Railroad & Rodessa
The main line of the Kansas City Southern cuts into Louisiana at its northwest corner, curves southward through wooded hills. Under these hills, just north of the station of Rodessa, lie mile-deep pools of oil discovered last year and now rated as among the largest in the U. S. Last week Kansas City Southern stock was given a fancy jiggle on news that the railroad had struck oil in the Rodessa field. Excitement, however, petered out quickley. It was learned that the drilling had been done not by the railroad. K. C. S. happened to own outright a quarter-mile strip of property along its right-of-way near from the well drilled there will be inconsiderable this year, may amount to $100,000 next.
Importance of the Rodessa oil field to Kansas City Southern remained primarily a matter of railroading. Since the first well was brought in last July, K. C. S. business in northern Louisiana has increased thousands of dollars a month. Big U. S. oil companies have been rushing in men and equipment, changing the small town of Rodessa from a sleepy whistle-stop to a booming paradise for real estate swappers. A townsite lot in Rodessa lately sold for $30,000 cash. Population has climbed from 135 to 4,000. Baptist Preacher John W. Wynn of Shreveport came out of retirement to minister to Rodessa's needs, says he has worn out three cars burying and marrying people and has "struck it rich."
Discoverer of the Rodessa field was a stropping onetime lawyer-politician named Richard W. ("Dick") Norton. aborn plunger he spent his spare time accumulating a fabulous number of leases on land in Caddo Parish. As far back as 1922 this country attracted oil companies to test drilling, but they all eventually gave up. By 1930 Dick Norton had collected mineral rights to about 26,000 acres. Thena young Shreveport geologist encouraged Norton, who was down to his last dime, to borrow money and finance his own drilling. A well in the north part of the Parish turned out to be a gasser producing 50,000,000 cubic feet daily.
Still sniffing oil, Dick Norton, on the strength of his gas, made a deal with United Gas Public Service Co., (an Electric Bond & Share unit controlled through Electric Power & Light) for a test drilling of lower sands in the Rodessa region. When the first Rodessa oil gushed into United Gas's slush pits last July it came from 6,000 feet down. Two months later a 25,000-barrel well brought in a mile and a half to the northeast proved that the Rodessa field, at this depth, extended over a respectable area. Since then more than 100 new wells have shown Rodessa's extent to be at least 10,000 acres in a narrow band lying diagonally across Louisiana's northwest corner from Arkansans on the north to Texas onthe west, with a potential production of about 200,000,000 barrels of oil. Daily production, held down by proration, is now approaching 50,000 barrels.
Diggest holder in the field is still United GAs. Standard Oil of Louisiana has bought 3,000 acres at a reported price of $10,000,000, and Gulf Oil is reputedly dickering for half of that for $6,000,000. Other companies with large acreage include Texas Corp., Philips Petroleum, American Liberty Oil Co., Cities Service's Arkansas Natural Gas, Lion Oil Refining Co. and Pelican Oil & Gas Co.
Sitting high is Oilman Norton. When title questions are cleared up he will have cashed in by selling 5,500 acres in Rodessa to Socony-Vacuum's Magnolia Petroleum Co. for $15,000,000 and heavy royalties.
He now has homes both in New Orleans and San Antonio, Tex., occasionally takes a look at Rodessa's oil derricks from his new $60,000 Lockheed Electra plane, equipped with bar.
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