Double Check

An oil boom is on in Montana. The Shell Oil Co. struck petroleum on land leased from the Northern Pacific Railway in northeastern Montana's Dawson County, and speculators were hustling in last week to snap up the remaining drilling rights on a million acres of surrounding territory. Oilmen are excited about the strike because it is the first commercial well to tap the Montana section of Williston Basin, a vast layer of sedimentary rock under much of. North and South Dakota, Montana, and parts of Canada. The well is only 100 miles from Tioga, N. Dak., where the first strike in the entire Williston Basin was made four months ago.

Taken together, the two wells led some geologists to believe the basin might hold a big new oil pool. They think it may hold as much oil as Canada's fabulous Leduc pool in Alberta. But no one will know the size of the field until many more wells are drilled. Wall Streeters are not waiting. On the New York Stock Exchange, Shell Oil common jumped six points in four days to 64, the year's high, while Northern Pacific climbed five points to 47 3/8, highest in 20 years.

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