CALGARY OIL BOOM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13430, 11 July 1914, Page 10

CALGARY OIL BOOM.

FRANTIC SPECULATION IN SHARES

Extraordinary scenes are beim? enacted m Calgary, whero the most phenomenal oil boom on record is taking place, despite warnings which* have been published. .■ . ' More than sixty wells are already being drilled, and scores of others -are on the way, says a Montreal correspondent. Thousands of people are investing every, penny, they have got m the gamble. A conservative estimate is 'that\ over £2,000,000 has been withdrawn from Calgairy banks alone. The majority of investors are people with from £2 to £10. Waste-paper baskets are being used as receptacles for investors' deposits. The Herronelder Company alone took m £20,000 m one day ih small sums. When the Dingman well spouted 90ft into the air last, week the stock jumped from £20 to £40 for each 4s. share. . "RECKLESS, FURIOUS, FRANTIC." Two hundred and seventeen motor cars wer© m a. line outside the leading brokers' offices on Saturday. They were filled with investors waitinp their turn to buy shares. Speculation is reckless, furious, frantic. People seem to have gone mad about oil. It is unquestionable that several boha fide strikes of - paying .wells, have been made, but- the tests of the extent of the supply are. i>ot yet completed. Speculators .and investors am- pouring into;Calgary'by hundreds daily from all quarters. Land booming is how proceeding, and bogus concerns have sprung ..up , like mushrooms. Hundreds will be duped and will be sufferers, for their own temerity. The rush promises to. equal that of the Yukon at the beginning. The police have to hold back the people, who would' otherwise rush the brokers' offices, . so anxious ' are they to hand over their cash for shares or as deposits on land sections. The Canadian Pacific Railway owns vast areas of land m the district, and reserves royalty rights.. for- all oil found. Already the Manitoba Government' has taken- steps to protect rash investors by prohibiting the sale of. shares unless the. vendors nave secured a certificate from the Public Utilities Commissioner that the stock is for a bona fide oil well and a sound business proposition. Scores of discomfited brokers .returned from Calgary after this order. was made. . : Recent settlers on small farms are now leaving their .properties; to participate .m the oil rush. •■-, . ;. .. . , t Stock trading continues from sunrise until long after midnight.:- ..Tents are used by some -of tfoeV: broker^ to : accommodate the rush of business, and the •police force has been augmented. . OA^GARW BIJSY DAY. 1 qALGARY, May 29. TJiis was the .briskest: day so. far this week that the stock brokers have had. On ■news of tho. gusher. of the Dingman well to-day, prices again went up.. The gusher went. 80ft into the air, and .it took an hour's, hard work. to, control the flow of oil. ..There was a.lpig demctnd on the markjet for the stock of. United Oils and Monarchs, but" it. is practically impossible to obtain any of these stocks so favorable are the. reports received concerning, the indications at the wells. Tlie stock, exchange: is to opeii, up on Monday, and this should prove- of greatbenefit not only to* the citizens -of Calgary^ but more, especially .to . those purchasing stock m outside cities. A, report reached Calgary,, to-day, that stocK, which can be purchase^ .here at Idol. , was being sold for as? high as 15dol. at Montreal. /The publication of the stock exchange closing prices will abolish this undesirable state of affairs. Investigations reveal the fact that the Canadian Pacific Railway Company owns approximately.. 40 square miles of land m the oil fields; and that the bulk of this la.nd is' situated a. few miles north and west of the Diugrnari well; a location that i^,, regarded,. \vi,th .high favor, by geologists. The* value : 6f the mineral rights of this C.P.R. property is at the present timo easily 3,000,000d01. The oompany is not parting with a square foot of land, and the belief here is that when the existence of a large oil -field is established, the C.P.R. will proceed to develop its holdings on a large scale. Some go to tho, length of saying that the-- time may come when the G.P.R. may virtually control tho, oil fields and the opinion expressed that. . the C.P.R. control' would be- preferable to that of the Standard Oil interests. The Intel-national Supply Company has m prospect the drilling of between 50 and 60 wells, and altogether over 200 wells will be drilled jus* as soon as the machinery can." be rushed to the district. Ira Sequar leaves for' California on Saturday to order 75,000d01. worth of drilling machinery for the use of the companies m -which it is interested.