686 j. h. gardner the mid-continent oil fields 



Introduction 



The Mid-Continent oil fields lie in Kansas, Oklahoma, northern Texas, 

 and northern Louisiana, including also the gas-producing territory of 

 western Arkansas. 



The writer has included herewith a map of each of the States under 

 discussion, showing geological boundaries and the locations of the various 

 oil and gas fields. Structure contour sketches are given of typical areas 

 in several districts in order to illustrate the effects of rock folding on oil 

 and gas accumulation. 



Output op the several Fields 



For brief comparison, it may not be amiss to call attention to the fact 

 that in 1915 the Mid-Continent fields produced 123,295,867 barrels of 

 petroleum, which lacked only about 17,000,000 barrels of having been 

 half of all the oil produced in the entire United States. Oklahoma led 

 all other States, having exceeded California by over 11,000,000 barrels. 



For the purpose of comparing the respective districts of the Mid-Con- 

 tinent region, as they are now producing, the estimated daily production 

 at the end of the second week of this month (December, 1916) follows: 

 Kansas, 76,250 barrels; Oklahoma, outside of Cushing, Healdton, and 

 Shamrock, 120,000 barrels; Cushing and Shamrock, 89,000 barrels; 

 Healdton, 64,000 barrels; Electra, Texas, 25,000 barrels; Corsicana (light 

 grade) and Thrall, Texas, 1,500 barrels; Caddo, of Louisiana and Texas, 

 25,000 barrels. Total for all the fields was 401,250 barrels. For the 

 same period the Gulf Coast fields, including the heavy petroleum from 

 Corsicana, Texas, produced about 52,500 barrels. 



Eelationship of the Areas 



The oil and gas fields of Kansas and those of Oklahoma are closely 

 related and might appropriately be discussed under the same heading. 

 For instance, the accumulations are found chiefiy in strata of the Penn- 

 sylvanian series, which lie in connected outcrop across the eastern portion 

 of both Sta;:es; the numerous producing areas, or so-called "pools,^' fall 

 into one general group, and each owes its presence to depositional and 

 structural features of the same general type and origin. However, the 

 isolated fields of northern Texas and southern Oklahoma, as well as those 

 of northern Louisiana, fall into different geological and physical prov- 

 inces, and in a paper of greater scope and more detail should be described 



