johnmark29020 I sometimes look up oil leases for people and it allways turns into a history lesson, ive found that as far back as the 20's and 30's if field wasnt very productive there arent many records, there are places in texas that i know hundreds of wells were drilled on three or four sections of land and the records only show a few, fields that were very productive there were definitely permits and the land was measured down to the square foot, I think Fred Drolte was drilling only a hundred or so feet, under the guise of looking for water, in cummins book ''lure of the caballos'' a really good read, he says that Drolte hadnt paid the guy that was drilling for him and one day when Drolte wasnt there the bit quit drilling so he pulled it out of the hole, (p.o.o.h. as we say in the patch),and no wonder it woudnt dig it was cloged with gold, the guy covered the hole and moved the rig and held its location ransom for his pay and probably a bonus.