OIL  FIELDS  OF  THE  TEXAS-LOUISIANA  GULF  COAST. 
By  N.   M.  Fenneman. 
INTRODUCTION. 
During  the  summer  months  of  1901  a  study  was  made  of  all  the 
oil  fields,  producing  and  prospective,  on  the  Coastal  Plain  of  Texas 
and  Louisiana.  Some  of  these  had  been  studied  before  by  representa- 
tives of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  and  the. results  obtained 
are  published  in  Bulletins  184  (Adams)  and  212  (Hayes  and  Ken- 
nedy). A  comprehensive  resume  of  the  results  obtained  up  to  1902 
is  given  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Hayes  in  Bulletin  213,  "  Contributions  to 
economic  geology,  1902."  The  detailed  results  of  last  summer's  study 
will  shortly  be  published  in  a  bulletin. 
The  fields  which  were  producing  oil  at  the  time  of  the  publication 
of  Bulletin  212  were  the  following:  Spindletop,  3  miles  south  of 
Beaumont.  Tex. ;  Sour  Lake,  20  miles  northwest  of  Beaumont;  Sara- 
toga, 10  miles  north  of  Sour  Lake,  and  Jennings,  La.,  90  miles  east 
of  Beaumont.  To  these  have  since  been  added  the  following:  Bat- 
son  Prairie,  1-1  miles  northwest  of  Sour  Lake;  Matagorda,  on  the 
shores  of  Matagorda  Bay,  about  85  miles  southwest  of  Galveston, 
and  Welsh,  La.,  about  16  miles  west  of  the  Jennings  field.  Recent 
reports  also  indicate  that  one  or  more  pumping  wells  have  been 
brought  in  at  Humble,  16  miles  north  of  Houston.  The  Jennings 
field  itself  has  in  the  meantime- grown  from  a  very  small  factor  in 
the  oil  situation  to  the  leading  place  in  the  Southwest.  In  addition 
to  the  work  in  these  producing  fields,  visits  were  made  to  a  large 
number  of  prospective  fields,  at  most  of  which  some  drilling  has 
been  done. 
RECORDS  AND   PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  THE  PRODUCING  FIELDS. 
The  commercial  importance  of  the  several  fields  is  fairly  illustrated 
by  the  following  brief  summaries  of  their  records.  Taken  in  con- 
nection with  their  present  rate  of  yield,  these  figures  give  a  fairly 
Sfood  basis  for  estimating  the  outlook  for  the  immediate  future. 
Spindletop. — There  have  been  sold  from  the  Spindletop  field  nearly 
34,000,000  barrels  of  crude  oil.  If  the  amount  wasted  be  added 
the  total  production  would  no  doubt  approximate  37,000,000  barrels. 
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