$2,500,000 with not a cent to show for it. Doheny was previously in that district and it cost him just $8000 to put down his well and learn that any further expense would be gambling. He had paid his $8000 and gotten his information. The Standard Oil Company put $2,500,000 in the same district later and still has no further information.
But just afterwards Doheny heard of a promising piece of oil land offered for option. He inquired and learned that an adjoining property was known to be better. He took a third observation and learned that the cream of the district was held for $2,250,000, while the poorer part could be had for one or two hundred thousand dollars. He promptly took the option on the best part, paid down his ten per cent, drove his wells and paid the balance, $2,000,000, out of the product from the wells. He quit that district $8,000,000 to the good.
Then he opened another district and took out another $8,000,000. He was the pioneer in the Bakersfield district, drilling the first well and selling the first product from the district. In the early days of Bakersfield he was selling oil at $1.25 a barrel to twenty-one other drilling outfits. With the two oil fields he is now opening up
