The proportion of heavy and light oil produced in the various fields. is shown by the following figures, for which we are indebted to the Standard Oil Company. Oil below 18° Baumé may be generally considered as unrefinable, or fuel, oil; while the lighter oils yield varying amounts of refined products and a very large proportion of residuum or fuel oil. A very few years ago, the total amount of heavy oil was in excess of the light oil.

Financial results of the oil business during 1914 are shown by the following tables to be not greatly different from those of 1913, as published in Bulletin No. 69. It is particularly worthy of notice that the profitable, or dividend-paying, companies received a slightly higher price for their product than the average market price, probably due to the higher grade of oil produced by them. It is also noticeable that their production cost per barrel is slightly lower than the average, due to the fact that their wells are more productive. Operating cost per well is not always lower for the dividend companies than others. Profitable operations seem to depend generally upon large wells, high-grade oil, and proximity to market. There is nothing to indicate that unnatural causes or manipulations have affected the profits of one producer against another. It should be particularly noted that both price and profits are greater in the Los Angeles and Orange County fields than in others. Doubtless this is largely due to the proximity to market.

There is a large supply of oil now in storage which, in many cases, might better be left in the ground and not subjected to losses by fire, leakage and evaporation as well as cost of storage. According to the Standard Oil Company, the stocks on hand on December 31st, amounted to 58,526,274 barrels, which is an increase of 10,656,097 barrels during the year. The figures are practically the same as those of the Independent Oil Producers Agency. The oft-repeated statement that this is less than a year's supply is of little moment in the face of a steady production which can supply the regular demand. It would be extremely interesting to know what portion of the stock on hand is lowgrade oil. In view of the difference in value and marketableness of various grades of oil, the concerns publishing monthly statistics would render to the public and themselves a distinct service by showing something of the amounts of high and low gravity oil produced and stored.

2-18655

Financial and Operating Condition of California Oil Fields, 1914.

CHAPTER THREE.

METALS.

The total value of metals produced in California during 1914 was $26,606,533. The chief of these is gold, followed in order by copper, silver, quicksilver, lead, tungsten, zinc, platinum, and iron. Deposits of ores of antimony, molybdenum and vanadium are also to be found in the State, although for 1914 there was no commercial output of these materials.

California leads all states in the Union in her gold production and the precious metal is widely distributed throughout the State. Thirtytwo of the fifty-eight counties contain actively operated gold mines.

Copper, which is second in importance among the metals of the State, occurs in the following general districts: the Shasta County belt, which is by far the most important; the Coast Range deposits, extending more or less continuously from Del Norte in the north to San Luis Obispo County in the south; the Sierra Nevada foothill belt, starting in Plumas and running in a general southerly direction through the Mother Lode counties and ending in Kern; the eastern belt in Mono and Inyo counties; and the southern belt, in San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego counties.

Silver is not generally found alone in the State, but is almost invariably associated to a greater or less extent with gold, copper and lead. Quicksilver, while comparatively small in the value of its annual output, has for many years been one of the State's staple products and California supplies about 80 per cent of the nation's output of this metal.

Tungsten likewise is found in but few other localities.

Large deposits of iron ore have long been known in many sections of the State, but for various economic reasons this branch of the mineral industry is still in its infancy here.

A comparison of the metal output with that of 1913 is afforded by the following table: