PETROLEUM. 
11 
procedure, while small companies and individual operators tend more 
to follow what is picturesquely termed “ wildcat ” 1 operations. Thus 
the production of oil is in part dependent upon stable conditions, but 
in larger part is still a type of activity which approaches in con- 
siderable measure a gambling venture. This is why oil mining is 
generally looked upon and commonly described as hazardous from a 
financial standpoint. The hazard is inherent only in small-scale op- 
erations. 
The engineering type of production makes use of skilled geological 
knowledge in its campaign of oil production. The modern oil com- 
pany employs a large geologic staff, which determines by detailed 
field surveys the most promising spots for drilling . 2 The growth of 
oil geology has been rapid and while, of course, geologic science can 
not strike oil with every drill, it does multiply by many times the 
chances of each drilling operation. It has been stated that “ the 
operator who plays geology has a fifty times better chance of striking 
oil than he who does not.” 3 
But in spite of numerous highly organized production activities, 
the fact remains that the petroleum production of the United States 
is in considerable measure dependent upon a hit-or-miss plan of ex- 
ploitation. Were it not for the wildcatter, who stakes his all (some- 
times borrowed) on the chance that a random hole drilled in the gen- 
eral vicinity of productive territory will yield the hoped-for return, 
the output of petroleum in a country which produces two-thirds of 
the world’s supply would fall to an utterly inadequate figure. The 
gambling instinct is still the prime motive power that lifts most of 
the oil produced in this country. Familiar is the expression, once 
an oil man, always an oil man . 4 
1 In strict oil-field parlance, to wildcan is to drill a well where oil has not been proven 
to exist, as opposed to drilling a well in the midst of producing wells. Thus both large 
companies and small may alike engage in wildcatting, although, as a matter of course, 
most of the wildcatting is done by small operating units. 
A good picture of wildcat operations is given by W. S. Tower in The Story of Oil, 
1909, p. 66 : “ To call a well a wildcat venture means merely that the drilling is done 
on untested territory, or on land not definitely known to be oil producing. The wildcat 
operation is, therefore, an out-and-out gambling process by a man who is willing to 
stake a few thousand dollars against heavy odds that he will find oil at some depths 
in a drill hole a few inches in diameter. If luck favors him, his winnings may be 
enormous ; if he loses, his only hope is to pull up, leave the hole where his money is 
sunk, and move to some other place.” 
2 The implication, of course, is not intended that small companies do not employ 
geologic service, but, in general, the smaller the company the less likely it is to be capable 
of making the necessary expenditure. The Federal Government, through the U. S. 
Geological Survey, has rendered a signal service to the small operator through its pub- 
lished reports and maps covering oil regions, but the small operator has not in all in- 
stances taken advantage of even published geological information. 
I Dorsey Hager, Bulletin American Institute of Mining Engineers, October, 1917, pp. 
1793-5. 
4 An unfortunate and far-reaching consequence of the present method of production 
is the extension of the gambling aspect into widespread public consciousness, leading 
to a susceptibility to the purchase of stock in illegitimate oil-mining ventures. The 
losses involved in the readiness of the public to embrace the schemes of fraudulent oil 
promoters are untold and have reacted unfavorably upon public opinion in respect to 
the legitimate industry. 
59319— 18— Bull. 102, pt. 6- 
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