118 OIL FIELDS OF TEXAS-LOUISIANA COASTAL PLAIN, [bull. 213. 
between 900 and 1,000 feet and between 1,400 and 1,490 feet, the 
strata comprising a series of rock beds with seams of clay and bowl- 
ders. This well does not flow, but will supply a considerable quantity 
of oil under the pump. 
These are the only wells in the Sour Lake field showing oil in com- 
mercial quantities. A number of others have been drilled to depths 
between 1,000 and 2,000 feet and abandoned. About three-quarters 
of a mile northwest of the Guffey well the Hammond Oil Company 
drilled two wells, No. 1 to a depth of' 1,860 and the No. 2 to a depth 
of 1,000 feet. Neither of these wells found oil of any kind and both 
finished in clay. In the same region, on the Bridges survey, the 
Empire State Coal, Oil, and Iron Company abandoned its well at 
1,284 feet in a blue clay. About 4 miles southeast of the Sour Lake 
wells the Byrd syndicate found small seeps of oil at 1,370, 1,500, and 
1,020 feet, and developed a strong ail esian water flow at 1,900 feet, 
causing an abandonment of this well. Not more than 1,000 feet south 
of east from the Sour Lake Oil Company the Coast Ridge Oil Com- 
pany abandoned its well in a heavy sand at 600 feet, and on the 
southeast corner of the William Young league the Gold Thread Oil 
Company has suspended operations in a heavy blue clay at 450 feet. 
The Great Western Company is located not more than 300 feet north 
of the Sour Lake Oil Company's well, and the well has been aban- 
doned at a depth of about 600 feet. In drilling, heavy beds of a gray 
quicksand were encountered, together with strong flows of hot sulphur 
water. This water is stated to have a temperature of 100° F. when 
issuing from the casing. 
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE. 
The Sour Lake district, as shown on the geologic map, PI. I, is 
located on the outcrop of the Village Creek sands. No fossils have 
been obtained from any of the wells thus far drilled, and it is there- 
fore impossible to make definite statements regarding the geologic 
horizon of the oil-bearing sands. It appears probable, however, that 
the principal productive horizon is the same as that at the Spindletop 
pool, although the character of the beds is different. Not enough 
drilling has yet been done in this district to determine its limits or 
its structure except in a very general way. The indications point' 
very strongly to an anticlinal or dome structure, similar to that of the 
Spindletop pool. The deformation appears to be less abrupt in this 
case, and it has influenced the surface contours only to a very slight i 
extent. There is, however, a slight elevation of the surface, but the 
plain is here less perfectly preserved than at Beaumont, and the 
presence of considerable timbered areas conceals to a large extent 
the surface elevation. 
On the whole the indications may be regarded as fairly favorable 
