34 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
followed by a pipe-line between Thayer and Chanute which, 
joined to the Neodesha-Thayer pipe-line, gave Chanute a di- 
rect pipe-line connection with the Standard refinery at Neode- 
sha. A pump was established and the first oil turned into the 
line about the middle of December, 1902. The Prairie Oil and 
Gas Company at this time began extending its lines to oil- 
tanks here and there all through the field. By July, 1903, they 
had reached as far north as Humboldt and had been carried 
eastward to the upland developments to the east of Humboldt 
and northeast of Chanute. During the calendar year 1902 the 
Chanute territory produced over 165,000 barrels of oil, and 
could have marketed much more if there had been pipe-line 
connections. In the first half of 1903 the production was 
raised from 50,000 to 75,000 barrels per month, with the num- 
ber of wells constantly increasing. 
Development gradually migrated southward down the river 
with only moderate success in the vicinity of Austin and a few 
fair oilers in the vicinity of Shaw. Still further south a few 
good wells had been obtained near Urbana and Earleton and in 
the territory lying to the northeast of Thayer, in the extreme 
southwest corner of the Iola quadrangle. Gas development 
likewise extended rapidly in different directions, but particu- 
larly to the east and west, making Chanute a great center for 
gas as well as for oil. 
During the latter part of 1906 and all of 1907 a renewed 
activity in well-drilling sprung up in the narrow rich gas terri- 
tory to the southwest of Chanute, in the vicinity of Vilas, 
where years before Col. F. E. Isett organized the Isett-Erwin 
Oil and Gas Company and took leases in the vicinity of Vilas. 
He obtained one phenomenal well with a capacity of about 
twenty million cubic feet per day. But gas was not greatly in 
demand in those times and his attempt to secure oil proved a 
failure, so that the company finally was disbanded. By 1906 
gas had become a very desirable product commercially and new 
developments in the vicinity of Vilas were based largely on the 
success of Colonel Isett years before. By the end of 1907 a 
large number of wells had been drilled and almost all of them 
were good gas-wells, some reported to reach a capacity of 
thirty million cubic feet per day. 
ERIE.—Prospecting began in the vicinity of Erie about 1900, 
but was carried on in a somewhat desultory way until 1902. 
About this time a company was organized under the name of 
