Oil believed seeping into area water well

1908 Who knows but what a genuine oil gusher will break loose at any moment in the vicinity of Lubbock since the discovery of oil in a well here last Friday, by S.B. Evett, on his place one mile northeast of town.

Mr. Evett is a well driller and owns a small tract of land near town, and recently put down a well on his place and had a fine flow of water at a depth of 35 feet.

When interviewed by an Avalanche reporter, Mr. Evett said: "I drilled this particular well some two or three months ago and struck water at a depth of about 18 feet but desiring to secure "soft water," I cased off this flow and went on down a few feet and encountered another stream which I treated in the same manner, and continued to drill deeper until I struck the stream about 35 feet below which proved to be very fine water so I cased the well clear to the bottom and quit. We had been using water out of the well from that time on till a few days ago the water began to taste bad and continued to get worse till it was not fit to use as water any longer, and began to show signs of oil."

Mr. Evett brought a vial of the water to town and had it filtered and it was found to contain quite a good deal of some kind of oil or grease, seemingly of a very fine quality.

Several bottles of the oil have been sent to the A&M College at College Station to be analyzed and reported upon by experts.

No one here is prepared to say what the value of this oil will be or for what it can be used, but in all probability it will develop that we are in a rich oil belt and considerable interest is being exercised in the matter and the report of the chemist is anxiously looked for.

Lubbock as a railroad center in the heart of an oil field will boom twice-boom. Let Lubbock grow. Watch her boom.