Montana Oil And Mining Journal

Ichthyol Oil Dome Near
Yellowstone Park Will Be
Drilled By Billings
Men

Announcement of plans for the immediate drilling of a well at West Yellowstone, two miles from the entrance to Yellowstone park, was made this week by George Whitaker, cabin company proprietor who has been instrumental in securing the development.

The possibility of finding oil in commercial quantities was suggested by the finding of oil in water wells drilled in and around the town of West Yellowstone. These wells at depths from 44 to 109 feet had so much oil in the water that it was unfit for use. It was in quantity sufficient so that it was frequently burned off the top of the water before it was suitable for washing purposes.

A California geologist, E. Sedgwick, examined the structure of the district and told local residents that were they to drill at a point slightly higher, structurally, they might encounter oil in commercial quantities. The oil is 50.9 gravity and carries a considerable content of ichthyol, which is valuable for medicinal use.

Whittaker, Con S. Peterson and William F. Martzel, who filed on six sections of government land, have turned their holdings to Miller & Perkins of Billings. This firm has been identified with the development of Broadview dome.

Miller is a driller and Perkins is making the financial arrangements. They are moving in a star machine and expect to be ready to drill some time next week.

The structure is said to cover about 14 sections and leases have been taken by others including Fred Kornowsky and John Tesinsky of Great Falls. They were in Great Falls this week making arrangements to secure a drilling machine with which they expect to validate their leases.

Location Of Test
Miller Perkins will drill in either S1/2 Section 17 or N1/2 Section 20 in Township 13S, Range 4 E.

In his report on the structure
(Continued on Page Five)
ICHTHYOL
OIL
(Continued from Page One)
Allen Sedgwick describes the structure, as a depressed area between the Continental divide on the southwest and the Madison range on the northeast, which rise abruptly from 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the floor of Madison valley.
"No wells have been drilled deep enough to determine the depth of the alluvial fill or the character of the rocks underlying it but since oil seepages are found in a number of shallow wells in West Yellowstone, the rock floor of the valley must be composed of oil bearing sedimentary rocks which have been fractured, permitting the oil to seep upward into the overlying valley fill . . .
Expects Oil At Lime
'The basement rocks beneath the alluvial fill should be those which formed the anticlinal arch that previously covered the area, Including the Madison limestone, the Quadrant formation and the Ellis sandstone, all of which are oil bearing in some parts of Montana and Wyoming.
"The most promising area for the accumulation of petroleum will be found along the axis of the anticline and probably on the southeastern part of the anticline since oil actually has been found there and since the northwestern end may be influenced by the granitic formation of Horse Butte. . . .
"It will be seen from the report (analysis of the oil) that the oil contains 3.3% of Ichthyol. The average value of ichthyol in 1938 was $4 to $4.25 per pound: the price of substitutes, however, was considerably lower. The annual consumption of ichthyol in the United States is about one thousand barrels, most of which comes from the Austrian Alps where it is distilled from shale. . . . If these tests should prove favorable, the value of the oil would be exceedingly high and a well only 100 feet deep, producing but one or two barrels of oil a day should give a substantial income. .
The depth of the wells probably would not exceed 1,000 feet or 1,200 feet and may be much less."