Summary
By October 1961, McClure Oil Company had plugged its first Beaver Island well at 5,383 feet and moved men and equipment to a new site between the sawmill and Miller’s Marsh. The new hole was reported at 2,350 feet, with water supplied from the marsh about 2,000 feet away.
Evidence and limits
The reports record drilling status and local relative locations, not surveyed well positions, geological logs, permits, leases, or a final oil result. The November account is a later stage in the same reported 1961 operation: the Miller’s Marsh site had reached granite at 4,800 feet and was being abandoned for another location. The December report then places Well No. 3 at Iron Ore Bay, 3,798 feet deep, with a small show of oil and a possible fourth drilling planned for spring; these are reported stages, not a confirmed producing field.
Sources
- Beaver Beacon, October 1961, “McClure Oil Company.”Reports the first well reaching 5,383 feet before being plugged, men and equipment moving to a new site between the sawmill and Miller’s Marsh, drilling reaching 2,350 feet there, and water supplied from the marsh about 2,000 feet away. It does not provide a well log, survey, permit, lease, or oil result.
- Beaver Beacon, November 1961, “McClure Oil Company.”Reports drilling stopping at the site between the sawmill and Miller’s Marsh after reaching granite at 4,800 feet without finding oil, with equipment planned for a new site across French Bay Road. It does not provide a well log, permit, lease, or a final oil result for the operation.
- Beaver Beacon, December 1961, “McClure Oil Company.”Reports Well No. 3 at Iron Ore Bay reaching 3,798 feet, with earth formations similar to Well No. 2 near the sawmill, a small show of oil, and a possible return the following spring for a fourth drilling. It does not provide a log, permit, lease, commercial-production result, or exact site survey.