We didn’t know there was an oil field at Dearborn, did you? Here’s an update from the St. Jo Gazette, by way of the April 27, 1922 edition of the Skidmore News (Skidmore, Missouri), page 5:
Find Oil in Water of Test Well.
(From St. Joseph Gazette, April 23)
Enthusiasm at the Dearborn oil field heightened today when water drawn from the test well which has been sunk 300 feet, showed large drops of crude oil. Indications are that a good flow of oil will result when the well has reached the proper depth, officials in the local company say.Drilling has been in progress for two weeks now. After the first 100 feet, solid rock was encountered, which was followed by 95 feet of black shale then 10 feet of white limestone and 10 feet of wayside sand. Such a formation, drillers say, corresponds with that of some of the richest fields.
Considerable difficulty was encountered at first when the soft surface earth frequently caved in until a hundred feet of extra large steel casing was place in the top of the well.