HAYES AND 
KENNEDY. 
SARATOGA DISTRICT. 119 
for the development of a productive pool in this district. Since the 
oil-bearing beds consist of fine, unconsolidated sand, instead of porous 
dolomite, as at Spindletop, the free flow of the latter pool need not be 
expected, but more or less difficulty will be experienced from the 
choking of the casing by sand. Some device for straining the oil as 
it enters the casing will doubtless be necessary. The chief unfavor- 
able feature of the district is the abundance of salt water encountered 
in several of the wells at various depths. Salt water may be expected 
beneath the oil in all the pools of this Coastal Plain region, and it 
will probably in every case invade the oil-bearing stratum as the oil 
is exhausted. Oil need not be looked for, however, in any bed at a 
lower level than it is found saturated with salt water. If it is found 
in a well which has previously passed through a salt-water horizon 
the two must be separated by an impervious stratum. In other words, 
wherever there is free circulation the oil will always be found above 
the salt water. 
SARATOGA DISTRICT. 
LOCATION AND HISTORY. 
This district is also located in Hardin County, about 12 miles nearly 
north of Sour Lake. The surface rocks are the Columbia beds, gen- 
erally soft sands, but containing also indurated sandstones, which 
outcrop in the vicinity of the hotel. This region is generally heavily 
timbered, and its surface forms a much less perfect plain than that 
underlain by the Beaumont clays, farther south. Hence if the dis- 
trict contains a dome-like elevation it can not be readily detected. 
The details of the topography are erosion al rather than constructional. 
The surface indications are here similar to those at Sour Lake, viz, 
oil springs giving rise to local accumulations of petroleum residuum 
or asphalt, and the escape of inflammable gases, associated with sul- 
phur waters. 
On the strength of these surface indications the Savage brothers 
in 1806 put down a well to a depth of about 250 feet, and obtained a 
small flow of oil, associated with water and gas. Although this well 
was abandoned as unsuccessful after collecting a few barrels of oil, it 
is still flowing small quantities of oil and water. A short time after 
this a second well was begun by W. P. Conroy, about half a mile 
south of the Savage well, at a localit} 7 where oil appears at the surface 
in several shallow holes, associated with sulphur water. After reach- 
ing a depth of about 120 feet the tools became stuck, and the well was 
abandoned. 
WELL RECORDS. 
Shortly after the development of the Beaumont field the prospecting 
in the district was renewed. The Saratoga Oil and Pipe Line Com- 
