STATE GEOLOGIST. 129 
bought their lease and then leased it to the present operators, Reusen, 
Shedd & Company, receiving $80,000, the company taking possession 
March 22, 1900. 
When the field was being opened much of the oil was hauled in bar- 
rels to McConnellsville and Stockport, but the greater part was taken to 
Big Run and from there shipped by rail to Marietta. About 12 years ago 
Dale laid a pipe line to Sharpsburg, from which point the oil was trans- 
ported in tank cars. When the Corning pipe-line was laid in 1893 a branch 
was run to the Joy field, but later as the territory was extended a line was 
laid direct from Joy to Elba. 
The Dale farm is much larger at present than it was when Joy sold 
it in 1860, and now comprises 965 acres. The present operators are drilling 
new wells and making improvements in other ways. On July 17, 1900, 
there were 55 wells pumping, and the daily production during the previous 
month averaged 107 barrels. The best well on the place at that time was 
No. 49, which produced 20 barrels every 12 hours. It had an initial pro- 
duction of 40 barrels per day when drilled in August, 1808.: 
Reusen, Shedd & Company have extended their property by purchas- 
ing the Hopkins farm on the south and the Boileau on the east, the two 
comprising 480 acres. In August, 1902, there were 66 wells on the Dale 
farm proper, and these were producing 120 barrels per day. The best well 
secured in recent years produced 85 barrels in 9 hours. The company 
keeps a string or two of tools at work almost continuously, and within a 
vear will have the farm drilled over. On the Hopkins and Boileau farms 
the company had 21 producers, the daily production of the 87 wells com- 
bined being 143 barrels. 
Wells having a daily production of only an eighth of a barrel are now 
pumped, a condition made profitable by connecting the wells tandem 
fashion with a gas engine. The latter is of 20 horse-power, and it is 
claimed could pump 100 wells if they were properly grouped. Sometimes 
the engine room, is not visited except at starting and stopping, but gen- 
erally some one drops in a time or two during the day to see that all is 
well. The saving in time and money by this form of power is immense. 
A start in the development of the territory lying between the Dale 
farm and Chester Hill was begun in 1892, when J. A. Lovell leased 40 
acres off the northeast corner of the Dale farm and drilled 7 wells, all of 
which were producers. No pipe-line had been laid in the field yet, how- 
ever, and the lack of shipping facilities caused Lovell to suspend operations 
until 1895, when having been joined by H. E. Smith, he drilled 10 wells 
on the McElfresh farm, but later sold this property to the Cumberland 
Oil Company. In the fall of 1897 Lovell, in company with H. C. Lord, 
leased the L. and J. Mozier, Clark Woolman and John Morris farms, on 
which they drilled 87 wells during the following 2 years. Of this num- 
ber 76 were producers and only 11 dry holes. In 1899 these farms 
28. G. 
