OIL AND GAS LANDS. Ill 



PROGRESS IN CLASSIFICATION AND VALUATION. 



The following statement shows the status of the work of classi- 

 fication on January 1, 1913: 



Progress of coal-land classification to January 1, 1913. 



Total withdrawals acres— 128, 147, 312 



Area classified and valued as coal land do 16, 433, 817 



Area classified as coal land, price not fixed— _do 841, 706 



Area classified as noncoal land do 42, 244, 682 



Restored without classification do 2,717,395 



Total restorations do 62, 237,600 



Total withdrawals less total restorations (total out- 

 standing withdrawals) acres__ 65,909,712 



Value of coal land at classified price $702, 157, 268 



Value at minimum price $279, 122, 661 



OIL AND GAS LANDS. 

 OCCURRENCE OF OIL AND GAS. 



To the minds of many people who find little difficulty in compre- 

 hending a classification of lands containing deposits of coal or phos- 

 phate the possibility of applying a similar classification to lands 

 containing oil and gas, especially in advance of actual drilling, 

 appears uncertain, to say the least, and, according to the nature and 

 experience of the individual critic, such a classification is looked upon 

 either as a more or less scientific guess or as evidence of the possession 

 of supernatural powers by the classifier. The classification of oil and 

 gas lands, however, calls for the use of no mysterious or haphazard 

 methods but is based on detailed field examinations, followed by 

 careful consideration of all the available facts, geologic and economic, 

 in their relation to one another and to the known principles of the 

 occurrence of oil, which have been proved again and again in the 

 development of oil fields throughout the world. Although the ulti- 

 mate test of the presence of oil in commercial quantities is made with 

 the drill, it is nevertheless a fact that the intelligent application of 

 the principles of oil accumulation to the geologic facts observed will 

 indicate at least the areas where no oil will be found and will go far 

 toward delimiting the areas where production is reasonably certain. 

 To the classifier of oil lands, as to the oil-well driller, the theories 

 proposed to account for the origin of oil and gas are of only inci- 

 dental interest; the problem of prime importance to him comprises 

 the assignment of proper values to the many factors which influence 

 accumulation and the determination therefrom of the present posi- 

 tion and extent of the deposits. 



