H ke Y nne£y D ] MINOR LOUISIANA DISTRICTS. 137 
OTHER LOCALITIES. 
The Forward Reduction Oil Company is drilling a number of wells 
in the lower Louisiana coast country. The wells of this company are 
located in sec. 25, T. 8 S., R. 7 W., in sec. 18, T. 9 S., R. 10 W., where 
the company has three wells, and in sec. 9, T. 10 S., R. 11 W. This 
last well is south of Edgerly. The well in sec. 25, T. 8 S., R. 7 W., 
is reported to have a depth of 2,100 feet, and the presence of oil is 
claimed in an 8-inch sand at 1,100 feet, in another 10-inch sand at 
1,314 feet and again at 1,725 feet. These oil sands are reported to be 
overlain with a thin capping of rock. 
The Pelican Oil Company well No. 1 is being drilled in sec. 22, T. 
10 S., R. 10 W. When visited this boring had a depth of about 800 
feet. At 509 feet a small seep of oil was passed through. 
In the Foster well, in Sabine Parish, small quantities of petroleum 
were met with at the depths of 75, 340, and 630 feet. 
The Louisiana field contains many small seeps of petroleum and 
escapes of gas of which no record has been kept. The structure of the 
country, together with the great quantity of vegetable remains inclosed 
in the clays, tends to produce an abundance of gas and probably 
petroleum, if these could be brought into a condition to be utilized. 
Throughout this portion of the coast country gas escapes in great 
abundance, and small quantities of petroleum are of frequent occur- 
rence in the drilling of wells for water purposes. While these small 
quantities form in the aggregate a considerable quantity of petroleum, 
owing to its generally disseminated condition it is not possible to 
collect it and it is therefore of no commercial value. 
THE GULF COASTAL PLAIN OIL. 
ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM. 
CLASSIFICATION OF THEORIES. 
The origin of petroleum is one of the most obscure problems by 
which geologists are confronted. Numerous widely different theories 
have been advanced and advocated by geologists and chemists during, 
the last fifty years, but as yet there is none which can be regarded 
as generally accepted and of universal applicability. In the present 
connection any full discussion of these theories is manifestly out of 
place, and only a bare outline of the more important ones will be 
given. It should be stated, however, that numerous facts have come 
to light in the development of the Coastal Plain field which have a 
very direct bearing upon theories of the origin of the oil. These have 
in part been given in the preceding pages, but will be stated more 
explicitly in this and the following sections. 
The theories may be divided into three main groups: (1) Those 
which attempt to explain the origin of oil by inorganic agencies, (2) 
