified from the results that have been obtained. 
Of the wells drilled as test wells for oil in Florida that of the 
Pierson Oil Company, four and a half miles south of Sumterville 
in Sumter County, is reported to have reached a depth of 2,002 
feet and to have given showings of oil. A second well drilled by 
this company near Ciystal River in Citrus County reached a depth 
of 1,900 feet, and as completed flows salty water which rises sev¬ 
eral feet above the surface. A well drilled for oil by the Southern 
States Lumber Company between Muscogee and Cantonment in 
Escambia County reached a depth of 1,462 feet. No indications 
of oil are reported at this well. A well drilled near Orange Hill in 
Washington County about six miles south of Chipley is reported to 
have reached a depth of 1,250 feet and to have afforded indications 
of oil. 
LOCATION OF OIL AND GAS WELLS. 
The location of oil and gas wells is by no means a simple mat¬ 
ter even for those who have the best training and are thoroughly 
acquainted with the geology of the region. For this reason it is 
well not to be over-confident of the accuracy of the reports of those 
who purport to know the exact location of oil in advance of drill¬ 
ing. This is particularly true with regard to reports made by those 
who come without recommendation other than that they are from 
some previously known oil field and who without any previous 
knowledge of the geology of the State and who are themselves with¬ 
out accurate or recognized geologic training, purport upon slight 
investigations and in advance of drilling to locate definitely large 
bodies of oil. In a recent issue of Economic Geology (June, 1916), 
Dr. Ralph Arnold, a recognized oil geologist of international repu¬ 
tation, has said: “It is impossible for anyone to say definitely from 
surface evidence whether oil does or does not exist below the sur¬ 
face of the earth at any particular spot; the drill is the final arbiter 
of this question, and even the drill does not always tell the truth.”* 
With this statement the most experienced geologist with little 
doubt will agree. 
* Paper read at the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress at Washington, 
December, 1915. 
