137 
If one cares to take up this study in any other than a prac- 
tical way, he will soon find that there is a scarcity of books and 
printed articles on the subject, and many of such as are found, 
have been written by persons not familiar with the industry, 
which can readily be detected by experienced oil men, by the 
errors and want of technical terms used. 
It is simply presumption for a writer to try and post him- 
self in a couple of weeks, on a subject that takes us ordinary mor- 
tals a life time to gain a fair knowledge of. 
In a recent article in one of the leading magazines, the tools 
used in drilling oil wells are thus described: “‘ The auger-stem 
is some twelve or fifteen feet long, and as heavy as a man can 
lift.” Asa matter of fact, the auger-stem is about forty feet long 
and weighs some two or three tons. I suppose the author was 
not really writing about the auger-stem, but was trying to de- 
scribe the drill proper, that we call the bit, which is about three 
or four feet long, and weighs from three to six hundred pounds, 
and is screwed on to the lower end of the auger-stem. 
When an author does not thoroughly understand the sub- 
ject in hand, he does the reader a great injustice; and I am in- 
clined to think it is better not to know anything about a given 
subject, than to be poorly posted on it ;—that is, to know some- 
things about it right, and some things wrong, and at the same 
time, not to know which are right, and which are wrong. 
It is pity that such a great and interesting industry as the 
production of oil, has really no literature of its own. I suppose 
this comes from the fact that the oil men are the busiest people 
on earth, for they drill and pump both night and day, and have 
not the time to write matters up; while outsiders simply could 
not, as but comparatively few have the opportunity of studying 
the subject in a practical way. This is why I cheerfully meet 
with you to-day to talk about oil,—a subject that is full of inter- 
est, for there is no lack of material, the difficulty lies in making 
a wise choice, and I wish I knew just what would interest you 
most. I will first give a brief history of the industry, then I will 
take up the oil fields of the United States from physical and finan- 
cial standpoints. 
