In the annual report of the Director of the Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, just made public, attention is called to the creation of two naval oil reserves in Colorado and Utah. The Survey has been investigating the oil shales of the United States that give the most promise of yielding a commercial supply of oil, and has explored large areas in Colorado and Utah that "eo.ntain immence deposits of such shales, some of which carry 3 ยฐ to 50 gallons of oil to the ton. This potential resource is-estimated by the Survey in terms of billions Of barrels of oil, which it is believed can be economically extracted from the shales, possibly in competition with the petroleum at present prices. It is therefore of special interest to note that during the last year two oil-shale reserves were created for the use of the Navy, one of 45,44o acres in Colorado and one of 86,584 acres in Utah.
General classification of oil-shale land was continued by the Survey during the year, the work covering large areas. Geologic examination of the oil-shale region of the West has shown that the oil shales in Utah and Colorado contain enormous quantities of petroleum. They also contain a considerable percentage of nitrogen. aggregating a vast supply, which can be recovered as a by-product in the refining of the shale and used either as a fertilizer or in the manufacture of explosives.