The San Juan Basin Petro-Geological Research Collection contains documents related to the exploration for oil and gas in northwestern New Mexico. Central to the collection is a type-written report describing the geological make-up and preliminary assessments of the possibility of productive oil and gas wells in an area known geologically as the San Juan Basin. This report, called "Report on Northwest New Mexico and Adjacent Areas of Arizona, Utah, and Colorado" (1920), researched and written by Jack Sickler and A.B. Beall, Jr., details likely locations for new oil wells for the Midwest Refining Company. The report includes several geological maps showing the stratigraphy of two prominent dome formations in the area. A detailed physical geography and surveyed lot map of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico is also included. All maps are located in the oversize folder. Other paper work in the collection includes correspondence between geologist Jack Sickler and land assessment offices in Gallup and Santa Fe, New Mexico (1948). There are blank copies of lease agreements, receipts for monies paid on oil and gas leases (1948), hand drawn sketch maps and stratigraphic cross-sections of the Defiance Anticline (1948, by Harry Feder), an unlabeled township survey grids, and two photographs of landscape features marked by hand with geological information.
