454 
CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1904.         [bull.  260 
In  1890  the  Standard  Oil  Company  erected  an  oil  refinery  at  Neo- 
desha.  This,  to  keep  pace  with  the  development  of  the  field,  was 
twice  enlarged  so  that  in  1903  it  was  given  a  capacity  of  3,000  bar- 
rels a  day.  Throughout  1903  the  development  became  so  great  that 
the  company  could  not  build  storage  tanks  rapidly  enough  to  meet 
the  supply  of  oil.  Therefore  it  began  the  erection  of  a  larger 
refinery  at  Sugar  Creek,  almost  in  the  western  suburbs  of  Kansas 
City,  and  built  a  pipe  line  from  the  Kansas  oil  fields  to  this  new 
refinery. 
The  Sugar  Creek  refinery  began  operations  in  the  latter  part  of 
1904.  But  this  and  the  Neodesha  refinery  combined  can  care  for 
only  about  2,000,000  barrels  a  year,  whereas  the  production  at  the 
close  of  1904  was  at  the  rate  of  almost  9,000,000  barrels,  and  the 
Standard  had  more  than  5,000,000  barrels  stored  in  Kansas  and 
Indian  Territory.  To  handle  this  large  amount  of  oil  and  the  prob- 
able increase  in  the  future  a  pipe  line  is  now  being  laid  to  the  Stand- 
ard refinery  at  Whiting,  Ind.,  where  it  will  meet  the  Standard's  east- 
ern system  of  pipe  lines.  It  is  expected  that  the  new  line  will  be 
ready  for  service  by  July,  1905. 
Owing  to  higher  freight  rates  oil-well  supplies  are  reported  to  cost 
about  5  per  cent  more  here  than  in  the  Pennsylvania  fields,  but  the 
nature  and  attitude  of  the  formations  render  drilling  easy.  The  cost 
of  drilling  is  only  about  90  cents  a  foot,  and  the  rate,  under  average 
conditions,  is  about  100  feet  per  day.  This  fact,  together  with  the 
favorable  climate,  topography,  and  railroad  facilities  has  enabled 
development  to  proceed  very  rapidly. 
The  rate  of  development  in  different  parts  of  the  quadrangle  may 
be  roughly  indicated  by  the  monthly  reports  of  operations  issued  by 
the  pipe-line  department  of  the  Prairie  Oil  and  Gas  Company.  That 
company's  report  for  the  month' closing  January  25,  1904,  is  as 
follows : 
Wells  drilled  in  Independence  'quadrangle  in  January,  190). 
District. 
Producing, 
previous 
report.  ' 
Abandoned. 
Completed. 
Producing 
now. 
Drilling. 
Rigs  up  and 
tmilding. 
Neodesha 
Cherry  vale 
Independence . . . 
280 
49 
111 
13 
1 
15 
18 
47 
285 
50 
143 
18 
3 
34 
29 
Total 
440 
29 
65 
478 
52 
32 
This  report  shows  65  wells  drilled,  29  abandoned,  and  an  increase 
of  33  producing  wells  during  the  month  which  it  covers,  with  52  wells 
drilling  and  32  rigs  up  and  building.     Activity  was  almost  wholly 
confined  to  the  country  about  NeodeGhn 
in  the  Bolton  field,  which 
