"Thus it will be seen that if the troubles in this vicinity are due to top water, a large and costly piece of work will have to be done to cor rect them. How this is to be handled is a matter for rater consideration.
"In the matter of bottom water, the cross-sections indicate two wells that are likely to be offenders. These are Petroleum Development Company No. 28, which has both oil and bottom water cased off behind the same pipe, and Alma Jr. No. 2, which is deeper in the formation than any surrounding well except Petroleum Development No. 28..
"At present Petroleum Development No. 28 is undoubtedly flooding the oil sands, but as it was not drilled until 1908 it clearly is not the first offender.
"From the foregoing historical sketch it can be seen that the Petro leum Development Company's North line wells were drilled in the years 1900 and 1901 and as far as we can ascertain produced satisfactorily and gave little or no trouble.
"In the years 1901 and 1902 the Alma Jr. Oil Company completed their first five wells which, according to Mr. W. W. Stephenson, produced 1250 bbl. more or less of oil per month, showed no water and gave no trouble. Although Mr. Stephenson does not directly state it as a fact, he intimates very strongly that the wells were pumped on a jack as soon as they were brought in, while as a matter of fact the wells were not pumped until the spring of 1903, so that Mr. Stephenson's statement that the wells "showed no water and gave no trouble" is refuted by several men now in the Kern River Field who claim that Alma Jr. No. 2 was a "wet one" from the first.
"According to Mr. Stephenson water first showed in this portion of the field while the Associated Oil Company was drilling its Red Bank No. 14 well, and gradually became worse. Finally in the spring of 1905 the representatives of the three companies concerned met and decided that something must be done to remedy the trouble, and a man was employed to work on Alma Jr. No. 2. After working for some time in vain, he abandoned the attempt, saying he did not think that well was making the water. He next went to work on Red Bank No. 14, but was equally unsuccessful in effecting a cure for the trouble. (See Stephen son's letter to Naramore quoted above).
"Mr. E. H. Andrews of the Petroleum Development Company had some theories of his own in regard to shutting off water, so permission was obtained from the Alma Jr. people to allow him to do some work on the well. What work he actually did, it has been impossible to deter mine due to lack of complete records, but copies of a few scattering reports indicate that he attempted to plug the well both for top and bottom water. We are informed that he dumped wagon loads of old
pump-barrels, etc., into the hole, and upon introducing the tools, no trace of them was found, showing that an enormous cavity must have existed there.
"We are also informed that during the course of his work, he loosened the water string, but whether he was able to repair the damage caused by this operation or not we have been unable to learn. The data we have on the subject would indicate that the string was loosened and raised about 20 ft., where it froze and was left.
"After much discussion it was agreed to try a "dye test" to determine the source of supply. The dye was put in several wells, including Red Bank No. 14 and Alma Jr. No. 2. In each case the dye was introduced through tubing from the surface to the fluid level inside the oil string. No satisfactory results were obtained until the dye was put in the Alma Jr. No. 2, when it spread rapidly throughout the district, the first wells showing the color in about 20 minutes from the time it was placed in the Alma Jr. well. This would indicate that this well (Alma Jr. No. 2) was a distributing head for other wells in this vicinity.
"This theory is supported by the fact that at the conclusion of Mr. Andrew's work on the well the production of neighboring wells showed a marked improvement, and extracts from Mr. Stephenson's letters to Mr. Beard indicate the optimism of the whole district. Under date of June 20, 1905, he states: `The Alma Jr. wells are going to be as good as they ever were if the water keeps on as it is now, as the Petroleum Development wells are all going back to oil again, and they are now getting seventy-five barrels a day out of No. 1; and No. 2 is pumping about half oil and throwing a big stream all the time, and they are going to put in a six-inch pump, and an eight-inch drive-pipe in No. 6, and then I look for all of these wells at this end to do oil as that will exhaust the water up there.' "Again under date of November 19, 1905, he writes to Mr. Beard: `I have your letter of the 17th, and am surprised that you did not get my letter telling about the water situation, but will say it is coming along in good shape, and each day since I wrote you it has continued to improve. Up until last month the Petroleum Development Company was not getting over enough oil from Rasmussen Lease to burn for fuel, and during the month of October they shipped out 32,000 bbl. and are shipping this month more than ever and gaining in storage.