ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE I. Map showing outstanding petroleum withdrawals in Arizona.... In pocket. II. Map showing outstanding petroleum withdrawals in California,

with title status of the withdrawn area... In pocket. III. Map showing outstanding petroleum withdrawals in Colorado...In pocket. IV. Map showing outstanding petroleum withdrawals in Louisiana..In pocket. V. Map showing outstanding petroleum withdrawals in Utah.......... . In pocket. VI. Map showing outstanding petroleum withdrawals in Wyoming.. In pocket. VII. Map showing outstanding petroleum withdrawals in the Salt

Creek field, Wyo...... ...In pocket. VIII. Map showing outstanding petroleum withdrawals in Montana....In pocket. IX. Map showing outstanding petroleum withdrawals in North

Dakota......

.In pocket.

NOTE.-Plates I-V are dated November 1, 1915, but no changes affecting these States were made between that date and January 15, 1916, the date of the other plates. Thus all the maps show outstanding withdrawals on January 15, 1916.

16

PETROLEUM WITHDRAWALS AND RESTORATIONS AFFECTING THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

By MAX W. BALL.

INTRODUCTION.

The oil industry in the public-land States is of so great magnitude and is so intimately affected, especially under recent court decisions, by withdrawals of Government land, that a demand has arisen for trustworthy copies of the orders creating or diminishing the withdrawals. Partly to meet this express demand and partly in the belief that matters which concern the public's interests can not be too readily available to the public, this bulletin has been prepared. It contains true and accurate copies of orders of withdrawal, restoration, modification, and classification, and of the more important correspondence leading to changes of policy regarding these; an index to the orders, township by township; a short statement of the purpose of the withdrawal policy; and a brief review of the history of oil withdrawals. In addition, it includes a chapter on oil-land law, giving the statutes and decisions, judicial and departmental, which may be of most interest to the oil operator on the public domain. The pocket at the back of the bulletin contains maps showing the areas withdrawn in each State-Arizona, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming-where oil withdrawals are now outstanding (Jan. 15, 1916). No maps are given of Oregon and New Mexico, in which all lands formerly withdrawn have been restored, nor of Alaska, where the withdrawal includes all oil-bearing lands without regard to location. The scale of the State maps, except that of California, is 24 miles to the inch. A map of the Salt Creek field, Wyoming, on a larger scale (3 miles to the inch) is given, on which Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3 is distinguished from the remainder of the withdrawn area. The map of California is also on this larger scale, and, in addition to distinguishing Naval Petroleum Reserves Nos. 1 and 2, it shows the patented lands and lands for which applications were pending within the withdrawn areas on

1 All the maps are correct to Jan. 15, 1916, although some of them (Arizona, California, Colorado, Louisiana, and Utah) are dated Nov. 1, 1915. In these States no change was made between the two dates, and their maps were in press before it was decided to bring the bulletin down to the later date. 15211°-Bull. 623—1617

-2

April 15, 1915. These facts as to land titles have been compiled and platted from Land Office records by Mr. J. H. G. Wolf, of the Bureau of Mines. They have not been verified by the Geological Survey or by the General Land Office, and although the Survey welcomes the opportunity to add to the usefulness of this publication by including them, it assumes no responsibility for their correctness. It was originally intended to distinguish the departmental withdrawal of September 27, 1909, from the subsequent withdrawals, but as the United States Supreme Court has recently removed all doubt as to the validity of this order there is no necessity for the distinction, and the map is more easily read without it.

It is hoped that this bulletin may furnish an answer to any of the usual questions regarding Government action on the public oil lands. If the exact terms of some particular order are desired the order may be easily found from the ample briefing in the table of contents. If the withdrawal history of a township is sought it will be found in the township index. If the present status of a particular tract is wanted the maps in the pocket will show it accurately unless the tract is too small to read from the scale used, in which case its status can be ascertained by use of the township index and the orders to which the index refers.

As to completeness of material, every order of petroleum withdrawal or restoration approved by the Department from August 15, 1907, to January 15, 1916, has been included. Prior to August, 1907, such orders were prepared in the General Land Office, as a few have been since that time, and of these the Land Office has kept no complete list. A partial list was prepared by the Commissioner under date of February 28, 1902 (see S. Doc. 232, 57th Cong., 1st sess.), and with this as a foundation a careful search was made of certain Land Office records for the years 1900 to 1904, inclusive, and of such other records as these seemed to suggest. It is believed that the result is complete as to withdrawal and restoration orders prepared by the Land Office, but it is possible that orders other than those discovered may have been issued. However, the record of Land Office withdrawals and restorations balances-that is, with the exception of a small area in California about which there is some uncertainty, every tract for which a Land Office withdrawal order has been found is covered by a Land Office restoration order. All orders of modification to conform to official surveys or to permit the issuance of patent or the making of mineral locations are given, but some orders of modification to permit the approval of rights of way have not been included. Classifications of unwithdrawn lands have not been included, but the two formal classifications of withdrawn lands are given.

In a publication of this type, involving many pages of intricate land description, absolute accuracy is both important and difficult to attain. No effort has been spared to make this bulletin accurate in every detail.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Such a bulletin as this would be impossible without cooperation on every hand, and cooperation in fullest measure has been received. In particular Miss Stockbridge has devoted herself wholeheartedly to the success of the publication, not only in the work of compilation, but in assistance and suggestions throughout the bulletin. Credit is due also to Miss Janie M. George, who assisted for a time in the work of compilation.

Much of the material bearing dates prior to August, 1907, was obtained only through the courtesy and cooperation of Mr. W. J. Howard, chief of the mineral division, Mr. H. L. Kays, chief of the division of mails and files, Mr. L. E. Eddy, and the late W. P. Williams, all of the General Land Office. By the courtesy of Hon. Clay Tallman, Commissioner, and Mr. Frank Bond, chief clerk, photographic copies of many original orders were supplied.

Several months before the Survey undertook this task, Mr. J. H. G. Wolf, of the Bureau of Mines, conceived the idea of a bulletin similar to this but confined to the California fields, and he spent some time in preparing material for it. The greater part of this material, through the courtesy of Mr. Wolf and Mr. W. A. Williams, chief petroleum technologist of the Bureau of Mines, was turned over to the Survey, and much of it has been used, especially on the California map.

Many others, both in the Geological Survey and in other offices, have given suggestions and assistance. The township index, for example, was first suggested by Mr. C. E. Lesher. On every hand there has been a ready spirit of helpfulness, for which this opportunity is taken to express sincere appreciation.

PURPOSE OF THE WITHDRAWALS.

The American people are vitally interested in the oil and gas resources of the United States. It is not only because the industry is an enormous one, involving hundreds of millions of dollars of capital, or because oil and gas taken together rank third in value among the country's mineral products, but principally because petroleum and its products now play so large and apparently indispensable a part in our civilization. It is difficult to imagine modern. life without gasoline, kerosene, vaseline, mineral lubricating oils, and a host of other petroleum derivatives. Yet the American public should squarely face the fact that the oil fields of the United States

are by no means inexhaustible. It is not the purpose here to predict the life of the supply or to discuss estimates of that life, which, among men who have studied the situation, vary from fifteen to a hundred years. It is sufficient to point out that no field produces uniformly large quantities of oil for a long period, that enormous amounts of oil are being taken from the known fields of to-day, and that year by year the chance of discovering large new fields becomes less. Whether failure of the fields comes in fifteen years or fifty or a hundred and fifty, it is bound to come, and when it comes its results may be serious. To be sure, the failure will be gradual, giving time for adjustment; increased production from Latin America is likely to offset a diminishing domestic supply; in time oil distilled from the shales of the Rocky Mountain region may supply the market. But while these factors may minimize or defer the final event, the fact remains that the nation will be far poorer when its oil and gas fields are exhausted.

It is not a question of preserving a supply for coming generations at the expense of this. Posterity will have to do without what the present generation needs and can wisely use. But to-day should be careful indeed lest it waste what to-morrow will need or unwisely use what to-morrow could put to better service.

How is it with the oil situation in the public-land States?

Under a law which forces the operator to drill for oil lest he lose his land and to produce it lest his neighbor drain it from him, production has exceeded market demands during most of the last 10 years. The results? First, large quantities of oil go into storage, where its more volatile, most valuable constituents are lost. It has been estimated that in California, for example, the value of the oil lost by evaporation is perhaps 25 per cent of the value of the total production at the well. For, let it be emphasized, this loss represents the most valuable part of the oil. Second, the price is reduced to a point where oil is used as fuel without separating out the constituents that are of greater intrinsic value for other uses. The heavier parts of many oils are best adapted for use as steam fuel, but to burn the lighter parts under boilers is to put a limited resource to a use far lower than its maximum capability. And, again let it be emphasized, this loss represents the most valuable part of the oil. Thus one of the great assets of the American people is in part being dissipated-produced in advance of demand and used unwisely.

As already suggested, these losses are due to overproduction, and overproduction is due in large measure to a law that not only encourages but forces it. A reading of the chapter on oil-land law (see p. 27) will show how uncertain is a man's tenure until he has

1 McLaughlin, R. P., Petroleum industry of California: California State Min. Bur. Bull. 69, p. 77, 1914.