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Keep This Map and Watch Colorado Oil Boom -- Or Perhaps Not....
Fine geological map of a portion of Colorado north of Fort Collins to the Wyoming border, promoting the Fort Collins Chief Oil Co. Inc. (Capitalization $300,000), published by The Intermountain Map Company, publishers of the Geological Map of Colorado.
The map illustrates areas with wells naming Union of California, Douglas Oil Co., Midway Oil & Gas, Wellington Oil Co., Union of Colorado, J.L Graham, et al., and "Chief Oil Co." The map credits D.E. Worley, Geologist and W.C. Middleton, Instrument.
Contemporary maps illustrating the details of exploration and drilling in this area are quite unusual.
Fort Collins Chief Oil Co
Fort Collins Chief Oil Co. first issued its prospectus and apparently filed with the Colorado Secretary of State on August 23, 1924.
The Fort Collins Coloradan first mentions Chief Oil on August 27, 1924, announcing the arrival of the company representative, Alex Patrick and referencing offices in Denver and Fort Collins (Avery Block, the same office as was just vacated by Douglas Oil, which was relocating to a larger space). The article references Chief Oil as previousl operating in Texas.) Advertising of stock at 1/2 cents per share began the same day in the same newspaper. A flurry of advertising followed, with an article in the same newspaper on October 30, 1924 noting that the "Chief Derrick [was] Near Completion." On February 27, 1925, the company reported that it had completed a transaction to begin drilling. By April 30, 1925, Chief Oil was being sued for non-payment of lumber bills for the construction of its derrick.
Fort Collins Oil Boom
Rapid growth was predicted for Fort Collins in the 1920s following the discovery of oil and natural gas near Wellington in 1923.
Rarity
The map is unrecorded.
We note a copyright entry for a Wellington-Fort Collins Oil Field map on September 18, 1924 by John Ahlborg of Denver.
Fort Collins Oil Field material from this period is exceedingly rare.
