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^*^ 
 
THE OIL REGIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 SHOWING 
 
 WHERE PETROLEUM IS FOUND ; HOW IT IS OBTAINED, 
 AND AT WHAT COST. 
 
 4inte for ttJfyom it iftatj Concern. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM WRIGHT. 
 
 n 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 1865. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and sixty-five, by 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, 
 
 In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
 New York. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 IN the latter part of March, I left my home for the South- West, design 
 ing to pass through the heart of West- Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, East 
 ern Tennessee, and thence down the Tennessee valley directly as a cor 
 respondent of the New- York Times ; indirectly with a view of collecting 
 materials for a volume on the Border States, their soils, minerals, climate, 
 water-power, social condition, etc., for the guidance of those who might 
 desire to migrate thither after the war. 
 
 On the way, I proposed to spend a few days in the oil regions of Ve- 
 nango county, Pennsylvania, and afterward visit those of West-Virginia, 
 supposing that a week would probably suffice to do both all needed justice. 
 
 In accordance with this plan, I walked, jumped, or waded the valley of 
 Oil Creek, from Titusville to Oil City, collecting what facts and observations 
 I could during the three days consumed in the passage. 
 
 Arrived at the journey s end, I found a discordant, contradictory mass 
 of facts and figures on my memorandum-book ; and came to the conclusion 
 that, whatever I knew the first day, I knew much less the second, and 
 nothing at all the third. Further, that no person outside of Petrolia, and 
 very few in it, were in a much more enviable condition of mind on the 
 subject, if they would own up to the truth. 
 
 After deliberating afresh, I formed the resolution of visiting every pro 
 ducing well in that county ; gathering from men, who were supposed to have 
 no interest in misrepresenting, its actual yield ; comparing the figures with 
 those given by officials and neighbors, and out of the whole endeavoring to 
 ascertain the truth, as nearly as might be. At the same time, to " bore," 
 
 M99742 
 
4 Preface. 
 
 and " ream," and " pump " every practical uiau for the results of his 
 observations, if so be it were possible to arrive at one general law or con 
 clusion respecting the oil regions. 
 
 The residue of March and nearly three weeks in April were faithfully 
 devoted to this object. The distance traversed on foot was fully two 
 hundred miles how agreeable the trip, will be easily inferred from what 
 follows. 
 
 An interest, having more than $100,000,000 of bona fide capital in 
 vested hi it, had until then never received more attention than could be 
 given it in newspaper correspondence or a magazine article. The financial 
 aspect of it had not even been scratcJied. Indeed, honest writers seemed to 
 avoid reference to it, except in the most general terms, as if it were going 
 beyond their depth. Of course, the Oily Gammons of the press, who had 
 been hired as claqueurs at a theatre, applauded every thing. That was their 
 vocation ! 
 
 In the following pages I have described the processes of boring the 
 wells, of repairing them after getting out of order, and of refining the oil. 
 I have entered somewhat minutely into the physical formation of the coun 
 try a topic which had been almost overlooked, and on some points of 
 which, I hope to have thrown out some valuable ideas for the first time. 
 When adopting the views there presented, I had not perused the Geological 
 Report of Prof. Rogers ; and it is highly gratifying to find that in the main 
 features of the argument advanced, I am fully borne out by that eminent 
 name. 
 
 But it is to the statistical and financial discussions that I desire princi 
 pally to direct attention. Those chapters will be read by large numbers 
 who are eagerly in quest of the information therein contained. The facts 
 and figures now given to the public for the first time, together with the 
 modes of taking- in over-smart, shrewd, keen, knowing Eastern people, will 
 tell. 
 
 Petrolia needed a searching examination and a scathing exposure ; it 
 lias got both. Yet let me not be misunderstood. Underneath a system of 
 falsehood and fraud, that might almost be termed magnificent, there is a great 
 
basis of fact, which needs to be presented in its true light ; needs to be pro 
 tected from the misrepresentations of its own pretended friends, who would 
 have ruined it long since if it had not possessed genuine worth of a high 
 order. It is to censure what is worth censuring ; to strip off and expose 
 what is false and deceptive ; to denounce the cruelty, the lying, the roguery, 
 the abject selfishness of many, that I have for the time being turned aside 
 from my original object to prepare these sheets for the press. I have aimed 
 to state the truth without calumny or prejudice ; to express it clearly and 
 forcibly ; to be as thorough as it was possible within moderate limits. How 
 well or how ill these objects have been accomplished, the reader will judge 
 for himself. 
 
 It is with a feeling of gratitude that I acknowledge the courtesy, in im 
 parting information, of Messrs W. H. L. Smith, of Corry ; A. Morrell and 
 Robert B. Gamble, of Titusville ; Edward Fox, of Petroleum Centre ; Wra. 
 Boniface, of Rouseville ; T. S. Truaire and C. B. Bliss, of Oil City ; Thomas 
 R. Hennon, of Tideoute ; Col. McClure, then of Plumer ; George S. Siggius, 
 of Howe ; and many others, whose names I do not now recall. 
 
 Since this volume went to press, sports have been received to the 
 effect that the United States well on Pithole Creek has increased its flow 
 to nine hundred or a thousand barrels per day ; other wells in that local 
 ity are also said to have improved. On the other hand, certain wells, as 
 the Jersey, on Oil Creek, ha^ fallen off or dried up altogether. No doubt, 
 however, the summer product of petroleum in Venango county is consid 
 erably larger than that of March and April. By referring to the last chap 
 ter but one, it will be seen that a margin of about two thousand barrels 
 per day has been allowed for this increase. W. W. 
 
 PATERSON, N. J., May, 1865. - 
 
OO^TEWTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 PHYSICAL FEATURES AND GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY, . . 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY THE CLIMATE CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE, ........ 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 LOCATING AND SINKING THE WELLS, 61 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 " STRUCK OIL " THE LAW OF LAWLESSNESS, .... 79 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OBSTACLES IN THE WAY THE MEANS USED TO OVERCOME THEM, 97 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION, 112 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 OIL REFINING AND REFINERIES, 194 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 How STRANGERS ARE TAKEN IN, 206 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 OUGHT I TO INVEST IN PETROLEUM, AND How .... 228 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS .... 260 
 
THE OIL REGIONS OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 PHYSICAL FEATUKES AND GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTKY. 
 
 THE physical features of the oil region of Pennsylvania 
 are simple, easily understood, and full of interest. The 
 most productive portion of it consists of an irregular quad 
 rangle, each of its sides being from fifteen to twenty-five 
 miles in length, and its axial line nearly corresponding 
 with the course of Oil Creek between Titusville and Oil 
 City. As far as known, it is limited almost exclusively 
 to the Alleghany Eiver valley and a section of its" north 
 western slope, the principal streams which enter it from 
 that direction having an average fall of about twenty feet 
 to the mile, while that great artery of Western Pennsyl 
 vania, between Warren and Pittsburgh, has an average 
 fall of one foot to the mile. At Franklin, the mouth of 
 French Creek, it is nearly eight hundred feet above tide 
 water, or two hundred and forty feet higher than the sur 
 face of Lake Erie. The lake shore proper is a compara 
 tively narrow strip of land, descending from the range of 
 heights which separate it from the Alleghany slope, by 
 
10 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 frequent and abrupt terraces, to the water. In the oppo 
 site direction the descent toward the south-east is for a 
 long distance go -gentle as scarcely to be noticeable along 
 the/ water- courses. The country is nearly level, or rolled 
 dp into hilxs of moderate elevation and easy ascent. Such 
 is its general appearance immediately back of the oil region 
 along the line of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway. 
 
 On leaving Corry for Titusville, the passenger is con 
 veyed up a rather steep incline for a few miles, on passing 
 which the railroad traverses the summit, a table-land with 
 occasional ridges of very moderate height, or round hil 
 locks formed of drift that is, sand and boulders, ground, 
 rounded, and more or less polished. By and by the 
 road enters a slight depression, which increases till it be 
 comes a ravine, and finally the bottom of a noisy stream, 
 with banks twenty, fifty, and finally one hundred and fifty 
 feet high, at which it reaches Titusville. The railroad 
 extends down the valley seven or eight miles further, the 
 heights on each side becoming more lofty and precipitous, 
 until, at Shaffer s, they reach two hundred and fifty feet, 
 and at Oil City, twelve miles lower, nearly four hundred 
 feet above the Alleghany Eiver, the difference in their 
 summits being inconsiderable. 
 
 The approaches to that river by the railroad from Mead- 
 ville to Franklin, and by that from Corry to Irvine and 
 Warren, are still more simple than on the route already 
 described, there being no elevations to be climbed before 
 reaching the descent ; but a gentle, downward grade for 
 the entire distance. Starting from a nearly level country, 
 however, the same phenomenon is perceptible as on the 
 Titusville road, namely, heights gradually increasing in 
 altitude and abruptness, until the common objective point 
 
Physical Features, etc. 11 
 
 (the Alleghany valley) has been reached, where they are 
 found at about the usual elevation of four hundred feet. 
 
 Starting from that river in the direction of the Alleghany 
 Mountains, along any of the tributary streams which flow 
 through that part of the country, an exact counterpart to 
 this formation will be found, for the twenty, thirty, or 
 forty miles immediately east of the Alleghany. 
 
 Not alone in the oil regions of Pennsylvania will this 
 observation be found to apply. The same physical fea 
 tures are noticeable in Western New-York, West- Virginia, 
 Eastern and Southern Ohio and Indiana, and Northern 
 Kentucky in fact, throughout the entire prairie States, 
 along both sides of the Mississippi and the Missouri. 
 Whatever may have been the cause, it is evident that 
 agencies essentially alike have been at work in producing 
 the effects visible to-day. 
 
 The observant visitor will notice, further, that all this 
 is accompanied by hardly a perceptible inclination or " dip " 
 of the rocks, which, as high up and as far down as he 
 can trace them, are disposed in beautiful horizontal lines, 
 gray, yellow, or brown sandstones alternating with blue, 
 red, or brown shales, in regular and frequent succession. 
 At no point will he detect " faults " or dislocations in the 
 arrangement of these, whether on the surface or beneath, 
 nor will he find the inclination at any point exceeding 
 five degrees. If he has read or observed carefully the 
 structure of mountains elsewhere, he will remember that 
 the rocks are tilted up at various angles with the horizon, 
 in some cases almost ninety degrees ; while at every few 
 paces he can discern marks of disturbance in their situa 
 tion with respect to each other. He will begin, perhaps, 
 to reason within himself how very improbable it must be 
 
12 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 that those heights could have been individually upheaved, 
 inasmuch as they evince no signs of such action, having 
 no inclination save that south-eastern or south-western dip 
 common to all the formations from Lake Ontario to Ken 
 tucky and Tennessee. 
 
 If he climb the heights, the mystery at first may increase ; 
 for while toward the principal streams the bluffs are usu 
 ally abrupt, precipitous, pyramidal, or ridgy ; on looking 
 in the opposite direction, he will observe the same table 
 lands, with gentle elevations formed of drift here and 
 there, such as he encountered between Corry and Titus- 
 ville. He can hardly fail to suspect the truth, that the 
 river-beds, with all their tributaries and the bottoms of 
 ravines, have been, in the course of ages, scooped out of 
 very slight original depressions by the action of water, which 
 has dug out these vast channels to their present depth, 
 and is still engaged in deepening and widening them. 
 
 This is the view taken by all geologists of eminence, 
 who have examined that portion of the State. Professor 
 Wm. D. Eogers, in his admirable Geological Keport, says : 
 " The Alleghany flows through a deep and narrow trench, 
 excavated in the north-west plateau, and within the coal- 
 basin of the State. ... It enters the north-western 
 margin of the coal-basin at Warren." Eeferring to the 
 remarkably irregular course of that river and the Ohio 
 through Pennsylvania, he further observes : " It is evident 
 that while the main discharge of the eroding wave was 
 south-westward, one large influx of eroding waters swept 
 north-westward from the Apalachian Mountains, and an 
 other south-eastward from the region of the lakes." 
 
 The expression "eroding wave" must not, however, be 
 understood to imply that, by a single deluge, whether 
 
Physical Features^ etc. 13 
 
 lasting a day or a twelvemonth, the troughs in which those 
 rivers now run could have been hollowed out. No sin 
 gle accumulation of waters, collected on the Apalachian 
 Mountains or in the lake basin, would be sufficient to ex 
 cavate those valleys to the depth of a single inch, much 
 less hundreds of feet. The joint action of time and water 
 was necessary to "write those wrinkles on the brow" of 
 that Piedmont section ; and of the former it would be silly 
 to assign less than myriads of our years. It is true that 
 in an earlier stage the denuding process would go on more 
 rapidly, inasmuch as the mouth of the Mississippi was sev 
 eral hundreds of miles higher up than at present; while 
 the Ohio and its tributaries, flowing down from the table 
 lands, would rush forward and abrade their bottoms and 
 banks at a rate which can hardly be understood at present. 
 The hard limestone bed crossing that river at Louisville 
 has prolonged resistance till this day ; but that is also des 
 tined to wear away, together with the softer rocks above ; 
 the fall or rapid thus, step by step, retreating to Pittsburgh, 
 unless prevented by artificial obstructions. 
 
 Along the Ohio, as it passes between Pennsylvania, 
 West- Virginia, and Kentucky, on one side, and Ohio and 
 Indiana on the other, it may be observed that while there 
 is substantially the same horizontal stratification, with 
 abrasion of the uplands, the action there has been on a 
 still larger scale than further northward. The causes of 
 this difference are unquestionably to be found in the cir 
 cumstances of the larger bodies of waters at work lower 
 down, and the beds of rocks forming the upper series 
 along the Ohio consisting of soft shales, which readily dis 
 solve, and, in places, are so constantly crumbling away as 
 to form little streams of gravel, which become beds of 
 
14 Physical Features -, etc. 
 
 stiff clay or mud upon reaching the bottoms. This is 
 carried off in immense quantities every year, on the melt 
 ing of the snows and after rains, to the Ohio, the Missis 
 sippi, and the Gulf, to form fresh additions to the area ol 
 Louisiana, or some other of the Cotton States. For the 
 whole of the sugar region, and at least one half of the 
 cotton, rice, and tobacco zones of the South consist of allu 
 viums, carried down the eastern and western slopes of the 
 Apalachian and the Eocky Mountain systems, along river- 
 courses, whose beds have been carved tens and hundreds 
 of feet below what was once the general level of the 
 country. 
 
 In the oil region of Penns3 7 lvania, the uppermost rock 
 in the series (vespertine) is a hard, gray conglomerate, 
 which resists the action of water until undermined by 
 the dissolution of the soft shales underneath. When this 
 has been brought about, down tumble huge masses of the 
 vespertine, in uniform and often quadrangular blocks, 
 which in turn become the natural protectors of the bases 
 and sides of the bluff, as they had been of its summit. 
 But for these efficient safeguards, it is reasonable to infer 
 that the channels of the Alleghany and some parts of the 
 Ohio would have been as wide as they are found else 
 where, particularly near the mouth of the latter, where 
 the country for miles on each side has been washed away. 
 
 This explanation of the origin of those valleys finds 
 abundant confirmation at every bend in the streams, par 
 ticularly the large ones. In proportion to the sharpness 
 of their curves is the precipitous character of the hills 
 forming their exterior lines ; while on the opposite side, 
 the heights slope gently and gracefully to the water. Al 
 most the only fields cultivated on the slopes are those 
 
Physical Features, etc. 15 
 
 headlands around which, the river describes a semicircle. 
 On rivers flowing through alluvial countries, as the Poto 
 mac and the James, the same rule will hold good, as to 
 the areas embraced within their several bends or loops, 
 while the opposite shore will invariably be found lofty 
 and abrupt, the channels keeping well outward, as if de 
 sirous of increasing their circuit, instead of proceeding 
 " on interior lines " or cut-offs. The phenomenon is thus 
 explained : Like all other bodies, water has a tendency to 
 move in straight lines, as have all the objects which move 
 upon or are carried down by it. At every bend, for ex 
 ample, the raft is naturally thrown somewhat out of the 
 middle toward the convex side of the river, and the shore 
 there is struck with all the weight and momentum of the 
 current, until it is undermined, when the portions lying 
 highest up fall down and are gradually ground up and 
 their particles carried off, making room for the water to 
 renew its action upon the bluffs. Hence the two processes 
 of lengthening and deepening the stream may be said to go 
 on pari passu. At the principal bends, the river, which 
 at one time flowed on a bed hundreds of feet higher, also 
 described hundreds of yards of a shorter course than it 
 now does. As it deepened in one direction, it struck out 
 ward in another. During century after centurv, it thus 
 kept forsaking its old channel and entering one more 
 crooked, rounding the headlands, which were afterward 
 covered with surface soil washed down from above, or 
 made by vegetation on the spot. Every mile or two along 
 the Alleghany, Oil Creek, French Creek, etc., these addi 
 tional evidences of erosion or denudation become manifest 
 in the formation of the river-beds. The unavoidable in 
 ferences are, that the depositing of oil, or the constituents 
 
16 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 composing it, has had no possible relation to existing river 
 systems ; that curves, headlands, slopes, table-lands, and 
 bottoms, have no connection, as such, with the finding of 
 petroleum ; the only cause why it was discovered in the 
 last-named being, that that which was stored in the first 
 sand-rock beneath the surface could more readily find its 
 way to it in localities where the deposit had been approach 
 ed to within short distances. It was only because it could 
 come more easily to the surface in springs along the river- 
 bottoms than on the uplands, that it was originally dis 
 covered in the former ; but on the latter, the veins in the 
 second or third sand-rocks, which are unable to manifest 
 themselves above ground, are quite as likely to be reached 
 as on the former, the only drawbacks being the greater 
 cost of boring and of pumping the wells afterward. 
 
 Though rather foreign, to the subject discussed in this 
 work, I may add, that the views advanced above explain 
 the cause why " cut-off" canals, as those at Vicksburgh and 
 Dutch Gap, have been unsuccessful. They were dug at 
 points too far down-stream, with their upper extremities 
 some distance below the bluffs, against which the current 
 had struck and been deflected toward the opposite bank. 
 Had Greneral Butler s famous work taken "the line ot 
 beautjr," its northern terminus opening against the chan 
 nel as it struck the bank, there could hardly be a doubt 
 of its success. 
 
 If the length of time required to effect such changes 
 on the earth s surface be bewildering, our wonder will not 
 subside on inspecting more closely the several strata be 
 tween the uplands and the lowest point yet reached by 
 the drillers, a range of about fourteen hundred feet. Mar 
 vels, indeed, never cease in Petrolia, whether we regard it 
 
Physical Features, etc. 17 
 
 in its natural aspect, or its lately developed condition. If 
 we take our stand on, any of the elevations along Oil 
 Creek, French Creek, the Brokenstraw, or any other trib 
 utary of the Alleghany, in that quarter, in the masses of 
 gray, brown, or flaggy sandstones, even on the conglom 
 erates forming the uppermost rock in the series, we shall 
 discover multitudes of the impressions of what once was 
 vegetable or animal life shells univalve and bivalve, 
 shells of all shapes and sizes, rough and smooth casts of 
 shells. The plants belong largely to a species known 
 among naturalists as fucoids. The organic remains of 
 the shell-fishes indicate that they lived and moved in salt, 
 not fresh, water ; that they died a natural death, the con 
 sequence of ordinary decay, closing up the doors and 
 windows of their abodes, and quietly dropping to what 
 had been their couch ere it became their cemetery the 
 ocean-bed as composedly as Caesar wrapped himself up 
 in his toga, at the base of Pompey s statue. Nothing out 
 of the natural course, no marks of violence are percepti 
 ble in the circumstances attending their dissolution. No 
 deluge appears to have swept them away five hundred or 
 one thousand miles from their native settlements to end 
 their existence on the tops of the mountains. 
 
 " Once, in the flight of ages past, 
 
 There lived a crab ; and who was he ? 
 Mortal, where er thy lot be cast, 
 That crab resembled THEE !" 
 
 This testimony is not confined to one rock or series in 
 the several geological formations of "Western Pennsylva 
 nia. In the numerous layers of sandstone, slate, shale, 
 
18 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 clay, and soap-stone, evidences of mineral and vegetable 
 life may be found as low down as the beds of the streams, 
 and hundreds of feet beyond. At different points on the 
 railroad between Meadville and Franklin, the rock-cut 
 tings pass through what once were dense forests of tall 
 trees, the petrified ends of their stems projecting through 
 the soft layers, which are beautifully bent around them, 
 the petrifactions lying in places as closely together as they 
 could have fallen.* Their diameters range from ten inches 
 to three feet. The pores of the bark are still visible, as 
 is its general arrangement on the outside of the quondam 
 trees. The grooves on the exterior, the layers of the inte 
 rior, with several of the lines radiating from the heart, are 
 still observable. These petrifactions may be found at 
 various depths, from ten to forty feet below what is now 
 the surface of the height, but which was hundreds of 
 feet below it previous to the eroding action of the waters. 
 Shell-marks in abundance are discoverable in the lowest of 
 those rocks, as in all the intermediate strata. Mr. A. 
 Morrell, now of Titusville, an experienced operator and 
 a careful observer, assures me that the sand-pump has 
 brought up, from the depth of four hundred and eighty- 
 five feet, specimens of petrified shell-fish, which are now 
 in his possession, having been obtained in a layer of hard, 
 fossiliferous limestone, termed by most operators, " the 
 third sand-rock." Here we have an aggregate thickness 
 of fully seven hundred and fifty feet, containing probably 
 twenty distinct layers, in most or all of which the re 
 mains of vegetable and animal life are discovered. Should 
 it turn out that the Niagara limestone underlies that re- 
 
 * the remains of a mastodon are said to have been discovered in that 
 vicinity, while the railroad was being graded. 
 
Physical Features, etc. 19 
 
 gion, there is no telling how many hundreds of feet lower 
 such remains may yet be discovered. 
 
 The groups of sandstones above the river-beds differ 
 somewhat in various localities, one of a coarser texture 
 being replaced by a finer, or the opposite, a pure sand- 
 rock, by one more or less argillaceous, a gray by a yel 
 low-colored conglomerate, containing pebbles of quartz, 
 sienite, gneiss, etc. In some places they afford excellent 
 materials for building purposes ; in others they are made 
 into grindstones ; superior flag-stones are to be met with 
 everywhere. But such are mere local variations, brought- 
 about by the deposition of the several materials of which 
 the layers are composed. In general, it will be found that 
 they belong to rocks which terminate toward the north in 
 the State of New- York, and, in South-western Pennsyvania 
 and West- Virginia, are found hundreds of feet below the 
 surface, the several coal-formations, with the intermediate 
 layers, being there superimposed on these formations. 
 Counting downward, in Yenango county, the following is 
 the succession which most frequently occurs : 
 
 1st. Vespertine conglomerate, and sandstone. This is a 
 white, gray, or yellowish rock, varying in texture, and 
 alternating with a coarse, silicious conglomerate, or with 
 dark-blue and olive-colored slates. In places it contains 
 beds of dark, carbonaceous shales, with thin seams of 
 coal. Among its organic remains are numerous fragments 
 of coal-plants. In some parts of the State this series is 
 found of immense thickness as much as twenty-six hun 
 dred feet, according to Professor Eogers, near the Susque- 
 hanna Kiver. In Yenango county I have not observed 
 it more than one one hundred feet deep, and seldom more 
 than fifty. " This group has a wide distribution in Penn- 
 
20 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 sylvania, encircling as with a sort of girdle, all the coal 
 fields, both anthracite and bituminous. ... It undergoes 
 gradual but important changes of type, growing thinner, 
 and assuming a finer and finer texture in its materials, as 
 it spreads westward; Its orographic position is on the 
 ridges and external escarpments of the table-lands, which 
 enclose or support the coal-fields ; but, except in the 
 north-western district, it does not immediately adjoin the 
 conglomerates and sandstones of the coal-measures. . . In 
 this north-west belt, and along the north side of the State, 
 it is a somewhat argillaceous, micaceous sandstone. . . 
 An absence of fossils, and a close assimilation of the ves 
 pertine and umbral series render it difficult to define their 
 common boundary. . . Around "Warren, this group of 
 rocks, reposing directly on the vergent series, and over 
 laid by the serai white sandstone, consists of four mem 
 bers the lowest a group of thin-bedded sandstones and 
 olive-gray shales, the sandstone containing a perpendicu 
 lar, bifurcating, stem-like fossil. The second is a massive 
 quartzose conglomerate of smooth, ovoid pebbles, about 
 ten feet thick. The third is a thick mass of olive -gray 
 shale and thin-bedded sandstones, about one hundred and 
 seventy-five feet. The fourth, or uppermost, is a fossilif- 
 erous gray sandstone, from ten to fifteen feet. . . The ves 
 pertine conglomerate caps the hills north-west of the Al- 
 leghany Eiver. It is often mistaken for the serai conglom 
 erate and sandstone of the coal measures." (EOGEES.) 
 
 2d. The vergent series. This consists of a rather fine 
 grained gray sandstone, the layers parted by thin alter 
 nating-bands of shale. According to the authority just 
 quoted, it abounds with remains of marine vegetation. 
 In Huntington county it attains a thickness of seventeen 
 
Physical Features, eto. 21 
 
 hundred feet. In Yenango county it comes down to the 
 river bottoms, a distance of nearly three hundred feet "be 
 low the vespertine rocks ; how far beneath the valleys is 
 unknown. Toward the west this series has a wide exten 
 sion, spreading out in Ohio, in Kentucky, and even Mid 
 dle Tennessee, as well as stretching through "West- Vir 
 ginia and East-Tennessee. Some geologists have classi 
 fied this series as follows, counting downward : Slate and 
 flaggy sandstone. Two layers of hard, silicious sandstone. 
 Beds of thin, pebbly rock. In places, a stratum of yel 
 low sandstone. Several beds of gray sandstone, of more 
 or less thickness. Two or three thin layers of sandstone, 
 with shells. Beds of shale, usually very dark, alternate 
 between each of the above-mentioned layers. 
 
 This second series comprises what are known in New- 
 York as the Chemung and the Portage groups. They 
 belong to the class denominated palaeozoic rocks, because 
 containing the most ancient remains of animal and vege 
 table life yet discovered, stretching all the way between 
 the gneissic formations beneath, and the lowest of the 
 coal-deposits above. Sometimes they are denominated, 
 " fossiliferous," "sedimentary," or "secondary" rocks. 
 "In Pennsylvania," says Kogers, "this class have been 
 deposited during all the four earliest periods of the great 
 European divisions, namely, the Cambrian, the silurian, 
 the devonian, and the carboniferous. No traces of the 
 fifth or permian group have yet been discovered in North- 
 America. . . . The prolonged succession of sedi 
 mentary action ceased with the close of the cambrian 
 system, being terminated by the upheaval of the ocean, in 
 whose broad bed, and around whose margin these depo 
 sits had been collected." The aggregate thickness of all 
 
22 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 the rocks belonging to this class, measured at their great 
 est depths, is not less than thirty-five thousand feet. 
 
 As mention has been made of the coal-beds found in 
 that vicinity, and as the coal and petroleum formations are 
 generally believed to be intimately related to each other, 
 both being largely carbonaceous, it may be proper to re 
 mark here, that the oil region is bounded by the coal 
 fields, on the south and the east. On both sides of the 
 Alleghany, near Franklin, coal crops out, in a thin bed, 
 and of a rather poor quality, along the summits of the 
 hill, from two hundred and fifty to three hundred and 
 fifty feet above water. Farther down the river it occurs 
 at a lower elevation, until on reaching Pittsburgh the 
 deepest beds are found below the water-courses. In some 
 localities near Franklin, the coal-vein appears to have 
 filled a cup -like depression once existing on the surface 
 where it was formed, the bed now dipping downward, 
 and afterward rising to its former level. In that neigh 
 borhood the coal-bed may be traced as a dark, even line, 
 extending along the highest eminences, while at the foot 
 of the bluffs operations at boring have been going on. 
 Toward the east the coal-fields are more distant ; but their 
 margin in that direction has not been clearly traced and 
 defined. Owing to the absence of large streams and broad 
 bottoms, operations at searching for petroleum have also 
 been greatly restricted east of the Allegbany. The near 
 est practicable point at which coal can be reached is on 
 the line of the Philadelphia and Erie Eailroad, above 
 Warren. 
 
 As far as I am aware, no actual test has yet been made, 
 or if made, none has succeeded, in boring for oil through 
 the coal-measures. The experiment is one that ought to 
 
Physical Features, etc. 23 
 
 be instituted, its results having something to do with, ver 
 ifying or disproving the theory as to the genesis of petro 
 leum commonly entertained. By some it is stoutly main 
 tained that the one is never found immediately above or 
 below the other ; hence, that it is idle to expect oil on 
 coal-lands. Others assert that they have, in West- Vir 
 ginia, passed through the coal, and found oil beneath. It 
 devolves upon the owners of coal-lands to prove the con 
 tiguous existence of the two, or else be satisfied with 
 lower prices than they are now demanding. 
 
 At all events, the two formations in Pennsylvania are 
 geologically separated by great distances. Between the 
 coal-beds and the first sand-rock where oil appears, at 
 least four hundred feet intervene, and at least eight hun 
 dred feet between the coal and the third sand-rock, from 
 which, the largest yield has been derived. As to the pos 
 sibility of the one being supplied from the other, some fur 
 ther remarks are offered elsewhere. 
 
 Descending to the formations below the river-bottoms, as 
 traversed by the drill, and brought up (as mud) by the 
 sand-pump, it becomes necessary to take the " records" of 
 wells as kept by operators of more or less acquaintance 
 with the subject. Mr. Morrell gives the following as the 
 series found on the Watson flats below Titusville, in sink 
 ing five hundred feet : 
 
 First. Schist rock, with mica and a little hornblende. 
 This is what the drillers usually term u the first sand." 
 
 Second. A very soft, silicious rock, resembling soap- 
 stone. Feels very soft and greasy at first, and has a nearly 
 white color ; but hardens, and becomes bluish after a time. 
 
 Third. A hard transition rock. 
 
 Fourth. Fossiliferous limestone, containing fissures 01 
 
24 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 caverns in which oil is found. This is usually termed 
 " the second sand-ro ck ;" and as it contains sand in various 
 proportions, it will be so termed in this work. 
 
 Mr. E. B. Gamble, also of Titusville, who is superin 
 tendent of the Pennyslvania Oil Creek Company s Deep 
 well, (now fully twelve hundred feet below the level of the 
 Watson flats, and still in progress,) furnishes the follow 
 ing as the results of his observations : 
 
 The first sand-rock commonly occurs there between one 
 hundred and fifty and one hundred and sixty feet down, 
 and is about sixteen feet thick. Drillers then bore through 
 different layers of slate and soap-stone, (not the common 
 variety of the latter,) in which the tools often stick fast. 
 Between four hundred and eighty and four hundred and 
 ninety feet, they strike a pebbly bed, often mixed with 
 slate, and usually five feet thick. What* is known as the 
 second rock occurs about four hundred feet down, and is 
 between fifty and sixty feet thick. In this bed, oil is most 
 commonly obtained in that locality. In this particular 
 instance, the company decided to keep on boring for the 
 purpose of making an experiment, with the annexed re 
 sult : At twelve hundred and fifteen feet, they had not 
 reached the third sands tone; and the general belief among 
 practical men on the flats is, that none such is to be found 
 there. But they passed through shale, slates, soap-stone, 
 etc., as above the second layer. This well is, at least, 
 four hundred feet deeper than any other whose record I 
 was able to examine. 
 
 In passing, it may be mentioned here that a company 
 has been formed at Petroleum Centre, with Mr. D. W. 
 Davies as superintendent, to sink a shaft, about seven by 
 seventeen feet, as far down as practicable. The organiza- 
 
Physical Features, etc. 25 
 
 tion is known as the Shaft Company. The experiment 
 cannot fail to be highly valuable to the cause of science, 
 and may repay all outlays upon it one hundred times over. 
 Every company and land-owner in Petrolia ought to en 
 courage the attempt. The evolution of gas will constitute 
 the chief difficulty to the progress of this undertaking ; 
 and may prevent the introduction of artificial lights alto 
 gether. As, however, it is much lighter than common 
 atmospheric air, it is believed the latter can be forced down 
 in quantities sufficient to render the operations innocuous^ 
 Much interest will attach to the work as it progresses. 
 
 Mr. T. S. Truaire, a refiner and a gentleman of veracity 
 and much intelligence, furnishes the subjoined statement 
 from his record of a well, sunk under his direction, one 
 mile above Oil City : u At the depth of two hundred and 
 five feet, we struck the first sandstone, and went through 
 it at two hundred and forty-three feet. From that point 
 to three hundred and fifty feet, we found hard-pan clay, 
 beyond which we struck the second rock, thirty feet thick. 
 From three hundred and eighty to four hundred and fifty 
 feet, we found another shale ; and on passing this, we en 
 tered the third sand-rock, of forty feet in thickness. In 
 this we struck a seventy-barrel well." 
 
 The points selected above are nearly eighteen miles 
 apart, or fifteen in a direct line, the difference in elevation 
 between their surfaces being nearly two hundred and fifty 
 feet. It is reasonable to conclude that, while the under 
 lying rocks are nearly horizontal, the layers in some places 
 disappear altogether, and in others are modified, both as 
 to quality and thickness. Several persons report that on 
 the Watson flats, immediately above the oil-vein, they 
 find a hard, flinty rock, a few feet in thickness, black 
 2 
 
26 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 and smooth, like that used for whetstones. Others report 
 finding a mud- vein, from three to five feet thick, in the 
 very heart of the second rock. It is supposed that this 
 has settled as a sediment, where oil and gas formerly ex 
 isted, after exhaustion of the former. Whatever the or 
 igin, it is productive of much trouble and loss in boring. 
 
 Mr. Fox, an experienced manager and a close observer, 
 showed me numerous specimens of the inferior rocks. As 
 compared with the first, a fragment of the third sand-rock 
 at Petroleum Centre is harder, finer, and better polished, 
 somewhat resembling a whetstone ; its color is gray. 
 Among the sand brought up from the bottom were found 
 mixed black particles, as if of a carbonaceous origin. The 
 specimen also had a distinct odor of the gas which comes 
 off petroleum. 
 
 At Tideoute, on the Upper Alleghany, in sinking one 
 hundred and fifty feet, they passed through layers of earth 
 or gravel, slate, soap-stone, slate, gray sand, and white 
 sand, finding oil in a gray, pebbly conglomerate. There 
 and at West-Hickory, crevices were found, into which tools 
 often dropped and got fast. On the Lower Alleghany, it 
 is not customary to sink more than four hundred and fifty 
 or five hundred feet, and the observations are of less value. 
 One superintendent reports that below the second sand 
 stone, they usually get shale and soap-stone ; sometimes 
 beds of hard shales ; sometimes a third sand- rock is pierc 
 ed, but not often. Another states that, on or near West- 
 Sandy Creek, at the depth of five hundred and eighteen 
 feet, they went through a substance of a bright, silvery 
 appearance, which he believes to be a metal. It was very 
 hard, and the bed about nine inches thick. The gentle 
 man was evidently trustworthy, but he could only describe 
 
Physical Features, etc. 27 
 
 the substance from memory, having bored through it some 
 years ago. 
 
 The wells put down five or six years since, in several 
 cases got petroleum in the first sand-rock, their owners 
 having been led to select such spots from " surface indica 
 tions ;" that is, petroleum oozing out of the ground. The 
 famous Drake well struck oil at the depth of only sixty- 
 nine and a half feet. In only some instances did men think 
 of going down to the second rock, and in none to the third 
 till long afterward. The article found in the uppermost 
 layer is darker, thicker, heavier, and more valuable than 
 that coming from the next, as the latter is apt to be supe 
 rior to that obtained from the third "rock. On French 
 Creek, the splendid lubricating oil is got in the second se 
 ries exclusively ; the only instance in which I could hear 
 of oil having been got lower down, showing that it was of 
 the illuminating kind. But experiments, sufficient to prove 
 the existence of a general law on this subject, have not yet 
 been made ; and of all regions, Petrolia is the last where 
 a general principle can safely be inferred from particular 
 facts, Nature having apparently taken a delight in setting 
 all her own regulations at defiance. The only law which 
 can be recognized with certainty is that of lawlessness. 
 
 If people wonder that sagacious and truthful men should 
 sometimes vary so widely in their descriptions of the same 
 object or phenomenon, let it be borne in mind that few oi 
 the superintendents, and none of the drillers, however ex 
 perienced as operators, have received a regular scientific 
 training ; while professional savans have kept far too clear 
 of the oil regions, as if they dreaded to come in contact 
 with petroleum, except when their opinions were solicited 
 and paid for by interested parties. This is not all the dif- 
 
28 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 ficulty, however. The evidences of what the nether for 
 mations consist of, and what they contain, come up in the 
 sand-pump, before passing into which the matter is ground 
 fine, and being mixed with the water forms a paste or fluid. 
 Seldom is a pebble bigger than a pea brought up by the 
 ordinary process. Only when the workmen introduce 
 some extraordinary agent like the torpedo, can they cal 
 culate upon getting fragments of the rocks to furnish data 
 for observation and reflection. 
 
 For the same reason, the relation of petroleum to salt 
 water is difficult to be gathered. The two liquids have 
 been found, in almost immediate contact very generally, 
 in first, second, and third sandstones ; although it is now 
 rare to get either in considerable quantities from the first. 
 But the sand-pump coming up with a load of dissolved 
 and mixed sand and clay, brings with these and the brine 
 more or less fresh water which falls down from above, so 
 that the precise spot where a salt-spring may be reached 
 can not be ascertained. All that we know with tolerable 
 certainty is that, on passing the second layer of sandstone, 
 little by little the water begins to taste brackish ; but not 
 until the well has been " seed-bagged" and pumped for a 
 time does it reach the full degree of strength, which is 
 often equal to that of the strongest sea water. In some 
 instances, this was struck, on Oil Creek, at depths of only 
 seventy or one hundred feet. At Tideoute and West- 
 Hickory, the salt was reached, in connection with the oil, 
 at various depths between one hundred and ten and one 
 hundred and fifty feet, the rule there being no brine, no 
 petroleum. 
 
 But why this close neighborhood on the part of liquids 
 which do not mix mechanically, have no known chemical 
 
Physical Features, etc. 29 
 
 relationship, and are never found associated in either the 
 animal or vegetable world, except as traces ? It is a com 
 mon proverb that oil and water cannot be made to mingle. 
 yet Nature, in her subterranean laboratories, seems to de 
 light in setting this rule at defiance ; for while the brine 
 usually manifests itself first in order, when the pump is 
 applied, it never entirely forsakes the oil, the two clinging 
 to each other like brother and sister. They are found to 
 gether in West-Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, as well as 
 in Western Pennsylvania. 
 
 And whence the brine ? it may be asked. This ques 
 tion admits of a ready answer, and but one, by means of 
 the fossiliferous remains and impressions of marine plants 
 found in the sandstone, all going to show that every suc 
 cessive layer of it and of clay shales was formed in a 
 shallow sea, which kept sinking gradually, as the coasts of 
 certain countries are known to be doing at present. All 
 this must have been going on through an untold succes 
 sion of ages before the upheaval of that portion of the 
 American continent began, or any river had begun to 
 thread its devious course along the slight depressions. 
 Added to the above is the following remarkable fact, stat 
 ed by Mr. Ludovici, of the Humboldt Kefinery, near Plum- 
 er, a most intelligent gentleman : From one of their wells, 
 about seven hundred feet deep, was brought up a fibrous, 
 yellowish substance, closely resembling salt meadow-grass, 
 and not quite decomposed. The inference is clear that the 
 sand-beds and clay deposits, the latter of which turned to 
 shales, cracking and cleaving, as we may behold them, 
 under the influence of heat, any day, were, in their "half- 
 baked" condition, completely saturated with the salt water, 
 which remained in their seams and crevices long after the 
 
30 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 great valley had been upheaved from the ocean-bed to its 
 present elevation. 
 
 While on this subject, I may relate a curious experi 
 ment made by Mr. Morrell, who placed a quantity of pe 
 troleum and salt water in an atmospheric pump, and then 
 exhausted the air, having previously shaken the two to 
 gether, so as to mix them as perfectly as possible. The 
 result was, that the water settled to the top and bottom, the oil 
 remaining in the middle of the vessel This is the more 
 worthy of notice since it conforms to common experience 
 in the oil regions, brine coming first up in the pumps, next 
 petroleum, accompanied by gas, and lastly salt water. Why 
 this disposition in the tube ? Who can explain the cause 
 of capillary attraction? 
 
 On the geographical and geological relations of coal and 
 p etroleum, I have already made some general observations. 
 Even with the imperfect information within reach, the 
 subject has a practical bearing. It is very certain that 
 companies issuing prospectuses which intimate that because 
 coal exists on their property, therefore oil will likely be 
 reached, reckon without their hosts. The intervening 
 space between the two (from four hundred to one thousand 
 feet) is so great, and contains such an immense variety of 
 rocks, that I regard the passage of petroleum downward 
 by filtration as an impossibility. If the heavy sea water, 
 for example, existing in the second series, has in thousands 
 of years been unable to work its passage downward to the 
 ocean-level, is it to be supposed that beds so completely 
 filled with it would admit the entrance of a lighter liquid 
 from above f Fresh water, we know, is scarcely ever found 
 more than two hundred feet beneath the surface of the riv 
 ers, and never at the depth of four hundred feet, except 
 
Physical Features, etc. 31 
 
 by passing down the oil-wells. Could petroleum, still 
 lighter, have made its way through slate, hard-pan, soap- 
 stone, and all the other sedimentary formations, passing 
 through a band of stone so hard and unfractured that it 
 would seem to have been thrown like a lid upon the pre 
 cious deposit, to keep it down ? If it now bursts* its bar 
 riers with such violence upward, would it enter them by the 
 mere force of gravity ? These are not the only difficulties 
 in the way of that ready theory which traces the creation 
 of oil to the distillation of coal. A still greater difficulty 
 is to account for the existence, in such quantities, of in 
 flammable gas. Did the carbonetted hydrogen so many 
 times lighter than atmospheric air also work its passage 
 downward ? If it be replied that, in common with petro 
 leum, it was extracted from the coal at such low depths 
 by subterranean heat, applied subsequently to its depo 
 sition, I ask again : Would not this heat have decomposed 
 the water, which would have parted with its oxj^gen, and 
 thus have converted the gas into carbonic acid, which is 
 poisonous and not inflammable, instead of carbonetted hy 
 drogen, which has the very opposite qualities ? JSTo theorjr 
 is hedged in with difficulties so numerous and insuperable 
 as that which traces to the coal-fields the existence of 
 rock-oil. 
 
 But if the manifest truth be admitted, that previous to 
 the formation of our upper sedimentary rocks, an atmos 
 phere, containing its present constituents of oxygen, nitro 
 gen, carbon, and hydrogen, only in different proportions, 
 perhaps, must have enveloped our globe, it is easy to see 
 that " from the beginning," how far back soever we fix 
 that date, hydro-carbons of various kinds must have been 
 formed, whenever and wherever the temperature of the 
 
32 Physical Features, etc. 
 
 earth s surface permitted this. Whether coming into ex 
 istence, as bogs, fens, forests, and the like, to be converted 
 by pressure into coal-fields and thence distilled into petro 
 leum and gas, or whether manufactured directly by heat, 
 which might be generated by mere pressure or force as 
 the equivalent of heat, in the laboratories of nature, we 
 know nothing. One thing, however, seems probable, if 
 not certain, namely, that as coal takes us back geolo 
 gically to a carbonaceous era anterior to existing bog or 
 forest, so petroleum discloses to us another such era 
 equally anterior to coal, at least anterior to the coal found 
 on this continent. And with this hasty attempt at solving 
 what may, reasonably enough, be regarded as beyond the 
 reach of an ordinary observer, I dismiss this part of the 
 subject. 
 
 At the same time, I would most earnestly invoke men 
 of science everywhere to give it a more thorough exam 
 ination than it has hitherto received ; to come to the oil 
 regions, and remain there for weeks and months, collect 
 ing pebbles, fossils, fragments, and all other materials ob 
 tainable from the nether world. Let them spend their 
 time and labor as entbusiastic explorers of truth, not with 
 a view to lend their names to this or that Mammoth Gas 
 Bubble Company, for a consideration in dollars or dollars 
 worth, thus fastening a stigma upon science, as indolent 
 and behind the age, while it panders to deception, if not 
 by misrepresenting some facts, at least by a studied con 
 cealment of others. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY THE CLIMATE CHARAC 
 TERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 THE oil region of Pennsylvania is entered at four 
 principal points, which may be termed the natural gate 
 ways of the country. Two of these the Alleghany River 
 affords, it being navigable on the south from Pittsburgh, 
 and (occasionally) on the north from Irvine, on the line of 
 the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad. Rafts and flat-bot 
 tomed boats, indeed, come down from much higher points 
 during spring and autumn. While a considerable propor 
 tion of the imports come by way of Pittsburgh, and large 
 quantities of petroleum, both crude and refined, are daily 
 sent down to that city, the great volume of travel to and 
 fro passes by railroad. The Atlantic and Great Western 
 Railway proceeds in a direction nearly parallel with Oil 
 Creek, and at the average distance of about thirty miles, 
 to the westward. The points affording communication 
 with this trunk-line are Corry and Meadville, about forty 
 miles apart, the former also touching the Philadelphia and 
 Erie, now operated, under a lease, by the Pennsylvania 
 Central Company. 
 
 Taking the cars of the Oil Creek Railroad at Corry, the 
 passenger is apt to find himself inconveniently packed by 
 the way, and may not, indeed, be able to procure admis- 
 2* 
 
34: Appearance of the Country, etc. 
 
 sion further tlian the platform, feeling only too happy 
 that he is not among the disappointed company who have 
 been left behind. After traversing an upward grade for 
 a few miles and the table-land beyond, he finds the road 
 entering a branch of the famous Oil Creek. Passing near 
 Oil Lake and the village stations of Centreville and Hyde- 
 town, he at length reaches Titusville, distant twenty- 
 eight miles, the two hours ride costing only one dollar. 
 At the depot he may bid adieu to cheap fares, good beds, 
 clean sheets, and other characteristics of civilization u in 
 the States." 
 
 From Titusville the railroad proceeds down the valley 
 to Shaffer s Station, nearly eight miles ; but most of the 
 passengers stop off at the former, it being the business 
 centre of the upper end of Petrolia, and the point from 
 which future operations of any kind can best be carried on. 
 
 The other gateway is Meadville, from which a branch 
 railroad has been built by the Atlantic and Great Western 
 Company to Franklin, twenty-seven miles, and thence to 
 Oil City, seven miles further, the latter section under the 
 charter of the Oil Creek Eailroad Company. Between 
 Meadville and Franklin this route follows the eastern 
 bank of French Creek ; and from Franklin to Oil City, 
 the south-western bank of the Alleghany. Around Mead 
 ville, which is very pleasantly situated among the hills, 
 and nearly all the way to Franklin, the country has been 
 cleared and is under cultivation. The bottom-lands, 
 though here and there washed away by recent floods, are 
 as inviting in quality as the prices of farm produce are 
 tempting in amount. The uplands have also been much 
 more generally reclaimed along this line than on that be 
 tween Corry and Titusville. The line of the Philadelphia 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 35 
 
 and Erie, from Cony to Irvine, may be regarded as a 
 medium between the other two. In general, it may be 
 observed that the wide distribution of boulder-stones over 
 the surface, and the difficulty of ascent and descent of the 
 uplands, constitute more formidable impediments to farm 
 ing than the cold or tenacious nature of the soil. On 
 some of the uplands or slopes, thirty bushels of wheat, and 
 more than twice that quantity of corn to the acre, have 
 been raised. 
 
 At either Titusville or Oil City the stranger finds him 
 self in a new world, this impression being no way lessened 
 by hearing others speak about the latest news from "the 
 States," or returning to them. This change addresses it 
 self to every sense. The objects which he is too apt to 
 touch, in spite of all precautions, have a greasy, clammy 
 feel His nostrils are assailed by gaseous odors, such as 
 they probably never before inhaled in the open air. Into 
 his ears is continually poured a stream of speech, in a dia 
 lect essentially different from that taught in Webster or 
 Worcester. Such phrases as " surface indications," " dry 
 territory," " developed territory," " oil-smeller," with the 
 names of a dozen implements unknown to the outside 
 world, all uttered with earnestness and volubility, at once 
 set his half-bewildered wits at work in quest of their 
 meaning. He tastes petroleum and salt water, of course, 
 to satisfy his curiosity or acquire information of their 
 qualities. Then he sees what does he not see, in the line 
 of novelties ? tall derricks and huge tanks standing on 
 side-walks or in gardens ; engines running and walking- 
 beams moving sedately up and down in the midst of what 
 remain of the original forests ; drilling apparatus at work ; 
 immense flat-boats or rafts floating down-stream with the 
 
36 Appearance of the Country, etc. 
 
 current, or drawn upward by three or four horses abreast, 
 plunging along the bed of the creek or river. If the wea 
 ther be cold, these poor creatures will be seen not only 
 straining their muscles with desperation, as the inhuman 
 driver applies the lash, but with their manes, tails, and 
 sides thickly incrusted with ice, formed from the water 
 splashed up, as they stumbled in the river-bed. If it be 
 later in the season, he may behold a mile in length of 
 boats rushing violently down-stream, that being the day 
 when an artificial freshet has been made for this purpose 
 by the opening of dams in the upper part of Oil Creek. 
 As preliminary to all these novel spectacles, he has been 
 treated to the filthy streets and wooden side-walks of Cor- 
 ry, Titusville, and Oil City, the last bearing away the palm 
 in point of disarray and disgust. He has also been made 
 acquainted with the luxuries of hotel life, especially in 
 regard to sleeping accommodations, with from four to ten 
 straw beds in a single room, each tenanted by one, two, or 
 three sufferers, according to the pressure exercised by the 
 travelling public. On the parlor floors he has learned to 
 become reconciled to an inch deep of mud or dust, while 
 leathery beefsteaks are no longer regarded with contempt ; 
 for with its many disadvantages, Petrolia has the one 
 transcendent merit of creating a vigorous appetite. 
 
 With very little loss of time he takes to exploring the 
 valley. I shall assume that he begins with the region 
 back of Titusville, that Pennsylvania Venice, arising out 
 of the mud, which in April is still sufficiently deep and 
 liquid to float a whole navy of gondolas. If the side 
 walks are a little uneven, let them not be despised ; for 
 the time is coming when a single plank will elicit an out 
 burst of welcome, as a god-send. Then there is Oil City, 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 37 
 
 at the mere mention of which, Titusville is transformed 
 into a capital with all the charms of Dublin or the neat 
 ness of Philadelphia. In the heart of that borough he 
 finds large hotels or caravansaries by the half-dozen, and 
 as many more in course of erection. On every hand new 
 houses are rising under the incessant blows of the carpen 
 ter s hammer. At morning, mid-day, and evening, the 
 screams of steam-whistles at the various machine-shops, 
 foundries, and refineries, are painfully long and loud. In 
 the various houses or sheds thrown up on the principal 
 streets, where lots sell at New- York City prices, he finds 
 whole platoons of land agents, lawyers, speculators, the 
 agents of merchants and manufacturers, whose wares are 
 likely to be in demand there, " drummers " of all kinds 
 and from all parts of the country. He can hardly turn 
 a corner without being " drilled to the third rock " by a 
 pair of keen, inquisitive eyes, followed by the inquiry : 
 "Do you wish some first-rate oil territory, sir?" "I 
 would like to sell you a fourth interest in a fifty-barrel 
 well." " Can t I furnish you with Jones s new patent 
 blower or an Excelsior steam-engine ?" In the midst of 
 such interrogatories, it is gratifying to learn that Mr. 
 Smith yesterday " struck " a two hundred barrel well on 
 Cherry Kun, and that Mr. Brown s has doubled its yield 
 since he had it "reamed " out and that new "blower" 
 put in. 
 
 Determined, however, on piercing the heart of the coun 
 try, he hires a horse at ten dollars per day, and sets out 
 on his pilgrimage down the valley. Immediately below 
 Titusville, and above the confluence of the east and west 
 branches of Oil Creek, he enters the celebrated "Watson 
 flats, a short distance beyond which he observes the der 
 
38 Appearance of the Country, etc. 
 
 rick of Colonel Drake, erected in 1859, the first work of 
 the kind in Petrolia. More than one hundred others, new 
 and old, may now be counted within one mile of Titus- 
 ville, especially near the point of confluence. Every thing 
 betokens disorder, disarray, indifference to all except the 
 one grand object of pursuit. There are no roads, no 
 fences, and scarcely laws or regulations, except a few laid 
 down in the leases or imposed by common consent. In a 
 place where seemingly meum and tuum are confounded ; 
 where every man appears to act for the day, regardless of 
 the morrow, one might reasonably suppose that violence and 
 even bloodshed would be matters of almost hourly occur 
 rence. So far from this, however, I am happy to say that 
 there is probably no place in Christendom where human 
 life is safer, and less danger to " portable property " exists, 
 except from freshets and extravagant charges, than in and 
 around Titusville. 
 
 Proceeding down the creek, where one s best road, off 
 the railway, is the uneven bottom of that impetuous 
 stream, the valley is found to grow quite narrow barely 
 one hundred yards from bluff to bluff. On the heights, 
 overhanging the railroad and creek, where heavy forests 
 of pine, hemlock, or white oak once grew, little now, save 
 brushwood and stumps with long, horizontal lines of shale 
 and sandstone behind are visible, the scene being here and 
 there diversified by a small unpainted cabin, or by the 
 ubiquitous derrick. Between the precipitous heights the 
 creek describes numerous sinuosities, always apparently 
 butting its head with full force against the steepest banks ; 
 in reality having made them such by dashing with such 
 impetuosity against the rocks underneath. 
 
 Here, as well as higher up, one meets tall gentlemen, 
 
Appearance of the Country ^ etc. 39 
 
 encased install, shining boots, or what were such in their 
 primitive state ; wearing tall, black coats, tall, black beards, 
 and carrying tall, black valises. They are adventurers, 
 in search of lands, appointments, interests in wells, or in 
 dividuals, whom they can sell and deliver equally with 
 their property. 
 
 For the five or six miles immediately below the Watson 
 flats, little boring has been done ten or a dozen wells to 
 the mile or so. - The section is pronounced " dry terri 
 tory." At Miller s farm or station symptoms of more 
 activity are manifest ; and at Shaffer s, where the railroad 
 terminates, a cluster of hotels and another of shipping- 
 offices have sprung up. To that point boats, filled with 
 petroleum, in bulk or in barrels, are dragged up-stream at 
 nearly all seasons. The arrangements for unloading this 
 from the boats, hoisting it (by means of horse-power) to 
 the top of a high trestle-work, and thence conveying it to 
 the extensive sheds which adjoin the railroad, are exten 
 sive and well adapted to the purpose. The only draw 
 back to the whole is the cruel treatment of the horse, 
 whose lot has been made worse by the great discovery, 
 though its benefits have been felt by whales disporting 
 themselves in the Arctic seas. One s first impulse is to 
 curse me day petroleum was first discovered, and to knock 
 down the barbarians by whom the task of applying the 
 lash has been voluntarily accepted. 
 
 Beyond Shaffer s the nearly level bottoms begin to 
 widen, affording the creek more abundant space for its 
 frequent gyrations. Each of the half-moon flats beyond 
 has a distinct name, usually given it after that of the for 
 mer proprietor, in connection with the farm lying imme 
 diately above and behind. Every flat has also its sys- 
 
4:0 Appearance of the Country , etc. 
 
 tern of derricks, and, in general, characteristics of its own 
 distinguishing it from those above and below. In passing 
 downward the derricks will be seen to hug the bluffs more 
 closely, and even to climb them, in places, to the height 
 of one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet. For about 
 midway between Titusville and Oil City the stranger has 
 entered the great heart of the oil region, where the Sher 
 man, the Noble, the Empire, the Craft, the "Wild-cat, the 
 Jersey, the Coquette, and other famous wells were former 
 ly, or are now, wont to discharge (by flowing) their hun 
 dreds of barrels per day. Each of these famous producers 
 has its own street or block of black, dirty, greasy tanks, 
 from two or three to ten or twelve in number, with an 
 aggregate capacity of between five thousand and fifteen 
 thousand barrels. Most of these are roofed over and lo 
 cated close to the creek, with a view to easy loading in 
 the barges. From their bottoms exude streams of the 
 dark green liquid, which crawls along by slimy paths to 
 the creek, covering its entire surface with a film of petro 
 leum. Many barrels of it thus escape every day, to the 
 deep regret of the looker-on, who wishes he had the facil 
 ities, with the right to use them, for preventing such a 
 waste. With a clear sky overhead, the different hues formed 
 by this " oil cast upon the troubled waters " are exceed 
 ingly delicate and beautiful, and can hardly have failed 
 to suggest the extraction of certain rich and rare colors, as 
 analine, from this wonderful product. 
 
 On every farm henceforward is a village, bearing the 
 farm name, or the affix " ville " as a substitute. The 
 names and the settlements are, indeed, about equally out 
 landish. If the one be prosy, the other is slatternly, in 
 muddy weather indescribably so. Thus, within the space 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 41 
 
 of ten miles, we have the names of "Funkville," "Me- 
 Clintockville," " Tarr Farm," " Kouseville," " Khind 
 Farm," as well as other places of less repute. " Petroleum 
 Centre," as it has a decent name, has a pretty situation, a 
 good bridge, and is laid out with some degree of regular 
 ity. But as its site is the prettiest, so the naming of it 
 would seem to have absorbed all the poetry in the valley. 
 The village usually consists of a number of oil companies 
 offices, about twice as many boarding-houses, perhaps a 
 school-house, where religious services are held occasionally 
 on Sundays, a hotel or two with their wonted accommo 
 dations, in the shape of sitting-rooms and bed-rooms, for 
 which the modest price of three to four dollars per day is 
 charged. In Kouseville, Plumer, and one or two other 
 points, banks have been established. Post-offices abound, 
 nearly every farm having one ; and the telegraph extends 
 to every nook and corner in the country as fast as a good 
 well is struck. The number of houses in these villages 
 or hamlets ranges from ten to fifty, and the population, 
 exclusive of strangers and pilgrims, from one hundred to 
 eight hundred. The houses are built of weather-boards 
 and strips only, being guiltless of paint on the outside or 
 of lath and plaster within. On some farms the streets are 
 laid out with a fair degree of order, and the more elevated 
 spots are selected ; in others, the law of lawlessness pre 
 vails, and a goodly number got immersed in the late 
 freshet. As to drainage, fencing, shrubbery, or gardening, 
 these are all in the future tense and conditional mood. 
 Once, and only once, I did notice a discharged soldier en 
 gaged in planting a little grass-plot in front of his cabin. 
 Probably one half the engineers and laborers sleep in 
 cribs attached to the engine-houses, and some even cook 
 
42 Appearance of the Country , etc. 
 
 their own meals there, in order to escape a charge of seven 
 or eight dollars per week for board and the coarse accom 
 modations had in the boarding-houses. If there is one 
 cow in that part of Petrolia, she escaped my observation. 
 Even the dog-tribe are far from being numerous. 
 
 Nearly every mile along the lower part of the valley, 
 a " run " discharges its waters into the creek, running at 
 the bottom of a ravine, more or less deep and wide, ac 
 cording to the volume of its waters. The principal of 
 these entering from the east are Bull Eun and Cherry 
 Kun, (the latter at Eouseville, three miles above Oil City.) 
 On the west side are Bennehoof, Cherry tree, and Corn- 
 planter Runs. On Cherry Eun, however, are more works 
 than on all the other tributaries of the creek ; while in 
 point of productiveness it disputes with Oil Creek the 
 claim of supremacy. At its mouth, and for some miles 
 above, the derricks stand as thickly as the masts of ship 
 ping in the East Eiver, at New-York. They evidently 
 mean to dispute possession of the uplands with the squat 
 ter sovereigns. 
 
 One of the most remarkable" phenomena of the valley 
 is the large proportion of idle wells in some localities 
 at least nine tenths, and in the most active three fourths. 
 The visitor will hear various reasons assigned for this un 
 expected idleness reasons which I propose to discuss 
 elsewhere, contenting myself for the present with noticing 
 the fact. 
 
 The highway is coextensive with the bottom ; and if 
 that be not found sufficiently capacious, the traveller is at 
 full liberty to annex a portion of the bluff or table-land. 
 As the soil is clayey, and as it rains every other day, dur 
 ing the spring months, while literally no attention is paid 
 
Appearance of the Country r , etc. 43 
 
 to the roads, (so-called,) the reader will please fill up the 
 picture, as to travelling facilities, to suit his own taste. If 
 to the sticky paste be added wriggling rivulets of water, 
 coated with grease, settling in numerous basins or pud 
 dles, across which one has to work his passage, by leaping 
 from prostrated tree-stem to stump, plank, rail, iron tube, 
 stone, old boiler, walking-beam, or whatever other object 
 he can reach these operations being accompanied by an 
 occasional downfall, and a frequent splash of mud and 
 oil up to the hat perhaps the indescribable enjoyments 
 of a foot-march through Petrolia may be conceived. But 
 I had almost forgotten that the stranger who has been 
 thus far conducted through the country is supposed to be 
 a gay cavalier, not " doing " the region on his own nethei 
 extremities. 
 
 As if to afford frequent opportunities to wash and be 
 clean, the creek cuts across the highway, that is, the val 
 ley, every half-mile or mile. The horse can ford it with 
 out trouble ; but for the humble pedestrian there is no 
 means of crossing save by a ferry-boat or rope-ferry, 
 where the toll is five cents for each trip. These " institu 
 tions" are chartered under authority of the State, to whose 
 treasury each pays an annual tax of ten dollars. For this 
 paltry sum he secures a monopoly for a long distance 
 above and below ; and as it sometimes happens that, af 
 ter a good well has been struck, a new ferry must be 
 started, it becomes necessary to pay Charon No. 1 a " roy 
 alty " of so much on every passenger transported a dis 
 tance of seventy-five feet ! I fully agree with the obser 
 vation made by one of these boatmen, that he would not 
 exchange his skiff for a good oil-well. 
 
 Added to the natural disorder prevalent in the oil re- 
 
4:4: Appearance of the Country, etc. 
 
 gions, are the wrecks produced by the great freshet of this 
 spring, the most destructive that ever visited any portion 
 of the Northern States. It not only swept down the 
 river numbers of houses and immense quantities of pe 
 troleum, but deposited all along the low lands fragments 
 of boats, dwellings, engine-houses, furniture, fuel; over 
 turning derricks, carrying off wooden platforms laden 
 with engines, and hurling the whole with resistless force 
 against bridges, which shared the common fate. The 
 side-walks in Oil City have been left wherever the capri 
 cious element chose to deposit them ; a huge flat-bottomed 
 boat was dropped in the principal street ; dwellings and 
 factories were lifted from their foundations, and moved 
 hither or thither perhaps to encroach on the thorough 
 fares, perhaps to stand at a different angle to them. With 
 in half a mile of the built-up portion of that u city," 
 boasting of its burgess and council, the carcasses of no 
 fewer than twenty horses, which had perished during the 
 flood, were suffered to lie unburied nearly a full month, 
 and may be perfuming the atmosphere to this very day ! 
 
 Oil refineries, belching forth clouds of black smoke, or 
 (as is quite common) lying idle, form one of the features 
 in the landscape of those valleys. They are for the most 
 part small establishments, each with a capacity not ex 
 ceeding three hundred barrels per week. The mode of 
 treating petroleum, so as to prepare it for use, is explained 
 in another chapter. 
 
 The stranger will quickly master the difference between 
 wells in progress and those completed. The engine- 
 houses and derricks of the one are comparatively clean 
 and white ; after striking oil, however, they get coated 
 with the universal pigment, and turn as black as the 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 45 
 
 smoke rolling out of the chimneys. Men s clothes are, 
 of course, in keeping with the general scene. Water 
 proofs are made without cost in Petrolia. 
 
 The various tributaries of Oil Creek, and the Upper 
 Alleghany, are too small and rapid to afford facilities for 
 boating ; hence, the oil has to be conveyed -by wagons, 
 which are hauled over roads, whose equals exist no 
 where else. Formed originally by the teamsters to suit 
 their own convenience, they are kept in order only by 
 the debris which is washed down from the heights, and 
 remain floating masses of slush, huge fragments of rock 
 filling more or less of their unfathomable depths. It 
 would appear that the only conceivable way of mending 
 their ways in Petrolia was to apply fresh curses and kicks 
 to the poor horses. 
 
 Arriving at that perfection of filth and disorder, Oil 
 City, the visitor finds a newly extemporized borough, a 
 mile and a half in length, which hugs the base of the 
 heights west of Oil Creek ; then crosses it, and pushes 
 up the face of the eastern slope for one hundred and fifty 
 feet, where at length it begins to expand itself, as if con 
 scious that it can do so safely for the first time. The view 
 presented from " Cottage Hill " is certainly picturesque, 
 and the contrast presented between that charming spot 
 and the slovenly avenue beneath cannot fail to make a 
 profound impression. The noble Alleghany, three hun 
 dred yards wide, sweeping along the bases of the hills, 
 and receiving, not only its tributes of numerous creeks, 
 with their many-colored waters, but scores of barges, 
 steamboats, and other vessels, constitutes a most attractive 
 part of the scene, the effect perhaps heightened by the 
 physical lawlessness of the lower city. In the distance 
 
46 Appearance of the Gounfoy, etc. 
 
 
 round-shouldered and pyramidal hills, their angles and 
 
 terraces standing -out sharply, constitute a grand back 
 ground to the picture. 
 
 Up and down the Alleghany for about twenty miles ; 
 along French, and Sugar Creeks for half that distance, as 
 also along the various tributaries of all those waters, with 
 in the distance stated, the scene is similar to Oil Creek, 
 though mostly in a less marked degree. 
 
 THE CHIEF TOWNS. 
 
 The principal centres of population and business in 
 Petrolia are the following : 
 
 Corry, situated at the point where the Atlantic and 
 Great "Western Eailroad intersects the Philadelphia and 
 Erie, and where the Oil Creek line terminates, is a thriv 
 ing village, containing between three thousand and four 
 thousand inhabitants. Half a dozen years ago it had nei 
 ther a local habitation nor a name, and scarcely as many 
 log-huts in the heavy forests. Indeed, it is still literally 
 " in the woods," the valuable portions of which have alone 
 disappeared, leaving the stumps and roots standing in the 
 principal thoroughfares. Corry is pleasantly situated, is 
 regularly laid out, and is fast becoming a prominent busi 
 ness point. The establishment of the Downer oil-refinery 
 there, (the largest in that region,) by some sagacious men 
 from Boston, gave the place a great impetus, which prom 
 ises to continue for some time. Ordinary sized lots on 
 the principal street sell at from two thousand to three 
 thousand dollars each. In no part of the country are 
 more new houses in progress. Corry contains two banks, 
 four churches, one respectable hotel, public schools, 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 47 
 
 a lecture- room, (in which poor concerts draw better than 
 lectures,) a newspaper-office, from -which a weekly inde 
 pendent journal (The Telegraph) is issued. In its popula 
 tion the Eastern element predominates. 
 
 Titusvitte, named after one of the early settlers in that 
 valley, contained about one hundred and fifty inhabitants 
 before the oil excitement ; it now contains probably five 
 thousand, besides a considerable floating element. It has 
 four or five refineries, barrel-factories, machine-shops, and 
 foundries, (the whole employing nearly five hundred 
 men ;) also two banks, the usual assortment of churches, 
 (which appear to well sustained,) a theatre, and a large 
 number of hotels. The only newspaper issued is a week 
 ly, (The Reporter,) which is independent in politics, and 
 conducted with spirit. The proprietors contemplate the 
 establishment of a daily shortly. The situation of Titus- 
 ville is too level and low to be e*asily drained ; and in fact 
 the attempt would seem to have been given up. % The 
 place is regularly laid out, however, and the outskirts are 
 decidedly attractive. Population orderly, enterprising, 
 and largely on the increase. The derrick is already be 
 ginning to make inroads on the gardens. If successful 
 in the search after oil, there is no telling to what figure 
 the price of lots will advance. Already they are higher 
 than in Corry. 
 
 As Oil City has the most disgusting name in all Petro- 
 lia, so every thing else is in keeping therewith. One of 
 its first and best sustained institutions was a race-course, 
 laid out 1 on the summit of the highest hill, " for improving 
 the breed of horses;" while those wretched quadrupeds 
 were left to flounder, lie down, and die on the horrid 
 thoroughfares, termed streets, below. Folly kills itself ; 
 
48 Appearance, of the Country, etc. 
 
 for, except on Cottage Hill, the place has almost ceased to 
 grow. Even with the extension of the railroad thither, 
 it is " a finished town." Population, about five thousand, 
 besides a thousand or two of floating elements. Oil City 
 has two banks, half a dozen hotels, ten oil refineries, four 
 or five churches, (including those in progress,) and a pub 
 lic school building, nearly completed. Two weekly news 
 papers, representing the great political parties, are printed 
 there. The creek at Oil City is about sixty yards wide, 
 and is crossed by a trembling structure, termed a bridge, 
 which the authorities permitted a company to erect on the 
 foundations of the one swept away, charging five cents 
 for the privilege of crossing ! The creek divides Oil City 
 into two nearly equally large sections ; though that on its 
 western side is more populous. A suburb is rising on the 
 opposite bank of the Alleghany, which is connected with 
 " the city " by two rope-ferries. The place is altogether 
 a neur creation. An interesting fact in connection with 
 it is, that an Indian tribe has recently put in a claim for 
 the ownership of two thirds of its site, which, it is asserted, 
 was granted by the State to " Cornplanter, a noted chief 
 of the Senecas, about thirty years ago. The matter is 
 about to be litigated. 
 
 Franklin is situated at the mouth of French Creek, 
 seven miles below Oil City, and contains nearly three 
 thousand inhabitants, besides a large ingredient of " drift." 
 Its site is on the whole pleasant, and the streets are spa 
 cious and regularly laid out. Having been a county-seat 
 before the era of petroleum, its public buildings (court 
 house, churches, etc.) are more substantial than either 
 stylish or outlandish. ISTew churches and public schools, 
 both spacious and elegant, are among the improvements 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 49 
 
 contemplated at an early day. At different points in the 
 village derricks have arisen ; but many of them are now 
 idle, and withal far from being attractive objects. Frank 
 lin is situated on the south-west side of French Creek, 
 which is there one hundred yards broad. The lower 
 bridge crossing it was carried away by the flood ; but the 
 magnificent suspension bridge across the Alleghany es 
 caped. Franklin has two weekly newspapers, which ap 
 pear to be well supported. The bulk of its popu""ation 
 still belong to the old stock of settlers. Exceptiag a bar 
 rel-factory, and some small oil refineries, (on the other side 
 of the creek,) the manufactures of the place are of little 
 account. As a distributing point, it ranks next in im 
 portance to the places already noticed. 
 
 Franklin boasts of an antiquity of a full century. The 
 point below the confluence of the river and creek was 
 selected by the French for the site of one of their chain 
 of forts connecting their Canadian possessions with Louis 
 iana ; but of that work not a trace is now visible. In 
 1754, General Montcalm visited the place, and in his re 
 port of it took occasion to describe the war-dances and 
 religious worship of the aborigines. Among other mat 
 ters he refers to their mixing oil, gathered from the neigh 
 boring creek, with their war-paint ; also to their use of it 
 in sacrifices, kindling it with torches, at the sight of which 
 they set up a shout that made the valleys ring. Strange 
 that a whole century should have elapsed before the pale 
 face set up his shout over the discovery. 
 
 Meadvitte is the largest, prettiest, and most cultivated 
 place in the oil regions, having between eight thousand 
 and nine thousand inhabitants. Its situation on a trib 
 utary of French Creek, surrounded by gently swelling 
 3 
 
50 Appearance of the Country, etc. 
 
 and well-cultivated hills, is equally healthy and attractive. 
 Meadville is noted as a seat of learning, having, besides an 
 excellent system of public schools, two colleges, one (Al- 
 leghany) belonging to the Methodist, and the other (a theo 
 logical school) to the Unitarian denomination. The open 
 ing of the Atlantic and Great Western Kailway has con 
 tributed greatly to the progress of that place ; and it de 
 rives a portion of its prosperity from Petrolia, though 
 twenty miles west of the field of operations. Three week 
 ly newspapers are printed there, and the Eailway Hotel 
 claims to be the best in the world. 
 
 Warren, like Corry and Meadville, lies on the outskirts 
 of the oil region, being about fifty miles above Oil City 
 by river. Navigation, however, is open only to Irvine, 
 and that after a rise of water. Warren is an old county 
 town, on the line of the Philadelphia and Erie Kailroad, 
 and contains nearly twenty-five hundred inhabitants, with 
 the usual public buildings and newspapers. It has just 
 begun to feel sensibly the ground-swell of the petroleum 
 development. A number of wells are in progress near 
 Warren, and, if successful, it will leap upward like Corry 
 or Titusville. Irvine is an unpretending railroad station, 
 seven miles below Warren, with a well-kept hotel, and 
 two or three small factories. 
 
 Tideoute is an old village, or rather two villages joined 
 together, pleasantly situated on the west bank of the Al- 
 leghany, fourteen miles below Irvine. It has two church 
 es, hotels, barrel-factories, and about two thousand inhab 
 itants. The famous Economy wells lie on the opposite 
 side of the river. 
 
 Tionesta is a growing village, with perhaps five hun 
 dred inhabitants, about ten miles below Tideoute. It is 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 51 
 
 situated on the east side of the river, at the mouth of 
 Tionesta Creek. East and "West-Hickory are incipient 
 villages higher up-stream, as is President lower down on 
 the Alleghany. All these have their groups of wells 
 completed or going down ; and may be said to have been 
 called into existence by the discovery of petroleum. 
 
 THE CLIMATE 
 
 of that section of Pennsylvania is a subject of universal 
 complaint in the spring season, when it is certain, the in 
 habitants say, to rain at least every other day. There is 
 a good deal of truth in this remark. From the middle of 
 March till the latter part of April, there were never three 
 consecutive days, and seldom two, without rain or snow 
 falling. As throughout the whole Mississippi valley, the 
 prevailing winds are from the cardinal points, the south 
 and east gales being hot and moist in other words, 
 bringing thither from the Atlantic and the Mexican Gulf 
 the moisture-laden vapors, which, upon being struck by 
 dry, cold, currents from the north and west, give out their 
 superabundant moisture in the form of rain, hail, snow, 
 etc., according to the season. The atmospheric current 
 preceding such a visitation is invariably succeeded by one 
 blowing from the opposite direction, except where it is 
 deflected from its course by mountains or waters. In fact, 
 it would appear as if the precipitation of rain were di 
 rectly due to two currents blowing in contrary directions 
 at the same time the lower from the south or east, and 
 the higher from the north or west, and that with the gra 
 dual descent of the former toward the earth s surface the 
 wringing-out process in the latter took place, thus creating 
 a vacuum, into which a fresh gale rushes from the ocean. 
 
52 Appearance of the Country, etc. 
 
 The dry, magnetic winds from the interior would soon 
 lick up the moisture not carried off by the streams, were 
 it not for puddling of the surface to so great a depth by 
 animals and vehicles. These general observations extend 
 to the entire heart of the continent, as well as to the oil 
 region of Pennsylvania. 
 
 In the latter, however, a local influence -exists, such as 
 is not so sensibly felt further westward and southward. At 
 the lower end of Lake Erie, large quantities of ice remain 
 long after the Western rivers, and even the upper portion 
 of that lake, have been cleared. The hot, moist winds 
 from the Atlantic naturally make for the lower end of the 
 lake, where they assist in thawing the ice ; but in so doing 
 are themselves wrung out by coming in contact with the 
 belt of cold atmosphere immediately above it. Hence 
 those frequent changes in the direction of the winds at 
 that season, the numerous rainy days or parts of days, not 
 making, in the aggregate, perhaps more inches of water 
 than elsewhere under the same latitude ; but coming at 
 short notice, and upsetting calculations, make living there 
 more unpleasant than it otherwise would be. One interest 
 alone, the hotel-keepers, reap large profits from this dis 
 pensation ; while the servants are oppressed with double 
 duty if they attempt to preserve cleanliness in spite of 
 muddy boots, muddy clothing, muddy luggage. If it be 
 true that every man must eat his peck of dirt some time, 
 in no other region is there an opportunity for dispatching 
 this task so hastily as in Petrolia. 
 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 That man should be superior to his accidents is, we are 
 told, the fundamental principle of true democracy. On 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 53 
 
 the whole, the Petrolians are superior to their surround 
 ings or circumstances. It takes time, however, to study 
 their good and less good points of character. The stran 
 ger who visits that country in quest of fortune or infor 
 mation, is apt to form erroneous conclusions respecting 
 them, the first few days. At the principal gateways lead 
 ing thither, he is certain to encounter a class different from 
 the great body of operators in the valleys. The former 
 consist largely of hangers-on about hotels and boarding- 
 houses, who are in quest of victims ; of roystering, blas 
 phemous teamsters and boatmen ; of disappointed fortune- 
 hunters, preparing to return home, and having a very low 
 estimate of life and manners in Oildom. Everywhere he 
 finds exorbitant charges, without an apparent disposition 
 to oblige. If he be a religious man, he will be hourly 
 shocked by profanity ; if a humane man, at the brutality 
 with which the lower animals are treated ; if a man of 
 generous instincts, at^the intense selfishness, the sordid love 
 of gain, so widely prevalent ; if a man of taste and culture, 
 at the outlandish condition of the houses and the streets, 
 with the indifference of the people toward intellectual pur 
 suits, beyond the immediately practical. If he proposes 
 to introduce any other topic of conversation beyond the 
 never-ending, still-beginning themes of oil and war, oil and 
 politics, he will presently find his company thinning out. 
 Ten minutes loud conversation on philosophy, literature, 
 science, or religion would give him full command of a 
 parlor, or even a bar-room. For the inhabitants of those 
 large towns removed thither to make money, and do not 
 mean to be turned aside from the one grand object of 
 existence. 
 It would be wrong, however*to judge the entire popu- 
 
54: Appearance of the Country r , etc. 
 
 lation by this ingredient. Nay, (in Titusville,) I met one 
 saloon-keeper who keeps up his old reading habits. Hav 
 ing pierced the crust of mere adventurers, speculators, and 
 peculators, bespattered men and dowdy women, let the 
 visitor traverse " the rural districts," and he will discover 
 intelligence, refinement, even generosity. As a class, the 
 superintendents of the large companies are gentlemen of 
 culture, who would adorn any society. Not a few of them 
 were commissioned officers in their country s service, who 
 have gained honorable distinction ; some were conductors 
 of newspapers, who have carried with them to that solitude 
 their abundant knowledge of men and measures appertain 
 ing to the outside world. They are ready, at all reason 
 able times, to impart useful information, and the observa 
 tions gathered by this body of officials ought to be regarded 
 as treasures of no ordinary value. 
 
 And in point of kindness of heart and readiness to 
 oblige, the engineers, drillers, and others engaged about 
 the works will compare favorably with any other body of 
 men I have ever seen. "Where they could not give the 
 trustworthy information sought, they were ever ready to 
 put me on the trail after it. Of hoggishness, or a deliber 
 ate purpose to deceive, not one in fifty could be justly 
 charged. Can the outside world produce a cleaner record ? 
 
 Not that any class of employes are perfect in every re~ 
 spect. The officers are supposed to comprehend clearly 
 more than one mode of raising gas as well as oil ; and in 
 many instances, I fear, are too ready to wink at the bad 
 schemes of stock-jobbers and speculators, if not to lend 
 them active support. A kind of lax morality prevails that 
 misrepresentation is, if not justifiable, at least excusable, 
 when committed in the interest of one s employers. Hence 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 55 
 
 the vast exaggeration in the yield of wells, and the studied 
 concealment of facts that would injure the sale of stocks 
 or interests at fictitious prices. The Spartan law, as a so 
 cial regulation, is still too generally obeyed ; for most of 
 us chuckle when we hear of a dishonest operation, provid 
 ed the performer has been smart and successful in his 
 Stratagems to pick other persons pockets. 
 
 No community on the face of the earth has a smaller 
 proportion of drones to the number of working bees than 
 Petrolia, This observation applies to city, village, and 
 single shanty. Nobody but has a hand engaged in some 
 business or pursuit ; many in half a dozen. If a man be 
 takes himself to mercantile life, he reckons upon giving it 
 from twelve to fifteen hours per day, filling up his leisure 
 moments with speculation or an agency. The young fel 
 low who would stand at the street-corners elsewhere, there 
 kills two birds with one stone by offering to sell wells, or 
 interests in wells, or leases, or refusals to those whom he 
 can button-hole. If Satan found mischief only for the 
 idle, his occupation would be gone in the oil region. Per 
 haps the high cost of living has impelled the slothful as 
 well as the diligent to this remarkable activity, but it seems 
 to be an admitted principle on all hands that people have 
 gone thither to work. On this account, the country is es 
 sentially orderly. Property as well as life is more secure 
 than in anj* Eastern city. Even drunkenness is by no 
 means as common as might be expected, in view of the 
 rough-and-tumble modes of life prevalent. I have seen 
 less of it in Oil City or Titusville than in country towns 
 of the same size elsewhere. Yet I do not believe that one 
 man in fifty is a member of the temperance association. 
 It is said that the vice of drinking prevails to a consider- 
 
56 Appearance of the Country, etc. 
 
 able extent on Sundays on some of the farms, but the 
 wonder is that it should not have become universal. 
 
 Last fall, intense excitement prevailed near Oil City, 
 caused by the dead body of a resident having been found 
 close by it. He had been murdered in open day. An 
 indignation meeting held appointed a vigilance committee, 
 and the whole population joining in chase of the crim 
 inals, they hastily decamped. It is supposed they were 
 part of a gang from the East, who expected to " operate" 
 in Petrolia as some of them had done in California. 
 
 During the first three or four years of the oil excitement, 
 little respect was shown to the first day of the week, and 
 few attempts at establishing Christian worship were made 
 outside the focal points. The flowing wells poured out 
 their wealth on that day as on the remaining six, -and the 
 pumps copied, as far as possible, after the others example ; 
 so the people pumped, and barrelled; and drove, and ship 
 ped petroleum on Sunday as well as Saturday. Man lives 
 not by oil alone, however, any more than by bread. A 
 change has been gradually taking place in this respect, 
 giving man and beast the advantage of a septennial day of 
 rest. Perhaps this improvement was brought about by 
 the men refusing to work ; perhaps as a stroke of policy, 
 to retain the more sober and steady portion of the mecha 
 nics and laborers ; perhaps from conscientious motives on 
 the part of the large companies. Sunday work seldom 
 takes places now, except in wells which have been flood 
 ed, or are in danger of becoming unserviceable for a time, 
 in consequence of the water getting the upper hand. 
 
 At Eouseville, Petroleum Centre, and a few other points, 
 small buildings have been erected, to serve for chapels on 
 Sunday and school-houses during the week. I am inclin- 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 57 
 
 ed to believe these are better sustained by commutations 
 in money than by personal devotion, and that the worship 
 pers are more disposed to purchase tickets to the Celestial 
 City for their friends and relatives than to get aboard of the 
 cars and ride themselves. Like some other matters of 
 importance, this is left till the fortune-hunters return to 
 "the States." The fact is, in Petrolia, the church uni 
 versally believed in is an engine-house, with a derrick for 
 its tower, a well for its Bible, and a two-inch tube for its 
 preacher, with mouth rotund, "bringing forth things 
 new and old," in the shape of two hundred barrels per 
 day of crude oil, mingled with salt water. In the prin 
 cipal business-centres, regular societies have been insti 
 tuted ; but that practical Christianity which leads men 
 not only to love and fear God, but love mercy and hate 
 covetousness, is not in a flourishing condition. Indeed, 
 I fear some of the <: under shepherds" are more intent 
 on oil development than in rebuking the vices and fol 
 lies of the community ; otherwise, it seems to me, profan 
 ity would be a little less common ; some sympathy would 
 be shown to the brute creation ; selfishness and swin 
 dling would at least feel ashamed of themselves. I heard 
 of a promising young divine who was making a good 
 impression among his auditors, one of whom made him 
 a present of a one-sixteenth interest in a well then go 
 ing down. Oil was struck, and the gift was converted 
 into twenty thousand dollars; whereupon the preacher 
 retired on a competency. Let us hope that others will not 
 thus be drawn aside by a glance at the hill Lucre. 
 
 The former proprietors in that part of Pennsylvania 
 were largely descended from the Protestant part of the 
 Irish population ; and to this day retain many of the char- 
 
58 Appearance of the Country, etc. 
 
 acteristics of their ancestors. As a rule, they are slow, 
 stead y, cautious, thrifty, and strong-willed. Nearly all have, 
 on selling out, removed to Ohio or "Western New-York, 
 purchasing farms, and investing their surplus means in 
 public securities. Many of them expect, after this whirl 
 wind blows over, to regain possession of their farms at a 
 tithe of what they pocketed from Eastern agents. The 
 new-comers are a mixture from all parts of the country. 
 California, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Missouri being 
 represented with New-England, New- York, and Pennsyl 
 vania. Even Virginia, the Carolinas, Kentucky, and 
 Tennessee have representative men there. 
 
 The Petrolians are nothing if not geological. Nearly 
 every operator is ready to discourse learnedly on rocks, 
 formations, strata, (in the singular number !) shales, sand 
 stones, (comprising every thing from limestone to conglom 
 erate.) As in nature, so in human nature no two agree. 
 A, after describing "a most remarkable phenomena," is 
 positive that the best wells are to be found on the east side 
 of all runs and " criks." B asks you to examine " that 
 strata," and concludes that prudent men should bore only 
 on the slopes. C, an old gentleman, fussy and seedy-look 
 ing, avers that the country is of volcanic origin, and is 
 ready to point out certain rents in the hill-tops, through 
 which Yulcan and his helpers found passages for the smoke 
 and cinders of their forges ; whence the petroleum. It 
 would be uncharitable to surmise that either of these sa- 
 vans had a personal object in view, in the sale or leasing 
 of land ; yet stranger things have happened in Petrolia. 
 But of all original characters, the most amusing is the 
 ancient ploughman, wood-chopper, or flat-boatman, meta 
 morphosed into a millionaire and a scholar. "This is 
 
Appearance of the Country, etc. 59 
 
 Sugar Crik," observed one of these newly extemporized 
 linguists, " and that is a contributory to Sugar Crik ; and 
 the symptoms of ile is very premonitory !" Others are 
 in the habit of pointing out the great benefits certain to 
 flow from the further " envelopment" of the country. It 
 is clear that Dame Partington has given some valuable 
 lessons in Western Pennsylvania ; indeed, who knows but 
 that her ladyship has " oil on the brain " ? 
 
 Jiealth is the rule, and sickness the exception, there, in 
 spite of the many drawbacks. Few persons exhibit the 
 lean forms and sallow complexions so common in other 
 parts of the country. On the contrary, as the men have 
 a look of boldness and vigorous purpose, so they present 
 the appearance of physical robustness in an unusual de 
 gree. This may be traceable, in part, to the circumstance 
 that the hardships and privations felt there drive away the 
 more feeble in mind, body, or purpose, who are thus 
 strained out of the community. But there is more than 
 this. The rough, wholesome, open-air exercise connected 
 with this new life, the fresh mountain air, the fresh water 
 pouring forth from a thousand springs, have built up the 
 physique of hundreds of young men who previously lan 
 guished behind desks and counters in the cities ; have 
 given them buoyancy of spirit as well as strength of limb, 
 such as they never before enjoyed. The diseases to which 
 strangers are said to be liable are principally connected 
 with the digestive system, as diarrhoea, dysentery, etc. ; 
 but it is questionable whether these are traceable to the 
 water so much as to exposure and over-exertion, especially 
 working up to the knees in water, and remaining in damp 
 clothes. 
 
 Of preparations for farming or gardening operations, 
 
60 Appearance of the Country, etc. 
 
 this spring, there are none. Speculation has become so 
 rife that it extends to the uplands, which are accounted 
 "too valuable" (such is the slang) for agricultural pur 
 poses. The little supply of milk that reaches the valleys, 
 and nearly all the vegetables, equally with the supplies of 
 meat and grain, come from great distances. The author 
 believes that the best paying wells this year may be struck 
 within eighteen inches of the surface, by drilling with a 
 plough, reaming with a hoe, tubing with garden-seeds, 
 and pumping with manure. 
 
 " Old sacra fames /" The insane desire of oil is demor 
 alizing. It leads to every imaginable kind of misrepre 
 sentation and cheating. In every transaction involving 
 profit and loss, falsehood is expected, is looked upon as the 
 rule, truth as the exception. This indifference to veracity 
 and honor does not merely extend to matters connected 
 with the oil-wells, but to those of every- day life to en 
 gagements entered into by landlord and tenant, by me 
 chanics, laborers, etc., whenever a slight advantage may 
 arise by violating them. This " covenant-breaking," 
 where no other obligation than a man s word exists, forms 
 a topic of general complaint in Petrolia ; and at this mo 
 ment, it is not too much to say that no one expects his 
 neighbor to certainly fulfil the conditions of a merely 
 verbal contract 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 LOCATING AND SINKING THE WELLS. 
 
 IN the earlier days of well-sinking, the inexperienced 
 operator planted his derrick and drilled his well wherever 
 he detected " surface indications " of petroleum, probably 
 little thinking that it might show itself on the ground at 
 a point far from vertical to its proper source in the sand- 
 rocks. In general, the margins of rivers and creeks were 
 preferred to spots more distant, even though equally low ; 
 hence the first crop of derricks grew up close to Oil 
 Creek and the Alleghany. Even at this late day there is 
 little to guide the adventurous operator beyond the con 
 ceded existence of oil-veins in the inferior rocks, which 
 circumstance, however, could only become known by mak 
 ing numerous experiments. A new profession of men, 
 claiming to be gifted with extraordinary powers, has 
 arisen in Petrolia, namely, " oil-smellers "or " diviners." 
 Let not the pious reader start with alarm, lest the practice 
 of divination, (whatever it may have been,) condemned so 
 repeatedly in the Mosaic code, has been revived in "West 
 ern Pennsylvania and Virginia. No devil, demon, ghost, 
 ghoul, fairy, goblin, or table-tapping spirit is known or 
 believed to be at work, albeit the use of a twig of witch- 
 hazel or peach might readily enough suggest to some the 
 calling up of spirits from their vasty deep by modern en- 
 
62 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 
 
 chanters. The mode of operating is substantially as fol 
 lows : The diviner cuts from one of the trees mentioned, a 
 bifurcated bough or twig, reducing the stem and the forks 
 to about a foot in length, for convenience sake. In each 
 hand he grasps firmly one end of the fork, letting the stem 
 point upward and a little inward. The hands should be 
 held with their backs downward. With this simple ap 
 paratus off goes the " smeller;" and, on arriving above an 
 oil- vein, it is claimed that the twig will turn round in his 
 hands, in spite of his utmost exertions, until the stem 
 points directly downward. It may be grasped so tightly 
 that the rind will peel off by the operation ; yet this will 
 not prevent the revolution in his hands. The author once 
 witnessed this operation going on in the hands of a gen 
 tleman of much intelligence and the utmost veracity, who 
 was not a believer in the oil-smeller s claims or preten 
 sions, yet had to acknowledge the existence of the phe 
 nomenon for which he could not account. It appears that 
 the twig has not this remarkable power in the hands of all 
 persons ; for the author was unable to perceive any change 
 or tendency in the wand in his own hand, on arriving at 
 the same spot. "Whether the difference were owing to 
 magnetic influence or other cause, is unknown ; as also 
 whether the motion betokens the presence of water, petro 
 leum, both, or neither. In England, it is said, the witch- 
 hazel has long been used in this manner for the discovery 
 of coal; in some parts of the Eastern States people try it 
 to alight upon water-veins. In the oil-regions, some of 
 the most productive wells have been located by oil-smell 
 ers ; in more cases, however, their vaticinations of first- 
 class works turn out mere moonshine. However, the di 
 viners have become a power in Petrolia, among a people 
 
Locating and Sinking the Wells. 63 
 
 as keenly inquisitive and practical as are to be found, who 
 reason in this way : " If there be any thing in oil-smelling, 
 we may as well avail ourselves of it as not ; for the diviner 
 charges only from twenty -five to one hundred dollars for his 
 services in examining a tract ; and this is an inconsiderable 
 item in the general expense, seeing we mean to bore any 
 how." There is a pretty general impression that he is a 
 better guide negatively than positively ; that while oil 
 may not be struck just where he directs, it is useless to 
 sink where he has pronounced none to exist. In a word, 
 the charmer, magnetizer, or natural magician has more 
 real power among the operators than the latter are willing 
 to openly concede. 
 
 The principal matters now attended to in locating a 
 well are the following : The ground ought to be low, to 
 make as little drilling as possible suffice ; yet not so low 
 as to be subject to floods. The lesson taught by the late 
 freshet has been a most costly one in this respect. There 
 should be sufficient space nearly level, for the derrick, en 
 gine-house, tank, etc. ; this secured, they may be placed on 
 the top of a knoll or the face of a bluff. There should be 
 no hard boulders on or immediately below the spot where 
 it is proposed to drill, as the driving-pipe must descend 
 perpendicularly. It is of some consequence to have facil 
 ities to reach navigation for shipping the product and re 
 ceiving a supply of fuel. But the one prime considera 
 tion on the part of experienced men is, to plant the der 
 rick on a spot directly on a line between two paying wells, 
 where there is doubtless the best chance of striking a good 
 vein. Indeed, without breaking ground, the managers, 
 whose well-springs are thus threatened, may take the 
 alarm, and offer to buy out the new-comer at his own 
 
64: Locating and Sinking the Wells. 
 
 price. For this is one of the methods by which operators 
 sometimes make their fortune. 
 
 A spot having been selected, the next business is to get an 
 engine, erect the engine-house, the derrick, and other out 
 works. The house is a simple structure of rough boards, 
 with perhaps a bunk for the engineer s sleeping apartment. 
 The derrick stands at the distance of thirty or forty feet, 
 the walking-beam, which plays upon a heavy upright pil 
 lar, called "the samson-post," stretching between them. 
 The walking-beam is a heavy timber, from fifteen to 
 twenty feet long. The derrick is a sort of pyramidal 
 structure, resting on a square base, each of its sides being 
 from ten to fifteen feet long, and rising to a height of forty 
 or fifty feet, the summit approaching a point. The four 
 principal pillars are strongly laced together by cross-tim 
 bers, into one of which rungs are driven, to make it serve 
 as a ladder. Occasionally the whole structure is covered 
 with boards, making it look like a tower ; but more fre 
 quently they are content with protecting the driller from 
 the elements. Under the apex rests a pulley -block, 
 through which passes the long and powerful cable used 
 in the work. The object in making the derrick so tall is 
 to enable the workmen to use a longer and heavier drill 
 ing apparatus than formerly ; its various parts, when put 
 together, forming a continuous iron bar of thirty feet in 
 length. It also enables them to withdraw or put down 
 the tubes more readily. The weight of the tools now 
 used in drilling commonly exceeds one thousand pounds, 
 striking a powerful blow at each revolution of the crank. 
 
 The next step is to put down the surface-pipe or driv 
 ing-pipe to a sufficient depth, so as to prevent earth or 
 stones from falling into the pit, either while drilling goes 
 
Locating and Sinking the Wells. 65 
 
 on or afterward. This is a work both of difficulty and 
 delicacy, since the pipe must be forced down through all 
 obstructions to a great depth ; while it must be perfectly 
 vertical. Sometimes a hard boulder is encountered below 
 the surface, which bends the tube to one side, in which 
 event the work has to be abandoned. The depth to which 
 operators usually force this down varies, many striving to 
 drive it some distance into the first sand-rock, while others 
 content themselves with reaching twenty, thirty, or forty 
 feet. The pipe, made of cast-iron, has commonly a five- 
 inch aperture and is one inch thick, being cast in lengths 
 of nine feet. The apparatus for forcing it into the ground 
 is a pile-driving machine, very simple in its construction 
 and mode of operation. A wooden wheel and axle, 
 termed the "bull-wheel," is geared to the engine by means 
 of a stout rope, which, in the hands of one of the work 
 men, can be made tight to the axle or let slip at any mo 
 ment, the rope being wound four or five times around it. 
 When the engine and crank move, up rises the ram, 
 a block of four hundred or five hundred pounds, to a 
 height of perhaps six feet, between strong wooden shears 
 to keep it in its place ; the rope is then let slip, and the 
 ram descends with a stunning blow on a plate or cap 
 placed on the top of the pipe. At every blow a percepti 
 ble movement of the tube downward takes place ; and it 
 has sometimes happened that the driving-pipe could be put 
 down its required length in little more than a day ; in very 
 hard ground, however, the operation may consume a whole 
 week. The object of the bull-wheel, to the outside of 
 which hold-fasts are nailed at short distances apart, is to 
 operate as a brake, in the first place, so that a downward 
 motion can be checked" at any point in operating the well, 
 
66 Locatmg and Sinking the Wells. 
 
 arid also to enable the workmen to raise or lower the 
 tools, tubing, etc., in case the engine should not be run 
 ning. By the aid of the pulley above, and the leverage 
 of the wheel below, one man will, using hands and feet, 
 bring half a ton up from the nether regions. 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, the pile-driver proves unable to 
 force the driving-pipe to its desired depth, owing to a bed 
 of sand-rocks intervening. In this case, it is customary to 
 set the drill at work, making a three-inch opening through 
 the obstruction. This creates a vacuum, into which the 
 fragments broken off by the pipe in its descent can fall, 
 when the ordinary appliances above are apt to force it 
 downward. Otherwise the men will be compelled to pull 
 up stakes and try elsewhere. Colonel Drake was the man 
 who introduced this implement into the oil regions, as 
 also sundry other valuable improvements. 
 
 Now begins the task of drilling a task requiring from 
 four weeks to as many months. A strong cable is coiled 
 round the bull-wheel axle, and passed through the pulley- 
 block at the top of the derrick, its other end having at 
 tached to it, by strong clamps, an instrument called "the 
 temper-screw." This is ordinarily about three feet long, a 
 thread being cut into it for half its length. As the chisel 
 used in boring is indirectly connected with the screw, it 
 will be seen that by turning the latter 011 its stem the 
 former can be elevated or depressed at pleasure, until the 
 end of the thread has been reached, when it becomes ne 
 cessary to open the clamps and attach the instrument to a 
 different point on the cable. This turning of the screw 
 has to be done by hand, instead of being regulated by the 
 engine, on account of differences in the hardness of rocks, 
 
Locating and Sinking the Wells. 67 
 
 some allowing a full revolution at every few blows, others 
 only once in five minutes. 
 
 To the lower end of the cable are attached successively 
 "the sinker." " the jars," "the auger-stem," and "the 
 centre-bit," "drill," or "chisel," the whole being of iron 
 or steel, and nearly thirty feet in length. The auger-stem 
 is about fifteen feet long ; the sinker, eight feet ; the jars, 
 three feet, and the drill, two and a half feet. The jars 
 consist of two slender iron bars, so framed as to slide into 
 each other fifteen or eighteen inches. The object of this 
 instrument is sufficiently indicated by its name. It hap 
 pens frequently that the chisel gets fast in a crevice or 
 mud- vein, while the cable, several hundred feet in length, 
 stretches so far that it is impossible to communicate to the 
 drill that jerking motion which might extricate it. But 
 the sides of the jars having, by the weight of the sinker 
 above, been pressed into each other, like those of a tele 
 scope, the raising of the cable imparts a jerk to the tools 
 below, ordinarily sufficient to remove them. Not always, 
 however ; for I think it within the truth to estimate one 
 well in every ten sunk as being idle this moment from 
 the tools having got fast below. In some localities, one 
 may hear of every sixth well having been abandoned on 
 this account. 
 
 The drill or chisel is about thirty inches long, and two 
 and a half inches in diameter, with a three-inch face. It 
 is attached by a screw to the auger-stem, which is about 
 equally thick, its principal object being to give weight to 
 the blow ; while that of the sinker, as already stated, is 
 to cause the jars to slide into each other. The cable is a 
 stout inch-and-a-half rope, and must be sufficiently long 
 to pass over the pulley and reach down to the bottom. 
 
68 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 
 
 The engine usually a portable one, giving from eight 
 to fifteen horse-power having been fired up, makes its 
 first revolution, communicating, by a crank, motion to the 
 walking-beam, which, in turn, moves the cable and the 
 drilling apparatus. The driller takes his seat above the 
 devoted spot, adjusts the chisel to it, and down it descends, 
 striking thirty or forty blows to the minute. Between 
 the strokes it requires to be kept moving round, to make 
 the opening uniform and prevent accidents to the tools. 
 With this there is also combined a slight downward mo 
 tion, every few strokes, by a turn of the temper-screw. 
 One blow tells the whole story. Hour after hour, day 
 and night, the drill keeps churning up and down, punch 
 ing the rock, and accomplishing from one to six inches 
 per hour, according to hardness. At intervals, the appa 
 ratus is raised, and the centre-bit taken off, to be replaced 
 by the u reamer." This is a round bar of iron, faced with 
 steel, the centre and sides of its face being more or less 
 hollowed, while its length (usually four and a half to five 
 inches) corresponds with the proposed diameter of the 
 well. The object of this instrument is to smooth the 
 sides and widen the orifice to its proper size. In working, 
 it requires to be kept turning and sinking as does the 
 chisel. 
 
 The reamer is followed by the " sand-pump," an iron or 
 copper tube about five feet long, with a valve opening up 
 ward in its nether extremity. On lowering this pump 
 into the pit, the valve opens, and the pulverized rock, re 
 duced to a pulpy mass, is drawn into the tube, hauled up 
 to the surface, and discharged. 
 
 The sand-pump occasionally brings up, from the first 
 sand-rock below the surface, small quantities of oil ; but 
 
Locating and Sinking the Wells. 69 
 
 his is apt to receive no attention, operators knowing that 
 it will soon exhaust itself. More frequently a good vein 
 may be struck in the second rock ; but on the lower part 
 of Oil Creek and on its tributaries, this is usually allowed 
 to pass unheeded. On the Alleghany and on French 
 and Sugar Creeks, they seldom drill further than through 
 this stratum. Elsewhere, on entering and passing through 
 the third layer, " a good show " is most eagerly looked 
 for, as the sand-pump comes up, filled with the gray, 
 sloppy mass from beneath. If this begins to turn darker 
 in color, separating into a thick, heavy sediment, which 
 settles on the ground, and a green, slimy liquid, which 
 floats away toward the nearest hollow, great indeed is the 
 rejoicing ; for the prospect of one hundred thousand dol 
 lars is within view. Indeed, the vein struck may, in an 
 instant, anticipate reamer, sand-pump, tubing, and every 
 thing else, sending up a spirt of petroleum which shall 
 smite the top of the derrick and drive away the work 
 men, its rage only cooling sufficiently to permit them, af 
 ter the lapse of a day or two, to return, insert the tubes, 
 and guide the generous overflow into the cistern. 
 
 Examples of such inordinate zeal and energy are, how 
 ever, very infrequent certainly not more than one in a 
 hundred, especially in localities which have been already 
 well bored and pumped. The last instance that occurs to 
 my memory was near Petroleum Centre, the freakish well 
 being situated high up a ravine, far from its fellows. It is 
 supposed to have discharged two thousand barrels before 
 being brought properly under control. Much oftener the 
 "show" is followed by an uprising of saltwater, with 
 perhaps only a few globules of oil to the barrelful. This 
 water must be exhausted before a better quality of liquor 
 
70 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 
 
 makes its appearance ; and in some cases days and even 
 weeks have been spent in the process. 
 
 Setting aside such extreme cases, however, we will sup 
 pose that oil is actually got in paying quantities. The 
 next process is to tube the well ; though many prefer first 
 to sink it some feet deeper, in order to furnish a recepta 
 cle for sand or gravel that may be washed in by the new 
 ly opened veins. To put in the tubing successfully, it is 
 not only necessary for the superintendent to have some 
 general knowledge of the mode of operating, but the 
 characteristics of that particular locality. A mistake in 
 this respect is apt to be attended with serious losses of 
 time and money, some wells having had to be re-tubed as 
 often as forty or fifty times within six months. The most 
 experienced managers express the belief that large num 
 bers of wells are totally unproductive from defective tub 
 ing. The tubes, of iron, are usually two inches in diam 
 eter, by about fifteen feet long, the ends screwing into 
 each other. These are raised somewhat, in order to give 
 greater strength and furnish a hold for " the tongs." To 
 the lower end of the first joint is attached "the chamber," 
 a copper vessel containing the pump-valves. This being 
 got ready, the tube is hoisted upward by the tackle, and 
 let down into the orifice. An instrument called " the 
 pipe-tongs " lays hold of the tube at the joint, and pre 
 vents it from falling in till the second section is screwed in, 
 when it is lowered further. This process continues to go 
 on, section by section, till the work is completed. Oper 
 ators differ as to the depth to which the chamber should 
 be lowered ; one of the most successful in the oil region 
 says it ought to go within twenty -five or thirty feet of the 
 bottom. Three or four men can put down five hundred 
 
Locating and Sinking the Wells. 71 
 
 feet of this in a common working-day. The weight of 
 such a continuous pipe is between eighteen hundred and 
 two thousand pounds, all depending from the tongs, 
 which rests on cross-pieces of timber at the opening of 
 the well. 
 
 By accident or design it has sometimes happened that 
 the clasp of this instrument has been opened, letting the 
 tube drop to the bottom, and occasioning much loss as 
 well as trouble to recover it. For this purpose two in 
 struments may be made use of. One is a short iron bar, 
 made sufficiently sharp at the lower extremity to enter the 
 tube and slide some distance into it, attaching itself to 
 the inside surface by means of " steel dogs." The other 
 is somewhat trumpet-mouthed, so as to slide over the end 
 of the tube, and catch hold of its outer surface in the 
 same manner. But in neither case is success certain to 
 follow ; and the manager may have the mortification of 
 finding all his efforts followed by the abandoning of the 
 work. 
 
 Before the well usually takes to flowing, and always 
 before it can be pumped to advantage, it must be " seed- 
 bagged." The object of this process is two-fold first, to 
 prevent the escape of gas upward, except through the 
 tube, where it will assist in forcing up the oil ; and second, 
 to prevent the descent of water or gravel from above, 
 which would have to be pumped up again at almost in 
 finite trouble and expense. It will readily be seen what 
 a heavy pressure is thus brought upon the bag which sup 
 ports a column of water from two hundred to four hun 
 dred feet high, as also upon the tube itself. To effect this, 
 a strong leather bag, shaped somewhat like a boot-leg, is 
 filled with flax-seed and drawn over the pipe, along 
 
72 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 
 
 which it is made to pass down to the required depth, hav 
 ing been first made fast to a joint the lower end of the 
 bag very securely; the upper rather loosely, so that, in 
 the event of having to withdraw the tubes, this fastening 
 may break, and the bag turn over and inside out, spilling 
 the contents and letting down the column of water. 
 When the flax-seed gets soaked it bursts, swelling to such 
 a degree as completely to fill up the vacant space between 
 the tube and the outside wall, putting an effectual stop 
 to all movements in that quarter. But it sometimes hap 
 pens that the seed-bag bursts, in which event three days 
 are apt to be lost in replacing it and pumping out the 
 surface water which accumulated below. Experts usually 
 place the seed-bag between the second and the third sand- 
 rocks, if oil is got from the latter, say at the depth of 
 three hundred and fifty feet ; but in the event of its coming 
 from the second, then at such a distance from the surface 
 as will shut off all the fresh water without interrupting 
 the flow of an oil-vein. Mr. Bliss, an experienced and 
 successful operator, puts in the tubing first, without the 
 seed-bag, and pumps out all the sediment at the bottom. 
 He then puts in the bag ; and although this involves a lit 
 tle loss of time at the outset, he observes that he has 
 never had to seed-bag a second time, as others often do. 
 Thus equipped for duty, if the well does not evince a dis 
 position to flow profusely, the pumping machinery is set 
 at work. The pump-rods are of wood, their ends fas 
 tened together. This simple apparatus is connected with 
 one end of the walking-beam, already described ; an iron 
 pipe is also joined to the upright tube, to receive the pe 
 troleum and convey it to the tank at any required dis 
 tance or situation. The first movements require to be 
 
Locating and Sinking the Wells. 73 
 
 made cautiously, until it has been ascertained that every 
 part is in working order, when more steam is let on. Up 
 comes the brine or the oil, but more commonly both, the 
 former in much larger proportion at the outset. 
 
 The tank or cistern is a circular vat, made of wood, and 
 having a capacity ranging from two hundred to twelve 
 hundred barrels. The custom formerly was to make this 
 vessel square, securing the timbers by heavy uprights ; 
 but its greater tendency to leak has made that give place 
 to the circular form. "When wells discharge copiously, it 
 is customary to erect whole streets .or blocks of these 
 enormous vessels, covering them with a long range of 
 roofing. For purposes of shipment, it is desirable to get 
 them convenient to the road or some navigable stream, 
 which is sometimes lined with the black, slimy monsters 
 for long distances. The tanks are connected together by 
 a system of pipes, which distribute the liquid from one 
 to another. Near the bottom of each is inserted a stop 
 cock for letting the salt-water escape, after settling there 
 by its greater specific gravity. In spite of all precautions, 
 the leakage of petroleum through the wood, or its waste 
 in filling into barrels, is considerable, so that on many 
 farms it would pay well for collecting. Some managers 
 have caused pipes to be laid down, by which vessels can 
 be laden in bulk a mode of preventing loss in more re 
 spects than one. In the flowing wells, little or no water 
 comes up with the petroleum ; in the pumping wells, the 
 two may be found in all imaginable proportions. The 
 brine also differs in strength, being in some cases equal to 
 that found at Syracuse, New- York, and in others tasting 
 slightly brackish. It differs also in some localities, ac 
 cording to the season, being weakest in spring, when the 
 4 
 
T4 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 
 
 fresh surface-water lias found its way to the springs, by 
 careless or malicious individuals and companies letting 
 their works get out of order. 
 
 The cost of sinking and tubing a well of five hundred 
 feet, which is the ordinary depth of those lately put down 
 on Oil Creek, but is less than the average of wells on 
 Cherry Eun or Pithole, is between seven thousand and 
 seven thousand five hundred dollars, unless the proprietors 
 own the steam-engine or other part of the apparatus re 
 quired. In this case, it will amount to between four thou 
 sand and five thousand dollars, a good-sized new engine 
 costing twenty-five hundred dollars on the ground. At 
 the beginning, wells could be bored for fifteen hundred dol 
 lars, and even one thousand dollars, including the outlays 
 for engine and machinery, on account of the cheapness of 
 materials, labor, and fuel, as also the smaller depth to 
 which it was customary to sink the wells. If the work 
 be now let out to a contractor, it will cost from five to 
 seven dollars per foot, in addition to outlays for derrick, 
 engine, and other fixtures. If workmen be engaged by 
 the day, first-class machinists, carpenters, blacksmiths, 
 etc., must be paid five dollars per day ; drillers, about four 
 dollars ; engineers, about three and a half ; and common 
 laborers, from two to three. Two sets of drillers and 
 engineers usually relieve each other, the machinery run 
 ning the full twenty -four hours. Teamsters command from 
 thirty-five to fifty dollars per month, with board and 
 lodging ; the other figures suppose the employes to pro 
 vide these for themselves. The cost of horse-hire is very 
 heavy in winter, enormous the charge for a double 
 team and driver being at least ten dollars per day. The 
 bituminous coal made use of, though it might be obtained 
 
Locating and Sinking the Wells. 75 
 
 from hills not ten miles off, comes from Pittsburgh and 
 costs from sixty cents to one dollar and twenty cents per 
 bushel, according to the season and the distance of trans 
 portation by wagon. 
 
 To obviate the last-named outlay, now becoming op 
 pressive, Mr. Wade, superintendent of the Lady s well, 
 applied the escaping gas to the generation of heat with 
 the most triumphant success. Large numbers of engines 
 are now driven by this carbonetted hydrogen, which is, 
 without difficulty, conveyed from the tube into a large 
 barrel or cistern, and thence into the furnace. Nothing 
 could be more beautiful, economical, and perfectly safe 
 than this arrangement. The few splinters of wood thrown 
 upon the grate in the morning to light the fire, serve also 
 to keep it agoing all day. The gas is used to give light 
 in the engine-house at night, and has, in at least one in 
 stance, been conveyed to a private dwelling, where it is 
 used for ordinary culinary and heating purposes. Such 
 economy has hitherto been a rather novel feature in the 
 management of affairs in Petrolia. 
 
 On the other hand, a. similar experiment made at the 
 Auburn well, on Cherry Eun, belonging to the Cherry 
 Valley Oil Company, resulted unsuccessfully, diminishing 
 the daily flow of sixty barrels to less than one half of 
 that quantity. The attempt was consequently abandoned, 
 when the former flow returned. The company have since 
 then inserted a clause in all their leases, prohibiting those 
 who put down wells on their premises from using the gas 
 as fuel. 
 
 To the best of my knowledge, this is the only instance 
 in the oil region of Pennsylvania, where such an effect 
 has followed the introduction of gas as fuel, whether 
 
76 Locating and Sinking ike Wells. 
 
 taken from pumping or flowing wells. On making in 
 quiry on this subject, from the manager of one of the lat 
 ter class, I learned that they had made repeated experi 
 ments, and in no instance with a diminished yield of oil. 
 But in this case there was a very large volume of gas escap 
 ing ; while the production of oil was far below that of the 
 Auburn well. In the latter, the gas appears to have been 
 barely sufficient to expel the liquid, having so little sur 
 plus energy to spare that^its capture and imprisonment 
 proved too much for exhausted nature. The propriety, 
 therefore, of using gas as fuel must, it would seem, de 
 pend upon its quality and strength relatively to the dis 
 charge of oil, and perhaps to the time during which a 
 well has been in operation. In some instances, a single 
 tube supplies gas to two, three, four, even six engines, 
 without any apparent detriment to the yield of oil. 
 
 It has been stated that along two small streams the wells 
 have to be sunk deeper than on Oil Creek. The differ 
 ence varies from fifty to two hundred feet, and is due sole 
 ly to the higher elevation of those bottoms at the place of 
 carrying on operations. To react the same rock on any 
 of the tributaries of Oil Creek, it will, indeed, be neces 
 sary to make allowance for this elevation, adding or sub 
 tracting more or less for the natural inclination of the 
 rocks. Some operators, it is true, report that in the wells 
 planted against the bluffs or on the table-lands, it is not 
 requisite to sink as many feet deeper as the difference in 
 surface elevation would betoken. I reply that this state 
 ment is partly made with a view to selling lands or wells, 
 and partly to mistaking the second rock yield for that of 
 the third, the former being unusually copious for these 
 times on account of the comparatively great distance from 
 
Locating and Sinking the Wells. 77 
 
 other wells. It is possible that on the uplands the bed 
 which corresponds with the first sandstone of the valley 
 will in places yield copiously for a time. 
 
 On passing down the Alleghany Kiver, and entering 
 the valleys of French and Sugar Creeks, owing to the 
 southern dip of the rocks, a depth of between one hundred 
 and two hundred feet additional must be sunk before 
 striking the third layer. So far the custom there has 
 been to stop at the lower margin of the second stratum, 
 or between four hundred and five hundred feet down. 
 The petroleum coming from that bed is everywhere bet 
 ter in quality than that obtained lower down ; and on 
 French and Sugar Creeks is of the rich, heavy, and high- 
 priced kind known as lubricating oil. In its crude state, 
 it sells for many times the price of the illuminating va 
 riety ; but is never got in such large quantities as the lat 
 ter. The Alleghany oil readily commands one dollar per 
 barrel more than that obtained from the third sand-rock 
 on Oil Creek or its tributaries. 
 
 During the past twelve months, derricks have been 
 erected and boring has commenced in the various rivu 
 lets discharging into the principal streams ; but in some 
 instances also operations have begun on the open table 
 land, at elevations of two hundred or three hundred feet. 
 That the uplands will yield abundantly I have no manner 
 of doubt, the veins there being probably quite as nume 
 rous and productive as those in the river-bottoms. Whe 
 ther the existing appliances will suffice for wells from three 
 hundred to four hundred feet deeper than the present re 
 mains to be seen; but if not, American ingenuity will 
 doubtless remove all obstacles in the way of the further 
 development of the upper region. 
 
78 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 
 
 Allusion lias been made to the loss of tools by striking 
 crevices in the rocks. Some experienced men regard this 
 as a happy omen of the early discovery of petroleum ; 
 since it is usually found in such caverns or pockets, which 
 are believed to have originated in geological dislocations. 
 It is supposed that they are connected by subterranean 
 channels, so that when one is penetrated a whole system 
 of rich springs will be opened. Experience does not fully 
 bear out such expectations ; and hence the loss of tools 
 is apt to occasion bitter regrets rather than congratula 
 tions. Above Petroleum Centre, a mud- vein is apt to be 
 struck in the middle of the third sand-rock ; and so fre 
 quently have the tools got fast in it that it has become 
 customary to stop short there, instead of boring through 
 it. The depth of wells there will, accordingly, be found 
 on an average fifty feet less than lower down the creek, 
 where this obstacle does not present itself. 
 
 A rough estimate of the whole cost of sinking a well 
 has been given above. Making some allowances for " the 
 chapter of accidents," it will be seen that the average out 
 lay amounts to about fifteen dollars per foot, distributed 
 nearly as follows : 
 
 Engine and boiler of fifteen horse-power, delivered, $2,500 
 
 Engine-house, derrick, bull-wheel and cable, samson-post, walking- 
 beam, and fixtures, 750 
 
 One tank, five hundred barrels, 250 
 
 Drilling-tools, ram, driving-pipe, tubes, etc., 1,000 
 
 Labor, fuel, and extras, 2,500 
 
 Breaks, delays, and other accidents, say, 500 
 
 Total, $7,500 
 
 These figures may perhaps be reduced one half, if the 
 operators own the engine, and put forth their own hands 
 freely in the various operations. 
 
CHAPTER IY. 
 
 "STRUCK OIL" THE LAW OF LAWLESSNESS. 
 
 AT last, the labor, the anxiety, the profuse expenditures 
 of long months have been crowned with triumph. The 
 sand-pump has brought up unmistakable evidences of the 
 existence of petroleum, which floats upon the surface of 
 its load of mud in long, dark streaks, most gratifying to 
 behold. The well in question is one success, after two, or 
 it may be ten, failures, and gives promise of paying all 
 expenses connected with the whole number. A grand 
 halo of wealth and beauty thenceforth rests upon every 
 adjoining field and patch of wood, which, has become in 
 some measure sacred. That which was almost valueless 
 yesterday is viewed as a princely inheritance to-day. The 
 omnipresent telegraphic wire has already caught up the 
 joyful intelligence, and whispered it to all the outskirts of 
 Petrolia, as also to interested parties in "Wall, Chestnut, 
 and State streets. Before the setting of that day s sun, an 
 excitement will have sprung up in all parts of the oil re 
 gion, and crowds of speculators, operators, and curiosity- 
 seekers will have been on the way to a spot which exceeds 
 all the dreams of poets or relations of prophets about Par- 
 nassean andCastalian springs, fountains of perpetual youth, 
 philosophers stones, miraculous blessings of widows 
 cruses, etc. One well, with its one thousand or even its 
 
80 "Struck Oil" lawlessness. 
 
 one hundred barrels per day, would justly have been re 
 garded as a world s wonder ; this, being a matter-of-course 
 affair in Petrolia, receives the attentions of few except 
 those who propose to make money out of it. What is 
 " common" not only ceases to be wonderful, but becomes 
 in a measure " unclean." If, however, in the realms of 
 poetry and miracle there be little or no interest, in that of 
 solid fact there is abundance to make up for the deficiency. 
 As the greasy liquid finds its way into the tank, the 
 achievement occasions a triumph to the workmen, brings 
 fortune to its owners, attracts fresh millions to the country, 
 and furnishes pabulum for excitement to all. The modern 
 miracle is thus a sand-pump, which may bring up a mil 
 lion of dollars at a single ascent. 
 
 But here, at the outset, comes in " the law of lawless 
 ness." For precisely as every human being has his own 
 set of features, tone of voice, and the like, so each indi 
 vidual oil-spring has its characteristics, with regard to the 
 escape of water, gas, petroleum, or all three. In one, the 
 flow of the last-named will be continuous and uniform, 
 day and night, not varying more from week to week than 
 a spring-brook. It may or may not be accompanied by a 
 large escape of gas, visible to the naked eye, though it 
 ordinarily is by some. In such a flowing concern, there 
 is no noise, except the splash of the liquid falling into the 
 tank. But in others, a regular periodicity takes place in 
 the discharge. The Coquette well, for example, emits a 
 succession of sounds as loud and sharp as the exhausts of 
 a small steam-engine, and occurring in tolerable order 
 every ten seconds, in such a manner as 1, 2, 3, 4 ; 1, 2 ; 
 1, 2, 3 ; 1, 2, 3, 4 ; sometimes two of these coming off 
 together by an extraordinary effort. A copious discharge 
 
"Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 81 
 
 of gas comes off with each of these eructations, ascending 
 from the tube like a thin smoke, to mingle with the at 
 mosphere. The Wild-Cat well, at Petroleum Centre, and 
 the Yankee, on Cherry Eun, remain silent for forty and 
 twenty minutes respectively ; then begin to foam and spirt, 
 the oil coming off at first only in drops, but increasing by 
 degrees until the tube belches forth quite freely ; these 
 discharges afterward decrease in violence, and finally stop 
 altogether, after the lapse of from five to eight minutes. 
 Each escape of liquid is accompanied by a sharp report, 
 which may be heard one hundred yards off or more. Both 
 wells have been some months in operation, and belong to 
 the second class, their yield being under one hundred bar- 
 rals per day. Those which have a continuous flow are 
 apt to produce more abundantly, as do the Eeed and the 
 Mountain wells, on Cherry Kun, and the Craft well, on 
 Bull Eun. Yet this rule is not universal ; for the Coquette, 
 discharging spasmodically, is the most productive in that 
 whole region ; while a well on Cornplanter Eun rather 
 drips than flows one or two barrels per week. 
 
 Others again are found to remain quiescent for twenty- 
 one or twenty-two hours in the day ; then to break forth 
 in one continuous flow, or a succession of belchings, for 
 the other two or three hours. A few run for six hours, 
 and then subside, or distribute their favors over twelve 
 hours in the twenty -four. The Dunn well, on Watson 
 flats, produces freely from morning till midday ; then the 
 supply diminishes or stops altogether, for the rest of the 
 day, the pump bringing little but salt water. But in the 
 case of the pumping- wells, the rule is pretty common to 
 spirt forth from a few drops to several quarts at each re- 
 
82 "Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 
 
 volution of the engine, varying according to the season, 
 but not modified by day and night. 
 
 No person has yet arisen who can explain the full ra 
 tionale of these vagaries on the part of Nature. No one 
 cause can be assigned which will account for all the phe 
 nomena. There can be no doubt that the efforts of the 
 imprisoned gas to escape into the upper atmosphere have 
 much to do with forcing up the oil ; yet in numerous 
 works of the largest flow the escape of gas is comparative 
 ly small, and altogether insufficient to carry such a column 
 of liquid up the tube. For it is needless to observe that 
 a discharge of three thousand barrels per day would al 
 most completely fill a two-inch tube, making in it a nearly 
 unbroken column for the height of five hundred feet. 
 Would the comparatively small body of gas escaping 
 therewith be sufficient to force upward such a load, exert 
 ing a pressure that is practically unknown in hydraulics ? 
 
 In the cases of spasmodic wells, the gas may have a 
 great deal to do with bringing petroleum upward in 
 many, there can be no earthly doubt on the subject. While 
 visiting the Dunn well, the superintendent conducted an 
 experiment that proved this point satisfactorily. They 
 had been using a portion of its gas in the furnace to gen 
 erate heat, but on turning it all on the fire, the discharge 
 of oil and water stopped instantly. After a few minutes, 
 the gas was partly permitted to escape as before, when the 
 yield began to return to its former amount. In plain Eng 
 lish, the energy of the gas coming up the tube was insuf 
 ficient to do its work, and bear the additional pressure upon 
 it necessary to its confinement with a view to use. While 
 on this subject, I may mention another curious experiment 
 made by the same manager, (Mr. Morrell,) who conducted 
 
"Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 83 
 
 this gas through paper surrounded by ice. The result 
 was that the gas was converted into a white, wax-like 
 substance, which settled on the paper, and is supposed to 
 have been paraffine. 
 
 Nor will the theory that the oil and briny veins are 
 supplied from springs higher up in the hills, suffice to ac 
 count for the phenomenon. For, in the first place, there 
 is no evidence that such elevated sources exist close by in 
 quantities sufficient to feed such wells as the Philips, (flow 
 ing nearly four thousand barrels daily for a considerable 
 period,) and force it up to the surface. The origin of most 
 of our water-springs is easily accounted for by percolation 
 through the under-strata from higher levels ; but in the 
 case of Artesian wells, constructed on such interminable 
 plains as those of Texas, this theory proves insufficient to 
 account for the outburst which has followed. Whatever 
 the agency or mode of operating on Nature s part there, 
 in my judgment, the like has been at work in forcing up 
 much of the rock-oil. 
 
 Even if, as in nine cases out of ten with productive 
 wells at first, and in all ultimately, an application of the 
 pump be required, the same lawlessness is found to prevail 
 as does in the flowing wells. We can calculate with cer 
 tainty upon nothing in the oil-basin ; we need feel sur 
 prise at nothing not even if the yield should be Orange 
 county milk. The first revolution of the engine may 
 bring up petroleum or salt water of any imaginable degree 
 of strength. Nay, in a few instances, fresh water has come 
 up with the former. One of these was near the famous 
 Sherman well, where the two liquids had to be separated 
 by artificial means. The case of the Sherwood and Kelly 
 well, on Cherry Run, which threw up three thousand bar- 
 
84 "Sttbck Oil" Lawlessness. 
 
 rels a day of fresh water to the height of sixty feet, fling 
 ing out fragments of rock several pounds in weight, is not 
 so remarkable, as this vein was struck at the depth of 
 seventy feet, and may have been fed from the hills above. 
 There was no oil with that water, and I refer to the cir 
 cumstance to show one of the obstacles that must occasion 
 ally be encountered by operators. 
 
 It may require days or weeks to exhaust the heavy 
 liquid (brine) before the lighter comes within reach of the 
 pump. In one instance, the proprietor having got the 
 impression that oil certainly existed, kept on pumping for 
 six weeks before his efforts were rewarded with success. 
 The best well (Ingersoll) now in operation on the Watson 
 flats was incorrigible until nearly the whole winter months 
 had been exhausted in forcing up the salt water ; at last, 
 it also yielded to perseverance, emitting a stream of from 
 fifty to seventy barrels daily. There is every reason to 
 believe that hundreds of works have been abandoned by 
 those in charge of them, because, after pumping a few 
 Lours, the petroleum did not make its appearance ; yet 
 the perseverance which wrenches victory out of defeat 
 might have made them productive. For it is one thing to 
 be flooded with salt water at the outset, before oil has been 
 reached, and another to keep on pumping a well which 
 has gradually declined from a high figure to nothing, in 
 spite of re-tubing and all the other known appliances. 
 
 And why, except from a disposition on the part of Dame 
 Nature to indulge in freaks, should water be found float 
 ing on the surface of oil, the latter being the less ponder 
 able of the two ; while gas, coming up with it, is impon 
 derable ? Various explanations have been offered ; yt 
 none, in my opinion, that will account for the regularity 
 
"Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 85 
 
 of this phenomenon. It has been supposed that, in con 
 sequence of carrying the lower end of the tubing below 
 the level of the petroleum, the latter cannot enter the ori 
 fice until the former, lying beneath it, has been expelled. 
 This crude theory is confuted by universal experience ; 
 for it surely could not help happening sometimes that the 
 tube would be so conveniently short as not to pass beyond 
 the petroleum. Besides, if substances arranged themselves 
 in the well according to their specific gravity, would not 
 the gas make its appearance first, instead of its awaiting 
 the removal of the water, and then assisting to expel the 
 more valuable liquid ? Once more, the sand-pump shows 
 that, in numerous instances at least, the salt veins are 
 reached in boring rather earlier than the oil veins ; though 
 I concede that the testimony on this point is any thing but 
 explicit or uniform. But it occurs often enough to refute 
 the notion that the oil actually reaches the top in the 
 wells and settles there. 
 
 Another explanation has been offered, namely, that a 
 vein or veins may be struck at a point below the general 
 level, where they are fed from reservoirs somewhat higher 
 up ; hence that, inasmuch as the brine would settle to the 
 bottom in the natural crevices, it must be pumped out 
 prior to the oil and gas being able to come downward and 
 forward. Further, that it is by tapping the source at the 
 right place that such immensely productive works as the 
 Philips, the Noble, the Sherman, and the Coquette have 
 begun to produce at once such prodigious quantities of oil, 
 and that almost entirely free from water. This theory is 
 much more satisfactory than the former ; yet it will not 
 suffice to explain the regularity almost uniformity of 
 brine being found first in order. If, in the multitudes of 
 
86 "Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 
 
 experiments made, petroleum came first as often as does 
 the salt water, it would not be necessary to look further. 
 Unfortunately for it, such is not the case. It does not 
 appear reasonable that the lower reservoir should be al 
 most invariably struck by borers, and the upper scarcely 
 ever. Some other solution of the difficulty must be sought 
 to cover this unexpected regularity in the heaviest sub 
 stance coming up first one which will apply to the 
 ninety -nine cases as well as the hundredth. Elsewhere I 
 have alluded to Mr. Morrell s experiment of separating oil 
 and water in the atmospheric pump ; though whether this 
 will apply when a quantity of gas is mixed with the 
 liquids, I am not advised. 
 
 And whence the salt that, in the form of brine, gushes 
 upward from depths of one hundred or one thousand feet ? 
 Those who entertain the theory that petroleum has been 
 distilled from the upland coal-beds which once existed 
 along the present oil-basin the products percolating 
 through the different strata to their present depths ac 
 count for the existence of salt-springs by the fresh water 
 filtering downward mixing with muriate of soda in suffi 
 cient quantity to form the brine. But to account satisfac 
 torily for depositing in the rocks the quantity of muriatic 
 acid necessary for this purpose, is every whit as difficult 
 as to answer the original question. It has been only re 
 moved one stage further off. The salt water has its po 
 sition in the scale, as has the fresh water its assigned 
 position or limit. Above the first sand-rock, the water is 
 invariably fresh ; between the first and the second, it is 
 expected to be such ; below that stratum, it is as certainly 
 expected to be brackish or briny, the degree probably 
 depending on the proportion of fresh water let down the 
 
"Struck Oil" lawlessness. 87 
 
 orifice, while the work of drilling has gone on. As a rule, 
 the surface water does not go down through the second 
 rock, or the brine force itself above it, until an artificial 
 opening exists, the exceptions being so few in either case 
 as to establish the general principle here laid down. Be 
 sides, we all know that water, in passing through sand or 
 clay, is apt rather to part with impurities than take 
 others up. 
 
 The only satisfactory explanation of the existence of so 
 many salt-springs is, that the strata in which they abound, 
 at one period in the world s history, formed parts of the 
 ocean-bed. This may have consisted of limestones, sand 
 stones, or conglomerates, all saturated with brine, and re 
 posing on what had been beds of clay which contained 
 carbonaceous ingredients ; while the process of baking 
 this clay into shales filled it with cracks and seams, that 
 have since become so many veins, filled with salt water or 
 petroleum expressed from the rocks subsequently formed ; 
 the whole being upheaved to their present elevations. But 
 who shall fill up the picture of those ages, of which this 
 is scarcely an outline ? 
 
 The relationship between brine and petroleum is in 
 timate, yet they are not invariably found close together. 
 Where oil is got in the second sand-rock, it has sometimes 
 happened that the " show" of salt water was scarcely per 
 ceptible in or above the oil vein. By sinking a few feet 
 deeper, however, the brine would flow up so profusely as 
 to completely monopolize the tube and choke off the more 
 desirable product. An instance of this happened in Frank 
 lin, involving the immediate ruin of a profitable well. An 
 other disaster of the same kind, close by, was only pre 
 vented by forcing down a plug, which stopped any further 
 
88 "Si/ruck Oil" Lawlessness. 
 
 uprising of the salt water. But as a rule, the two are 
 found in such close contiguity that it is difficult to decide 
 which has been sooner reached. At Tideoute, the alli 
 ance is so intimate that it has come to be considered a 
 maxim : " No salt, no oil." As to the why or wherefore 
 of this connection, our superficial philosophy must place 
 its finger on the lip, and be modestly silent for the pre 
 sent. 
 
 Nor does the law of lawlessness end here. As men 
 have been accustomed to measure the decreasing tempera 
 ture, in ascending from the sea-level, so have they mea 
 sured its increase downward, as found in mines, caverns, 
 and the like. This increase is about one degree Fahren 
 heit for every sixty feet. At this rate, we should 
 find the oil, water, gas, etc., brought up from a depth 
 of six hundred feet, to be (say) ten degrees hotter than 
 they are ordinarily found on the surface. My atten 
 tion was first called to the contrary by the superintendent 
 of the Cherry Yalley Oil Company, who observed that 
 from the Yankee well oil flowed very little above the 
 freezing point. In some few instances, whether owing to 
 careless observations or Nature s freakishness, his remarks 
 were not borne out by other operators, but in many more 
 they were fully confirmed. Mr. Ostrom, of Titusville, 
 who has been some years at work in the valley, took the 
 pains to test this matter by the thermometer. He ob 
 serves that different wells range through various degrees 
 of temperature, according to the season. In winter this is 
 not apt to be so low as in summer, when it is usually found 
 as far down as forty or forty -five degrees ; at the opposite 
 season it rises, in some wells, up to sixty degrees, causing 
 a smoke to ascend from the surface of the tank. The 
 
"Si/ruck Oil" Lawlessness. 89 
 
 tests in all cases were made in a pail-full of liquid, as dis 
 charged from the pipe, in which the heat and cold would 
 both be somewhat modified. The whole subject requires 
 much more extended observations than have yet been 
 given to it, previous to making which it is not advisable 
 to theorize respecting the causes at work in producing this 
 effect. The circumstance shows, however, that men who 
 have undertaken to calculate at what distance from the 
 surface our globe is in a liquid state, have reckoned 
 altogether too fast. 
 
 Indeed, as if with a design to nullify theories or teach 
 ings of any kind as to the subterranean world, and abso 
 lutely to bewilder the investigator, rendering him hope 
 less of arriving at any general conclusions, we have the 
 fact vouched for by multitudes of experienced operators, 
 that wells yield much less freely in winter than in the summer 
 season. This assertion is also called in question by some 
 practical men, who seem to be as diverse in their relating 
 matters of fact, as Nature is erratic in carrying on her pro 
 cesses. Thus, an intelligent superintendent at Petroleum 
 Centre admits the fact of a difference to a slight extent, 
 but denies that it should be attributed to the cause as 
 signed, namely, the agency of or sympathy with condi 
 tions existing in our upper atmosphere. His belief is, 
 that the collection of paraffine in the tubes, which is much 
 greater during cold than hot weather, and prevents the 
 free passage of oil, water, and gas, creates all the difficulty. 
 As proof of this theory, he alleges that the paraffine col 
 lects chiefly on that part of the tube which is near the sur 
 face and thus exposed to the atmosphere. Elsewhere I 
 was assured that they had " tested " this explanation by 
 re-tubing in winter ; but invariably they found the same 
 
90 "Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 
 
 decrease at that season. They pointed also to the Noble, 
 the Fountain, and other flowing wells, which suspended 
 action altogether in winter ; while the pumping-wells on 
 whole farms had been found so unprofitable then that 
 their managers either stopped altogether, or kept on to 
 prevent the supply of petroleum from stopping for all 
 time. Some managers report a difference of thirty per 
 cent between the average production of wells in summer 
 and winter. The superintendent of the Briggs Oil Com 
 pany declares he can predict changes in the weather for 
 twenty -four hours in advance by observing the yield of 
 his wells. On the approach of a cold rain or snow-storm, 
 they begin to slacken up a fall day beforehand. On the 
 other hand, after commencing to yield more freely, it is 
 safe to calculate upon pleasant weather. No better ba 
 rometer, he alleges, could be devised to forecast the out 
 break of storms than the decreased production of these 
 long tubes, with petroleum instead of mercury. He thinks 
 the are changes wrought by heat and cold, not the mere 
 presence or absence of a certain quantity of moisture in the 
 atmosphere. The Forest City well did not yield twenty- 
 five barrels per day during the dead of winter in 1863-4, 
 but recovered to an average of eighty-five barrels next 
 summer. In December last it gave out altogether, and so 
 continued till the eighth of March, when oil once more 
 made its appearance, but in small quantities at first. 
 
 Testimony to the same effect is so abundant, that it 
 cannot be upset by the experience, much less by the opin 
 ion, of a few individuals, no matter how trustworthy as 
 observers and narrators. But the difference between sum 
 mer and winter production is doubtless not so great in 
 new as in old wells, or in flowing as in pumping ones. It 
 
cl Struck Oil " Lawlessness. 91 
 
 is in that stage of decay, approaching exhaustion, where 
 the gas cooperates less vigorously with the pump, that 
 the greatest diversity as to season is found. But how or 
 why such intimate sympathy should exist, when every 
 means is used to exclude air from reaching the fountains, 
 or gas from passing upward, except through the tubes, I 
 do not pretend to be able to explain. 
 
 Perhaps one or two other observations may assist the 
 reader in arriving at a better understanding of the subject. 
 The localities where this aerial sympathy is most acutely 
 felt, contain large numbers of old and idle wells. In those 
 which have been sunk on ground least punctured by the 
 drill, I believe there is the least cause for complaint. 
 Still, at the Economy wells, near Tideoute, where the 
 land has been little bored on that side of the river, there 
 is an acknowledged difference of fifteen or twenty per 
 cent in favor of the summer season. The veins supplying 
 those wells have certainly not been reached by others 
 within the distance of half a mile. 
 
 Mr. Fox, manager of the large interest owning Petro 
 leum Centre, observes that sometimes wells flow pure 
 water, then oil alone, then water only. In that locality, 
 he believes the oil and water are got together below the 
 third sand-rock. 
 
 Even with regard to the veins of petroleum, such a 
 degree of uncertainty exists, in advance of actual trial, 
 that they may be justly placed among the objects or phe 
 nomena subject to the law of lawlessness. Before sinking 
 a well, it is utterly impossible to foresee whether it will or 
 will not strike the oil-vein that feeds a neighboring well. 
 Scores of instances might be brought forward to prove 
 that a constant and intimate sympathy below ground does 
 
92 "Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 
 
 exist between wells situated hundreds of yards apart. On 
 the celebrated Tarr farm, several weeks were consumed 
 last spring in pumping out the water which had collected 
 from above, in consequence of withdrawing the tubes and 
 leaving the orifices open. This water passed from one 
 well to another, flooding those on the whole farm. The 
 same costly process has to be gone through with the pres 
 ent season, many, at the time of my visit, having just be 
 gun to discharge the bilge- water, which had been collect 
 ing during the winter months. The great Philips spring 
 was reached by a rival interest, which carried off two 
 thousand barrels a day, and nearly dried up the original 
 source. By withdrawing the tubes, each manager found 
 he could render the other work utterly unproductive. 
 Finally, after much litigation and delay, the difficulty 
 was settled by each proprietor agreeing to give the other 
 one third of his own yield, on condition of the other keep 
 ing his tubes in proper order. In one case, this connec 
 tion was so intimate, through subterranean channels, that 
 the sounds made in drilling one, though not audible at its 
 mouth, could be heard coming up the next well. On the 
 Watson flats, a torpedo, let down nearly five hundred feet 
 into an exhausted well, exploded and started the oil in 
 another, though nearly half a mile distant, improving the 
 character of the one subjected to the operation. On the 
 other hand, Mr. Duncan, an experienced operator, assured 
 me that one of his wells, which had been sunk close by 
 the boundary -line of his lot, yielded so largely as to excite 
 the cupidity of a neighbor. The latter decided to bore at 
 a point within eleven feet of Mr. D. s well. After sinking 
 some distance, an offer to pay all expenses then incurred, 
 on condition of abandoning the attempt, was promptly re- 
 
"Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 93 
 
 jected. The work was carried down to a point below the 
 Duncan well, but it yielded nothing. Not disheartened 
 at this failure, the intruder made a second attempt at tap 
 ping the spring, going a few feet further off and in a some 
 what different direction ; the result was a yield of about 
 one barrel per day for a time, which led him to abandon 
 the enterprise. Many other instances of the same sort 
 might be adduced, showing that the notion entertained by 
 some of a grand reservoir of oil lying below ground at a 
 given depth, is unsupported by facts. Even a well sunk 
 in a direct line between two producing works does not in 
 variably strike the common vein ; for though passing 
 within a few inches of the spot, a bed of clay or solid 
 rock may forbid the exit of petroleum. 
 
 " Surface indications," it has been shown, relate simply 
 to the oil-springs found in the upper sand-rock, and these 
 are commonly so insignificant that operators pay little at 
 tention to them. To reach the more abundant sources in 
 the inferior rocks there is no certain guide, the only ap 
 proach to such being to get as nearly as possible on a 
 direct line between other producing wells. The law of 
 lawlessness also applies to the quantity of oil which a spring 
 will yield after being reached, as truly as to its prospects 
 in advance. Two wells may be within fifty feet of each 
 other, as closely as they can be operated to advantage ; 
 yet, while one pours forth a hundred barrels per day, the 
 other will refuse to give out more ^han ten. Even their 
 modes of contributing these quotas will vary, one flowing 
 by fits and starts, the other emitting a steady stream in 
 response to the pump. The one may run two years, 
 while the other becomes exhausted perhaps at the end of 
 three months or thirty days. Commonly, the contrast is 
 
94: "Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 
 
 not so sharp as this, wells on the same vein having a good 
 degree of sympathy with each other ; yet the purchaser 
 ought to make the possibility of an entire diversity in 
 time as truly as in yield, enter into his calculations as to 
 productiveness. 
 
 In no other respect does the apparent capriciousness of 
 Nature manifest itself more clearly than in the duration of 
 an oil-spring. The fact that wells would give out at last was 
 unknown, until it had been proved by abundant and most 
 painful evidences. It is still called in question by some, 
 who are either ignorant of the country or interested in 
 creating misconceptions in the public mind. After so 
 large a proportion of the works have gone through the 
 several stages of flowing, pumping, deepening, re-reaming, 
 etc., and then refused to contribute enough to pay ex 
 penses, it is unpardonable for persons at the East to be 
 caught napping, either by investing their means in defunct 
 concerns or expecting productive ones to last for ever. 
 The excuses which a stranger is apt to hear or observe in 
 print as to the number of idle derricks, are endless, and 
 ought to arouse suspicion at once. " Oh ! she was dam 
 aged by the flood ;" as if a very profitable enterprise would 
 be even temporarily abandoned for the lack of a few thou 
 sand dollars, which could be repaid within as many weeks. 
 " She was never put down deep enough ;" as if the apologist 
 had been in the basement story, and examined how much 
 further it was to the*great petroleum reservoir. "She 
 was abandoned in 1861, when oil had sunk in price to 
 twenty-five cents a barrel, and has never been worked 
 since ;" as if crude petroleum had not since advanced to 
 half as many dollars per barrel at the well. " Her lease 
 has expired, and she is now in the hands of the original 
 
"Si/ruck Oil" Lawlessness. 95 
 
 owners of the land ;" as if they or thousands of others 
 would not have rushed to the rescue of a productive con 
 cern, which was going to ruin for want of a little means. 
 Barely, indeed, are these excuses more than founded on 
 fact, the truth in almost all cases being, that the wells 
 have gone dry or were unproductive at first. The chances 
 are believed to be quite as many in favor of sinking a 
 new well as of deepening an old one, even though it may 
 not have reached a greater depth than three hundred feet 
 in the first instance. 
 
 Of those which were bored as early as 1861, I think it 
 safe to estimate that not more than one in a hundred have 
 continued to yield steadily ever since, and are now afford 
 ing enough to pay operating expenses. The Economy 
 wells at Tideoute are most remarkable exceptions in this 
 respect. The fact that that spring should have been 
 reached within one hundred and fifty feet of the surface, 
 makes the " record " of those works the more interesting. 
 Certainly the whole region of Petrolia has no parallel 
 cases to these ; and at this moment I do not recall a soli 
 tary instance where a well, no matter to what depth sunk, 
 has continued to flow or pump, without serious interrup 
 tion, for four years, as they have done. Let no lucky ad 
 venturer who may strike oil lay the flattering unction to 
 his soul, that the spring which foams and bleeds so pro 
 fusely in his presence will continue to pour forth oil in 
 paying quantities for four, three, or perhaps even two 
 years. Before the end of eighteen months, it will not only 
 call frequently for repairs and renewals, but probably 
 have settled down to figures so modest as barely to cover 
 working expenses. An oil-spring insurance company, 
 did such exist, would not issue a policy, upon the first 
 
96 "Struck Oil" Lawlessness. 
 
 discharge of a well, that it would hold out longer than 
 twelve months ; at any rate, it would be unsafe to accept 
 the risk of its continuing to yield more than ten per cent 
 of the average of its first month s production. Indeed, 
 experts have assured me that they have set down nine 
 months as the ordinary period of gestation ; so that what 
 additional contributions may be made are such as the 
 lucky possessor has no right to expect. 
 
 But as this is a matter more properly belonging to the 
 financial question than the idiosyncrasies of Petrolia, I 
 leave its further discussion for another chapter. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 OBSTACLES IN THE WAY THE MEANS USED TO OVER 
 COME THEM. 
 
 IN some form or other, obstacles to production present 
 themselves from the day a well takes its place among ex 
 istences till its last breath is spent. As the human sys 
 tem is subject to diseases, which, with increasing years 
 and diminishing strength, augment in power, ultimately 
 ending in dissolution, so with an oil-well. To some of 
 these difficulties I have already alluded ; but to be under 
 stood clearly they must be systematized and examined 
 more fully under a separate head. 
 
 One of the first obstructions encountered is the collecting 
 of paraffine, a substance whose qualities and uses will 
 be found explained under the head of the refining of 
 petroleum. It collects occasionally on the pump-rods, 
 preventing their free passage up and down in the tube ; 
 a good well on the Miller farm had been thus thrown idle 
 for some days, when I visited it. More frequently, how 
 ever, especially during winter, this substance collects on 
 the inside of the tubes with the same effect. In such an 
 event, it is probable the adhesive element might be re 
 moved by heat, causing it to melt, run down to the bot 
 tom, and come up mingled with the oil. To accomplish 
 this, it is only necessary to direct a current of steam down 
 5 
 
98 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 
 
 the tube for some time. As, however, the real cause of 
 failure on the well s part can only be guessed at, previous 
 to examination, it is customary to withdraw the tubes, 
 unscrew them, clean them out, and afterward replace 
 them. In a deep well, these operations will consume from 
 two days to a week, according to the quantity of water 
 collecting below. The task requires three or four men to 
 perform it, and is altogether one of the least pleasant in 
 that country. 
 
 Quite as frequently this waxy intruder is found adher 
 ing to the sides of the well, alighting, precisely where it 
 ought not to alight, on the oil-veins, and sealing them up 
 as tightly as if the operation had been performed by hand, 
 with the use of sealing-wax. Here again the trouble is 
 that managers, being in the upper world, can have no cer 
 tain knowledge of the difficulty. As far as known there, 
 the stoppage may be owing to the collecting of paraffine 
 or to exhaustion in the supply. The tubes must once 
 more be pulled up and examined. If nothing be found 
 the matter with them, the supposition next in order is 
 that paraffine has collected on the sides of the well. To 
 remove this a tube is put down a long distance, and 
 through it is directed a column of steam, which dissolves 
 the adhesive substance and restores the power of the oil- 
 veins. This consumes quite as much time as the other 
 operation. 
 
 If this proceeding fails to accomplish the end desired, 
 recourse is sometimes had to the torpedo, a thin cast-iron 
 tube, four or five feet in length, and filled with gunpow 
 der, which is fired by mea,ns of a galvanic wire. The ob 
 ject of this is to open or reopen fractures in the rocks, 
 and liberate quantities of petroleum locked up in them. 
 
Obstacles in the Way, etc. 99 
 
 There is a good deal of trouble, as well as some outlay, 
 connected with this device; and the experiments made 
 with it have been too few as yet to justify any general 
 conclusion respecting its merits. The fact that such, an 
 explosion should have started the petroleum in a well far 
 distant, suggests the inquiry whether expenditures of the 
 kind should not be borne equally by all companies and 
 individuals in a neighborhood, whose wells require " re 
 juvenation " ? One work is as likely to gain benefit as 
 another from the operation. 
 
 "When steam-pipe and torpedo alike fail to restore a well 
 to its pristine vigor, or at least to a paying condition, and 
 the manager has the quality of perseverance, it is cus 
 tomary to resort to other processes. The next step is 
 commonly to sink to a greater depth, particularly if the 
 well were put down, in the first place, less than five hun 
 dred feet. Along the Alleghany and on various parts of 
 Oil and French Creeks, this operation is now in progress 
 or contemplation at some hundreds of works. In the 
 great majority of cases, however, it is undertaken by new 
 interests, into whose hands the property has fallen by 
 lease or purchase. By looking over the chapter on the 
 statistics of production, the reader will find many in 
 stances where such endeavors have proved successful to a 
 moderate degree very seldom, however, in tapping a big 
 spring lower down, after a tolerably good one had been 
 exhausted in a higher stratum. When it is considered 
 that in that chapter little mention has been made of un 
 productive wells, except to group them in mass, I am. in 
 clined to think that scarcely one well in seven perhaps 
 not even one in ten ever succeeds in getting petroleum 
 sufficient to pay the additional outlay incurred in deepen- 
 
100 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 
 
 ing it. Certainly not one in fifty becomes a second-class 
 concern, yielding from twenty-five to one hundred barrels 
 per day, for the space of twelve months. 
 
 The other proceeding is to ream out the well, increas 
 ing its diameter from four to five or six inches. This has 
 not been resorted to in nearly as many instances as deep 
 ening ; but I think the experiments already made and 
 the impressions of the workmen thus engaged, will bear 
 me out in saying that it is not likely to be more success 
 ful than the other. The theory in re-reaming is that, be 
 ing much more easily performed than boring anew, it not 
 only removes accretions from the side of the well, but 
 may lay open new springs or veins, separated from the 
 boring by very slender partitions. Full and accurate sta 
 tistical information, drawn from whole sections of the oil 
 regions, is highly desirable. The trouble now is, that in 
 this, as in nearly all other matters relating to Petrolia, the 
 successes are blazed abroad by telegraph, newspaper, and 
 private epistle ; while the failures are glozed over, or at 
 best only touched upon, as if they were matters of which 
 the public must be kept in profound ignorance. 
 
 Among the many hindrances experienced is the ineffi 
 ciency of engines, either by their getting out of order or 
 having to stop from a deficiency of coal. Either of these 
 drawbacks puts a complete stop to the production of pe 
 troleum, without making any diminution on the score of 
 expenses. The engines first imported were almost lite 
 rally " one-horse " machines. Their boilers were insuffi 
 cient to generate the quantity of steam since found requi 
 site to drive the pumps. The cylindrical part being usu 
 ally from twenty-four to twenty-eight inches in diameter, 
 and from four and a half to five feet in length, the power 
 
Obstacles in the Way, ^fe tOl 
 
 produced ranged between five and eight horses. Not that 
 in every case a very large mechanical force is required 
 for that purpose, the law of lawlessness applying to this 
 as to all other departments of Petrolia. In some wells a 
 pressure of ten pounds to the inch has been found suffi 
 cient for all purposes, in others six or seven times that 
 pressure is needed. As the wants of a well cannot be 
 foreseen, skilful operators now judge it advisable to en 
 large the capacity and augment the strength of boiler 
 and engine, which are, accordingly, now made sufficient 
 to give twelve, fifteen, or twenty horse-power. On ^the 
 properties of several companies one engine is geared to 
 two pumps, or to one pump and a drilling apparatus. 
 Near Titusville, a forty-horse engine has been introduced 
 and set to pumping three wells, to which a fourth will 
 shortly be added. The results appear to be perfectly sat 
 isfactory, as is manifest from the number of small engines 
 which are for sale in all parts of the country. Indeed, 
 considering the contiguity of numbers of wells on many 
 farms with the high prices of labor and fuel, the marvel 
 is that engines with long lines of shafting have not been 
 already introduced to furnish power at rates more reason 
 able than it can be obtained for at present. 
 
 The inability of motive power to do its work, or its 
 temporary failure through accidents, is a serious loss, 
 since repairs are equally costly and dilatory. To the best 
 of my knowledge, there is not a shop in the oil region 
 where a boiler and steam-engine can be renovated, if 
 badly broken down. The demands upon the shops at 
 Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Paterson, and New- 
 burgh, have hitherto been such that new engines could be 
 obtained only after months of delay, as well as by paying 
 
102 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 
 
 double the prices which they would formerly have com 
 manded. Why, among the thousands of manufacturers 
 and nfechanics who have visited Yenango county, the es 
 tablishment of a boiler-shop and engine-shop should have 
 been overlooked, I am unable to conjecture, unless it has 
 been owing to the extravagant prices charged for land 
 and services of all kinds, the cupidity of speculators thus 
 checking the growth of industry, the settlement of the 
 country, and in the end cutting its own throat. 
 
 Getting out of fuel is one of the many temporary annoy- 
 anc$s experienced by oil companies. At first sight, this 
 would hardly appear possible, in view of the abundance 
 of fire- wood still left in the country, after the more valu 
 able timber has been cleared off and sawn into lumber. 
 Petrolia has for boundaries on two sides the coal-fields of 
 Pennsylvania, the beds cropping out on the hill-tops, both 
 toward the east and the south. In both directions the seams 
 are of sufficient thickness to render mining profitable in 
 ordinary times. But the insane spirit of speculation has 
 caused coal-lands to advance in price from one hundred dol 
 lars to two thousand dollars per acre, and thus practically 
 shut up one of the chief sources of wealth in that region. 
 The people have to depend upon the irregular and uncer 
 tain supplies received from Pittsburgh by steamer, paying 
 quadruple prices therefor. With railroads and steam 
 boats utterly insufficient to transact the business thrown 
 upon them, and no common roads deserving of the name, 
 it came to pass that bituminous coal commanded from 
 sixty to eighty cents per bushel in Oil City, during the 
 past winter ; while along Oil Creek it advanced to one 
 dollar and even one dollar and twenty-five cents per 
 bushel. Here again is seen the consequence of that short- 
 
Obstacles in the Way, etc. 103 
 
 sighted selfishness, which, refusing to^ake thought for 
 others as well as for the morrow, leaves the highways (a 
 sad misnomer !) to take care of themselves. Horse rail 
 roads along the principal bottoms could not fail to be ex 
 ceedingly remunerative. 
 
 Sometimes I have felt indignant at beholding a 
 whole posse of men loitering idly about a well, because 
 they were out of coal, which might not arrive within a 
 full week. There lay along the river-margin, within a 
 quarter of a mile, drift-wood sufficient to supply fuel for 
 a fortnight ; there was abundance on the slopes immedi 
 ately above, to be had for a trifle, in addition to the labor 
 of chopping and rolling it down. The officer in charge 
 was too consequential to step so far out of his beat ; the 
 engineers and others were too indolent to work when 
 they could do without it. Between the two, wells pro 
 duced after a fashion, and shareholders got dividends 
 in faith, hope, and charity ! 
 
 In the chapter on statistics will be found occasional re 
 ferences to the blower, a simple apparatus, first introduced 
 into the Sherman well, and since then tried in several others 
 with various success. The Sherman had flowed very large 
 ly for a time, but given out ; resort was then had to the 
 pump, which also at length proved insufficient. Finally, 
 the. manager introduced the instrument mentioned with 
 quite satisfactory results, the yield coming up to between 
 forty and sixty barrels a day. The blower consists sim 
 ply of an iron tube, one inch in diameter, which is let 
 down into the well outside of the fixed tube, the lower end 
 of the blower being bent round, so as to pass upward into 
 the orifice of the other. A column of air is then forced 
 down the small pipe, from which it passes into the larger, 
 
104 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 
 
 and assists the neural action of the gas in forcing up the 
 petroleum. By virtue of this simple contrivance to co 
 operate with Nature, that well has gone forward for some 
 months without any material diminution that I could 
 learn. In other cases, however, the result was far from 
 being equally satisfactory. The manager of the Noble 
 and Delamater well tried the blower, under which the 
 total yield amounted to twenty-five barrels, when the oil 
 ceased to flow. In others, again, after using the blower 
 without success, it has been taken out, and replaced by the 
 pump, with a decided improvement in the yield. It de 
 serves mention that these instruments are not all similar 
 in design ; and that some are regarded worthless under all 
 circumstances. Before purchasing, it would be well to 
 obtain a guarantee of satisfactory results, provided it can 
 be proved that oil exists in the well to be subjected to 
 the experiment. On this matter, as of every other, the 
 experience of both practical and disinterested men is 
 highly desirable. 
 
 The cost of transporting petroleum, in bulk or barrels, to 
 the nearest point of shipment, is one of those obstacles 
 now felt in preventing the further extension of that great 
 enterprise. As a specimen of the rates prevailing since 
 the opening of navigation, I may state that boatmen are 
 in the habit of charging one dollar per barrel for convey 
 ing it from Petroleum Centre four miles up to Shaffer s 
 station, or eight miles down to Oil City. Before the 
 opening of the railroad from Franklin to Oil City, it was 
 customary to charge two dollars per barrel for transport 
 ing it seven miles, during the winter season. A railroad 
 between Shaffer s and Oil City could make money by car 
 rying a barrel the whole distance for twenty-five cents. 
 
Obstacles in the Way, etc. 105 
 
 But in spite of this obvious truth, staring stockholders 
 and managers in the face in spite of troublesome delays 
 as well as extravagant changes, the Petrolians are content 
 to trudge through mud and grease, the noblest of God s 
 subordinate creatures being murdered every year by thou 
 sands. I know of no better means for bringing the fero 
 cious drivers to something like feeling than to apply to 
 them the blows they are wont to administer to the broken- 
 down quadrupeds, often in the agonies of death. In one 
 instance at least, an earnest threat from a spectator to give 
 blow for blow had the desired effect, and the poor crea 
 ture was permitted to heave his expiring groans free from 
 the devilish treatment which he was then perhaps too 
 unconscious to feel. 
 
 The newly imposed tax of one dollar per barrel laid by 
 the general government on crude oil, is a subject of much 
 complaint, not only on account of its pecuniary weight, but 
 for the other annoyances in connection with it. One of these 
 will doubtless be the frequent exercise of that rule known 
 as "reduction descending," in regard to the reported yield 
 of many wells ! But this topic belongs rather to the 
 financial than the mechanical head, and I pass it by for 
 the present with merely alluding to it. 
 
 The losses and troubles arising from owners or agents 
 withdrawing the tubes and leaving idle wells open, have 
 been noticed in a previous chapter. Elsewhere the neces 
 sity of stringent legislation is urged upon the state 
 authorities. 
 
 No inconsiderable loss was occasioned last winter from 
 the inability of the great railroad companies to transport 
 the petroleum (whether crude or refined) eastward. The 
 consequence of this was an immense accumulation of it at 
 
106 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 
 
 various points, where it could neither be shipped nor 
 made a means of raising money, however much the man 
 agers might be in want of it. Dividends, of course, were . 
 out of the question. The industrial changes consequent 
 on a restoration of peace will probably prevent a repeti 
 tion of this misfortune for some years. 
 
 A decided drawback on the business as a whole, is the 
 great fluctuation in prices happening every little while. In 
 March last, the price of crude illuminating oil was from 
 ten to twelve dollars per barrel at the wells ; at one time 
 in April it had sunk to three dollars, a fall of seventy per 
 cent ! Even this lapsus was nothing like so ruinous as 
 that which was experienced in 1861, when the great flow 
 ing wells down Oil Creek were first struck. For many 
 weeks petroleum was sold for twenty-five and even ten 
 cents per barrel in fact, it was not thought to be worth 
 barrelling at all. There was no resource but to wait and 
 extend the introduction of this article, which was duly ac 
 complished in. time, though not till tens of thousands of 
 barrels of it had gone to waste. The wild excitement of 
 last winter and spring, attended with such a rush of peo 
 ple to the oil regions, had its influence in lowering prices 
 last April. If most of the wells were really as successful 
 as they are represented to be, there can be no doubt that 
 the price of oil would sink to a still lower figure than 
 three dollars per barrel. 
 
 The high wages paid, whether directly for labor or indi 
 rectly for its products, have been in part attributed to the 
 war ; with its close there cannot fail to be a material de 
 cline in both. It is questionable, however, whether com 
 panies have been as much losers from the high standard 
 ruling as from the unsteadiness of a large body of the 
 
Obstacles in the Way, etc. 107 
 
 workmen, at a time when employment is abundant and 
 well remunerated. This will also come to a close. 
 
 Last, but not least, among the troubles to be expected, 
 is the chapter of accidents" arising from flood, fire, etc. 
 The mere mention of this suggests what a story of losses 
 and crosses has been told since the end of last March, 
 when, in consequence of the melting of a whole winter s 
 accumulations of snow, the runs, creeks, and rivers over 
 flowed their banks and inundated the lowlands, piers, 
 wharves, etc., sweeping off property estimated by some as 
 being worth five millions of dollars ! The damage done 
 directly to wells, together with the consequent falling off 
 in their production, I have no doubt will have amounted 
 to as large a sum as the direct destruction of oil and other 
 property. One-fifth of the immense aggregate, applied to 
 the construction of roads and levees, drains and fences, 
 with reasonable sagacity in forecasting the advent of such 
 a visitation, might have warded off the effects of that 
 frightful calamity; as it is, companies and individuals 
 must pay the penalty of establishing conditions in which 
 the lowest form of selfishness is the only recognized prin 
 ciple of action. To this hour Petrolia has refused to 
 profit by that calamitous dispensation. It has opened no 
 water-courses ; thrown up no embankments to be used for 
 highways as well as levees ; has raised neither well nor 
 tank one foot above its former level ; but, with the placid 
 unconcern of a believer in fate, resigned itself to the next 
 flood that may desolate its valleys and inundate its streets. 
 The influx of capital has been so unprecedented, that 
 some of its people may have imagined they can snap their 
 fingers at the natural laws ; but these will, in the end, as 
 suredly vindicate themselves. 
 
108 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 
 
 In still another mode do losses by flood occur. During 
 the summer months, Oil Creek shrinks to a mere brook, 
 insufficient to float even a skiff in many places. At this 
 season it has been customary to create artificial floods or 
 freshets by the construction of dams near the head- waters. 
 On a given day in the week, these are opened and the pent- 
 up waters let flow. The scene is apt to be highly excit 
 ing and withal not free from danger, as the newly-eman 
 cipated floods rush madly down the valley, bearing scores 
 of huge flat-bottomed boats, all heavily laden with the pro 
 ducts of the wells. Sometimes boats, laden in bulk, collide 
 with those laden with barrels, and both again crash against 
 others which may be moored to the margin of the creek, 
 breaking them into fragments and sending their cargoes 
 adrift. It is customary to give notice in advance of these 
 visitations ; but with all the precautions adopted, they are 
 apt to be attended with more or less damage. 
 
 In speaking of the effects of fire, it is gratifying to find 
 that the conflagrations which broke out with consequences 
 so tremendous in the early history of this enterprise, have 
 not happened in vain. Some of these calamities were so 
 appalling that they might almost be termed national evils. 
 In one of them, near Eouseville, twenty-seven persons lost 
 their lives ; and seldom, indeed, has a well taken fire with 
 out more or less destruction of human life, as well as im 
 mense amounts of property. It requires very little stretch 
 of the imagination to comprehend the effects of a single 
 spark falling in the wrong place when a stiff breeze is 
 blowing. With hundreds of derricks, tanks, engine- 
 houses, etc., on a single bottom all of wood, and so satu 
 rated with oil that they are as inflammable as tinder nay, 
 with streams and pools of petroleum covering large por- 
 
Obstacles in the Way, etc. 109 
 
 tions of the surface, it requires but a spark to cause the 
 whole magazine to explode. It has even sometimes hap 
 pened that upon striking oil suddenly, this liquid would 
 spirt upward, fall on the engine-house, and take fire from 
 the furnace, enveloping all the neighboring locality in 
 flames. Accidents of this kind have taken place so often 
 from laborers or strangers smoking near the wells, that 
 the practice is prohibited, and the stranger finds numerous 
 cautions to that effect wherever he goes. 
 
 " When the burning well," writes a correspondent, 
 " happened to be near the creek, which was frequently 
 the case, a new danger threatened. The boats, loaded 
 with oil, took fire, and burning their lines, went adrift 
 down the stream. As they passed the tank-boats, filled with 
 oil in bulk, the flames spread to them with the rapidity of 
 lightning ; a single flash and the whole boat was in flames. 
 The burning boats continued in their course of devasta 
 tion, setting fire to every thing they touched on their 
 route. The bursting of tanks covered the stream with oil, 
 which took fire and added to the terrible grandeur of the 
 scene. A great fire of this kind occurred more than a 
 year ago, when blazing boats came down the creek, and, 
 plunging among a large fleet of loaded boats at Oil City, set 
 them on fire ; and the whole blazing mass swept down the 
 Alleghany, burning the Franklin bridge as they passed, 
 and spreading terror for miles along the river. . . . 
 To extinguish a burning well, the only means discovered 
 is to play on it with steam from the boiler of a neighbor 
 ing engine, or to heap the mouth of the hole with earth. 
 To accomplish the latter is a work of great difficulty and 
 danger, for the heat thrown out by burning petroleum is 
 intense. For this reason, a flowing well that takes fire 
 
110 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 
 
 frequently burns for many days before the fire can be ex 
 tinguished." 
 
 The wrecks left by such a visitation are scarcely notice 
 able, consisting of a few long hoops that have fallen from 
 the tanks. Every thing else is sure to be licked up. 
 Last winter, several works, about a mile above Petroleum 
 Centre, took fire and disappeared ; and not a few of the 
 derricks arising in different parts of the oil regions, sup 
 posed by the visitor to indicate the sinking of new wells, 
 are simply replacing old works which have perished by 
 flood or flame. 
 
 In perusing the various accounts of conflagrations and 
 their causes, it may occur to some, that one source of dan 
 ger is the escaping gas becoming a conductor of electrici 
 ty during thunder-storms, as the exhalations arising from 
 trees and barns filled with grain are known to be. Nu 
 merous inquiries, however, have led me to believe that 
 the gas from wells does not act as a conductor, as no fire 
 is^known to have thus originated. Otherwise it would 
 hardly seem possible to escape a sweeping calamity nearly 
 every week during the summer season. 
 
 But whether or not delays or disasters be experienced 
 from flood or flame, the lack of fuel, defects in engines, 
 disorganization in labor, obstructions in the wells or the 
 tubes, the chilling blasts of winter, or the descent of sur 
 face-water, it is an established fact, that the springs them 
 selves decay and finally cease to yield petroleum in pay 
 ing quantities. They may be nursed, and humored, and 
 coaxed, and petted, until it would seem that every imagin 
 able whim was gratified. But no mechanical or chemical 
 application can easily extract sunbeams from cucumbers, 
 or oil from an empty well. For that the real trouble with 
 
Obstacles in the Way, etc. Ill 
 
 most of the abandoned concerns is exhaustion, does not 
 admit of a doubt, all the asseverations of owners, mana 
 gers, agents, mercenary writers, etc., to the contrary notwith 
 standing. The period after which tired Nature will say 
 " Enough," and refuse to contribute another quart, may 
 last three months or three years ; but it will assuredly 
 come to an end. It may be prolonged for a time by 
 various schemes and appliances ; but animal life does not 
 more certainly, in the long run, yield obedience to the 
 natural law of decline, decay, and dissolution, than must 
 the oil-spring. For nearly four years, the Economy wells 
 have resisted the fate which befell all others of the same 
 age ; but even they are producing much less than they did 
 in 1861, and one has become quite feeble. The others, in 
 time, will certainly follow, especially if numbers of new 
 works are to be put into operation close by. Let all who 
 mean to invest their money in oil stocks u stick a pin 
 there." 
 
CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION". 
 
 HAVING described the physical features of Petrolia, its 
 present appearance, "the manners and customs" of its in 
 habitants, the mode of drilling wells, and the obstacles to 
 be overcome afterward, the next point in order, and that for 
 which this little volume will be most eagerly perused by 
 many, is to give statistics of the present and past produc 
 tions of the wells, as ascertained by careful inquiry upon 
 personal examination. The collecting of these consumed 
 fully three weeks. Sometimes a mile or two constituted 
 the length of my cord for a whole day. I made it a point 
 to visit every well in operation, and to compare the yield 
 reported by workmen with that given by officers and 
 neighbors, examining the discharge, and suggesting doubts 
 or inquiries, as the case might be. In order to get the 
 whole truth, it was sometimes necessary to inform the men 
 that I was not a government agent ; at other times, to 
 probe statements very closely and take additional testi 
 mony. By the use of methods best known to a newspa 
 per expert, I think I arrived as near the truth as it was 
 possible for a stranger to do in any thing like a reasonable 
 time. As to fidelity in reporting, I am not conscious of 
 having misrepresented a fact, a figure, an impression, or 
 
Statistics of Production. 113 
 
 even having colored it in the slightest degree, with a view 
 to benefiting or running down any person or interest. 
 Opportunities and even tempting offers to assist in find 
 ing purchasers for wells were not wanting, whatever may 
 have been the motive in rejecting them. It was with a 
 deep conviction on my mind that the subject had never 
 been investigated as it ought to be ;^ that the hard financial 
 and industrial facts had not been collected by laborious, 
 judicious, conscientious men, with a view to publication, 
 that I felt it my duty to take hold of it, in spite of physical 
 obstacles and the predictions of many who pronounced 
 the undertaking an impossibility. 
 
 In order to present the greatest amount of matter in the 
 least space, and in something like a systematic form, I 
 have divided the country into sections or farms, lying 
 contiguous to each other, and having points of resem 
 blance. The first of these is the well-known 
 
 WATSON FLATS. 
 
 These consist of several hundred acres of low and nearly 
 level land, lying between or on each side of the two prin 
 cipal branches of Oil Creek. It .has some appearance of 
 having been at one time the bottom of a lake, before the 
 creek, lower down, reached its present depth. At some 
 points on it, as well as further down the creek, pits were 
 found, from five to eight feet in diameter, and from fifteen 
 to twenty feet deep, their sides protected by " wooden 
 walls," which had been carefully joined. The fact that trees, 
 several feet in diameter, have been found growing imme 
 diately above those pits, proves that they must have been 
 sunk before the white race made their appearance ; and 
 the inference is that the western mound-builders operated 
 
114 /Statistics of Production. 
 
 in Petrolia perhaps thousands of years since. It is said 
 that the Cornplanter Indians have still traditions to that 
 effect. 
 
 The wells on that flat have some characteristics in com 
 mon. None of them yield oil by flowing. The produc 
 tion of the most profitable does not exceed sixty barrels 
 per day. On the other hand, very few wells have been 
 sunk in that locality that did not pay expenses. It is be 
 lieved there has not been one that did not contribute more 
 or less. This "territory" may, therefore, be set down as 
 perhaps the safest in all Petrolia, but the one offering few 
 est rewards in the shape of rare and dazzling prizes. Deep 
 well, sunk to more than twelve hundred feet and still in 
 progress, is on this tract. 
 
 The present yield of the active wells there may be set 
 down as between the figures underneath, both having been 
 given by persons on the ground, and one (the lower) by 
 those who professed to know, and I believe did know, of 
 what they affirmed. 
 
 U. S. Or ant Well. Sunk four hundred and sixty feet. 
 Engine driven by gas from the well. Discharges a con 
 stant stream of oil and water, but increasing and decreas 
 ing every few seconds. Yields from thirty -five to forty- 
 five barrels every twenty-four hours ; probable average, 
 not far from forty. 
 
 Ingersoll Well. Owned by New- York and Oil Creek 
 Petroleum Company. Believed to be the best on the flat- 
 Pumps a steady stream of between fifty and sixty barrels 
 daily. Had been yielding only three weeks at time of 
 visit. They pumped all winter, and got nothing but water 
 for months. Has yielded as much as seventy barrels a 
 day. Depth, four hundred and fifty-eight feet. 
 
Statistics of Production. 115 
 
 Old Abe Well. "Was opened in April last, a week be 
 fore visit. Yields thirty barrels every twenty-four hours. 
 Depth, two hundred and sixty feet. 
 
 Kellogg Well. Yields* from ten to fifteen barrels per day. 
 Depth, four hundred and sixty-two feet. Was opened last 
 February. Discharges by fits and starts only. 
 
 Continental Well. Has broken down two or three times 
 lately. Was idle, when visited, being re-tubed. Famous 
 in the past. 
 
 Kate Well. Was once the best on this flat ; now gives 
 little except water. Tools fast in the bottom, which is as 
 signed as the probable cause of failure. Lay idle from 
 August till lately. 
 
 Nellie Binninger Well. Has been in operation about 
 three months. Very irregular in yield, which ranges from 
 one to fifteen barrels per day. 
 
 New Well. Owned by Pennsylvania Oil Creek Com 
 pany. Prospects, when finished, considered good. 
 
 Watson and Childs s Well. Is old, but recently renovat 
 ed. iTsed to flow sixty barrels per day. Has been idle 
 for nearly three years. Cannot yet say what she is likely 
 to do. 
 
 Baker Well. Yields about twenty-two barrels per day. 
 At one time, gave as much as forty, and four years ago 
 flowed one hundred and sixty barrels daily. Uses her 
 own gas for fuel. 
 
 Ostrom Well. Four years old. Yields about thirty bar 
 rels per day. Depth, four hundred and twenty feet. 
 
 Elliott s Well. Was yieldiog forty barrels daily till the 
 spring freshet, which damaged the works and suspended 
 operations till visit. 
 
 Dunn Well. Average yield given at forty barrels per 
 
116 Statistics of Production. 
 
 day for four weeks. Little discharge of oil when visited, 
 it being late in the day. Has regular pulsations or tides, 
 discharging oil freely in the forenoon and slacking up 
 afterward. 
 
 MEM. On the Kingsland flat, immediately below Wat 
 son flat, are perhaps a dozen derricks, new and old ; one 
 of these standing over the famous well sunk by Colonel 
 Drake in 1859. No active operations are visible on any 
 portion of that property. 
 
 Dean and Firitts Well Belongs to the Bunker Hill Oil 
 Company. Average yield, twelve barrels per day. Depth, 
 five hundred and twenty feet. Doing nothing the day of 
 visit. Opened last October. 
 
 Funk Well. Belongs to owner of that name. Yields 
 ten to twelve barrels per day. Opened last autumn. 
 
 May Queen Well. Belongs to same proprietor, and gives 
 from seven to ten barrels daily. Was also put down last 
 fall, the work done in twenty-five days, to about the usual 
 depth. Believed to be " the quickest time on record." 
 
 MEM. A lot of forty by two hundred feet, close by, 
 has changed hands for the sum of three thousand dollars ; 
 purchaser to take his chance. No wells on property, and 
 no royalty on oil, if any reached. Is about one mile from 
 Titusville, and near margin of the " oil-diggings." Learn 
 also that thirty-seven acres, at a short distance, were lately 
 sold for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in fee 
 simple, the agent of an Eastern company having paid down 
 ten thousand dollars as earnest. Would be glad he had the 
 "eighteen pence within his purse" again; but seller re 
 fuses to give it up. A well in that neighborhood, repre 
 sented as giving fifteen barrels per day, sold last winter 
 for forty-five thousand dollars. It is not paying expenses 
 
Statistics of Production. 117 
 
 to-day, and at the time of sale did not give thirty per cent 
 of the quantity stated ! 
 
 Eincldey Well. Was never properly tested, (a suspicious 
 phrase.) Pumped thirteen barrels oil one day some time 
 since. Eepairing the machinery, and mean to deepen the 
 well. Depth, four hundred and eighty feet. Used a blow 
 er, which has been taken out as unserviceable. Belongs 
 to the Titus estate. 
 
 Burtiss Well. Yielded seven to eight barrels per day 
 last year. Idle in winter, but starting again. Said to be 
 " good show," and there is certainly water. Depth, four 
 hundred and eighty-five feet. 
 
 Cap Well, or No. Seven Parker Petroleum Company, has 
 not been running steadily for some time. They are pump 
 ing and expect to get oil. Depth, six hundred and four 
 teen feet. 
 
 Eckhart Well Just starting. A little oil on the brine, 
 though barely one barrel per day. Depth, six hundred 
 and thirteen feet. 
 
 Palmer Well. Has been lying still for some time. Gave 
 from twelve to eighteen barrels per day formerly. Making 
 preparations to resume work. Depth, two hundred and 
 forty feet. The Keystone, close by, same tale as Palmer. 
 
 Utica Rock- Oil Company s Well, JVb. Thirty-nine. Open 
 ed a few days before visit. In two days gave twenty-eight 
 barrels, and yield increasing. Depth, four hundred and 
 fifty-seven feet. 
 
 Well No. Three. Old concern reopening. In three 
 weeks gave two or three barrels. Depth, six hundred and 
 fifty feet. They say the tubing is out of order. These 
 wells are the highest up on the east branch of Oil Creek 
 
118 Statistics of Production. 
 
 of works in actual operation. Distance from Titusville, 
 one and a half miles. 
 
 Tripler Well About four years old. Gives twelve bar 
 rels per day. Depth, about five hundred feet. 
 
 Old Hiiikle Well. Flowed one hundred barrels per day 
 at first. Subsequently abandoned. "Was pumped some 
 weeks, at one time giving one hundred and twenty -nine 
 barrels in three days. Owners did not consider this pro 
 fitable, with petroleum at twenty -five cents per barrel, and 
 allowed well to rest. Preparing to pump it once more. 
 
 Glendale Oil Company s Well. Averages about three 
 and a half barrels per day. Goes by fits and starts only. 
 Not properly tested since deepening. 
 
 Binninyer and Sanger Wells. One is not pumped. Other 
 is six hundred feet, and newly tested. Gives between 
 twenty and thirty barrels per day, on average. An out 
 side account says between twelve and fifteen. 
 
 iShermouth Well. Old and abandoned. At one time 
 good for forty to fifty barrels per day. Sold to new com 
 pany, late owners guaranteeing an average yield of thirty 
 barrels. 
 
 No. Two Parker Well. Pumps about four barrels in ten 
 hours. Two years old. Depth, five hundred feet. 
 
 Abbott Wells. Two in number. Pumping small quan 
 tities of oil, but the exact quantity could not be ascer 
 tained. 
 
 Above is a list of all the wells in actual operation, or 
 having been such within a few days of my visit. The 
 number of idle or abandoned works I estimate at fifty, 
 within two miles of Titusville ; but in a goodly number 
 of these preparations are in progress for resuming opera 
 tions. The effects of the freshet are still painfully visi- 
 
Statistics of Production. 119 
 
 ble. The number of new derricks within the same dis 
 tance is fully one hundred perhaps one hundred and 
 twenty-five ; but at a considerable number of these there 
 are no signs of activity. 
 
 After sinking to the depth of four hundred and fifty 
 feet on the "Watson flats, without finding oil, I have very 
 little faith in further deepening. Most of the experiments 
 made in that direction have been unsuccessful, and none 
 have amounted to much. 
 
 Wells on the west side of the principal fork, on the 
 whole, pay better than those on the opposite side. The 
 ones given at the head of this list are all on the west side. 
 I allude to this only to dispel an error prevalent in some 
 quarters, that the east side of all streams is more produc 
 tive than the west a vagary refuted by understanding 
 the physical formation of the country. Wells along the 
 base of the heights north-east of Titusville pay mode 
 rately, their average being from eight to ten barrels per 
 day. On the opposite slope they have not yet advanced 
 sufiiciently near completion to afford information as to the 
 extent of the oil-field in that direction. Slopes, as such, 
 have no necessary connection with oil-bearing rocks. 
 
 For nearly four miles below the Watson flats little prog 
 ress has recently been made, the few wells sunk here and 
 there appearing to have been unprofitable. Still, other 
 persons are about to make fresh experiments, and a num 
 ber of new wells are going down. The next point of in- 
 terest is 
 
 MILLER S FAEM, 
 
 six miles below Titusville, with a railroad station and a 
 bridge across the creek. Below is a list of the productive 
 wells : 
 
120 Statistics of Production. 
 
 New-England Well. Belongs to company of same 
 name. Opened about five months ago. Yields from 
 twenty-five to thirty barrels per day. Average well up 
 to thirty. Was the only one then in operation at time 
 of visit, the others undergoing repairs. Is on east side of 
 the creek. 
 
 Hemlock Well. Is on west side. Pumped about eight 
 barrels per day through winter ; but it and the Kerosene 
 were undergoing repairs. Hemlock had been going 
 about one year. Kerosene yielded about twelve barrels 
 per day. 
 
 There are a few other old wells on this farm, chiefly on 
 the east side ; but all appear to have given out. About 
 ten new derricks erected, at half of which work is actu 
 ally going on. A small refinery at the station. 
 
 At Shaffer s, the railroad terminus, out of a dozen old 
 works close by there was not one yielding oil at the time 
 of visit. Great expectations from some new ones on op 
 posite side of the creek. Number of old and idle wells 
 from Watson flats to this place, probably fifty, with near 
 ly as many new ones in progress. Much activity at Shaf 
 fer s in unloading oil from the boats, and shipping mer 
 chandise from the railroad. An "excellent show" of 
 portable engines say a quarter of an acre at least. 
 
 For the next mile and a half a masterly inactivity pre 
 vails along the widening bottom. On that space, I think, 
 are one hundred idle derricks. Disinterested men pro 
 nounce the "territory dry ;" and the solitude of the scene 
 cannot be explained by freshet or other temporary break 
 down. At length we find, on 
 
Statistics of Production. 121 
 
 THE FOSTER FARM, 
 
 Vcmita Well, No. Two. Belongs to the Indian Oil 
 Company of Philadelphia. Flowed about three hundred 
 barrels per day, after opening, last fall ; but has since 
 fallen off to about four barrels. 
 
 Porter Well. Belongs to same interest. Flowed from 
 May till September, 1864, at the rate of one hundred and 
 fifty barrels per day. In November the pump was ap 
 plied, and well now yields about ten barrels, supplying 
 gas to run the engine. 
 
 Zinc Well. Belongs to Irwin Oil Company of Phila 
 delphia. Yields no oil worth mentioning. Workmen ex 
 pect it to produce after exhausting the salt water. Began 
 operations, after lying idle, a short time since. 
 
 THE MoELHENNY FARMS. 
 
 Some of the most famous wells in the oil region were 
 struck, in 1861, about two miles below Shaffer s, on or 
 near the McElhenny farms. The flats there have expand 
 ed to about two hundred and fifty yards in width, and 
 are forested with old and new derricks. The principal 
 works are (or were) the following : 
 
 Noble and Delamater Well. Is on the east side. 
 Opened in 1862. Flowed from eighteen hundred to two 
 thousand barrels per day for six months, when it began to 
 fall off. In spite of low prices, partly caused by its suc 
 cess, made its owners (two poor men) millionaires. About 
 the middle of last winter ceased to flow, when a blower 
 was put in. The trial resulted in a total yield of about 
 twenty -five barrels. Had been idle for some time before 
 visit. No symptoms of renewed activity. 
 6 
 
122 Statistics of Production. 
 
 McKinney Well. Same side of the creek. Yielded 
 about fifty barrels a day by pumping, a short time ago, 
 but broke down for a time. Gives at present about thirty 
 barrels. 
 
 Craft Well. On Bull Kun, entering creek on east 
 side. Opened about the first of April, but a " fool " of 
 the right kind, as it flows two hundred barrels per day, 
 according to owners estimate ; and I think the yield well 
 up to that figure. No falling off at time of visit. A 
 steady stream from the tube, with little fuss and fury. 
 
 Railroad or Boughton Well. On same stream. At 
 first pumped seventy-five barrels per day. Last Novem 
 ber, valves got out of order, and well has not since been 
 in operation. "Workmen very costive in regard to infor 
 mation. One was quite rude. A decidedly unfavora 
 ble impression about the concern. 
 
 Caldwell Well. Just testing. Fair prospects of suc 
 cess. Is situated above and close by the Noble well. 
 
 Caldwell Well, No. Four. Lately tested. Tools fast 
 in bottom. Prospect indifferent. Another well on lot 
 No. Five. Opened two weeks and pumping water. 
 
 Irwin Well. On west side. Pumping from twenty to 
 twenty-five barrels per day. 
 
 Crocker Well. Noted old concern in its day ; but has 
 yielded little except water the past winter. A dispute 
 with neighboring proprietor, who had tapped the same 
 vein. Late Crocker owners say they offered fair terms, 
 which other party rejected. They then withdrew their 
 tubes, when, presto ! the rival was obliged to purchase 
 Crocker or go without any thing. A controversy not 
 uncommon in Petrolia. 
 
 Lon Well. Near old Sherman. Just testing at time 
 
Statistics of Production. 123 
 
 of visit, and good for ten to fifteen barrels, it was said, per 
 day. <? 
 
 Sherman Well. One of the historical landmarks of 
 the oil regions. "Was one of those which inaugurated 
 the revolution of 1861, causing scores of wells to be 
 abandoned, through reduction in price. First yield, fif 
 teen -hundred barrels per day, by flowing ; then fell off to 
 six hundred ; dropped down to one hundred ; and finally 
 stopped altogether last fall. Tried the pump for a time ; 
 but again became unproductive. Next, the proprietor 
 put in a blower, which brought up an average yield of 
 fifty barrels per day, sometimes sixty barrels. An out 
 sider, who pretends to know, reports the amount at forty 
 barrels. Mr. Sherman was originally a poor, but very 
 energetic man. He is still energetic, but not poor. Had 
 to borrow means enough to finish the drilling ; is now 
 one of the magnates of that country. 
 
 Fertig Well. Started with sixty barrels per day, which 
 gradually receded to ten, and then recovered somewhat. 
 Now ranges between ten and twenty barrels, the average 
 being probably fifteen. Is nearly two years old. Great 
 est decline during the cold weather, on the approach of 
 which yield fell off one-half. 
 
 MEM. The proportion of productive wells on this 
 farm and for some distance below, (say one mile beyond 
 the Sherman well,) does not exceed one to every seven or 
 eight of the whole number sunk. In some cases they are 
 endeavoring to resuscitate the idle concerns. At one 
 place counted more than twenty derricks, the machinery 
 all standing still. Beyond those were ten or twelve be 
 longing to a Baltimore company, having been idle for 
 some months ; but a portion of them would probably be 
 
124: Statistics of Production. 
 
 tried anew before long. Continuing the journey down 
 ward, the next productive work is the 
 
 Buckeye Well. Yields from eight to ten barrels per 
 day. Has just been tested anew, after being renovated. 
 Put down about two and a half years ago. Depth, five 
 hundred and fifty feet. 
 
 Briggs WeZfo. -Four in number the Briggs, Sabine, 
 Forest City, and Cayuga. First-named does not pump 
 steadily. Betimes gives nothing, betimes as much as 
 seventy barrels per day. Ordinarily ranges from twenty 
 to twenty -five. Forest City yields about forty-five bar 
 rels per day. Was opened in 1863, when flowed one 
 hundred and fifty barrels. Proprietors thought that was 
 "not much of a shower," and let it go to the creek. 
 Started again after oil had risen in price. Cayuga yields 
 about eight barrels. Last summer gave thirty, but fell 
 off in winter. Sabine in operation about two months, and 
 when visited gave thirty-five barrels per day. All these 
 wells are pumped. 
 
 Huyde Koper Well. Uses both a pump and a blower, 
 which bring up forty barrels per day. Has been in ope 
 ration two or three years. Depth, four hundred and 
 sixty feet. 
 
 Mount Vernon Oil Company s Wells. Four in num 
 ber. Two are doing little or nothing. One is said to 
 average forty barrels per day. The other somewhat out 
 of order and not going at the time. 
 
 THE FUNK AND BOYD FARMS. 
 
 Village named Funkville, and already described. For 
 mer owner, one " Captain" Funk, who died recently one 
 of the princes of Petrolia. The first flowing well ever 
 
Statistics of Production. 125 
 
 struck was on this property : and one of the most famous 
 in the country is still productive, namely, the 
 
 Empire Well, No. One. Sunk in the summer of 
 1861 ; and for a time flowed over two thousand barrels 
 per day, the yield gradually declining, and then dying 
 out. Last year a blower was put in with moderate suc 
 cess ; but with the pump has done better. On some days 
 yields nearly one hundred barrels ; but the average is 
 between sixty and seventy. Flow steady. 
 
 Empire No. Two. Idle, her tools having stuck fast. 
 Never did any thing. No. Three is about eighteen 
 months old, and yields fifteen barrels daily, with no fall 
 ing off perceptible. At first was a flowing well. 
 
 Oceanic Oil Company s Wells. Four in number. No. 
 Three was testing with good prospects at time of visit. 
 The others were not going. 
 
 Jenkins Well. Has been flowing for two months. 
 Average yield given at one hundred barrels per day, with 
 no reports outside to the contrary. 
 
 Buckeye Well. Eanges from twenty to forty barrels 
 per day, with an average yield of nearly thirty. Flowed 
 at one time six hundred barrels daily, sending up a col 
 umn of oil, when struck, described as being one hundred 
 and fifty feet high. Now pumping. 
 
 HMard Well No. Two. Used to flow over one hun 
 dred barrels per day. Now pumps about twenty. Two 
 years old. Depth, four hundred and eighty feet. 
 
 T n Well. Pumps about sixty-five barrels. Uses 
 
 its own gas as fuel. Been in operation about two months. 
 One-half interest belongs to Oceanic Oil Company ; the 
 rest to Mr. Sherman. (N. B. The name is blotted in my 
 note-book.) 
 
126 Statistics of Production. 
 
 Hatch Wells. Both idle, but preparing to resume 
 work. One ordinarily yields about fifty barrels per day, 
 and is now flowing nearly that quantity. Have set it 
 down as good for forty. Another gives only two or three 
 barrels oil, but gas enough to supply eight engines. 
 
 Hadding No. Two Well. Has been in operation three 
 years. Does not go steadily. When in order, yields 
 twenty barrels per day. Estimate its average at ten to 
 twelve. 
 
 American Well. Has been in operation only a few 
 weeks. Average yield reported at thirty barrels per day. 
 Water not yet exhausted. 
 
 Densmore Well No. Eleven,. New pumping well. 
 Yield uncertain ; but supposed to be sixty barrels a day. 
 
 Well No. Five. Also new and pumping. Yield rated 
 at seventy-five barrels per day. Two other wells doing 
 nothing. Belong to same interest as last. 
 
 Olmstead Wells. No. Three produces, by pumping, 
 fifty-five barrels per day. Is eighteen months old. No. 
 One has been flowing at rate of seventy-five barrels for 
 a day or two. No. Four pumps about seventy barrels 
 daily. No. Two has been idle some years. 
 
 MEM. Very few wells on this flat reach to what is 
 called " the third sand-rock," their average depth being 
 between four hundred and fifty and four hundred and 
 seventy-five feet. 
 
 On the Boyd farm counted about forty derricks, nearly 
 all idle. Most of them on east side of creek. A few were 
 approaching completion. On the whole, this farm, like 
 the lower portion of the Funk flat, has not been very 
 productive. Fire broke out during the winter, and did 
 serious damage. Near the lower end are 
 
Statistics of Production. 127 
 
 Wood and Wright s Well. Pumping about three bar 
 rels per day, when in operation, but now idle ; also a well, 
 said to belong to Wood & Company, and reported to 
 pump, " by head," seven or eight barrels. 
 
 BENNEHOOF RUN 
 
 is the name of a streamlet, perhaps ten miles long, dis 
 charging into Oil Creek from the west. It has lately ob 
 tained some celebrity from a flowing well struck on it and 
 named 
 
 Lady Herman Well. Belongs to a man named Her 
 man, who had the good sense to name it after his wife 
 so it is said. Average yield, between sixty and seventy 
 barrels per day. Oil struck about two months since. 
 
 Mowbray Well. Old and abandoned for a tune. 
 Cleaning out and testing anew. Used to be a flowing 
 well. New owner at work. 
 
 Old Warren Well, JVo. Two. When in operation, yields 
 about ten barrels per day. Been re-tubed and is testing. 
 
 MEM. At different times numbers of wells have been 
 sunk on this run. Mostly now idle. Number of old 
 works, about fifteen. At least as many new derricks have 
 gone up or are going. Preparations for a vigorous cam 
 paign quite active here. 
 
 THE WASH. M CLINTOCK FARM, OR PETROLEUM CENTRE. 
 
 The principal wells on this tract are on the west side 
 of the creek, and altogether the place is one of the most 
 prosperous in the rural districts of Petrolia. Half a dozen 
 refineries are on the farm, and great activity prevails in 
 sinking wells, building houses, etc. Most of the flat be 
 longs to the Central Petroleum Oil Company, who lease 
 
128 Statistics of Production. 
 
 out half-acre lots for a royalty of one-half the oil and a 
 bonus of ten thousand dollars in money. In the incipient 
 village, lots twenty by one hundred feet lease for one 
 hundred dollars per annum, all improvements reverting 
 to the company at the end of five years ; while they have 
 the right of entering upon the premises at any time, after 
 thirty days notice, to sink a well. Even on these steep 
 conditions leases have been sold for a considerable pre 
 mium ! 
 
 There is something unusual in the formation of this 
 bottom. At one time the creek made a wide detour to 
 the westward, describing a horse-shoe course for half a 
 mile, and inclosing an island two hundred and fifty yards 
 in length. More recently it has forsaken that part of its 
 bed altogether and confined itself to the eastern and shorter 
 channel, leaving the island a ridgy hill, about seventy-five 
 feet high. The most productive wells are on the bottom, 
 which was formerly the bed of the creek. That stream is 
 crossed by a substantial bridge, the only one between 
 Shaffer s and Oil City. Situated four miles below the for 
 mer and eight above the latter, the carrying trade divides 
 near Petroleum Centre, going upward or downward by 
 boat, according to circumstances. There is a hotel in the 
 village. Subjoined are the wells in operation : 
 
 Central Petroleum Company $ Well, N~o. One. Has 
 been flowing for ten months. Gives twenty barrels per 
 day on the average. Flows spasmodically, stopping alto 
 gether for forty minutes, then coughing, and expectorating, 
 and discharging for five or six minutes. These reports 
 and eructations increase till they sound like the exhausts 
 of a steam-engine, and can be heard for quite a long dis 
 tance. This fit having spent itself, the discharge gradually 
 subsides. 
 
Statistics of Production. 129 
 
 No. Ten Well. Belongs to same company. While 
 drilling, about four weeks before visit, oil spirted forth, 
 striking the top of the derrick and driving off the work 
 men. It flowed in a steady and powerful stream toward 
 the creek. Many hundred barrels lost before the well 
 could be tubed and the product saved. Is now calm and 
 beginning to yield. Depth, five hundred and fifty feet. 
 I rather guess than estimate the product at twenty barrels 
 per day. 
 
 Bluff Well. Belongs to same company, and gives, by 
 pumping, four to five barrels per day. For some time, 
 flowed from five hundred to eight hundred barrels daily ; 
 but this gave out altogether. 
 
 Coldwater No. Seven Well. Pumps twenty barrels per 
 day. Occasionally flows a little. "Was sunk last autumn. 
 Depth, five hundred and eighty feet. 
 
 Coldwater No. Three Well. .Newly opened and flowing 
 at the rate of about twenty barrels per day. Struck the 
 vein of No. Four, which has since gone dry or pumps 
 only water. 
 
 Coldwater Wells, One and Two. Stopped, waiting for 
 engines. Used to flow about twenty barrels per day each. 
 No. Five pumps ten barrels a day. No. Six in progress. 
 
 Central Petroleum Company s Well, No. Two. Pumps 
 about fifteen barrels daily. No. Three flows and pumps 
 about twenty barrels. No. Four idle. No. Five flows 
 about sixty barrels. No. Six suspended. No. Seven pumps 
 about fifteen barrels. Nos. Fight and Nine in progress. 
 
 Fox Well, or No. Four. Flowed one hundred and fifty 
 barrels daily at one time. ISTow produces about forty. 
 Keeping up steadily to that figure. Belongs to same 
 interest. 
 
130 Statistics of Production. 
 
 Swamp Angel Well. About fourteen months old. 
 Flows about fifteen barrels per day. 
 
 Fowler and Ouster s Wells. Two in number. Pro 
 duce about twenty barrels per day. Leased from Central 
 Petroleum Company for half the product. 
 
 At no other point on the creek is the proportion of idle 
 or unprofitable wells smaller than on this farm. On the 
 upper part of it, however, a number were doing nothing 
 at the time of visit ; and I estimate the number of paying 
 wells at this moment at one-half of those which have been 
 put down. It will be seen that of the productive works, 
 a very considerable number were sunk the past year. On 
 both sides of the creek numbers of new works are in prog 
 ress, climbing the hill-sides to the height of one hundred 
 and fifty feet. 
 
 THE EGBERT FARM 
 
 lies nearly opposite to Petroleum Centre. It is some 
 times known as the Hyde and Egbert, having been owned 
 by two persons, the latter a country physician, and both 
 in moderate circumstances. It is now the most pro 
 ductive portion of Petrolia, with the possible exception of 
 a farm on Cherry Eun. It is also near the geographical 
 centre of the Pennsylvania oil region. Its principal well, 
 and the most profitable in the country at present, is the 
 Coquette Well. "Was opened last October, when took 
 to flowing six hundred barrels per day. No actual test of 
 its production has lately been made. Superintendent re 
 ports the last at five hundred and twenty barrels per day. 
 Other reports place the actual amount at four hundred 
 to four hundred and fifty barrels. "Well has a long 
 double range of tanks, whose aggregate capacity is fifteen 
 
Statistics of Production. 131 
 
 thousand barrels, and connecting, by a set of pipes, with 
 the creek, so that boats can be loaded in bulk. The dis 
 charges of this spring occur in regular successions of puffs 
 and jets, noticed elsewhere ; the series repeated five or six 
 times per minute. About one-seventh of the interest in 
 it recently sold in Philadelphia for three hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars. Property mostly owned in that 
 city. 
 
 Maple Shade Well. Struck in August, 1863. Flows 
 about fifty barrels per day. Gave over one thousand bar 
 rels at one time in fact, one of the glories of that country. 
 Is about nineteen months old. Present yield reported to 
 be keeping steady. One year ago, was burned down, to 
 gether with ten thousand barrels of oil and twenty thou 
 sand barrels of tankage. Belongs to Maple Shade Oil 
 Company of Philadelphia, who receive one-sixth of the 
 oil produced on three-fourths of Egbert farm, and five- 
 twelfths of that on remaining fourth. 
 
 Getty sburgh Well. Opened last autumn. Yields from 
 twenty-five to thirty barrels per day, with tools fast in 
 bottom. Flowed at first about ten barrels daily. Work 
 ing interest leased for one-half oil. 
 
 Gimlet Well. Was yielding from ten to twelve barrels 
 per day before stopping to re-tube. Tried the blower, 
 but had to take it out. Now applying the pump to 
 exhaust water. 
 
 A well in operation on the Dalzell farm is said to give 
 thirty barrels daily. Further particulars not ascertained. 
 A safer figure would be twenty barrels. 
 
 Jersey Well. A famous well, struck in the early part 
 of last summer. Yielded three hundred and thirty bar 
 rels (flowing) for five months, on single days running up 
 
132 Statistics of Production. 
 
 to four hundred barrels. Capacity of tanks, ten thousand 
 barrels. Present yield supposed to be between two hun 
 dred and two hundred and fifty barrels daily ; but has not 
 been tested lately. MEM. If the yield were increasing, 
 figures would be duly published. Hence, infer that pro 
 duction is below two hundred barrels. P. S. I have 
 since learned that the Jersey well gave out in May, the 
 spring having been tapped by another well. 
 
 Keystone Well, No. One. A good well at onetime, but 
 now idle. 
 
 Kepler Well. Flowed largely for a time. Now pumps 
 about four barrels per day. One year old. 
 
 THE STORY FARM. 
 
 The wells on this farm lie chiefly on the west side of 
 the creek. The upper part of this, like the lower part of 
 the Egbert, is rather poor " territory." In that section a 
 bare quarter of the works pays operating expenses. On 
 the best part of the Egbert farm one-half of the wells ate 
 idle. Story farm (five hundred acres) belongs to the 
 Columbian Oil Company of Pittsburgh, who have sunk 
 over one hundred wells, of which about fifty are said to 
 have been profitable concerns. Last year they put down 
 thirteen, not one of which paid expenses. The best wells 
 are close to the bluff, at a considerable distance from 
 the creek, and the bottom is nearly abandoned. The 
 company prefer boring on their own account to granting 
 leases ; though they have granted some at a royalty of 
 one-half. They have been one of the most successful in 
 the valley. They design to sink a large number of new 
 wells the present season ; the number estimated at one 
 hundred. Three refineries on the farm. The principal 
 works are 
 
Statistics of Production. 133 
 
 Ram-Cat Well. Opened about fourteen months ago. 
 Original yield, (by flowing,) three hundred barrels per 
 day. Present yield, probably about sixty. 
 
 Hubbwrd Well. Has lately yielded four barrels a day. 
 Been in operation three or four years. 
 
 Flora Wells. Owned by Western Pennsylvania Oil 
 Company. Two of them give, on the average, fifty bar 
 rels a day. One produced over four years, and another, 
 eleven months before stopping. A third flowed one hun 
 dred and twenty-five barrels per day for a time, and kept 
 on producing for eighteen months. 
 
 Reynolds Well. Pumped as high as fifty barrels per 
 day for a time ; recently gave twenty -five ; now pumping 
 out water. Two or three years old, and belongs to Oil 
 Creek and Cherry Eun Company. 
 
 Columbia Oil Company, JVo. Two, Well. Just com 
 mencing to yield. and quantity unknown. No. Thirty -six 
 about two years old ; averages fifty barrels per day. 
 
 Titus Well. Flows ninety barrels per day ; at one 
 time gave one hundred and fifty. Is eighteen months old. 
 
 Perry Well. Has averaged one hundred barrels per 
 day (flowing) for fifteen months. 
 
 Dorman Well. Eanges from five to fifteen barrels per 
 day by pump. In operation about two months. Two 
 other wells on same lot ; one choked up by mud-slide, the 
 other cleaned and tested with "good show." 
 
 Holloio Well. Has given as high as one hundred bar 
 rels per day. Gave lately seventy-five on average. Out 
 of order and undergoing repairs. 
 
 Hollow Well, JVo. Four. Has been going about four 
 months, and now yields nearly one hundred barrels per 
 day. 
 
 Eicholtz Well. Going two or three years. Ranges 
 
134: Statistics of Production. 
 
 from ten to one hundred barrels per day. Average be 
 lieved to be from thirty to thirty-five. 
 
 Lady s Well, No. Four.^hz only one of five wells 
 on lease now producing oil. Pumps eighty barrels per 
 day regularly. In operation for a year. Started at sev 
 enty-five barrels. In winter, averaged only twenty. 
 
 Lady s Well, No. One or Old Lady s Well. Quite fam 
 ous in the annals of Petrolia. Part of the extraordinary 
 crop of 1861. Flowed five hundred barrels per day at 
 first, and kept on yielding till last August, when gave out. 
 Now idle. Might give one or two barrels, if pumped. 
 Last summer, gave fifty barrels a day, and stopped in con 
 sequence of the withdrawal of a set of tubes on adjoining 
 farm. Mr. Wade, the superintendent, it is claimed, was 
 the first to introduce the use of gas in driving the 
 machinery. 
 
 Ryder <& Go s Wells. One has been running since 
 last August. Yields ten barrels per day. The other just 
 testing, and result unknown. Nothing but water as yet. 
 
 Gipner Wells. Two in number. Average yield of 
 both, eighty-five barrels. One over twelve, the other 
 seven months in operation. 
 
 Manor Wells. Also two, which averaged a little over 
 fifty barrels a day for past year. 
 
 Salem Well. Flowing about ten barrels a day. Sup 
 ply of gas sufficient to drive two engines. Has been run 
 ning a year, with no perceptible decrease, whether from 
 use of gas or otherwise. 
 
 Painter, Nichols <& Co. s Well. Pumping about ten 
 barrels per day. Continued for two years at this rate. 
 
 Malloney Well. Idle with tools in bottom. Four 
 years old. Bated as a seventy-five barrel well, but over- 
 rated. 
 
Statistics of Production. 135 
 
 Bluff Well. Complain about bad luck lately. Has 
 been giving from twelve to fifteen barrels per day for 
 about two months. Bather weak in the knees at present. 
 
 Lloyd Wells. Two in number, giving together forty 
 barrels daily. One has been going three years ; the other, 
 six months. 
 
 Well. Re-tubing. Flowed at one time fifty 
 to sixty barrels per day. No reliable statistics lately. 
 
 Hamburgh Well. Flowing between sixty and seventy 
 barrels per day. Gave one hundred at one time. Been 
 nine months in operation. 
 
 Old Say Well. Eetubed and testing. Pumped fifteen 
 barrels per day till two weeks ago. 
 
 THE TAER FAEM 
 
 has yielded more oil than any other in Petrolia, or per 
 haps in the world. A brief notice of the career of its late 
 owner will not be amiss here. " Previous to the petro 
 leum excitement," writes the correspondent of the London 
 Morning Post; " the owner (Mr. Tarr) was in great straits, 
 his business of rafting lumber, in addition to the cultiva 
 tion of his miserable acres, scarcely yielding enough to 
 support himself and family in the humble way in which 
 they lived. . . But the oil adventurers came along, 
 and secured a right to bore, giving half the oil to the land 
 owner. The result was that the Philips well struck oil, 
 and yielded over two thousand barrels daily, which, even 
 at the moderate price then current, yielded a magnificent 
 revenue to the owners and also to Tarr. Other wells were 
 sunk and met with great success, so that the poor lumber 
 man and farmer speedily grew rich. In August, 1863, 
 when the price of petroleum ruled low, Tarr sold half the 
 
136 Statistics of Production. 
 
 interest of his farm for one hundred and ten thousand 
 dollars cash, and retired to a handsome residence in the 
 adjoining county. But fortune will not let her favorites 
 alone. The remaining interest in his land and wells in 
 creased in value until his daily income was counted by 
 thousands of dollars. During the month of December just 
 passed, he closed out his remaining interest on the creek 
 for two million dollars, at which price he considered him 
 self throwing the property away. Uneducated himself, 
 this oil-prince is spending money lavishly on the education 
 of his family ; and some amusing but rather doubtful sto 
 ries are told of his estimation of the power of money in 
 matters of education." The estate is owned by the Tarr 
 Farm Petroleum Company. 
 
 The " developed" portion of this property lies on the 
 east side of the creek, a village of about fifty houses and 
 huts resting on the shoulder of the hill. In some places, 
 the bottom is so thickly covered with derricks, etc., that 
 it hardly seems possible to crowd in another. Tanks are 
 standing together by the acre along the -margin of the 
 creek. 
 
 Old Philips Well. One of the oldest on the creek, 
 having been opened in the early part of 1861. Yield by 
 flowing at first very large ; one account says fifteen hun 
 dred barrels per day. Declined gradually, and at last gave 
 out altogether, when applied the pump. "Well now gives 
 about twenty-five barrels per day. 
 
 Philips Well, No. Two. Once the greatest in the world. 
 When opened, in October, 1861, flowed thirty-nine hun 
 dred and forty barrels in a single day ! A child may play 
 with an elephant ; and the flow of this monster could be 
 regulated by a stop-cock whenever the tankage came short. 
 
Statistics of Production. 137 
 
 But trouble came. In December following, the Woodford 
 well was put down within seventy-five feet, and tapped 
 the great Philips spring ; the Woodford responding to the 
 figure of nearly two thousand barrels a day. Both wells 
 were a little under five hundred feet deep. The Woodford 
 gave out in December, 1853 ; but meanwhile it had inflicted 
 serious loss on the Philips, and the lawyers were called in 
 to decide the dispute. It was at last settled by a compro 
 mise, and the Philips resumed with a much more sober 
 flow. In 1864, it was shut down for seven months, and 
 in November ceased altogether to flow. When visited in 
 April, it had begun to pump about fifty barrels per day. 
 This well has been productive for two years and a half, 
 and the oil furnished by it would probably suffice to pay 
 the cost of all the wells sunk on that farm. 
 
 Monitor Well. Pumping twenty -five barrels per day, 
 and reported to be gaining. Has gone a week at this rate. 
 Used to be a flowing well. 
 
 Smith s Wells, Jos. One and Two. Just recommenced. 
 Both flowed at one time. No. Two, with a blower, now 
 yields about twenty barrels per day ; No. One, little ex 
 cept water. Both about three years old. 
 
 Kirwan Well. Used to give one hundred and twenty 
 barrels per day. Stopped for the winter, and just started 
 afresh. Before stopping gave eight barrels daily. 
 
 Pratt and Sherman Well. Has done little lately. 
 Yielded over one hundred barrels per day at one time, but 
 now dropsical. Was six weeks in pumping out the water 
 last spring a too general complaint now on Tarra farma. 
 
 Sterling Well. Said to give over fifty barrels per day, 
 but the statement appears very questionable, judging from 
 
138 Statistics of Production. 
 
 the discharge. It was largely water, when visited, with 
 not more than thirty barrels of oil. 
 
 William Penn Wells. Two of them are pumping out 
 bilge- water. wners about putting a blower into the third. 
 The last yields about five barrels daily. Never was of 
 much account. 
 
 Woodford Well. Broke the spell of the Big Philips. 
 Has been idle for three months, with some prospect of 
 yielding oil again. 
 
 Barely one-fourth of the wells on Tarr farm are active, 
 and of those it will be seen that several are exhausting 
 the water only. Others were preparing to resume, but it 
 was not thought probable that the brine or brackish water 
 would be pumped out before the middle of May or the 
 first of June. Hardly one in ten continued actively at 
 work during the winter. In consequence of puncturing 
 the ground at every few rods and the withdrawal of tubes, 
 the Tarr farm, from being the best, has become only third- 
 class property. The period during which productive wells 
 now actually yield oil does not average six months in the 
 year. 
 
 THE BLOOD FAKM 
 
 is named after its previous owner, Mr. Blood, now also a 
 petroleum millionaire. The property is owned in part by 
 the Blood Farm Petroleum Association, and in part by 
 the Home Petroleum Company. Property lies on both 
 sides of the creek. Below is a list of the active works : 
 Lehigh Wells. Three in number. No. One is getting 
 ready. Belongs to Germanic Oil Company. No. Two is 
 in operation, and yields about ten barrels per day. No. 
 Three gives thirty barrels. 
 
Statistics of Production. 139 
 
 Collins Well. Information refused. Estimated the yield 
 at not more than ten barrels per day. Four-fifths of dis 
 charge is water. Well is reported to give thirty barrels 
 per day sometimes. 
 
 Burning Well. Great flowing concern at one time. Gave 
 six hundred barrels per day at first, but decreased gradu 
 ally, and is now idle. 
 
 PiOdns Well. Used to give one hundred and fifty bar 
 rels a day. Is eighteen months old. Broke down lately, 
 and is not doing much at present. 
 
 Barrow and Painter s Well. No. Two gives average yield 
 of twenty to twenty-five barrels per day. New well, just 
 tested. Appearances good. 
 
 Duncan Well. Yields fifty barrels a day ; on some days 
 as much as sixty. Has been at work about two years. 
 Owner a heavy operator on Cherry Kun and elsewhere. 
 
 Ocean Company s Well. Been in operation only about 
 one week. Gives six or seven barrels per day. 
 
 Jr J 
 
 True Boy Well. Has been flowing about twenty barrels 
 per day for past three weeks ; average for past year, about 
 ten barrels. Been running two or three years. 
 
 Maple GroveWell. Pumps about forty barrels per day. 
 Has been going over three years. Began with small tub 
 ing, and .yielded only twenty-five barrels. With improved 
 apparatus has done better. 
 
 Combs and Prince Well. Been going nearly a year. 
 Yields ten to twelve barrels a day by pumping. Another 
 well on same lease just testing. 
 
 Bushnell Well. Gives between thirty and forty barrels 
 daily. Two or three years old. 
 
 Old Reed Well. Flowed ten barrels per day until the 
 
140 Statistics of Production. 
 
 vein was tapped by another, when the quantity named fell 
 off to a mere dripping, probably not one barrel per day. 
 
 Buffalo Well. Yields about five barrels daily. Dis 
 charges, by flowing, about three times per minute. 
 
 MEM. Nearly all the wells on the lower part of Blood 
 farm are unproductive, not more than one in ten showing 
 signs of activity, when passed through. A small number 
 of new ones are going down along the heights. On the 
 upper end, a large majority of them are also idle, having 
 given out or been damaged by flood. Some are deepen 
 ing, with a view to reaching a lower source than has yet 
 been discovered. Nearly half the derricks are new, but 
 a majority of these are inactive. 
 
 CHERRYTREE RUN. 
 
 This is the name of a mill-stream discharging into Oil 
 Creek from the west, a short distance above Eouseville. 
 It acquired, last winter, some celebrity from a flowing 
 well known as the 
 
 Big Tank Well. "Was yielding over fifty barrels per 
 day, when the works caught fire and burned up. The 
 well has not since been rigged up again. Why it has been 
 suffered to remain so, I have not learned. 
 
 Watersorfs Well. Just testing. Yielded by pumping, 
 first twenty-four hours, twelve or fifteen barrels. 
 
 A great number of new works are in progress along 
 that stream. Good judges estimate the aggregate at fully 
 one hundred. A village is rising at the mouth of the run. 
 
 THE RYND FARM. 
 
 That portion of the Eynd farm which has been subject 
 ed to the drill lies chiefly on the east side of the creek. 
 
Statistics of Production. 141 
 
 A machine-shop and a saw-mill are at work on the bottom. 
 Of the whole number of wells sunk about one-fifth were 
 active, when visited, and the proportion of new derricks 
 to old is not very different perhaps a little greater. The 
 movement is generally made to higher ground. 
 
 Diamond Well. Has been in operation two years. 
 Pumps about twenty barrels daily. Depth, a little over 
 five hundred feet, about the usual figure. 
 
 Rynd Farm Company s Well, No. Eight. Has been go 
 ing about two months. Yields, by pumping, twenty-five 
 barrels per day. 
 
 Frost Company s Well. Flows about five barrels per day. 
 
 Laihrop Well, No. Fourteen. Testing. Show pronounced 
 good. Product so far, estimated at five barrels per day. 
 "Well to be deepened. Owners evidently not satisfied with 
 performance. 
 
 Lathrop Well, No. . Pumped two days, and said to 
 have given about fifteen barrels per day. 
 
 Frost Company s Well, No. Sixteen. Three years old. 
 Pumped ten barrels per day until lately. Putting in new 
 engine. 
 
 Frost Company s Well, No. . Used to give one hun 
 dred and fifty barrels per day by flowing ; now gives ten 
 by pumping. 
 
 WIDOW MCCLINTOCK FARM. 
 
 There is considerable activity on this estate. Several 
 wells which had lain idle, in addition to those mentioned 
 underneath, are about to be deepened or start pumping 
 again. Those in operation are the following : 
 
 Hammond Well. "Was a flowing spring. Produced five 
 hundred barrels daily for a time. Is now idle. While 
 
142 Statistics of Production. 
 
 tubes withdrawing, they fell to the bottom and could not 
 be recovered. Proprietors now boring another alongside. 
 
 Chase Well. Was pumping thirty-five barrels per day 
 before the great freshet. Damaged by it and since idle. 
 Manager clearing it out and preparing to resume work. 
 
 Bumstead Well. Newly opened. Pumped one hundred 
 barrels the first day so stated. Seed-bags burst and not 
 yet replaced. No reason to doubt the correctness of this 
 statement. 
 
 McGue Well, No. Four. Just reopened. Yields half a 
 barrel or so daily, but expected to do better when water 
 is exhausted. 
 
 Oeorgiana Well. Old work. Long idle, and just started 
 again. Pumps about fifteen barrels per day. 
 
 King Well Belongs to Buffalo and Cherry Yalley Oil 
 Company. Been in operation about six months. Said to 
 yield ten barrels per day. Outside statements and appear 
 ances incline me to put the amount at five or six. 
 
 Cincinnati Well. Averaged fourteen barrels per day 
 last week. Is expected to do rather better than half that 
 quantity. Opened about first of January last, but not 
 pumped regularly. 
 
 Westmoreland Well. Just struck oil. Tools fell in arid 
 stuck fast. Good show of oil. 
 
 Painter Well. About two years old. Averages about 
 ten barrels per day. 
 
 Sterrett Well. At one time yielded one hundred and 
 fifty barrels per day. Now ranges from five to thirty, with 
 an average of nearly twenty barrels. Day of visit, gave 
 thirty. 
 
 Sterrett Well No. Three. Struck oil about the first of 
 
Statistics of Production. 143 
 
 December last. Idle all winter. Now pumping about 
 twenty-five barrels per day. 
 
 SanJcey Well. About eighteen months in operation. 
 Flows about four barrels daily. 
 
 Ocean Well. Yielded little before getting burned. 
 
 Tamhill Well. In operation about six weeks. Giving 
 six barrels per day, with steady yield. 
 
 EOUSEYILLE, 
 
 situated at the mouth of Cherry Eun, which enters from 
 the east, is one of the most active villages in the valley. 
 It has, besides the post-office, hotels, etc., a bank, a church, 
 and an oil refinery. Some travellers regard Eouseville as 
 the metropolis of Petrolia, and if supreme disorder in lay 
 ing out the place, mud, and high prices constitute the test, 
 this village will take a high rank. It is named after Mr. 
 Kouse, who died in one of the great conflagrations alluded 
 to elsewhere. He was conscious long enough to bequeath 
 large sums to charitable uses. 
 
 Of the works in Oil Creek valley, immediately in front 
 of Eouseville, nearly seven-eighths were idle at the time 
 of visiting. Along the bluff the ratio was not so unfa 
 vorable. About fifty new derricks have been erected on 
 the heights on both sides of Cherry Eun, at elevations 
 from fifty to one hundred feet. These works are not all 
 active. The wells on Cherry Eun proper will be noticed 
 under a separate head. Annexed are the statistics of the 
 principal on Oil Creek : 
 
 WillougJiby Well. "Was a flowing well three years ago. 
 Now pumps about five barrels per day. 
 
 Shaft Well Belongs to Allen, Wright & Company. 
 
144 Statistics of Production. 
 
 Used to be a fifty-barrel well, but vein tapped by another, 
 one hundred and twenty-five feet off. Now pumps from 
 ten to forty barrels, according to condition of the tubes in 
 other well. Up to last November, had produced twenty- 
 four thousand barrels, worth probably one hundred thou 
 sand dollars. Uses its own gas in furnace. 
 
 Miller, Riddle & Company s Well. Has been going since 
 last January. Yielded two hundred barrels at first ; now 
 averages about sixty per day. 
 
 Faulkner Well. Pumps about twenty barrels daily. 
 Yield improving. Has been in operation since last 
 December. Estimate above considered safe and rather 
 low. 
 
 Manville Well. In operation a little over three months. 
 Pumps fully twenty barrels per day. 
 
 Gate Well. Four months in operation. Yield aver 
 ages ten barrels daily. 
 
 Rope Well. Been going about three years, and still 
 pumping about fifty barrels daily. 
 
 Haines <& Anderson Well. Was an eighty -barrel 
 well until lately. Managers complain of bad luck, oil- 
 vein having been struck by other wells, some as far as 
 two hundred yards distant. Has done little for five 
 months. 
 
 Bawling Well. At one time, gave one hundred bar 
 rels per day ; but suffers from same misfortune as the last- 
 named. Pumped eighteen or twenty barrels the day be 
 fore visit. Been in operation about six months. 
 
 Oil Exchange Company s Well, No. Two. Yields very 
 little. 
 
 Welster Well, (west side of creek,) No. Eight. Put 
 down last year. Gives from six to eight barrels daily. 
 
Statistics of Production. 145 
 
 Well on Lot No. Forty-seven. Belongs to a Mr. 
 Means. Produces six or seven barrels per day. 
 
 Chamberlain and Hibbard s Well. Sunk last year. 
 Average daily yield, ten barrels. 
 
 No. Forty-five Well. Sunk last February. Yields 
 about ten barrels per day. 
 
 THE BUCHANAN FARM 
 
 lies immediately below Kouseville, the works being 
 nearly all on the east side of the creek. Like all the other 
 bottoms low down the valley, this farm was severely 
 scourged by the great freshet. At the time of my visit, 
 four-fifths of the wells were idle ; indeed, on the upper 
 portion of it, not one engine was running. The greater 
 part of the wells appeared to have been abandoned as bad 
 jobs, not merely laid up by a temporary misfortune. It 
 is possible, however, that, through an oversight of mine, 
 two or three producing wells on this property have not 
 been examined. 
 
 Clark and Baiiktfs Wells. One in operation about 
 four years ; the other, eighteen months. The two yield 
 nearly one hundred barrels per day. 
 
 Willoughly Well. Just started. Yields from one to 
 two barrels daily. 
 
 Wadsworth Well. Yields water only as yet. 
 
 Well on the west side creek, just started. Day before 
 visit flowed some oil ; but workmen cannot say how 
 much. 
 
 THE JOHN AND HAM. M CLINTOCK FARMS 
 
 come next in order, in passing down the valley. Mc- 
 Clintock village is the " hub " of this " territory " a 
 7 
 
146 Statistics of Production. 
 
 feeble imitation of Oil City, squatting on the bottom, with 
 a hotel, several boarding-houses, and two or three refiner 
 ies. About one well in every five sunk was in operation 
 when visited, and the new derricks bore a like propor 
 tion to old ones. Part of those have been erected over 
 wells whose former head-gear had been washed away 
 or destroyed by the flood. The principal degree of activ 
 ity prevailing about the old works is nearly confined to 
 the upper end of this property; but lower down there 
 are others in progress. 
 
 McKinley Well. Flows from fifty to sixty barrels per 
 day. Stream never stops altogether, but increases and 
 diminishes largely. Principal discharge takes place about 
 once in six minutes. 
 
 Baltimore and Venango Oil Company s Well. Situ 
 ated on the east side. Oil struck last February. Pumped 
 at the rate of sixty barrels per day, when managers pulled 
 out sucker-rods and well began ioflow. Now yields, ac 
 cording to information, two hundred and fifty barrels per 
 day. Is probably good for two hundred barrels. 
 
 Hibbard Well. Pumps about ten barrels per day. 
 
 Parker Well. Close by last. Pumps one barrel daily. 
 
 Abbot Well. In operation five months. Eeported to 
 be flowing one hundred and fifty barrels per day. Yielded 
 two hundred and forty at one time. Is on the decline ; 
 and I estimate the actual yield at probably not far from 
 one hundred and twenty. 
 
 McClintock Petroleum Company s Wells. One had 
 pumped thirty barrels per day for last ten days. Another 
 yields about ten barrels. 
 
 A flowing well, on east side, (name not ascertained,) 
 pours out a steady stream for some minutes, then subsides 
 
Statistics of Production. 
 
 for about an equal space. Belongs to a New-York inter 
 est. Struck oil about a week before visit. Yielded sixty 
 barrels per day at first, then about forty. 
 
 The success of these few really good wells in the lower 
 end of the valley, at a time when its reputation had begun 
 to wane, has caused property to appreciate once more ; 
 and adventurers are likely to turn their attention afresh to 
 those bottoms. 
 
 THE CLAPP FARM, 
 
 lying still nearer to Oil City, is rather less productive and 
 active than those above it. In some localities nearly 
 every derrick is standing idle. About one-third of the 
 works are in progress. Nearly all are on the west side, 
 the bottom here being one-third of a mile across. 
 
 Hemlock Well. On east side of creek. Before the 
 freshet, pumped sixty barrels a day. Present yield not 
 ascertained ; estimate at thirty. 
 
 Cuba Well. Been opened about eight months, and is 
 pumping one hundred and fifty barrels per day, according 
 to information. Estimate at one hundred and twenty. 
 
 Bliss Well, No. One. Struck oil on first April. Flow 
 estimated at fifty barrels per day. 
 
 Bliss Well, No. Two. Just testing, with good prospects ; 
 but actual yield unknown. Quite wrathy with flow of 
 gas and frequent spirts^ of oil. Well No. Three in progress. 
 
 Well re- tubed and just commenced again. Yield esti 
 mated at five barrels per day ; gave one hundred and forty 
 barrels at cne time. Another well close by, pumping about 
 two barrels daily. Names not ascertained. 
 
 On Cornplanter Kun, entering from the west a short dis 
 tance above Oil City, is a flowing or dripping well, whose 
 
14:8 Statistics of Production. 
 
 yield (of lubricating oil) is from three to four barrels per 
 week. 
 
 Between the mouth of this stream and Oil City are 
 three other wells in operation, with an aggregate yield of 
 about ten barrels per day. 
 
 On the last two miles of the valley, I counted about 
 seventy derricks, a majority of which appeared to be 
 abandoned. Signs of activity near fifteen or twenty. On 
 and near Cornplanter Kun were a dozen or so of works in 
 progress. On or below the Clapp farm were nine refiner 
 ies, of which only two were active, and several had been 
 damaged by water. Found it very difficult to get facts 
 thereabouts, as, in addition to the extensive solitudes ex 
 isting, new hands had gone to work at several of the wells. 
 
 Between Oil City .and Rouse ville (three miles) the 
 number of derricks standing was, last winter, ascertained 
 to be four hundred and thirty-five, which would be equiva 
 lent to at least five hundred wells actually put down. In 
 walking, multitudes of pits are seen without any upper 
 works attached, these having been washed away, burned, 
 or removed. As an approximate estimate, I give the 
 number of wells put down on Oil Creek proper at two 
 thousand, with, five hundred more in progress. To these 
 should be added one thousand more, either finished or 
 going down, along the various streams discharging into 
 that great oil artery. The new works will be found to 
 number not far from one thousand in this basin only ; but 
 the aggregate of abandoned ones is doubtless still larger. 
 Assuming, then, that every derrick put up should be fol 
 lowed by its productive well, the whole number would be 
 insufficient to replace those which have been sunk the 
 past five years, and are likely to be left to themselves the 
 
Statistics of Production. 149 
 
 present season. And, indeed, if we add to this basin those 
 of the Alleghany, French Creek, Pithole, etc., I question 
 whether the new will do more than replace all the old. 
 But a comparatively small number of those put down in 
 the past year, or to be put down in the present, will yield 
 oil in paying quantities, much less gush forth as did the 
 wonderful springs reached in 1861. 
 
 CHERRY RUN 
 
 is by far the most important tributary of Oil Creek. It 
 is ten or twelve miles long; but at its mouth, scarcely 
 more than six feet wide. At its lower extremity the val 
 ley is quite narrow, scarcely more than a stone-throw 
 across, but higher up it widens, and the heights on each 
 side become less abrupt. Above Plumer the run forks 
 into two streams, along both of which large numbers of 
 new works are rising. The wells already productive are 
 confined to a space within two miles of its mouth ; but 
 when I visited the valley, several others approached com 
 pletion near Plumer, and their managers felt confident of 
 striking oiL It is scarcely a year since that secluded val 
 ley was invaded in good earnest by the petroleum interest, 
 the Yankee well having been opened in the early part of 
 1864. This, followed by such celebrities as the Eeed, the 
 Mountain, the Auburn, etc., soon impelled a vast number 
 of operators to the neighborhood, until the surface is liter 
 ally forested with works, and the ground punctured every 
 few rods. On one acre-lot, twenty-five derricks have 
 already been erected. Beginning from the upper end of 
 the valley, we find the following works in operation : 
 Rockwell Well. Owned by Allen, Wright & Co. 
 
150 Statistics of Production. 
 
 Opened last June. Steady yield, pumping twelve barrels 
 in twenty-four hours. 
 
 Dearborn Well. Opened in middle of last July. 
 Pumps fifteen to twenty barrels per day. Belongs to the 
 Cherry Run Petroleum Company. 
 
 Oarver Well. Just tested. Pumps fifteen barrels 
 per twenty-four hours. Yield said to be on the increase. 
 
 jEmary Well. Newly opened. Flows sixteen barrels, 
 but will pump twenty per day. The latter tried occasion 
 ally. Yield said to be on the increase. 
 
 Main and Horn Bluff Well. Flows one hundred and 
 twenty barrels per day. Situated on the bluff, about fifty 
 feet above the bottom. Six tanks, with capacity of about 
 five thousand barrels. 
 
 Allen , Wright & Go s Well. Has been flowing about 
 a year. Yields an average of seventy barrels per day. 
 Two others, belonging to same interest, pump respectively 
 two and thirty-five barrels per day. 
 
 Follett Welly No.. Three. Been three or four months in 
 operation. Yields about six barrels per day. 
 
 Anderson Well. Owned by United States Oil Com 
 pany. Eeported to have been flowing three years (?) 
 Now yielding eighteen barrels daily. 
 
 Ennis c& Babcock Well. Situated on face of bluff. 
 Now giving ten barrels daily. 
 
 United States Well, No. Four. Been in operation since 
 last August. Yields twelve to fifteen barrels per day. 
 
 Potter and Jack Well. Been in operation three years. 
 Ranges from ten to fifteen barrels per day. 
 
 Tftica Well. In operation. Could get no facts. 
 
 Alham~bra Well. Belongs to Brown, Rockwell & Co. 
 Pumped nearly one hundred barrels per day before burn- 
 
Statistics of Production. 151 
 
 ing down ; now, about fifty barrels. Ee-commenced about 
 one week. 
 
 Auburn Refinery Well. Owned by the Messrs. Orr, 
 together with small refinery there. Well sunk eighteen 
 months. Tools lost and just recovered. Kaised three or 
 four barrels lately. Prospect poor. 
 
 Alden, Brown & Perdits Well. Just started. Grot 
 six or eight barrels the day before visit. 
 
 Buffalo Well. Has yielded in all about twenty-five 
 barrels. Now dry. 
 
 Marietta Well. In operation about four months. 
 Yield irregular, on account of defects in machinery. 
 Highest quantity, twenty-five barrels per day; average 
 believed to be about fifteen for past week. 
 
 Well No. Nineteen. Owned by Poole, Brothers. Never 
 been fairly tested, but produced oil. Tools fast in bottom. 
 
 Union Petroleum Company } s Wells. Four already in 
 operation. Aggregate yield, about one hundred and 
 twenty-five barrels per day, or eight hundred and seventy- 
 five per week. Three flow steadily and one irregularly. 
 Been going various periods, from nine months to three 
 weeks. Company will have five more completed in as 
 many weeks ; two others are also in progress. A New- 
 York city interest. 
 
 Moody WeWs. No. One gives from twenty to twenty- 
 five barrels per day and is gaining. In operation eight 
 or nine months. No. Two is a new well, nearly equal to 
 the other. No. Three, also new, only three weeks opened. 
 Pumps nearly fifty barrels per day. Aggregate yield, 
 probably eighty-five barrels. 
 
 Allen <& Wright Oil Company s Welly No. Eighty- 
 one. Gives about twelve barrels per day, or eighty-four 
 
152 Statistics of Production. 
 
 per week. No. Eighty-four gives forty barrels daily. 
 Has been going about three months. 
 
 JBrevoort s Company s Wells. No. One pumps about 
 fifty barrels a day. Four or five months in operation. 
 No. Two flows, in irregular jets, about eight barrels. 
 No. Three pumps about twenty barrels and is gaining. 
 No. Four, about fifty-five barrels per day. 
 
 Mountain Well. One of the greatest in all Petrolia. 
 Is perched on the face of the bluff, fifty or sixty feet above 
 the bottom. Yery slight spasms perceptible in the dis 
 charges. Quantity yielded, given at three hundred and 
 eighty barrels per day ; but a person who " timed " it is 
 positive that it took five days to fill a tank of eleven hun 
 dred barrels, averaging two hundred and twenty barrels. 
 Its flow was considerably larger than that of Eeed well, 
 when visited. Yery little water in either. 
 
 Reed Well. Flowed one thousand barrels per day at 
 first. Now reported at two hundred and eighty barrels. 
 I estimate its actual amount at between one hundred and 
 seventy-five and two hundred. Opened last July. Flow 
 described as being uniform and steady, no change having 
 been noticed during last three months. Is, however, un 
 doubtedly on the decline. "Well and two acres of land 
 sold lately for six hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 Duff Tract or Crewell Well. Owned* by Mingo Oil 
 Company of Philadelphia. Produces about fifty -five bar 
 rels per day, but rated at seventy. Kecently opened. 
 Oil comes spasmodically. 
 
 Bradley Wells. One of them lately abandoned, after 
 having pumped twenty to twenty-five barrels a day for 
 some time. Fell off to nothing. 
 
 Rynd Farm Oil Company s Well. Perched on bluff. 
 
Statistics of Production. 153 
 
 sixty or seventy feet above the stream. Depth, six hun 
 dred and fifty feet, or a correspondingly greater distance* 
 than those sunk in valley. Has been flowing about eighty- 
 five barrels per day for four weeks. 
 
 Denny Well. Belongs to Curtiss Oil Company. Pumps 
 about sixteen barrels per day, on average. 
 
 Parker Well. Testing. From appearances, they ex 
 pect ten barrels per day. 
 
 Amazon Well. Flows about twenty barrels daily. 
 Open since last November. 
 
 Wood Well, No. One. Just completed. Show con 
 sidered rather poor. Other wells nearly finished on slope, 
 said to have good show. 
 
 Rochester Well. By pumping, gives about twenty 
 barrels per day. 
 
 Baker Well. Flowing from forty-five to eighty bar 
 rels daily. Safe to estimate the average at sixty barrels. 
 Well reported at two hundred and twenty. Discharges 
 spasmodically. 
 
 Watkins Well. Flows and pumps, (to get the paraf- 
 fine out of crevices.) Yield, about fifty barrels per day. 
 Tubed during time of flood. Started week before visit. 
 
 Auburn Well. Been going since last July. Yield, 
 about sixty barrels per day, except when gas gave trou 
 ble. A flowing well. 
 
 No. Fifteen Well. Started flowing last September. 
 Ean up to one hundred and sixty barrels per day. Burst 
 seed-bags and just started anew. This and Auburn foam, 
 spirt, and flow spasmodically ; while the Watkins pours 
 out (by flowing) a steady stream for two or three minutes 
 and then subsides. Estimate at forty barrels. 
 
154: Statistics of Production. 
 
 Ballot Well. Flows about sixty barrels per day. 
 Opened the present year. ^ 
 
 Little Giant Well. Yields about thirty -five barrels a 
 day. Would give forty, if pumped steadily. Been four 
 weeks in operation. 
 
 Wade JVo. Four Well. Flows with a steady stream. 
 Daily yield, about twenty-five barrels. Been going for 
 two months. 
 
 Yankee Well. One of the most eccentric productions 
 of Petrolia. After twenty minutes rest, discharging nei 
 ther oil nor gas, the tube begins to emit gentle puffs, ac 
 companied by little spirts of oil, both increasing for 
 three minutes, until they became quite violent and fre 
 quent. Can be heard for a distance of two hundred 
 yards. Noise and discharges then gradually subside, and 
 at the end of five or six minutes stop altogether. Yield, 
 about fifty barrels per day. This and several of the 
 wells named above belong to the Cherry Yalley Oil Com 
 pany, who own a tract of land and have leased out several 
 lots to other interests. The Yankee was the first grand 
 success achieved in that part of the valley known as 
 Smith s farm. 
 
 Apropos of that property, the correspondent quoted 
 above writes : " Less than three yeajs since, a man named 
 Smith, poor in pocket and in resources, owned a farm [of 
 fifty acres] about three miles up Cherry Eun. Unable 
 to get any thing out of his farm, he endeavored to sell it, 
 and get down on the creek to try his fortune at oil-mining. 
 His creditors were pressing and in a desperate mood he 
 applied to J. W. Sherman, who had then recently struck 
 oil, and was getting rich, offering to sell his farm for two 
 hundred and fifty dollars. Sherman declined and ad- 
 
Statistics of Production. 155 
 
 vised him to keep the farm, in case something to his ad 
 vantage might turn up. But Smith was determined to sell, 
 and eventually found a purchaser at five hundred dollars. 
 The new owner re-sold it at twenty-four hundred dollars, 
 and just a year ago it was re-sold to the Cherry Eun 
 Oil Company for sixty-five hundred dollars. That com 
 pany granted leasehold rights to bore on the land, re 
 serving a royalty of half the oil. Only a small portion 
 of the farm has yet been leased ; but the royalty to the 
 company is now three hundred barrels of oil, or about 
 three thousand dollars daily. Thus two days income 
 about pays for the entire purchase of the property, on 
 which the proprietors have not expended a dollar beyond 
 the original cost." 
 
 I may add a few additional facts, obtained from the 
 superintendent of that company. Of twenty-two wells 
 sunk and tested on that farm, all but one gave petroleum 
 in paying quantities, and even that exceptional case 
 yielded a little. All the parties who have taken leases 
 are represented as having succeeded, their net profits hav 
 ing ranged from ten thousand dollars to five hundred 
 thousand dollars. There is no land for sale in that vicin 
 ity. Leases for quarter- acre lots are given for a royalty 
 of one-half, and bonuses ranging from five hundred to 
 three thousand dollars, the lessees engaging to actually 
 sink one well. 
 
 Fee Well, Wo. One. Near Yankee. Flows thirty bar 
 rels per day. No. Two. Been running about seven 
 months. Averaged fifteen or sixteen barrels per day till 
 two weeks before visit, when got in an improved valve, 
 and now yields twenty barrels. 
 
 Coleby Well. In operation five months. Average 
 
156 Statistics of Production. 
 
 yield, by pumping, fifteen barrels per day. Seed-bag 
 burst and had to stop for repairs. 
 
 Remmington or Gruningen Well, No. Eleven. 
 Started six months ago. Pumps about fifty barrels per 
 day. Yield said to be on the increase. 
 
 Bradley Well, No. One. Been going nearly eight 
 months. Now averages ten barrels per day. Has been 
 reported as a forty-barrel well. 
 
 Bradley Well, JVb. Tivo, Yields about eight barrels 
 daily. Opened since No. One. 
 
 Fanner Well. In operation over a year. Average 
 yield, twenty-five barrels per day, partly flowing. 
 
 Hicks Well. New and testing. Good appearance of 
 oil. 
 
 Mallory Well. Six months in operation. Yield about 
 twenty barrels per day. Flows occasionally. Outsiders 
 give the actual yield at fifteen barrels. Was not yielding 
 any, when visited. 
 
 In the bottom it has been customary to sink the wells 
 about six hundred feet, and a proportionally greater depth, 
 if higher up. As the stream has a rapid descent, this 
 would bring the bottom of the Cherry Run basin about 
 on a level with that of Oil Creek near Eouseville, where 
 the wells average five hundred and fifty feet. The won 
 drous results obtained on the lower part of Cherry Run 
 have led to most extensive operations all up to its head 
 waters. In six miles, the number of new derricks erect 
 ed is at least three hundred. For half a mile above the 
 mouth of that run, at the time of visiting, most of the 
 works were idle at least five out of every six having 
 been damaged by the flood or given out altogether. But 
 the owners appeared to regard this comparative stagnation 
 
Statistics of Production. 157 
 
 with indifference, provided the sixth well turned out 
 handsomely. Further developments in and around 
 Plumer will be looked for with great interest. Grouping 
 together all the works actually tested in that valley, I es 
 timate the profitable concerns at between thirty and forty 
 per cent of the whole. The term "profitable" means 
 that they return to their owner the actual outlay for sink 
 ing and management, interest on the capital, and the pur 
 chase-price of land at moderate (not speculative) values. 
 
 PITHOLE CKEEK 
 
 is a tributary of the Alleghany, which it enters from the 
 north-west, at a point about twelve miles above Oil City, 
 after a course of as many miles. About half-way up, it 
 parts into two branches, known as Big and Little Pithole, 
 the latter rising on the elevated table-lands near the source 
 of Cherry Eun. The stream is small, and has a rapid de 
 scent. Except at its mouth, the works on which will be 
 noticed under the head of the Alleghany River valley, 
 the developments on Pithole have been quite recent, the 
 first well having struck oil in January. The route usu 
 ally taken to that section is through Rouseville and 
 Plumer. 
 
 On Little Pithole, at the time of my visit, I was assured 
 that a flowing well of over one hundred barrels per day 
 had just been struck, a mile or two from the turnpike. 
 It was out of my power to visit the work, and I give the 
 statement (made by a mechanic) for what it is worth. 
 Extensive preparations are making to sink wells on that 
 stream. About forty derricks had already made their 
 appearance, and large numbers of others were under 
 stood to have been contracted for. The Excelsior (New- 
 
158 Statistics of Production. 
 
 York) Company, it was stated, would sink fifty wells the 
 present season. Eiddle, Miller & Company had several 
 on the way. 
 
 Along the head-waters of Big Pithole the same activity 
 was manifest. One company had contracted to put down 
 twenty-five wells on a single farm, this summer, such be 
 ing one of the conditions of sale. The purchaser of land 
 in the bottom was considered lucky, if he secured it at 
 two thousand dollars per acre. At that place it would 
 probably be necessary to sink seven hundred feet before 
 reaching the oil-bearing rock. One well on the Dawson 
 farm had reached a depth of five hundred and twenty 
 feet, without any appearance. Along the principal roads, 
 nearly one-half of the lands had been cultivated before 
 the oil excitement. 
 
 Copeland Well. Was struck on the eighth of April, 
 at a depth of six hundred and* forty-seven feet. Flowed 
 sixty barrels a day at first ; but defect in tubing discov 
 ered, and this had to be done over again. Working at 
 this, when visited the well. Is certainly productive ; but 
 had not been going long enough to ascertain its actual 
 yield. Belongs to United States Petroleum Company. 
 
 Lincoln Well. On same farm and about six miles 
 from mouth of stream. Depth, six hundred and forty- 
 five feet* Yields twenty-five barrels per day, partly by 
 flowing. Had reached the fourth sand-rock, (of course.) 
 Another well in progress on same premises. 
 
 Fmzier Well. The making of Pithole, situated on the 
 Holmden farm, nearly a mile below the last-named. Oil 
 struck in the early part of January last, the flow being 
 two hundred and twenty-five barrels per day at first. It 
 is now rated at two hundred and thirty. Tanks have a 
 
Statistics of Production. 159 
 
 capacity of eight thousand two hundred barrels, and were 
 nearly full at time of visit. Learned that earlier in the 
 season quantities had been taken off on sleighs. Just 
 opening a wagon-road to the works. How lately the 
 yield was tested I did not learn. The flow is continuous 
 and uniform, with little water, being about one tenth the 
 capacity of a two-inch tube. Belongs to the United 
 States Petroleum Company of New- York. 
 
 Another flowing well has since been reported to have 
 been struck on the creek, close by the Holmden farm. 
 Eumor gives its product at one hundred and fifty and 
 even two hundred barrels per day ; but these figures are 
 probably exaggerated. 
 
 The United States Petroleum Company are putting 
 down six other wells on their tract at Pithole, besides 
 three or four others elsewhere. According to appear 
 ances, one hundred new wells will be sunk in that valley 
 the present season. 
 
 Near "Wood s mill one was reported to have got a good 
 show of oil, at the depth of seven hundred feet. That 
 locality is about two miles below the Frazier well. 
 
 FRENCH CKEEK. 
 
 This is probably the largest tributary received by the 
 Alleghany, the creek being one hundred and fifty miles 
 long, and one hundred yards broad at its mouth. Its 
 general course is from north-west to south-east, corre 
 sponding with that of the Alleghany for fifty miles below 
 Franklin. The stream is less sinuous than some others, 
 while the valley is wider than most of the bottoms. 
 
 Boring for oil has extended to a point above the village 
 of Utica, or ten miles from Franklin. The numerous 
 
160 Statistics of Production. 
 
 transfers of land and current reports would indicate that 
 before long openings will be made higher up-stream. On 
 the tributaries of French Creek it is also probable that 
 a considerable movement will take place before long. 
 
 In regard to the quantity, the quality, and the situation 
 where oil is obtained, French Creek differs widely from 
 Oil Creek and its tributaries. To notice them in order: 
 
 First. The quality is not the common illuminating oil, 
 with a gravity of fifty or sixty degrees ; but lubricating 
 oil of nearly the best kind, its gravity being thirty to 
 thirty-two ; while the finest Mecca is twenty -eight de 
 grees. Consequently it commands a much higher price 
 than any other ; while there is far less fluctuation in its 
 market value. With the common variety in its crude 
 state, ranging from three to twelve dollars per barre], 
 French Creek oil is ordinarily between twenty and twen 
 ty-five dollars. Yet the charges for transportation, and 
 the internal revenue duties on both are alike. The 
 French Creek kind has the additional advantage of being 
 susceptible of use without any outlay or loss for refining, 
 except when it is to be applied to delicate machinery. 
 
 Second. In quantity it also differs. For while several 
 wells on Oil Creek and its tributaries have yielded from 
 one hundred to three thousand barrels per day, the best 
 on French Creek or (its tributary) Sugar Creek, has fallen 
 below fifty barrels, while the average yield of profitable 
 wells has not reached five barrels for a whole year. There 
 is quite as large a proportion of idle and abandoned 
 works along French Creek as anywhere else. 
 
 Third. The situation in which petroleum is obtained 
 on French Creek is higher up geologically than else 
 where. Against wells which have to be sunk five hun- 
 
Statistics of Production. 161 
 
 dred or six hundred feet along Oil Creek and Cherry Run, 
 it is not customary to sink to a lower depth than three 
 hundred, above Franklin. The second sand-rock there is 
 reached at half the cost required to enter the third at five 
 hundred feet. The only experiment that I heard of where 
 oil had been obtained from the third sand-rock on French 
 Creek, in paying quantities, resulted in bringing up 
 the common article, not the kind got in the higher veins. 
 This was at the depth of seven hundred feet, the increased 
 distance arising from the general dip of all the rocks to 
 ward the south-west. 
 
 Fourth. The people of French Creek allege that they 
 have one other advantage over their neighbors further 
 north, in that the proportion of wells actually paying ex 
 penses is larger there than elsewhere. They claim that a 
 majority of all those put down have repaid both the ori 
 ginal outlay and the cost of management. Some even 
 put the ratio of profitable works as high as six or seven 
 out of every ten. My belief is, after making due inquiry, 
 that both these figures are a good deal too high, and that 
 three or four out of ten would be much nearer the mark. 
 This is certainly a liberal enough estimate. It is true that 
 the receipts for one barrel per day will cover all running 
 expenses ; while a second barrel, if contributed for only 
 twelve months, will return the principal invested and 
 a liberal interest. Still, it must be borne in mind that 
 not one well in a hundred keeps up its accustomed yield 
 day after day for a whole year, interruptions of various 
 kinds happening frequently at the best seasons. 
 
 But with fewer first-class prizes to offer than other local 
 ities, though there might be as much diminished risk, it 
 has come to pass that French Creek has drawn to itself 
 
162 Statistics of Production. 
 
 comparatively little attention ; and the number of new as 
 well as old works may be reckoned in tens, instead of 
 hundreds. The price of lands varies from one thousand 
 dollars per acre, near Franklin, to one hundred dollars, 
 near the sources of Sugar Creek. The plough and the 
 hoe are not yet relics of a past age along these valleys. 
 
 In going down the railroad from Meadville to Franklin, 
 the visitor passes seven idle or unfinished wells before 
 reaching the first in operation, namely : 
 
 Henrietta Well. Present yield, three barrels per day. 
 Been nearly three years in operation. Flowed for a time. 
 Belongs to a Philadelphia interest. 
 
 Of the next nine wells six are in progress. One has 
 been entirely abandoned, the machinery being removed. 
 One was stopped by the flood, after going two years. It 
 was yielding two barrels per day at the time. The last 
 gave three barrels daily ; but complaint was made of the 
 engine as being too weak. The tank had also been 
 washed away. All standing idle. 
 
 The next half-dozen works consist of two abandoned 
 wells and four in progress. f Following these, we have four 
 belonging to the French Creek Lubricating-Oil Company, 
 described as follows : No. One gave two barrels per day 
 for five months, but was stopped by the freshet. No. Two 
 gave a very small quantity. No. Three is an old well, 
 having been in operation four years. Was yielding five 
 barrels per day before freshet. No. Four was working its 
 way downward in search of the third sand-rock, but at 
 the depth of six hundred and fifty feet had not found it. 
 
 One well (proprietors unknown) was in operation, and 
 said to be giving three barrels per day. 
 
 The Pierson Oil Company of Philadelphia own five 
 
Statistics of Production. 163 
 
 wells. No. One yielded in all about twenty-five barrels, 
 several years since. Now idle. No. Two gives one bar 
 rel per day, against four barrels, its former product. None 
 of the others is doing as well as No. Two. 
 
 The McCormicJc and McKissock Wells are on the south 
 side of the creek. No. One, very old concern, and report 
 ed to pump about one barrel per day. No. Two is new 
 and pumps about same quantity in three hours, resting 
 other twenty-one. No. Three in progress. 
 
 Neidler Well. Flowed about twelve barrels a day for 
 eight weeks, and subsided. 
 
 Another well (name unknown) pumps four barrels a 
 day. Used to give six. Been in operation nearly two years. 
 
 Immediately above Franklin are nearly a dozen works 
 in progress, and half as many idle or abandoned. Of these, 
 some are reported to have yielded three or four barrels a 
 day, and probably repaid their cost. Between Utica and 
 Franklin there was no bridge, and my examination was 
 confined to the north side of the creek. On the opposite 
 bank, however, it was too plain that four-fifths of the 
 works had been doing nothing for some time. That por 
 tion of this chapter relating to details along French Creek 
 will be found less full and satisfactory than I could desire. 
 
 The Dale Oil Works is the name of a neat refinery about 
 one mile above Franklin, on the north side of French 
 Creek. Went into operation in the autumn of 1864. Num 
 ber of stills, two ; capacity of works, three hundred and 
 fifty barrels per week. 
 
 SUGAR GREEK 
 
 is a tributary of French Creek, into which it enters from 
 the north. It is too large a stream to be easily forded, 
 
Statistics of Production. 
 
 and the bridge near its mouth had been swept away by 
 the flood, so that crossing on foot had to be performed by 
 means of trees thrown down in wild-cat fashion. This 
 stream also parts in twain, the forks taking their rise in 
 the plateau beyond Corry. Between the mouth of Sugar 
 Creek and Coopertown five and a half miles about 
 twenty-five derricks are already up or rising, but at these 
 only one well has been thoroughly tested. It is two miles 
 up-stream, and has yielded as much as thirty-five barrels 
 a day for a month in succession ; but through derange 
 ments to the machinery, it is supposed the last month s 
 average did not exceed fifteen barrels. The well was 
 struck about January last. The article is best quality of 
 lubricating oil, of thirty-two gravity. The effect of this 
 fine strike has been to enhance largely the price of real 
 estate along the valley. One farmer, close by, refused an 
 offer of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for eighty 
 acres, about half-bottom lands. A report, since my visit, 
 is spread that a new well has been struck close by, and 
 this is impelling a wave of speculation into that secluded 
 and pleasant neighborhood. It is reported that lands are 
 changing ownership as far as ten miles up. Probably one 
 hundred new wells will be opened on that creek before 
 the close of 1865 ; a number of old ones will also be bur 
 nished up anew or sunk deeper. 
 
 FRANKLIN. 
 
 The wells in Franklin have all the characteristics of 
 those on French Creek. Only a few of them are now in 
 operation, but the greater number would appear to have 
 paid for themselves, and a few handsomely. 
 
 Lambertori } s Well has been in operation nearly four 
 
Statistics of Production. 165 
 
 years. Yields three and a half to four barrels per day. 
 Owned by Chicago and Alleghany Oil Company. 
 
 IngaWs Well, (Caledonian.) Idle at present. Yielded 
 three to three and a half barrels a day, when stopped. 
 
 Star Well. Yielded about same quantity. Operated 
 about one year after opening in 1860. Stopped. Leased 
 to another party, but with no good result. 
 
 Cairns Well. Nothing done for two years, but test 
 ing with a view to resuming operations. Sunk in 1859. 
 
 Cooper Well. Old concern also. Owned by a company 
 in Franklin. At one time pumped three to four barrels 
 per day. 
 
 Dale Well. Another of the ancients. Gave two to 
 three barrels per day for a while. Upper works carried 
 away by freshet. 
 
 Mammoth Well. At first flowed eleven barrels per 
 day, but fell down to four. Been idle for some time be 
 fore flood, when its works were carried off. 
 
 Evans Well. Belongs to Moseley & Company, new 
 owners. At first, yielded forty barrels a day, which turn 
 ed the head of one fair damsel. Yield has since declined 
 to five barrels. In 1861, operations were suspended, and 
 the well remained idle until last winter. 
 
 Broomstick Wells. Belong to Forest Shade Oil Com 
 pany of Philadelphia. Two in number. Are about four 
 years old, and yield four to five barrels a day each. 
 
 Bonndl Well. Leased by Moseley & Company. Old 
 concern. Deepened, abandoned, recommenced, and now 
 deepening a second time. Indications pronounced good. 
 
 Besides these are about half a dozen old concerns thrown 
 up, whose history and production could not be ascertained. 
 Most of the wells put down during the early stages of the 
 
166 Statistics of Production. 
 
 oil-fever are in the upper part of the borough. At the 
 lower extremity are several new ones, of which particulars 
 may be found elsewhere. 
 
 THE ALLEG-HANY, BELOW FRANKLIN", EAST SIDE. 
 
 My examination of the Lower Alleghany valley ex 
 tended to East-Sandy Creek, and some distance up and 
 beyond it. The following summary of wells on the east 
 side of the river will be interesting : Abandoned, eight ; 
 idle, temporarily, twenty-four ; active, thirteen ; in prog 
 ress, as many by the river, and (probably) fifty more on 
 Two-Mile Kun and East-Sandy. Beyond the mouth of 
 East-Sandy, I could not learn that there was more than 
 one well in operation which yielded oil in paying quan 
 tity. Both old and new derricks, however, may be seen 
 for some distance further. On both sides, the river-banks 
 are steep, lofty, and close to the Alleghany. 
 
 The quality obtained is first-class illuminating-oil, the 
 lubricating kind not " cropping out" below Franklin ; 
 though it does for a short distance above, along the great 
 river. Crossing on the fine suspension-bridge, we first 
 find- 
 
 John H. Leds Well. Opened in March, about four 
 weeks before visit. Flowed at first over two hundred bar 
 rels per day, but this gradually subsided, and owner took 
 to pumping. Present yield, twenty barrels daily, working 
 twelve hours, Was idle at the time for lack of facilities to 
 carry off the oil. Tank filled. Depth of well, four hun 
 dred and forty-eight feet. 
 
 On some wells close by the Lee, preparations for an 
 active campaign are going forward, with fair prospects in 
 some. Along the bottoms, for some distance beyond, are 
 
Statistics of Production. 167 
 
 numerous wrecks and other " indications" of damage by 
 the great freshet. One well has been filled up with mud 
 and is useless. One has tools fast in bottom, after pump 
 ing twenty-five barrels per day for a time. 
 
 Two- Mile Run. Judging from appearances at its low 
 er end and the reports of others, I estimate the total 
 number of wells in progress on this stream at twenty or 
 twenty-five, of which only one has been tested. Said to 
 yield three or four barrels per day, and on the increase. 
 
 MEM. This brook must not be confounded with a Two- 
 Mile Kun which enters the Alleghany the same distance 
 above Franklin, and from the opposite side. 
 
 Keystone Well. On Cochrane farm. Put down about 
 two years ago. At first yielded about seventy barrels per 
 day, but gradually fell off to twelve, when the floods came 
 and the winds blew and beat upon that well and filled 
 it up. 
 
 Williams andMoyer Well. In operation. Has pump 
 ed six to eight barrels per day for a short time. 
 
 Dale and Morrow Wells. Two in number. Pump 
 about thirteen barrels per day in all. One has been going 
 two years ; the other eight or nine months. Proprietors 
 sinking others along the bluff. 
 
 Painter Well. In operation five weeks. Yields two 
 barrels per day never more than three. Has passed as a 
 fifteen -barrel well. 
 
 Pennsylvania Oil Company s Wells. Four in number. 
 Two have yielded three or four barrels each ; the others 
 not yet tested. 
 
 Alleghany and East-Sandy Oil Company s Wells. 
 Two old concerns, sinking deeper. 
 
 Island Well. Said to be giving from twelve to fifteen 
 
168 Statistics of Production. 
 
 barrels per day. I credit the estimate as not beyond the 
 mark. 
 
 Robertson Mining and Oil Company } s Wells. No. One 
 yields eight to nine barrels per day. Four others give 
 average of one barrel per day each. No. Two gives two 
 barrels. Aggregate yield, when going, about fifteen bar 
 rels. For lack of fuel, all were standing idle. Plenty of 
 cord-wood close by. Some of these wells belong to the 
 early period. 
 
 Greenhill Oil Company s Wells. Three in number. 
 Two of them new. Old one yields one to one and a half 
 barrels per day. Others not thoroughly tested, but one 
 promises fairly. All pumped " by head" two or three 
 hours per day. Depth, about four hundred and forty feet, 
 but to be sunk deeper. General depth on Lower Alle- 
 ghany, from five hundred to five hundred and fifty feet. 
 
 Sunbury (or Sonsberry) Oil Company. Five wells 
 sunk, and one in progress. No. One, sold lately as an 
 eight-barrel well, yields one to one and a half. Prospect 
 well gives three barrels. Smoky City, three barrels ; Heid 
 elberg, eight to ten, but now idle ; Kendrick well, prob 
 ably ten. The last at one time yielded one hundred bar 
 rels daily. All have been two or three years in operation. 
 Not pumped steadily. 
 
 MEM. One of those wells, formerly known as the Blake- 
 ley, was lately sold for twenty thousand dollars, as an eight- 
 barrel well, the average yield being about one ! 
 
 Crozier Oil Company s Well. Idle, tools having stuck 
 fast. Pumped oil, but not in paying quantity. Depth, 
 six hundred and fifteen feet. Talk of going still further 
 down. 
 
 Hope Well. Belongs to Superior Oil Company of Pitts- 
 
Statistics of Production. 169 
 
 burgh. Sunk in 1861, and deepened last year to nearly 
 eight hundred feet. Yield estimated at four barrels per 
 day, before the flood. Filled up with mud. Well to be 
 re-reamed and widened. 
 
 Porter Farm Oil Company s Wells. Morris well 
 abandoned. Engine said to have blown up after testing. 
 Probably remains idle because the spring did not blow up. 
 Yielded oil, but quantity unknown. JVo. Four testing, 
 with good show, at depth of three hundred and fifteen feet. 
 Another stopped up and wrecked by freshet. Another 
 sunk over six hundred feet. Obtained oil, but in insuf 
 ficient quantity, and tunnel to be extended toward " China." 
 
 EAST-SANDY CKEEK. Enters Alleghany Eiver from 
 east side, six miles below Franklin. Current quite violent, 
 and stream one hundred feet wide at its mouth. Bridge 
 swept away, and " Charon" charges ten cents for ferrying 
 across. Two wells tested on the lower three miles of its 
 course, namely : 
 
 Adamantine Oil Company s Well, No. Two. Sunk 
 four hundred and fifteen feet, when tools got fast. 
 
 Soft Maple Well. Owned by same company. Depth, 
 four hundred and twenty-seven feet. Has been two months 
 in operation. At first, pumped one hundred and fifty bar 
 rels per day ; now gives eighteen barrels, and keeping 
 steady. Tubing said to be somewhat out of order. 
 
 Keystone Well. About three miles up creek. Yields 
 one barrel per day, but quantity reported at four or five. 
 Facts learned from a source deemed trustworthy. 
 
 One well on East-Sandy has been sunk eight hundred 
 and fifty feet, without finding oil, except a small show at 
 the depth of three hundred and forty feet. From fifteen 
 to twenty are in progress on the creek. 
 8 
 
170 Statistics of Production. 
 
 One well, lower down the Alleghany, on same side, sunk 
 six hundred and twenty-eight feet, yields eight barrels 
 per day. Formerly owned by Iron City Oil Company. 
 Present owner s name unknown to my informant. 
 
 LOWER ALLEGHANY WEST SIDE. 
 
 Starting from the mouth of West-Sandy Creek, we have, 
 on the Miller farm, two wells pumping about four barrels 
 each. Two others going down. On the Foster farm no 
 wells producing oil. Three in progress. 
 
 Excelsior (N". Y.) Oil Company* s Wells. Situated on 
 the D. Smith farm. Three fully tested and one sinking. 
 No. One pumps six to eight barrels per day. Another 
 gives three to five barrels, with average of four. A third 
 was yielding ten barrels before, in making repairs, the 
 tools stuck fast. Is not now paying expenses. A fourth 
 in progress. 
 
 Hu~bbs Well. Now idle. Sold as a sixteen-barrel well 
 last fall. Yielded about twelve barrels, when stopped. 
 
 MEM. Many of the wells below Franklin were sunk 
 in 1860 and abandoned afterward, when oil sunk in price 
 to an unremunerative point. 
 
 Excelsior (Philadelphia) Oil Company s Wells. Two 
 in number. One yields two or three barrels daily. The 
 other is in progress. 
 
 Overton Oil Company s Wells. Two, both leased from 
 Excelsior Company. One yields two and a half barrels 
 daily ; other re-tubing. Is known as the Childs well. 
 Used to give five or six barrels. Depth, four hundred and 
 sixty-seven feet. Been in operation four years. A third 
 well in progress. 
 
 Steppy Farm Well. Put down in 1859. Yields one 
 
Statistics of Production. 171 
 
 and a half barrels per day. Flows a little at times. Has 
 not been regularly operated lately. 
 
 MEM. Two wells in progress ; one, belonging to a 
 Pittsburgh interest, with good show at five hundred and 
 eighty feet. Three others sunk and now idle. One gave 
 about a barrel daily. Others had yielded oil, but were 
 thrown up. One was sunk only two hundred feet. Be 
 long to Pope Farm Oil Company. 
 
 Organic Oil Company s Wells. Two in number, each 
 pumped two years, " by head," about one barrel per day. 
 Both idle. Depth, five hundred and six hundred feet. 
 
 Thompson Well. Owned by Pope Farm Oil Company. 
 Depth, five hundred and forty feet. Opened four years 
 since, but never tubed till last fall. Pumped for a time 
 ten barrels, but has fallen off to six barrels in twenty-four 
 hours. 
 
 Ravine Well. Also on Pope farm. Sunk in 1860. 
 Depth, four hundred and fifty feet. Before stopping, yield 
 ed about five barrels per day. Has not been running for 
 some time. 
 
 Blakeley Oil Company s Wells. Two in number. Both 
 in progress. One is sunk four hundred and fifty feet. 
 
 Dr. Pancostfs Well. Now idle. Produced six barrels 
 per day some time since. 
 
 Harvey Evans s Well. On Hoover farm. Gave three 
 barrels per day before stopping, last winter. 
 
 Passed. five works. One wrecked by flood. One tested, 
 but gave nothing. Others untested. 
 
 James Grahame s Well. Damaged by flood. Flowed 
 three barrels per day at one time ; now, one and a half. 
 Above this are four wells in progress. 
 
 Dime Well. Pumps six barrels per day. Used to 
 
172 Statistics of Production. 
 
 give ten. Four years old, and seven hundred feet deep. 
 Most of the oil got at four hundred and thirty feet, in the 
 second rock. 
 
 Apollo Well. Running four years, and four hundred 
 and forty feet deep. Stopped from 1862 till last year. 
 At first gave twenty -five barrels per day, but declined to 
 zero. Re-tubed, and lately yielding ten barrels. When 
 visited, was idle for lack of fuel. Four wells in progress 
 immediately above. 
 
 Buyer Oil Company s Well. Pumps two barrels per 
 day by head. Depth, five hundred and fifty feet. Sunk 
 in 1864. Never yielded much. Been rather improved 
 by re-tubing. 
 
 Hoover and Marshal Well. Depth, four hundred and 
 fifty feet. Four or five years old. At first gave twenty- 
 five barrels per day. Now pumps from eight to fifteen, 
 with average about twelve. 
 
 Catfish Well. Is pumped by head, (a few hours daily.) 
 Actual yield, four and a half barrels per day. In opera 
 tion nearly two years. Depth, four hundred and forty 
 feet. At first, gave eighty barrels. One other well in prog 
 ress on lot. 
 
 Rhinehardt Well. Sunk nearly three years since. 
 Gave two hundred barrels per day at first. Lately pumped 
 twenty -five barrels. Now re-tubing. Has been most 
 productive on that side of river below Franklin. 
 
 Hoover and Marshal Well, No. . Pumps about 
 twenty barrels per day. Another, belonging to same 
 company, idle, having lost tools in bottom. Did yield 
 oil, but statistics unknown. 
 
 MEM. Every well tested on the Hoover farm is said to 
 
Statistics of Production. 173 
 
 have yielded some petroleum. The present owners charge 
 a royalty of one-half the oil from lessees. 
 
 Hemlock Well. On Lee farm. Gave twenty barrels 
 per day at first ; pumped two or three barrels lately. Out 
 of order. MEM. On the lower part of this farm are three 
 idle wells, one apparently thrown up. 
 
 Old Lee Well, and another adjoining it, belong to a 
 Boston company. Both productive, but idle, undergoing 
 repairs. Former rated at twenty-five, latter at seven bar 
 rels per day, when in operation. 
 
 Suffolk and Venango County Company s Wells. Two 
 in number. Can be made to yield fifty barrels per day, 
 when in proper order. Estimate somewhat vague. Learn 
 that actual yield of one has been twelve to fourteen bar 
 rels ; of the other, five to seven barrels daily. 
 
 Honeycomb Company $ Well. Also on Lee farm. 
 Flowing thirty-five to sixty barrels a day. Average be 
 lieved to be nearly forty. Six months in operation. 
 Keeps steadily up in yield. Depth, four hundred and 
 fifty-five feet. 
 
 Wallace s Well. Upper works swept away. Was 
 yielding seven barrels daily before the flood. 
 
 Sprogel <& Co. s Well. Depth, four hundred and fifty 
 feet. Average yield for year, five barrels per day. Is 
 eighteen months old, and now known as Alleghany Com 
 pany No. Two well. 
 
 Alleghany Company s Well, JVo. One. A two barrel 
 concern. In operation over two years. 
 
 Westminster Well. A one-barrel spring. Six months 
 in operation. Two others were sinking. Both damaged 
 by flood and now idle. 
 
 Eureka Well. On Morrison farm, a short distance be- 
 
174 Statistics of Production. 
 
 low Franklin. Old work re-reamed. Preparing to start 
 anew. 
 
 Passed three wells idle and seemingly abandoned. 
 Two of them yielded about three barrels a day each ; the 
 other, nothing. Three other wells in progress. 
 
 Thomas Well. Bought as a thirty -barrel concern. 
 Keport of its having been fed from a tank on the sly pro 
 nounced false. Pumps about two barrels per day. An 
 old work, and never of much account. 
 
 Passed six more wells sinking, and entered Franklin. 
 The journey altogether the roughest and toughest I had 
 then undertaken. The river was high, and no road ex 
 isted save a goat s path between the precipice and the 
 flood. So it is likely to continue. 
 
 ALLEGHANY RIVER FRANKLIN TO OIL CITY. 
 
 The distance between those points has been increased a 
 full mile by the destruction of the lower bridge across 
 French Creek. On the lower end of this creek, passed 
 seven wells in progress, two abandoned, and one wrecked. 
 
 Stock Well. On the Alleghany. Pumps seven barrels 
 per day best quality lubricating oil. Gravity said to be 
 twenty-eight. Depth, two hundred and seventy-five feet. 
 
 Martin Well. Pumps five barrels per day of same 
 quality and at same depth. Both wells over four years in 
 operation. 
 
 Passed two wells, said to have been abandoned when 
 oil was low, though yielding tolerably. Leases expired, 
 and property reverted to owner a matter of quite fre 
 quent occurrence under the old dispensation. Counted 
 eleven more works, with or without derricks, all seemingly 
 given up. 
 
Statistics of Production. 175 
 
 Enterprise Oil Company s Wells. A Pittsburgh inter 
 est. Before the flood, No. One was yielding five barrels 
 per day. No. Two, about four barrels. Both seriously 
 damaged, but preparing to resume. Three or four years 
 in operation. 
 
 Plumer Refinery. Belongs to a New- York interest. 
 Expected to go into operation shortly. One well on 
 premises idle. Some others to be put down. 
 
 United Farm Company. Own large tract of bottom 
 land below the mouth of Two-Mile Eun, above Franklin 
 and on west side of river. Have leased lots to several in 
 terests. Twelve new derricks already erected this season, 
 and about thirty new wells expected to be sunk. Flat 
 greatly damaged by freshet, and all the old works sus 
 pended. It is said that none of these were fairly tested ; 
 hence the yield was unsatisfactory. 
 
 On Two-Mile Eun. One old well bored out again 
 with fine appearance, as reported. On that little stream, 
 one hundred wells supposed to be sunk or sinking. Such 
 estimates are usually exaggerated one-half, by mistake. 
 
 Powell Oil and Coal Company. Own six wells in 
 progress on Shirk farm. Most of these bored three or 
 four years ago k but now deepening. In some, a good 
 show reported. 
 
 Frankford Oil Company s Wells. Three in number. 
 Two idle ; one pumps average of sixty barrels per day. 
 Opened on first of March. Is situated about midway be 
 tween Franklin and Oil City ; and if the figures only keep 
 on thus, will make princely fortunes. Another well, be 
 longing to same company, drips one barrel per day. 
 Upper works of a third were swept away. Discharge 
 from the oig well is equal to a stream of two hundred bar- 
 
176 Statistics of Production. 
 
 rels per day ; but when visited, nine tenths of it seemed 
 to be water. Workmen say, at times it is nearly pure 
 petroleum. ISTo regularity of flow. Depth, five hundred 
 and thirty feet. 
 
 Pembroke Oil Company s Wells, JVo. One. Yields 
 about five barrels per day. Been keeping up to that figure 
 two years. Depth, three hundred and eighty feet. Com 
 pany have four more under way one tested, but not pro 
 ducing oil. 
 
 Within the space of a mile above these occur seven 
 wells, four of them wrecked, one standing idle, one in 
 progress, one just tested and said to be producing. 
 
 At Reno Station, on the railroad, are three refineries 
 E. W. Shippen s, Kincaid, Lock wood & Co. s, and Ward 
 & Lockwood s. The largest has four stills and a capa 
 city of two hundred and seventy barrels per week. One 
 has abandoned the refining of illuminating oil as un 
 profitable, and taken to the lubricating kind only. 
 
 Howe <& Eddy Oil Company s Wells. Three owned 
 and three leased. Only one going, with average yield of 
 two barrels per day. Another pumped three barrels 
 before freshet. 
 
 Kifer Elliott Well. Just opened. Appearance and 
 prospect considered good. Pumped at rate of twenty bar 
 rels per day for short time. Depth, four hundred and ten 
 feet. 
 
 Between that point and the outskirts of Oil City about 
 a mile counted twenty-two wells, only four of which 
 were going or testing. Eight were idle and ten sinking. 
 None of those yielding gave over three barrels per day. 
 On the opposite side of the river, between Oil City and 
 Franklin observed about forty derricks, of which nearly 
 
Statistics of Production. 177 
 
 one-half had been recently erected. "Wells unfinished, 
 and at many no progress. Only three or four were actu 
 ally producing oil. Statistics not learned, but never 
 heard that section of Petrolia referred to as having aught 
 worth visiting. No regular means of crossing. 
 
 OIL CITY. 
 
 Chris Kringle Well. Going since last Christmas, 
 when yield was thirty barrels per day. Now pumps 
 twenty barrels, according to ofncial estimate. When vis 
 ited, was discharging gas copiously, but no oil. Some 
 good wells are in the habit of indulging in such pranks 
 before strangers. Depth, five hundred and fifty-five feet. 
 
 Oil City Petroleum Refinery. Capacity of works no 
 ticed elsewhere. Company have two wells in progress. 
 Another refinery stands close by. 
 
 Harper Farm Well. Pumped eight or nine barrels per 
 day for past week. Old concern, deepened to five hun 
 dred feet. 
 
 Sweeney Well. Official report of yield, twenty barrels 
 per day. Others say from eight to ten. I incline to the 
 latter estimate. An old well, deepened to five hundred 
 and forty feet. Been three months at work since reopen 
 ing. 
 
 Shirk Well. Tested only a few days. Flowed at first 
 thirty -six barrels per day. Since the flood, average yield 
 not above ten or twelve, got by pumping. 
 
 Old Glyde Well. Belongs to Harper Farm Company. 
 Been going two years, and now yields three barrels per 
 day. 
 
 Linden Well. Noted as a flowing well. Until recent- 
 8* 
 
178 Statistics of Production. 
 
 ly, yielded ten barrels per day. Ke- tubing at time of 
 visit. 
 
 Glyde Well^ No. 1. New concern. Pumped five bar 
 rels first half day. Appearance good. 
 
 In that part of Oil City below the creek, are about thirty 
 wells in progress, some in the ravine between the heights, 
 but the greater number between the street and the river. 
 Two or three old works are also being deepened and 
 burnished up anew. 
 
 THE ALLEGHANY VALLEY ABOVE OIL CITY. 
 
 My explorations of that part of the Alleghany valley 
 between Oil City and Irvine (fifty miles) were conducted 
 partly on foot, partly by skiff or raft, and the residue by 
 steamer. Among the several modes of conveyance in 
 Petrolia, I feel it my duty to characterize the steamer 
 " Advance," as furnishing the most costly and uncomfort 
 able. In charging as fare three dollars for twenty miles j 
 in dirt, discomfort, package, discourtesy, noise, to say 
 nothing of indigestible viands, it may suffice to say that 
 all was of a piece. Even the time lost in waiting till the 
 wind lowered, (!) and afterward at landings, was such, 
 that the whole distance could have been easily walked in 
 the same time. 
 
 On the line of Spring Creek, and on that of the Broken- 
 straw, into which the former discharges, there is little 
 doing in searching for petroleum, the number of derricks 
 visible from the railroad being barely half a dozen, be 
 tween Corry and Irvine. The proprietor of the flats at 
 Irvine is said to have set his face fixedly against any dese 
 cration of them by boring for oil ; hence the derrick does 
 not obtrude its gaunt visage thereabouts. It is only on ap- 
 
Statistics of Production. 179 
 
 preaching the village of TIDEOUTE, fourteen miles down 
 the Alleghany, that the stranger finds himself once more 
 within Petrolia. The principal works there are the 
 
 Economy Wells. These belong to an association of 
 Christians known as Eappists or Communists, established 
 on the common-property principle, which distinguished 
 the apostolic church in Jerusalem. More than half a 
 century ago, a society of Germans migrated to the United 
 States, and founded the village of Economy on the Ohio 
 River, a short distance below Pittsburgh. Subsequently 
 they removed to the Wabash valley ; but returned to their 
 old settlement on the Ohio, where they still remain, own 
 ing property, the value of which has been estimated at 
 the round sum of ten millions of dollars ! The most ob 
 jectionable feature in this association is the enforcement 
 of the practice of celibacy, as practised by the Shakers. 
 Still, its ranks are recruited from the outside world, until 
 its membership counts by hundreds. 
 
 The way this society came to be concerned in petroleum 
 operations was this : They had lent money to a farmer liv 
 ing near Tideoute, who failed to fulfil his obligation of 
 payment ; and his property consequently passed into the 
 creditors possession. About that time the developments 
 on Oil Creek began to attract attention ; and as springs of 
 petroleum had been found at the surface on their proper 
 ty, the society decided to put down a well for themselves. 
 In 1861 the first was sunk, and a fine quality of illumin 
 ating oil struck, at the depth of one hundred and thirty- 
 five feet. This received the appellation of the " A well," 
 which is still pumping five barrels per day, (twenty-four 
 hours,) besides supplying gas sufficient to keep two engines 
 running. " B well " gave feeble indications at first ; but 
 
180 Statistics of Production. 
 
 gradually improved, and now pumps from thirty to thirty- 
 five barrels per day. " C " produces about fifteen barrels 
 in the same time, and " D," from fifteen to twenty barrels. 
 In none of the last three has there been lately any per 
 ceptible increase or decrease. None of them has been 
 sunk over one hundred and forty-five feet, which makes 
 such a copious and continuous yield the more remarkable. 
 
 At one time, the society leased the property, under con 
 ditions deemed favorable, to the former proprietor, who, 
 according to outside reports, held his grip upon it till the 
 society came down with an immense sum to recover posses 
 sion, while the works went to wreck. New derricks, en 
 gines, etc., have since been erected, together with an excel 
 lent boarding-house, whose arrangements are unquestiona 
 bly the best in all Petrolia. The restrictions placed upon 
 employes, however, in regard to speech and manners, have 
 made the proprietors somewhat unpopular as employers ; 
 and many prefer to seek employment where they "can 
 blow off steam," without meeting a printed rule or other 
 restriction upon their language or demeanor. 
 
 The lands belonging to this association on the Alle- 
 ghany comprise eight thousand acres, extending back a 
 long distance from the river, and having an extensive 
 
 water-front. Much of this tract is covered with a heavv 
 
 / 
 
 growth of timber, almost as valuable as petroleum these 
 days. A saw-mill and a flouring-mill, driven by steam, 
 have been erected on the uplands. A railroad is also in 
 contemplation, to connect their various works along the 
 river with a landing. Arrangements are in progress to 
 put down ten or twelve new wells the present season, on 
 spots where good indications are said to exist. 
 
 For the information of the curious, it may be proper to 
 
Statistics of Production. 181 
 
 add that no part of this property is either for sale or to 
 let. Land speculators and persons engaged in getting up 
 oil companies may, therefore, as well give it a wide berth 
 in their searches after " first-class territory." 
 
 Those who delight to trace every unusual event or phe 
 nomenon to " special providences " may here find profita 
 ble matter for reflection. "Why should the only good 
 tract on that side of the river, along that part of its course, 
 and one which has produced the most enduring springs 
 in the country, have passed into the hands of an associa 
 tion having " all things common " ? 
 
 Below the Economy wells are half a dozen idle works, 
 most of which appear to have been thrown up altogether. 
 One of them, known as the Eawlson well, belongs to a 
 Philadelphia company, which had it sunk to the depth of 
 one thousand feet, without finding any oil worth mention. 
 Only one of the whole number is estimated to have paid 
 expenses. The Waters & Jackson well ran seven or 
 eight months, in 1861, and gave as many barrels per day. 
 It is now idle. Three of them flowed for a few weeks at 
 first. 
 
 Hockmbwrgh Well. Named after a clergyman in that 
 neighborhood, who has written an essay on the all-ab 
 sorbing subject. Pumped about ten barrels per day for 
 nine months, in 1861 ; then shut down. Now owned by 
 the Tideoute Bayou Petroleum Company, of New- York, 
 and yielding five or six barrels per day. 
 
 G. L Stowe Well. Sunk in 1860. Yield, four or five 
 barrels per day till last September, since which has been 
 idle. Depth, one hundred and forty feet. 
 
 Moore, Blanche & Company s Well. Pumped five or 
 six barrels per day until lately. Now undergoing re 
 pairs. 
 
182 Statistics of Production. 
 
 Towner <& Thompson Well. Pumps four to five bar- 
 rels per day. Some alterations going on. Tried the 
 blower, but unsuccessfully. 
 
 About eight more wells, all idle, and as many others in 
 progress, are on the east side of the Alleghany at Tide- 
 oute. Above the village are also twelve or fifteen aban 
 doned works, not having been going for some years. 
 
 On the opposite side, where the river impinges upon 
 the bluff, counted sixteen new derricks, several of them 
 perched at points from one hundred to two hundred feet 
 up the precipice. Immediately beneath them are the fol 
 lowing : 
 
 Moser Well. Just resuscitated after a winter s rest. 
 Yields six barrels per day. Sunk four or five years ago. 
 
 Rawlson Well. Pumps eight barrels per day. Over 
 four years old. Depth, one hundred and fifty feet. 
 
 Gilson Well. Owned by Tompkins County and Tide- 
 oute Oil Company. Pumps thirty barrels per day. Open 
 ed last Wednesday. Has increased in productiveness 
 lately. Depth, one hundred and forty-six feet. 
 
 Shaw Well. Pumped, during winter, ten barrels per 
 day, to best of informant s knowledge. Now stopped for 
 repairs. This and four or five others to recommence 
 shortly. About a dozen appear to be abandoned altoge 
 ther. 
 
 The Tideoute and Warren Oil Company own most of 
 the lands in that part of the village or its suburbs. They 
 grant leases of lots for fifty per cent of the oil. That 
 locality is fast following the example of Oil City, as re 
 spects filth and disorder, the latter place being the unit of 
 measurement for the whole region. 
 
 , Below Tideoute passed twelve or fifteen derricks, all 
 old and inactive, until arriving at 
 
Statistics of Production. 183 
 
 HICKORY CREEKS. 
 
 These are three in number, all entering the river with 
 in a distance of two miles. The highest up of these is 
 East-Hickory, at the mouth of which is a good landing, 
 with half a dozen wells in different stages of construction. 
 One of them is reported to have reached the depth of 
 four hundred and thirty feet, where a good show was 
 lately had in the sand-pump. 
 
 Little Hickory enters the Alleghany from the same 
 side. Five or six wells going down on the flat at its 
 mouth ; but no definite result had been obtained at the 
 time of visiting. 
 
 West-Hickory enters nearly opposite to the last-named, 
 and from the west side. All have dug their channels 
 deeply into the bluffs ; but the only large bottom is near 
 the last-named. At the distance of barely half a mile 
 from the river is 
 
 Hickory Flat Well. Oil recently struck at the depth 
 of one hundred and ten feet. Came up so violently as to 
 drive away the workmen. Has been flowing at the rate 
 of one hundred and seventy barrels per day, or one hun 
 dred and ninety-six barrels in twenty-five hours, as ascer 
 tained by actual measurement. Oil said to be finest qual 
 ity lubricating with less than thirty degrees gravity. The 
 flow is steady, and the stream refreshing to behold, ac 
 companied by gas in moderate quantity. 
 
 The success of this well has given a powerful impetus 
 to similar enterprises in that part of Petrolia. Already 
 much the larger portion of the land, for miles above and 
 below, has changed ownership. One farm of four hun 
 dred acres was lately sold for one hundred and twenty- 
 
184 Statistics of Production. 
 
 nine thousand dollars, which may be taken as a fair esti 
 mate of price, when sold in large quantities and near the 
 river. It is said that a speculator recently cleared sixty- 
 six thousand dollars by a single purchase. Natural oil- 
 springs, Mr. Gr. A. Siggins assures me, had long before 
 been observed thereabouts, and occasional rude efforts 
 been made by the residents to reach them in one case, 
 by means of a drilling apparatus composed of a bed-cord 
 and a harrow-pin ! The Indians had a reservation close 
 by, which they inhabited until a few years ago. Con 
 tiguous to this well are aboriginal remains of various 
 kinds. A large tree of a wood resembling oak (not petri 
 fied) was found at the depth of forty-nine feet below the 
 surface, after drilling through a bed of solid rock. 
 
 About half a dozen new wells, one of them productive, 
 were under way along West-Hickory, at the time of visit 
 ing. Preparations were going forward for extended ope 
 rations during the summer, and that valley is now a 
 favorite of those who are in search of new " territory." 
 
 At Dawson s crossing, lower down the Alleghany, two 
 wells are in progress, one having reached the depth of 
 two hundred feet. 
 
 At TIONESTA, an incipient village at the mouth of Tio- 
 nesta Creek, and some twenty miles above Oil City, seven 
 teen derricks have been erected at or near the mouth of 
 that stream. One well has been sunk to the depth of 
 seven hundred feet, without rinding oil. Two or three 
 works on the opposite side, but with no better success as 
 yet. 
 
 Between Tionesta and "Walnut Bend, fourteen miles, 
 my inquiries were not so full as I could wish, having 
 been made only at those points where the steamer stopped 
 
Statistics of Production. 185 
 
 on her way down. The residue of the distance to Oil 
 City I had previously traversed on foot. 
 
 PRESIDENT is a new and growing village on the east 
 side of the river, with a capacious hotel and store as the 
 nucleus. About two dozen derricks stand on the gentle 
 slope, with abundant room for more. Two thirds of these 
 works are unfinished. One well only was pumping oil, 
 at time of visit. Said to be yielding freely, but figures 
 not obtainable. A passenger dubbed the smaller collec 
 tion of houses, etc., on the opposite shore, Face-President. 
 The next point of interest is the mouth of PITHOLE 
 CREEK, twelve miles above Oil City. 
 
 Ewing Well. Pumps fifteen barrels per day. Was 
 lately bought as a twenty-barrel well by the Niagara 
 Falls and Cherry Eun Oil Company. Been four years in 
 operation, and yields steadily. Oil discharges in occa 
 sional spirts, not a constant stream. Depth, two hundred 
 and ninety feet. Gravity, forty-four. 
 
 About thirty wells have been sunk near the mouth of 
 Pithole Creek, chiefly along the Alleghany. Of these, 
 only one is now in operation. Owners are generally pre 
 paring to deepen them, or throw them up altogether. 
 Taking both sides of the river and the works in prog 
 ress, the number of derricks is not short of fifty. Much 
 activity exists at the landing, and it is fast taking posi 
 tion as a village. 
 
 At the next bend below counted sixteen derricks, all 
 idle and mostly new. Saturday evening, and the men 
 may have quit work. 
 
 At "Walnut bend are nearly as many, the greater por 
 tion finished works, and some quite ancient, as men reckon 
 antiquity in Petrolia. One concern at work, and reported 
 
186 Statistics of Production. 
 
 to produce finely in fact, has made the reputation of 
 that place. A good deal of activity on that semi-circular 
 headland at ordinary times. Is on east side of the Alle- 
 ghany, and nearly eight miles above Oil City. On the 
 west shore are the following wells : 
 
 Black Diamond Company s Wells. Just commenced 
 drilling. Situated on the Kinstler farm. 
 
 El Dorado Company s Well. On Conver farm. Depth, 
 five hundred and thirty-seven feet. Pumped about one 
 barrel per day until lately. Now idle. 
 
 Pacific Oil Company s Wells. On same farm. One is 
 idle with, tools fast ; another is drilling. Below these are 
 two wells abandoned and two new derricks, one of them 
 belonging to the United States Petroleum Company. No 
 progress. Next two works (one new) damaged by flood ; 
 also the relics of one burned, which belonged to the 
 United States Petroleum Company, and said to have 
 yielded thirty barrels per day. No signs of activity at 
 any of these. 
 
 Marshal Well. On Tolles farm. Been in operation 
 about a month, and pumping thirty to forty barrels per 
 day. Depth, three hundred and fifty feet. 
 
 Dr. Kinter s Well. Has been pumped nine months, giv 
 ing average of fifteen barrels per day. Depth, three hun 
 dred and sixty feet. Owned by Alleghany and Walnut 
 Bend Oil Company. Another, belonging to the same 
 company, in progress. 
 
 Drummond & Arnold Well. On Stiner farm. Yield 
 ed freely for a year. Exhausted, and deepened without 
 any result, and then abandoned. Depth, about five hun 
 dred feet. 
 
Statistics of Production. 187 
 
 M. B. Brown s Well. In progress. Depth, four hun 
 dred and sixty feet. Another work in progress. 
 
 Rathburn^ Lay & Company s Wells. On Khenof farm. 
 Five in number. One sunk seven hundred and seventy- 
 two feet. Gave no oil worth mentioning. One, five hun 
 dred and thirty- three feet, with like result. One sunk 
 last year yields twenty-four barrels per day, on average. 
 Other two in progress. The best of idle works yielded 
 seven barrels daily for short time, but fell off. 
 
 Cornwall and Titus Wells. Two in number. One 
 pumped seven barrels per day for three or four months ; 
 the other did rather better. Both abandoned. Depth 
 respectively, five hundred and five and six hundred feet. 
 
 Powhatan Well. On Downie farm. Belongs to a firm 
 at Kittaning, Pa. Sunk two hundred feet in 1861. No 
 oil. Abandoned and now deepening to five hundred feet. 
 
 Ross Oil Company s Wells. One is two or three years 
 old. Before freshet yielded twelve to fifteen barrels per 
 day. Damaged and idle at visit. Depth, four hundred 
 and fifty feet. Another well has been five or six months 
 in operation. Yields about ten barrels per day. Has im 
 proved since flood. Depth, four hundred and twenty-five 
 feet. A third gave no oil and was abandoned. 
 
 Clintock Cornwall Petroleum and Mining Company. 
 Have just put down a well five hundred feet. Only wa 
 ter as yet. Four old wells and one unfinished close by. 
 
 Woody Me Williams and Company^ s Wells. On lower 
 Rhenof farm. Owned by a New- York interest. Put 
 down in 1861, but neither tested. Depth, about four hun 
 dred feet. To be started anew. A third, put down same 
 year, yielded irregularly from five to fifteen barrels per 
 
188 Statistics of Production. 
 
 day. Depth, three hundred and twenty feet. To be also 
 resuscitated. 
 
 Bollard Well. Pumps twelve barrels per day. Sunk 
 in 1861 to depth of four hundred feet. Another well of 
 same owners never tested. 
 
 Horse Creek Eddy Well. Has pumped as high as fifty 
 barrels daily, with average of twenty-five barrels, past 
 year. Opened in the spring of 1864, and now in opera 
 tion. Depth, four hundred and eighty feet. Belongs to 
 a Pittsburgh firm. Another well, owned by same, sunk 
 in 1862 about six hundred feet. Averaged fifteen barrels 
 per day for one year. Now idle. 
 
 Humboldt Oil Company 1 s Wells. A New-York concern, 
 owning part of the Lamb farm. Eight wells completed. 
 Three unproductive. Two pump twenty barrels each, 
 two thirty barrels each, and one five barrels per day. 
 The last has been going four years. Depth, three hun 
 dred and ninety feet. All productive works said to be on 
 the increase. Three of them opened the last six months. 
 
 Tarr Homestead Oil Company s Well. Yields from 
 twenty to twenty-five barrels per day. Been in operation 
 nine months, with no decrease. Depth, four hundred and 
 sixty -two feet. 
 
 Kincaid Well. Pumps two to three barrels daily. 
 Sunk nearly four years ago. About a dozen works in 
 progress close by, mostly inclining toward the uplands. 
 One, newly opened, said to yield seven to eight barrels 
 per day. Another testing. 
 
 Bradley Bend Wells. Two in number and abandoned. 
 For few weeks last summer one yielded sixty or seventy 
 barrels per day ; then gave out. Depth four hundred 
 
Statistics of Production. 189 
 
 feet. Belongs to Carbon Oil Company of Philadelphia. 
 The second well yielded little. A third sinking. 
 
 Sheridan Well, No. 1. On Lay farm. Opened last Feb 
 ruary, and yields twenty to twenty-five barrels per day. 
 Depth, three hundred and eighty-five feet. Owned by an 
 Eastern company. Another well in progress with good 
 appearances at two hundred feet deep. 
 
 Wheeler Wells. On Carey (or Curry) farm. Owned by 
 Rockford Oil Company of Philadelphia. One in operation 
 since. 1861. Eanges from two to thirty-five barrels per 
 day, with average of twenty. Depth, three hundred and 
 twelve feet. No. Two is idle. To be deepened and re- 
 reamed out to depth of five hundred feet. No. Three 
 starting. No oil as yet. No. Four in progress. 
 
 Baltimore Petroleum Company s Wells. Ownership of 
 six, on Downing farm, said to be divided between that 
 company and a Philadelphian. "Works sunk three or 
 four years ago. One increased from five to ten barrels 
 per day, but stopped by freshet ; now pumps only one 
 and a half. All the wells understood to have been pro 
 fitable at one time ; but need to be burnished up and 
 deepened. 
 
 Alcorn (or Elkhorri) Oil Company s Wells. On farm of 
 same name. One begun in 1860, and sunk three hun 
 dred feet. No oil. Another put down to six hundred 
 with like results. A third, also unproductive, is being 
 deepened. Two others are leased to a Michigan com 
 pany, who are sinking further. 
 
 Howard Well. Sunk five hundred and twenty-five feet, 
 and going down to seven hundred. Eeport of a good 
 show, etc. 
 
 Well No. Seven. Also on Alcorn tract. Put down in 
 
190 Statistics of Production. 
 
 1860, and yielded two to seven barrels daily. Engine too 
 weak. 
 
 Oaswelly Herbert & Company s Well. On island oppo 
 site Not in operation since flood. Yielded ten to fifteen 
 barrels a day before freshet. Now sinking deeper. 
 
 Hilands Oil Company s Well. On Siverly farm. In 
 progress. Thompson Well. Ditto. Sunk three hundred 
 and fifty feet. Got small quantity at one hundred and 
 fifty feet. One abandoned well, never yielded much. 
 Another commenced drilling. 
 
 Clark <& Company s Well. Sunk in 1861, by hand 
 and horse-power. Never pumped, but dipped up with 
 pail half a barrel per day. Owners now preparing to 
 sink deeper. Belongs to Chatauqua Oil Company. Depth, 
 four hundred feet. Another sunk in 1861 to five hundred 
 feet, with no result. 
 
 MEM. Siverly farm is about one mile above Oil City. 
 Land fronting on river is held at five thousand dollars 
 per acre. 
 
 On the Hassen farm, immediately above Oil City, are 
 the following wells : JVo. One. Yielded from two to eight 
 barrels per day for a few weeks in 1860. Depth, one hun 
 dred and sixty feet. Sunk two hundred feet further with 
 no result. Water Works well. Pumped ten barrels per 
 day for two years ; now dry. This was the only old work 
 on the farm that yielded largely. Five or six others were 
 sunk and abandoned as unprofitable. One has continued 
 to flow or drip about a barrel per day for three months. 
 
 Cleveland and Cherry Valley Oil Company s Wells. 
 Are situated on Eeed Eun. One pumps ten barrels per 
 day, from depth of six hundred feet. Newly opened. An 
 other getting ready to test, with fair prospects. 
 
Statistics of Production. 191 
 
 On the opposite side of the Alleghany, between Oil City 
 and Walnut Bend, are perhaps thirty wells, a majority of 
 them under way. I did not observe any pumping oil as 
 I passed up the river on the west side. 
 
 In making up a recapitulation of the whole, some allow 
 ance should be made for wells actually yielding oil, but 
 which appeared to be idle at the time, perhaps because 
 they were pumped " by head." I have made allowance 
 for ten such at the usual rate of yield on Oil Creek. 
 
 If it be desired to calculate upon the basis given under 
 neath the annual product of the wells, the number of days 
 should be set down at about three hundred and forty, to 
 make up for the large flowing wells, which work seven 
 days in the week, and about one-quarter of the pumping- 
 wells, whose owners follow nature in this respect. 
 
 The number of wells denotes, not the engines which 
 were pumping merely, but those which were pumping oil 
 on the days of my visit. On the Tarr and other farms, I 
 estimate that at least fifty more were at work, exhausting 
 the water, making the active aggregate three hundred and 
 seventy-five. This will probably be increased to five 
 hundred before midsummer. 
 
 KECAPITULATION. 
 
 SFCTIONS WELLS TOTAL YIELD, AVERAGE 
 
 IN OPERATION. BARRELS. PER DAY. 
 
 Watson Flats, etc., 21 362 17, 1 
 
 Miller Farm, 1 28 28.0 
 
 Foster & McElhenny Farms, ... 15 523 34.9 
 
 Funk & Boyd do. ... 16 648 40.5 
 
 Wash. McClintock do. ... 15 345 23.0 
 
 Hyde & Egbert do. ... 6 725 120.8 
 
 Storey do. ... 22 855 38.8 
 
 Tarr & Blood do. . . 19 411 21.6 
 
192 Statistics of Production. 
 
 WELLS TOTAL YIELD, AVERAGE 
 
 IS OPERATION. BARRELS. PER DAY. 
 
 Rynd & Wid. McC. do. ... 14 147 10.5 
 
 Rouse & Buchanan do. ... 17 415 24.4 
 
 H. McClintock to Oil City,. . . 16 682 42.6 
 
 Oil Creek valley, 162 5141 31.7 
 
 Cherry Run, 51 1972 38.7 
 
 Pithole Creek, 3 * 300 100.0 
 
 French and Sugar Creeks, ... 14 50 3.6 
 
 Lower Alleghany, 51 404 7.9 
 
 Upper do 31 666 21.5 
 
 Omitted, 10 317 31.7 
 
 Grand totals, 322 8850 27.5 
 
 At this rate, the annual product of Petrolia may be set 
 down at three million nine thousand barrels. We can 
 very well afford to leave out of the account the odd thou 
 sands, and accept the round three millions as the amount 
 of very sensible perspiration which has exuded from the 
 pores of our common mother in that twenty miles square 
 block of Pennsylvania. 
 
 But, in truth, the amount given, magnificent as it may 
 be, is far below the grand aggregate, taking one season 
 with another. Along the Alleghany and the lower farms 
 on Oil Creek and Cherry Eun, I estimate the proportion 
 of wells temporarily disabled by the freshet at one-fourth 
 of those producing in the early part of March. Again, 
 there are large numbers which are now operated during 
 the summer months only, and had not then got fairly 
 under way. I think one hundred of these at least would 
 be going by the first of May, and continue steadily during 
 the summer months. It is true the average productive 
 ness of these is considerably below that of the aggregate. 
 
 * Partly estimated. 
 
Statistics of Production. 193 
 
 But if an allowance of one-half be made for this draw 
 back, the residue would make a material increase in the 
 quantity. The newly opened and reopened wells will do 
 more, during this summer, than replace those which go 
 out of date as non-producers. Taking all these increments 
 into consideration, I have no doubt that the actual yield 
 of Venango is over ten thousand barrels per day, giving 
 as a grand annual aggregate nearly three millions and a 
 half of barrels. 
 9 
 
CHAPTEK VII. 
 
 OIL REFINING AND REFINERIES. 
 
 THE refining of petroleum, or preparing it for illumi 
 nating and lubricating purposes, is one of the new depart 
 ments of industry created during the past five years, and 
 now giving profitable employment to hundreds of men in 
 Western Pennsylvania alone. Its object is two-fold to 
 free the liquid from impurities, with their offensive smell, 
 and to render it unexplosive. In both, the most triumph 
 ant success has attended the efforts made ; and rock-oil, 
 as it affords the cheapest and most brilliant light known, 
 is equally safe and inoffensive. 
 
 For much of this success, the country is indebted to 
 Mr. Samuel M. Kier, of Pittsburgh, who had been giving 
 his attention to this subject as early as 1849. He sent a 
 quantity of it to a Philadelphia chemist to have it analyz 
 ed, and learned that if he could get a suitable lamp for 
 burning it, the oil would make an excellent illuminator. 
 Eeturning to Pittsburgh, he set other men s wits at work, 
 and soon obtained the desideratum, Mr. Kier erecting a 
 small refinery. From 1850 to 1855, he disposed of all the 
 petroleum he could obtain from his own and his neigh 
 bors salt- works, in which it had been discovered, selling 
 with it the lamps used for burning it. Boring for oil ex 
 clusively had not then been thought of; but when Eve- 
 
Oil Refining and Refineries. 195 
 
 leth, Bissel, & Drake made their famous attempt, Colonel 
 Drake visited and examined Mr. Kier s salt-wells on the 
 Alleghany with what result is already sufficiently known. 
 
 The first process in distillation, after pouring the crude 
 oil into tanks in the ground, is to pump it into the stills. 
 At Corry, three of these have a capacity of twenty-six 
 thousand gallons each. They are made of heavy boiler 
 plate, capable of withstanding a very high pressure, the 
 liquid being raised to a heat of four hundred or five hun 
 dred degrees Fahrenheit. The stills being duly charged 
 and closed, fire is applied in the furnaces underneath, about 
 six o clock in the morning. By the same hour in the 
 evening they should be emptied. As the oil evaporates, 
 under such a powerful heat, the gas passes into a " worm" 
 or " condenser" a long, slender tube, immersed in a cur 
 rent of cold water, which causes the vapor to return to 
 the liquid condition. On emerging from this tube, the 
 oil has a whitish blue or bluish white color, instead of its 
 native dark green hue. 
 
 From the condenser, it next passes into the " receiver," 
 a large tank, out of which it is transferred, without un 
 dergoing any further change, into the " treating- tank" or 
 u agitator." This may be of any size, provided it allow 
 for mixing thoroughly and in due proportion the u distil 
 late" (the name given to petroleum in that stage) with 
 sulphuric acid, (oil of vitriol.) The quantity of acid usu 
 ally assigned to thirty barrels of oil is between five and 
 six pounds, which being poured in, the whole mass is 
 stirred or agitated, by means of a strong current of air or 
 iron paddles, for about ten minutes. The object of this 
 process is to separate from the oil such foreign ingredients 
 as dirt, tar, and other impurities, that may still have rain- 
 
196 Oil Refining and Refineries. 
 
 gled with it. These settle down and rest upon the concave 
 bottom of the vessel by their own greater specific gravity, 
 and are taken away separately. Their color is dark purple 
 or nearly black. 
 
 The oil is next washed with clean water, and agitated 
 afresh for a period of fifteen or twenty minutes, this pro 
 cess being repeated several times, so as to remove from it 
 every particle of the add. After washing, it is treated to 
 a dose of alkali, (usually soda,) in the proportion of five 
 gallons to thirty barrels, whereupon it is submitted to the 
 " hydrometrical test," to be noticed afterward. The alkali 
 gives it brilliancy, and removes every particle of acid that 
 may have remained in it. Next, it is drawn into the 
 " bleachers" or " settling- tanks," which are large, shallow 
 wooden tubs. The liquid has now a whitish or bluish- 
 white color. Measured by the hydrometer, this instrument 
 is found to rest at the point marked forty-seven degrees 
 on the scale, sinking to the level of a higher figure in 
 proportion to the lightness of the oil. Its range varies 
 from fifteen to eighty degrees. The coal-oil is not so white 
 as that distilled from petroleum, which is more of a straw- 
 color than the former. 
 
 From the settling-tank, it is then drawn off into barrels 
 of from forty to forty-five gallons each. These are made 
 of the best white oak, their insides being carefully lined 
 with glue or soluble glass, previous to being filled. If 
 the barrels be sent back for re-filling, the same process has 
 again to be gone through with ; it being judged unsafe, 
 by means of a crack in the coating, to leave a particle of 
 the wood exposed to the insinuating action of petroleum. 
 Besides the loss of material in such a case, there is the 
 much greater danger of the liquid, after oozing through, 
 
Oil Refining and Refineries. 197 
 
 taking fire and exciting a general conflagration. Before 
 re-gluing or re-glazing, the old coat has to be melted and 
 drawn off by means of a jet of steam. 
 
 After distillation, the first liquor that comes off is naph 
 tha or "benzine, a very light, volatile, and inflammable 
 substance, its hydrometrical test varying from sixty-five 
 to seventy-five degrees. "When the discharge coming from 
 the condenser descends to sixty or sixty -two, the naphtha 
 is cut off and let run to oil. If cut off at sixty-five or 
 seventy, the oil will be very light, rather inflammable, and 
 insufficient to stand the fire-test. In different states, va 
 rious tests as to the quality of the liquid in this respect 
 have been established, the instrument used being termed 
 a " pyrometer" or " fire-measure." The standard in New- 
 York is one hundred and ten degrees, but in Pennsylvania 
 and Ohio one hundred. The pyrometer is a little brass 
 vessel, the bottom of which contains a small quantity of 
 water, heated by applying a gas-lamp. Immediately above 
 this water is placed a small cup containing refined oil, 
 which is heated equally with the water. The " test" means 
 the point at which vapor arising from the petroleum, after 
 the application of heat, will ignite, when a lighted match 
 is held above it. If it takes fire at a low figure in the 
 scale, there is danger of such oil, when placed in a lamp, 
 igniting and causing the lamp to burst, since a certain 
 portion of heat is communicated to it all through from the 
 flame above. If the gas blow out the light, it is termed 
 the " vapor-test ;" if it ignite, it is the regular fire-test. 
 The difference between these is not apt to be quite five 
 degrees. The point of ignition is between one hundred 
 and fifteen and one hundred and twenty degrees in the 
 best quality of petroleum. It may be observed, however, 
 
198 Oil Refining and Refineries. 
 
 that, in consequence of its more rapid heating by some 
 persons than by others, this standard will vary somewhat ; 
 the difference between the figures, in testing the same 
 sample, running from one to five degrees, according as the 
 person engaged applies the heat rapidly or slowly. The 
 more time there is allowed, the article will appea,r to better 
 advantage. 
 
 There are three grades of refined oil "the prime 
 white," " the standard white" or " light straw," and the 
 "straw-colored." The last-named usually stands a fire- 
 test of one hundred and fifteen degrees. 
 
 The next run from the stills, after benzine and oil, is 
 called paraffine a whitish, wax-like, inflammable sub 
 stance, which is used in making the best candles, in mix 
 ing with wax, and occasionally is manufactured into 
 sweetmeats ! The proportion of this substance to the 
 pure petroleum varies according to the season, being 
 greater in winter than in summer, when some of it appears 
 to mingle with the oil. Out of one hundred barrels of 
 distillate, from three to five of parafnne will usually be 
 obtained. All refiners, however, do not separate it, some 
 letting it remain with the liquid. Elsewhere I have no 
 ticed the troubles arising from the collecting of this ingre 
 dient on the inside of the tubing, the pump-rods, and even 
 the well, stopping the veins and preventing the passage 
 of oil upward. 
 
 The residuum coming from the condenser is tar, the 
 ratio of which to all other substances is under one per 
 cent. It is commonly used on the ground as fuel ; but a 
 new use for it has been discovered in some places where 
 refineries have been established, namely, to lubricate such 
 heavy articles of machinery as cog-wheels. 
 
Oil Refining and Refineries. 199 
 
 The fine lubricating oil obtained on French and Sugar 
 Creeks, and for a short distance above the mouth of the 
 latter on the Alleghany, is not always submitted to the 
 refining processes. Such portions of it as are used on 
 locomotives, stationary engines, and most kinds of heavy 
 machinery, pass directly from the tank to the operative s 
 flask ; but it is judged best to refine such oils as may be 
 required on the more delicate kinds, as cotton, silk, and 
 woollen machinery. The modes of treating it do not vary 
 materially from those of refining common illuminating oil. 
 
 In the Corry works, after going through the several 
 processes, it is placed in a room which is a mammoth re 
 frigerator, the temperature" being reduced to a very low 
 degree by salt and ice. In a short time, the oil becomes 
 a thick slush, in which condition it is put into strong can 
 vas-bags and subjected to a powerful pressure, by which 
 the pure oil is forced through the coarse cloth, leaving 
 the parafiine inside, which forms in thin, hard cakes, of a 
 gray or light-brown color. This substance readily separates 
 into thin flakes, somewhat resembling the scales of a fish. 
 In this condition the paraffine is sent to Boston, where it 
 is refined to the pure white article of commerce. 
 
 The quantity of merchantable products of all kinds 
 refined oil, naphtha, paraffine, and tar or residuum ob 
 tained by distillation, varies according to the quality of 
 the crude oil, and to some slight extent according to the 
 season. At the Downer works they reckon upon eighty- 
 five to ninety per cent on the average. Mr. Sommers of 
 Jersey City assures me that he has distilled as much as 
 ninety-five per cent out of some illuminating oils ; but this 
 is an unusually high figure. There is commonly a little 
 more loss in refining oils for exportation than for consump 
 tion in the home market. 
 
200 Oil Refining and Refineries. 
 
 As to the proportions of each, there is much diversity, 
 these varying with the natural quality of the crude article, 
 and with the purpose and skill of the manufacturer, so 
 that it is difficult to give an estimate which will apply to 
 all. Mr. Sommers states that when, they make it for ex 
 portation, the fire-test being one hundred and fifteen, they 
 get about seventy -five per cent of refined petroleum and 
 about fifteen per cent of benzine. With a fire- test of 
 one hundred degrees, which is considered perfectly safe, 
 they get from eighty to eighty-two per cent of refined oil, 
 and about eight per cent of naphtha. The latter ordinari 
 ly sells at about half the price per gallon of the former. 
 
 One of the products of Heinrich & Sommers s refinery 
 in Jersey city is gasoline a liquid which bears about the 
 same relation to benzine as the latter does to refined oil. 
 It begins to come off at a heat of eighty-five degrees 
 Fahrenheit, and is cut off when the heat rises to one hun 
 dred and fifty degrees. Between one hundred and fifty 
 and two hundred and twelve degrees, (the boiling point,) 
 benzine or naphtha comes off. From this point, to get all 
 the petroleum, the heat is raised to about four hundred 
 and fifty degrees, beyond which it is scarcely ever neces 
 sary to go. Gasoline is used in some establishments for 
 the manufacture of common illuminating gas, which can 
 be made from it more cheaply than from coal. It has 
 been introduced into the Springfield armory, among other 
 concerns. The government charges a tax of five per cent 
 ad valorem on this, as on refined lubricating oil, instead of 
 the ordinary twenty cents per gallon. 
 
 The proportion of crude to refined oil exported, Mr. 
 Sommers estimates at from one-third to one-fourth. More 
 or less of the former is sent to Great Britain, France, 
 
Oil Refining and Refineries. 201 
 
 and Germany, where chemicals as well as labor can be 
 had cheaper. To all other countries petroleum is shipped 
 in its refined state only. 
 
 There is no single centre of this business, it being car 
 ried on all over the country, from the sea-board cities to 
 Corry, Pittsburgh, and numerous other points in the West. 
 The largest concern of the kind in Petrolia proper is the 
 Downer works at Corry, the premises comprising half a 
 dozen acres. The number of men employed usually ap 
 proaches two hundred, and the capacity of the works is 
 eighteen hundred barrels per week. The buildings are 
 of brick and made fire-proof throughout. On one occa 
 sion a still burst and its contents took fire ; but as each of 
 the six furnaces occupies a separate apartment, the flame 
 was extinguished by the application of steam from the ad 
 joining boilers. The whole arrangements about this con 
 cern are equally perfect, showing a regard to order and 
 neatness as well as safety. 
 
 Next in capacity to this establishment is the Humboldt 
 refinery at Plumer, the area inclosed being nearly twenty- 
 five acres, and the works so planned as to take advantage 
 of the natural descent of the ground, in the passage of oil 
 from one set of vessels to another, thus dispensing with 
 the use of artificial power ; they are also so far separated 
 that, in the event of one building taking fire, it would not 
 be communicated to any of the others. The proprietors 
 are Messrs. Ludovici, Brothers, who are natives of Ger 
 many, and gentlemen of rare intelligence and urbanity. 
 The author of a pamphlet entitled, "All about Petro 
 leum," has fallen into some amusing errors concerning this 
 establishment, it is believed, from not having been within 
 some miles of the concern which he attempts to describe 
 
202 Oil Refining and Refineries. 
 
 with liis usual grandiloquence. He speaks of " a color pro 
 duced from the residuum of the petroleum " at that estab 
 lishment, as being " a bright and fixed cerulean blue, or 
 perhaps a shade darker, and called the Humboldt color." 
 Its proper name is analine. One of the proprietors assures 
 me that, at the time when this statement appeared, they 
 had not even thought of making such a color ; but since 
 that time, inquiries and orders had come to them in 
 such numbers that they concluded to engage in it. Fur 
 ther, the writer goes on to say, that " the discoverers are 
 German chemists, who do not speak, if they understand, 
 English." The Mr. Ludovici whom I saw speaks as good 
 English as is found in the pamphlet ! Again : " No 
 stranger is allowed to enter their works, except by special 
 permission." Nothing could be more incorrect than this 
 statement, as I wandered through them and made in 
 quiries, without so much, as one of the employes asking 
 a question, much less refusing permission to go further. 
 Other persons did the same thing while I was present ; 
 and this was no newly adopted arrangement. So much 
 for the accounts of a writer who, from a distance of miles, 
 undertakes to describe "All about Petroleum," manifestly 
 taking less pains to arrive at the truth than to depict, in 
 glowing " colors," a great and important interest, whose 
 defects, however, he is equally careful to conceal. 
 
 The number of stills in the Humboldt works is twenty, 
 and their capacity is one thousand barrels per w^k. The 
 oil refined there is for the most part exported to Europe, 
 where it has an established reputation. The proprietors 
 are organizing under a charter of incorporation. From 
 Tarr farm, three miles distant, the oil raised is forced, by 
 a powerful pumping apparatus, over the hills to Plumer, 
 
Oil Refining and Refineries. 203 
 
 and, after refining, is thence taken by wagon to the Al- 
 leghany Kiver landing or to Titusville. Saw-mills, barrel- 
 factories, etc., are on the premises. 
 
 Messrs. "Warren, Brothers , refinery is in the same vil 
 lage, and contains sixteen stills, with a capacity of nine 
 hundred barrels per week. A powerful Worthington 
 pump forces the refined oil to the summit of the ridge 
 east of the works, about two hundred feet in perpendicular 
 height, whence it descends by the force of gravity to the 
 Alleghany. 
 
 At Titusville are four or five refineries, mostly of small 
 capacity, the principal being the Bunker Hill works ; 
 probably as many as twenty more of the same character 
 are scattered along Oil Creek down to its mouth. Near 
 Petroleum Centre are six of these, the largest having four 
 thirty-barrel stills ; three are on the Storey farm ; about 
 half a dozen are on the flats immediately above Oil City, 
 the largest being the Union works, with four stills, and 
 now owned by Mr. Truair. In the lower part of that 
 place, the Oil City Petroleum and Eefining Company own 
 a refinery having four stills, with a capacity of three hun 
 dred barrels per week, and a second, of two hundred bar 
 rels, on Holliday Run. Messrs. W. H. Lay & Co. have 
 another, with three stills, and a capacity of two hundred 
 barrels. On Cherry Run, the. Messrs. Orr s refinery will 
 turn out one hundred and fifty barrels weekly. At Reno 
 Station, two miles below Oil City, are three refineries ; 
 about as far above Franklin, another is about to commence 
 work. One mile above Franklin, on French Creek, a 
 neat little concern has been in successful operation for 
 some time. 
 
 On the flats above Oil City, only one of these establish- 
 
204 Oil Refining and Refineries. 
 
 ments was actively at work when I visited that locality ; 
 and taking all the works along Oil Creek, as many as one 
 half were standing idle. The others were moving along 
 under easy sail, so that it is probable three times the 
 quantity of refined oil could be produced that was then 
 being turned out. As a whole, I have no doubt the busi 
 ness has been profitable, and will so continue to be, in 
 spite of the oppressively heavy taxes imposed on both 
 crude and refined petroleum by the general government. 
 It was represented, however, that, in consequence of these, 
 some works had suspended operations, and might come to 
 a full stop. If this imposition, made by Uncle Samuel, 
 be traceable to the impositions made upon many of Uncle 
 Samuel s family, through misrepresentation as to the re 
 sources of Petrolia, who shall say that the retribution was 
 not deserved ? 
 
 The advantages and disadvantages of establishing re 
 fineries near the oil regions are many, and pretty nearly 
 equally balanced. By being on the ground, one is en 
 abled to take immediate advantage of every turn of the 
 market in making purchases. There is also a saving in 
 transportation ; though this is partly offset by the freight 
 on chemicals, which have to be sent on from the East. 
 Probably the greatest benefit is in knowing and being 
 personally known by managers at the wells. On the other 
 hand, real estate, fuel, labor, etc., are from fifty to one 
 hundred percent higher in Petrolia than elsewhere; and 
 until " order reigns " there, must so continue to be. With 
 cheap transportation by river, and thence by railroad, 
 with an abundantly supplied labor market, and coal at a 
 minimum, Pittsburgh is thought by many to be the best 
 point for refining petroleum ; but with the requisite capital 
 
Oil Refining and Refineries. 205 
 
 and skill, a small refinery may be run successfully at almost 
 any point furnishing cheap fuel, cheap transportation, 
 and a market for the article. No other form of industry 
 is likely to be less localized than this. The principal mat 
 ter to be considered is, whether the number of refineries 
 is not already in excess of the supply of crude petroleum 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW STRANGLES ARE TAKEN IN. 
 
 " IF we succeed, we shall make half a million ; if we 
 don t, we can lose only the five hundred dollars," observed 
 an oil-prince to me one evening, after relating the success 
 of a pecuniary transaction in which he and a few others 
 had engaged. The prince aforesaid is by no means an 
 unworthy citizen. On the contrary, as he is rotund and 
 good-natured, so he is affable and obliging. I am not cer 
 tain but that he is even public-spirited at least as much 
 so as any body else in the same locality. He was concern 
 ed in no operation which society would term nefarious, 
 much less stamp as infamous ; but with all this, he, a 
 dull-looking, phlegmatic Pennsylvanian, was setting his 
 snares for catching smart, shrewd, keen, sagacious Boston- 
 ians, New-Yorkers, and Philadelphians, of the Wall-street 
 type. And as he was ready enough, without solicitation, 
 to unfold his plans, I have thought proper to open this 
 chapter with an allusion to them. 
 
 The mode of operating was substantially this : He and 
 his associates had purchased a considerable tract of land 
 
 at the head of Kun, on which the sum of five 
 
 hundred dollars only had to be paid down ; the residue 
 to be paid at a date sufficiently far distant to allow time 
 for making experiments. At the same time, the associates 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 207 
 
 had made arrangements with another person to sink a well 
 on an acre-lot they contributing with the real estate 
 one-tenth of the capital, for which they were to receive 
 one-eighth of the oil obtained. The locality being at some 
 miles distance from any paying well, it is easy to see that 
 this bargain was perfectly satisfactory to the purchasers, 
 as the risk of sinking was nearly all transferred to the 
 well-digger. If he succeeded in getting oil, one acre of 
 the remaining property would sell for as much as the whole 
 tract had cost ; if not, they had only to throw up the con 
 tract and forfeit the five hundred dollars. Hence it was 
 with a smile of triumph that he made the remark : " If 
 we succeed, we shall make half a million by the operation." 
 
 By transactions somewhat similar, nearly every foot of 
 land within fifteen miles of Oil Creek has passed into the 
 hands of speculators, who are " operating for a rise" by 
 arts and appliances know-n only to the initiated. Some of 
 these are not dishonorable, in the ordinary sense of the 
 term ; others are bald swindles which call for exposure. 
 
 Lands are not offered for sale by middle-men until a 
 well has been struck on or near the premises. No matter 
 how remote these may be, the " good show" of petroleum 
 is inevitably followed by the erection of one or more lines 
 of telegraph. Every day s yield is carefully noted and 
 registered and telegraphed to the great cities, as also to 
 the principal points in Petrolia where strangers are accus 
 tomed to congregate. This operation continues as long as 
 the well keeps on the increase, and even after it comes to 
 a stand-still. The philosophy of laying down telegraphic 
 wires, while common highways have hardly been thought 
 of, is explained by the maxim : " Strike while the iron is 
 hot." In other words, sell your interest in a well before 
 
208 How Strangers are Taken in. 
 
 its productiveness has begun to fall off, which is morally 
 certain to take place within a calendar month after discov 
 ery. The market value of a good well on Oil Creek or 
 its tributaries is usually calculated at so much for every 
 barrel of oil yielded in one day. Last winter the price 
 was as high as five thousand dollars per barrel ; since 
 then, it has fallen off to three thousand dollars. Thus a 
 forty -barrel well is supposed to be intrinsically worth one 
 hundred and twenty thousand dollars. On French or 
 Sugar Creek, where the oil is of a much better quality, 
 the price per barrel, of course, is greater. 
 
 Now it is of the utmost consequence that the measure 
 ment be made and widely published while the well is in 
 the hey-day of its prime, before its energies have begun 
 to relax and its discharges to be less copious. At five 
 thousand dollars per barrel, a newly-tapped source giving 
 one hundred barrels per day might have realized half a 
 million last February or March ; while by the middle of 
 April it would probably have declined to fifty or sixty 
 barrels, worth only three thousand dollars each, or say 
 one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The read 
 er will readily comprehend the zeal manifested for " prog 
 ress" in the direction of the magnetic wire throughout 
 Petrolia ; while such every-day matters as common roads 
 are utterly neglected. 
 
 To cooperate with the telegraph, the several entrances 
 into the oil region are commonly garrisoned by a corps of 
 veterans, who have a direct interest in magnifying the 
 powers and resources of the country. With the prosperity 
 of Oil-dom proper, all the avenues leading thither also 
 prosper ; every hotel-keeper, every land-agent, every mer 
 chant, every owner of real estate, prosper. Demetrius, 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 209 
 
 the silversmith, calling his workmen together and explain 
 ing to them, " Sirs, ye know that it is by these things we 
 have our wealth. . . Great is Diana of the Ephesians !" 
 explains sufficiently the influences which are often brought 
 to bear upon the stranger, as he passes through Corry, 
 Titusville, Franklin, or Oil City. " Have you heard of 
 the two hundred-barrel well struck on Big Pithole yester 
 day ? It is a fact, sir. I saw a gentleman just come 
 from it, and he assured me that he timed it with his 
 watch for a quarter of an hour, and it gave one hundred 
 gallons good in that time. I have no doubt of his word, 
 sir. Pithole is going to be developed this summer. The 
 best judges say it is every bit as good oil territory as the 
 creek." To which the company respond affirmatively, 
 some of them perhaps announcing still greater develop 
 ments in the same line. 
 
 For the group present consists largely of interested 
 witnesses. In those hotels and boarding-houses on the 
 outskirts of Petrolia are platoons of men eager to " make 
 an honest penny" by selling or leasing lands, the right of 
 refusal, oil stocks, interests in wells, etc. their profits or 
 commissions depending on the result, according as they 
 may succeed in making a favorable impression or other 
 wise on the stranger. There are also congregated the 
 agents of Eastern manufacturers, who strive to push their 
 fabrics as extensively as possible into the country. There, 
 too, assemble daily the oil-princes who have made their 
 fortunes in the business, and have either retired or kept 
 extending the circle of their operations, until their names 
 appearing as managers of any new enterprise secure it all 
 the pecuniary support required. The sight of a living, 
 moving, talking millionaire perhaps only a teamster 
 
210 How Strangers are Taken in. 
 
 three years ago is too dazzling to most minds to be 
 gazed upon without turning the head. As he paces the 
 floor, and proceeds to narrate his experience in the oil re 
 gions how he came hither with only five dollars in his 
 pocket, and how he stuck to it till he found himself the 
 owner of a controlling interest in eleven paying wells, 
 sandwiching advices among the observations it is diffi 
 cult to escape catching the contagion. " I never knew a 
 man that stuck on to the oil business but what succeeded, 
 and got rich at last," is a clincher to the stranger with one 
 hundred thousand dollars in money or credit in his wallet. 
 
 Mr. Secretary, we will suppose, has just arrived at one 
 of these caravansaries, and become deeply interested in 
 conversation with an oil-prince or agent, who depicts in 
 glowing terms the virtues of a certain piece of property, 
 and the productiveness of a well, in which he has an 
 interest for sale, after having made money enough, etc. 
 As the agent or confidential adviser of a strong com 
 pany at the East, he decides to visit that well the next 
 day to see for himself, and if the facts turn out as re 
 presented, either to purchase an interest in it, or " ter 
 ritory" as close by as possible. He will recommend a 
 purchase, if he does not himself buy ; for oil is now down 
 in price, and certain to advance with the opening of the 
 spring business, so that the purchaser of a large interest is 
 likely to make a good thing out of it before thirty days. 
 But he is too old a bird to be caught with chaff; he will 
 place implicit belief in nobody s word ; he has seen too 
 much of the world for that. He will go and examine for 
 himself what the well is actually doing, " timing" its yield, 
 and making all the other necessary inquiries. 
 
 Now here comes in the great beauty, the amazing util- 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 211 
 
 ity of that marvel of the nineteenth century, the telegraph. 
 For while Mr. Secretary is admiring his black boot-legs, 
 or calculating his profits on the prospective purchase, the 
 affable Petrolian who gave him the information and offer 
 ed to accompany him to the well, has quietly sent a dis 
 patch to the manager with this purport : " Secretary and 
 I will be with you at eleven o clock to-morrow. Have 
 every thing in apple-pie order. Yours, PETER O LEUM." 
 
 Peter, you must know, is the most disinterested fellow 
 in the world, and clever withal. He cracks jokes at his 
 own or other people s expense. On their way he is vol 
 uble in explaining every thing the phenomenon of so 
 many wells standing idle and the like. They were put 
 down just before the great fall in the price of oil, four 
 years ago, and then abandoned ; the company had not 
 means enough to finish, although the well gave a first-rate 
 show ; the great freshet that convenient scapegoat 
 swept over the bottom, and managers have not yet got 
 their new machinery on the ground ; such a well paid for 
 itself five times over, and can afford to rest awhile ; 
 yonder is the Great Geyser, which literally set the river 
 on fire and burned for three days and nights. With such 
 thrilling reminiscences of the past, the stranger at length 
 finds himself confronting the object of his search the 
 two hundred barrel well. 
 
 And it is a grand sight to behold ! For, even after re 
 ducing its reported yield fifty per cent, the spectacle of 
 one pouring forth of its own accord one hundred barrels 
 every twenty-four hours is sufficient to make the behold 
 er s eyes glisten, his teeth water, and his brain grow dizzy, 
 unless his mental composition be different from that of 
 most men. That moderate quantity in Petrolia, at the 
 
212 How Strangers are Taken in. 
 
 low prices lately ruling, represents an income of five 
 hundred dollars per day, fifteen thousand dollars per 
 month, or one hundred and eighty thousand dollars for 
 the whole year. True, it is far from being equal to the 
 wealth of a Tarr, a Blood, a Hyde, a McClintock, a Cul 
 ver, a Sherman, a Noble, a Delamater, an Allen, a Funk, 
 a Downer, or many another oil-prince ; still it is a snug 
 little competency with which an aged pair might think of 
 retiring, without feeling greatly distressed as to the means 
 of support in this world. The very fumes of the gas have 
 an exhilarating, if not intoxicating, effect on one s brain. 
 Who cares, under circumstances where he is likely to 
 be pecuniarily concerned, about the mystery of the gen 
 esis of petroleum ? Of what consequence to the purchas 
 er whether the drill has struck the aorta of a half-petrified 
 whale, which is making its last and greatest spout, as it 
 was wont to do in the Greenland seas ; or whether the 
 greasy liquid has been distilled from coal, or is a new 
 chemical combination going on in the world s basement- 
 story ? Topsy s .explanation, that it " wasn t made, but 
 growed," is as good as any when one is seriously thinking 
 of making an investment. " Well, sir," observes Mr. P. 
 O L., after allowing the spectacle time to make its own 
 impression, " you see there is no mistake about that well. 
 I have timed her repeatedly, and found her to be a little 
 over two hundred barrels a day. The engineer says she 
 yields better at night than during the day, and in winter 
 quite as good as during the summer, on account of the 
 paraffine which collects in the warm weather, you know. 
 That well would net you a good half-million the first 
 year, and in twenty years would make a man as rich as 
 John Jacob Astor." 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 213 
 
 1 Figures never lie;" "facts are stubborn things," and 
 all that ; but with any number of such proverbs and wise 
 saws, it is almost refreshing to watch how many shrewd, 
 sharp, intelligent Eastern financiers, who feel themselves 
 competent to buy and sell all creation, can themselves be 
 bought and sold and delivered by Petrol ian speculators, 
 through the simple agency of facts and figures. 
 
 Perhaps the disinterested Peter is agent for an old and 
 established concern a fifty-barrel well, we shall suppose 
 that has a history of which any institution might justly 
 feel proud. It has already enriched half a dozen ; arid the 
 lucky owner of a one-fourth interest in it, having made 
 money enough, is desirous of leaving the country, and en 
 joying his dignity with ease and plenty elsewhere. Peter 
 induces the stranger to fix the day and hour for a visit, 
 whereupon the secret is duly whispered over the wires. 
 Now, it happens that the aforesaid well has, for a year or 
 more, been pumping "by head," that is, two or three 
 hours per day, or as often as the butter collected on the 
 churned milk below, thus saving both fuel and labor. 
 The men engaged about it have received instructions as 
 to how they shall answer questions ; and so, every thing 
 being in readiness, the curtain rises. Mr. Secretary and 
 Peter step out on the stage and examine the works. They 
 repair to the tank, climbing the greasy ladder which leads 
 up to it, both manifesting the utmost unconcern about 
 purity of fingers or cleanness of coat-skirt. The fact is, 
 in twenty-four hours the stranger has become almost a 
 Petrolian; and Peter is careful to flatter his vanity, by 
 congratulating him on the rapidity of his naturalization. 
 Peter s mouth yields more lubricating oil than the best 
 well on French Creek. " A big thing that, I tell you," 
 
214 How Strangers are Taken in. 
 
 he exclaims. "It is," dryly responds Secretary; "but I 
 guess the yield s not over thirty-five barrels a day." The 
 proprietor here steps forward, and observes : " You see 
 that tank, sir. It is ten feet deep, contains eight hundred 
 barrels, when filled, and is now half full. (Measures.) 
 Well, sir, that was pumped since last Monday week, just 
 eight days." In verification of this he calls for the en 
 gineer, who confirms all he had said, except that it lacks 
 an hour or two of being quite eight days. " Well, I knew," 
 proceeds the other, "that I had not gone beyond the truth, 
 at any rate. She s one of the best and steadiest wells on 
 the creek ; and if I didn t want to get out of the business 
 and go home to my family, I would never think of part 
 ing with her." What more could Mr. Incredulity himself 
 ask than this? To the testimony of three witnesses is 
 added ample verification by his own eye, he having timed 
 the yield by his elegant repeater. He inquires the price, 
 the lowest cash-down price, at which the owner is ready to 
 sell his interest, and closes the bargain then and there. 
 
 " Which certainly seemed wondrous cheap, 
 And for the money quite a heap, 
 As every man would buy with cash and sense." 
 
 MEM. No. ONE. If Mr. Secretary had been there three 
 days ago, he might have learned that a purchase of fifty 
 barrels of oil had been made from a neighbor, the same 
 being conveyed on the sly into the tank of that " very 
 steady well." 
 
 MEM. No. Two. If he had some means of gauging its 
 contents, he might discover that seventy per cent con 
 sists of salt water, which has settled to the bottom by vir 
 tue of its greater specific gravity. Ordinarily, this is per- 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 215 
 
 mitted to escape by a stop-cock, inserted near the bottom ; 
 but this discharge has been stopped, to prepare for such 
 distinguished visitors a suitable reception. 
 
 MEM. No. THREE. If he should remain on the ground 
 two hours, he would be certain to find the engine break 
 ing down, so that it could not pump another drop. By 
 some lucky arrangement a bolt would get loose or fuel 
 would run short, just in the nick of time, the oil having 
 been completely exhausted from the well ! Whereupon 
 the engine would get a blessing (in disguise) from some of 
 the men in charge of the works, accompanied by the frank 
 declaration, that if they had only got a good machine, in 
 stead of that rickety concern, the well would have yielded 
 sixty or seventy barrels a day perhaps one hundred. 
 
 The purchaser is a believer in improvements, and makes 
 up his mind to replace that inefncient engine by a good 
 one, which he proceeds to recommend or order as soon as 
 possible. 
 
 That evening he retires to rest in a delicious state of 
 self-complacency at his day s work, and full of great ex 
 pectations for the future. The seller sticks his tongue in 
 his cheek and keeps it there. Peter has managed to clear 
 a thousand dollars by the operation, besides gaining the 
 reputation of being a deuced smart fellow. 
 
 I assert that this is a part, and but a part, of the system 
 of swindling carried on in the oil regions a system which 
 has been reduced to both a science and an art. It is ex 
 quisite, magnificent, stupendous, brilliantly successful. It 
 is the key to that certain wealth which, we are told, finally 
 awaits all who persevere in Petrolia. The employes of 
 individuals and companies have addressed me more than 
 once after this fashion : " I don t want my name to appear 
 
216 How Strangers are Taken in. 
 
 in it ; but I have been instructed to say this well yields 
 twenty-five barrels a day. She really gives between 
 twelve and fifteen, when she is pumped regularly ; but 
 she has not been for the past three months. You may 
 set down her actual yield, one day with another, at be 
 tween eight and ten barrels." On the lower Alleghany, I 
 heard of a well lately sold, as giving thirty barrels a day ; 
 the actual yield was from three to four ! Nor are such 
 deceptions and frauds infrequent ; there is reason to be 
 lieve that one-half of the transactions at buying and sell 
 ing such works, or interests in them, over the whole re 
 gion are more or less tinctured with fraud and falsehood. 
 
 Some time since an anecdote went the rounds of the 
 papers, about a well-owner near Franklin having discov 
 ered the perpetual motion in the shape of a secret tank 
 and tube, which conveyed oil from his cistern back to the 
 well, from which it continued to be pumped and re- 
 pumped, as evidence that the property was a first-class 
 concern. The man in charge of it denied to me that the 
 statement had any foundation in fact; and I here give 
 him the benefit of the denial, which, however, was made 
 before any charge or insinuation was preferred on my 
 part. The well he did not represent as doing more than 
 pay working expenses. 
 
 Some years ago a firm engaged in sinking a well on 
 their premises, situated on an important tributary of Oil 
 Creek. It reached the depth of seven hundred feet, ir with 
 an excellent show " of oil ; indeed, it pumped a quantity 
 in presence of a crowd of excited spectators, and thus con 
 tributed greatly to the " development " of that " territory." 
 But somehow matters went wrong ; and, in spite of favor 
 able appearances, the owners let that fount of wealth lie 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 217 
 
 still. One of them informed me, " she was never fairly 
 tested," which is, I believe, the case with all unprofitable 
 works of the sort. " In wine is truth," says the proverb ; 
 and from one who was approaching the " highfalutin " 
 state I learned that the proprietors had judiciously let 
 down the contents of a few barrels, by night, into the ori 
 fice, to the great appreciation of values in that remote 
 neighborhood. 
 
 There is a story told about a smart widow who resorted 
 to the same means for creating good " surface indications," 
 enabling her to sell her farm at a high figure. Nature 
 was, however, smarter than she ; for the first well put 
 down proved highly productive giving one hundred bar 
 rels a day, in fact. Unfortunately, all outsiders who thus 
 get sold, do not fare quite so well in the long run. 
 
 A still more bold and successful mode of misrepresenta 
 tion and swindling is by the employment of mercenary 
 professors, pamphleteers, correspondents, etc., to glorify 
 all that appertains to Pctrolia, excepting the mud and 
 perhaps the hotels, which can be roundly abused without 
 any detriment to the oil interest. Not that every penny- 
 a-liner is necessarily particeps criminis for some have told 
 the truth to the best of their knowledge, and only lacked 
 time, patience, and perhaps means to remain and make 
 their inquiries more thorough. Still, there is as little 
 doubt that others, of the sensation class, have deliberately 
 lent themselves to mystify the outside public, by dilating 
 largely on the productiveness of certain first-class wells, 
 while scarcely squinting at the hundred times as many 
 which had been sunk and yielded nothing ; by recording 
 carefully the careers of individual oil princes, while pass- 
 ing by the thousands of people who had invested largely 
 10 
 
218 How Strangers are Taken in. , 
 
 and got back nothing. Any such one-sided version is, if 
 made with the design of diverting more men and more 
 money to the oil region, or appreciating the value of cer 
 tain kinds of property, a crime, which should expose the 
 guilty person to the severest condemnation, if there is no 
 other mode of bringing him to a sense of his wrong. 
 Even the careless collection for publication of erroneous 
 statistics bearing on the subject, is worthy of censure, 
 though the person s motive may not have been base. A 
 gossipy volume on the subject, just issued from the press, 
 gives a " rough recapitulation " of the wells on Oil Creek 
 actually put down at four hundred and eighty, of which 
 one hundred and eighty- nine are producing wells. In 
 truth, the whole number of wells on that creek, within 
 four miles of Oil City, is above five hundred, and on the 
 creek to Titusville, nearly two thousand. A rough enough 
 recapitulation, in all conscience, but misleading the public 
 as to the proportion of producing to non-producing wells. 
 In another part of the same volume the writer admits that 
 the ratio of pa j ing to non-paying wells is not more than 
 one in ten.* 
 
 The fact is, that by relying principally upon official re 
 ports or the statements of interested parties, newspaper 
 correspondents are as likely to be duped as other people. 
 It requires not a day or two, but weeks of laborious ef 
 fort, to reach the THIRD SAND-ROCK OF PETROLIA, before 
 
 * The same looseness in the use of figures is noticeable in all parts of this 
 scrap-book. In one chapter, the hills near Oil Creek are described as being 
 from two hundred to one thousand feet high. There is not one height in 
 the county five hundred feet above the Alleghany ! Elsewhere we read of 
 derricks being one hundred feet high, and the like ! Either avoid figures 
 altogether or use them accurately. 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 219 
 
 accomplishing which the visitor must gain the confidence 
 of all engaged about the works drillers, engineers, black 
 smiths, etc., as well as officials and proprietors. The im 
 pressions which I formed during the first week, although 
 actively at work every day, were crude and incorrect in 
 sundry particulars ; how much more if I had been most 
 of the time at the finger-ends of agents and speculators, 
 who, in return for courtesies shown, expected to receive 
 " first-rate notices " in my next letter. 
 
 What I blame in most persons who have attempted to 
 write descriptions of the oil regions is this : The prizes 
 in Petrolian lotteries are dramaticised, historicised, finan- 
 cicised, statisticised to the point of weariness, if not dis 
 gust ; while scarcely so much as a passing allusion is paid 
 to the tenfold more numerous ~blanks, which are glossed 
 over without eliciting a warning note or word of advice. 
 By thus concealing one side of the truth, a man commu 
 nicates to the public essential falsehood. He becomes an 
 agent in the work of deception and roguery. u The whole 
 truth" is as essential in giving testimony as " nothing but 
 the truth." The Sherman, the Noble, the Empire, the 
 Philips, the Mountain, the Reed, and other wells are familiar 
 in men s lips everywhere. Not an adult male, from Maine 
 to California, but has heard of their wonderful perform 
 ances, dreamed of the fabulous wealth poured by them 
 into individuals and companies laps. But the reading 
 public have not learned (the fact having been studiously 
 concealed) that nine out of every ten, if not nineteen out 
 of every twenty, wells sunk since 1859 have not paid 
 their first cost ; and that a portion of the residue have 
 done little more than return cost and operating expenses. 
 The public have not been informed that the best wells 
 
220 How Strangers are Taken in. 
 
 give out in time ordinarily in eighteen months ; and that 
 the copious supplies poured forth when first striking oil 
 are morally certain to diminish fifty per cent within thirty 
 days, and seventy -five per cent before six months. They 
 have not been told that the princely fortunes acquired 
 have been gained less by the bona-fide yield of petroleum 
 than by speculation, which involves more or less of mis 
 representation and fraud practised upon strangers. The 
 credit side of the account is glowingly depicted its few 
 millionaires ablaze with diamonds, which, unfortunately, 
 make their original lack of culture only the more ridicu 
 lous ; the debit side, representing hundreds of thousands 
 who have invested nearly all their surplus means, in a 
 majority of cases never to be returned, is covered with a 
 fly -leaf, in order that fresh batches of pilgrims may pros 
 trate themselves before the wheels of this Juggernaut. 
 
 Nor are the men who write for our public prints alone 
 to blame. The fact is, the popular taste gives character 
 to the print. Many men can no more do without their 
 daily sensation than topers without their morning " bit 
 ters." They would rather be gulled, cheated, victimized 
 by an editor than take his paper if it be dull. They have 
 their reward ! The morning paper which stands at the 
 head of American sensation journals led off in the ex 
 citement about Petrolia. Thousands of its readers have 
 seen their tills emptied in consequence ; but what of this, 
 as long as they enjoyed the luxury of a fresh sensation? 
 
 There is also on the part of others a feeling of what 
 may be termed shameless shame, sometimes a species of 
 malicious pleasure, which, while refusing to confess hav 
 ing been victimized, enjoys the comfort of being in com 
 pany. Misery derives consolation from seeing others as 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 221 
 
 miserable as itself. Instances have not been wanting of 
 persons who, having lost all in wild adventures, chuckled 
 at their neighbors being also heavy losers. Hence the 
 returned Petrolian, however sorely disappointed, often 
 prefers placing his finger on his lip to making disclosures 
 which might cause him to be laughed at. Indeed, this 
 disposition to enjoy others misfortunes is only one man 
 ifestation of the wrong complained of. 
 
 But while the public receive one-sided versions of the 
 country and its production, rash persons will always be 
 found in abundance to rush to the " diggings," or to in 
 vest their surplus means in new or old oil-wells, regardless 
 of the excessive royalties charged, the cost of land, labor, 
 and materials. These may be double or quadruple what 
 they ought to be, while petroleum may have sunk in price 
 from one-third to one-half its former figure, with a new 
 government duty weighing heavily upon it. What cares 
 Eecklessness, young, daring, impetuous, believing in 
 chance, and blinded by the glitter of Peter O Leum s 
 equipage and jewelry? He is not going to calculate prob 
 abilities, like some old fogy, but rush in and trust to luck. 
 If he cuts his wisdom-teeth in Petrolia and comes back a 
 more prudent man, he has scarcely just cause to regret 
 having parted with all his loose change to master such a 
 lesson. 
 
 One mode by which shrewd operators contrive to fleece 
 outside agents and others is this : On lands lying contig 
 uous to productive wells, called, in the jargon of the 
 country, " good oil territory," they erect derricks and be 
 gin to bore, not with the direct object of reaching, pump 
 ing, and selling petroleum, but to part with interests in 
 tbe work, as it progresses, or after completion, at extra va- 
 
222 How Strangers are Taken In. 
 
 gant figures. The stranger comes along, observes the 
 operations, asks the usual questions, and then reasons thus : 
 u After all, I know nothing about surface indications, 
 or other signs by which experts can detect or infer the 
 existence of oil. But yonder is the Great Greyser, yielding 
 two hundred barrels per day, and here are experienced 
 operators, who have invested their means in an enterprise 
 promising, as they believe, an abundant return. They 
 expect to strike oil before three days, and I can readily be 
 lieve them, seeing they have put their own money into 
 the undertaking. They ask ten thousand dollars for a 
 quarter-interest in the well, and if they only succeed, what 
 is a paltry ten thousand to a company like ours ? Twenty- 
 five barrels a day, at six dollars per barrel, [the estimated 
 1 unit of measurement is a yield of one hundred barrels 
 per diem,] would repay the cost in little more than eleven 
 weeks, and all beyond will be profit. The best thing I 
 can do is to accept the offer and close the bargain forth 
 with, since, after striking oil, they would not sell the in 
 terest for ten times as much." So he buys. The same 
 operation is repeated by others visiting the ground, until 
 perhaps scarcely a fraction of the original interest remains 
 in the hands of the operators, who have meanwhile pock 
 eted several times the amount of their actual outlay. Oil 
 or no oil is of the slightest consequence to them ; they 
 can pull up stakes and renew the proceedings elsewhere. 
 By such methods hundreds of thousands of dollars 
 change hands every year in the oil regions; and a consid 
 erable body of industrious operators, knowing precisely 
 as much of the oil-veins as do the strangers thus sold, 
 make fortunes in a few years. ISTor is it necessary to re 
 sort to very many or very glaring falsehoods for this pur- 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 223 
 
 pose, because the purchasers, as a rule, have been intoxicat 
 ed before entering the valleys. Indeed a little bravado 
 something like, " We don t know whether we shall cer 
 tainly get oil or not, mister. We must take our chances, 
 and feel satisfied with the prospect," is often all that is 
 needed as condiment to the more solid facts and figures 
 derivable from the history of other wells. 
 
 In describing the swindling operations or sharp practice 
 resorted to in the oil regions, it would be a glaring over 
 sight to omit mention of those perpetrated by engineers 
 (civil and uncivil) who have visited that country, bought 
 lands, leased lands, or secured the refusal of lands for a 
 time, and then gone East or West to organize companies 
 for "developing" their "territory." Mr. C. E. visits his 
 sweet native village or city, taking care to announce his 
 advent in advance, and giving rumor sufficient hints that 
 he has made his " pile," to insure a sufficiently favorable 
 reception. This impression he confirms rather by innu 
 endoes than by positive assertions such as might bring him 
 into too close contact with internal-revenue agents ; much 
 less does he explain the modes by which he has accom 
 plished his great work, lest it might offend the more fas 
 tidiously honest. He has maps of the country to exhibit 
 for nothing, the places where he proposes to operate being 
 marked in blue and gold. He explains gratuitously how 
 beautifully they line in to A. B. s " territory," from which 
 hundreds of barrels of oil are taken every day, and of 
 which a one-sixteenth interest sold for thirty thousand 
 dollars the other week ; how trifling is the cost compared 
 with " territory" purchased by other companies in the 
 game neighborhood ; how he is ready to organize a stock 
 company, with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
 
224 How Strangers are Taken in. 
 
 capital, and then put down twenty wells the ensuing sum 
 mer. He has taken care to procure the names of two or 
 three prominent men as president and directors men who 
 have probably no more practical knowledge of the busi 
 ness than they have of whale-fishing, but will leave the 
 entire management in his own hands. The shares are put 
 at figures sufficiently low to be taken by every housemaid 
 in the place ; and besides this, it is announced that only a 
 nominal sum will be called for upon each share taken. 
 The project takes, of course ; for men, whether in cities 
 or villages, are gullible beings. The scheme is largely 
 advertised in the local papers, and receives the usual 
 " first-rate notices," as what scheme with money in it will 
 not ? Shares are freely distributed among friends of the 
 management and others, whose countenance may be judg 
 ed necessary to the success of the project. [The outside 
 world, and even ordinary stockholders, know nothing 
 about the science of " watering" stocks.] In the mean 
 time, C. E., Esq., who bought the tract at two hundred 
 and fifty dollars per acre, or the right of refusal for fifteen 
 hundred dollars, has disposed of it to the new company 
 at twenty-five hundred dollars per acre, besides retaining 
 for himself a comfortable berth as an officer on the ground. 
 He ought to have cleared one hundred thousand dollars 
 by the transaction, or he has sold the company " dirt 
 cheap." Should any of the other officials visit the prop 
 erty, they may find it to consist of a narrow strip of bot 
 tom-land or ravine, the residue being mountain, from 
 which the prospect of every thing except oil is entrancing. 
 If this company-maker be not a civil engineer, but a 
 retired oil-prince, who has " made money enough," and 
 has no ambition to operate further, except with the laud- 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 225 
 
 able intention of benefiting his less affluent neighbors 
 he having a dash of benevolence in his mental composi 
 tion his success in procuring subscriptions may with 
 certainty be predicted, For he has broad acres, a costly 
 establishment, a gorgeous equipage, a bank-book, a be- 
 jeweled wife, to produce as proofs that Petrolia is no hum 
 bug, but a magnificent reality. And it may be added, 
 neither is dealing in lottery policies to those who follow 
 the avocation. Millions of money await his word of com 
 mand. Thousands of fortune-hunters esteem it a favor to 
 be by the great Fortunatus relieved of their greenbacks. 
 To insinuate that lie would take advantage of them by 
 selling them mountain lands or pocketing fifty thousand 
 dollars for his services -faugh ! 
 
 An acquaintance of mine was once strolling through 
 the heart of Petrolia, seeing what he could see. Stopping 
 at a well, he inquired of a man who appeared to be pro 
 prietor its ordinary yield, and was told twenty barrels a 
 day. The owner having got the impression that the other 
 was a correspondent, addressed him thus : " I want to sell 
 her ; and if you ll give her such a notice in the paper as 
 
 will bring me a customer at dollars, I will give 
 
 you per cent for your share. . . You won t ? 
 
 "Well, what will you take ?" If he had not understood 
 the profession to be venal, would he have made the pro 
 position so barefacedly, knowing that its actual yield was 
 less than one-half of the quantity stated ? 
 
 In rating the productiveness of wells there is apt to be 
 so much exaggeration that the initiated invariably reduce 
 the figures given, in answer to such inquiries, one-third 
 or one-half, sometimes even two-thirds. In falsifying, 
 however, some regard is paid to the semblance of truth, 
 
226 How Strangers are Taken in. 
 
 in order probably to avoid legal proceedings afterward. 
 On this account, what wears the mask of veracity is 
 more dangerous than glaring falsehood. Thus, the term 
 " yield," in speaking of a well, may comprise brine as 
 well as oil, the proportions of each to each ranging from 
 one to ninety-nine per cent. Now, it is exceedingly dif 
 ficult for a new-comer to estimate accurately the ratio of 
 water to pure petroleum, and the matter is likely enough 
 to escape his notice altogether. Again, it happens some 
 times that a well is suffered to remain idle a day or a week, 
 at the end of which it is pumped out, and " rated " at the 
 product for that day. To an inquiry as to what it is doing, 
 the stranger is carelessly told : " Yesterday, when we 
 tested her, she gave forty-five barrels." Its average pro 
 duct may not be ten. A less transparent mode of swind 
 ling is not to test its actual yield at all, when on the de 
 cline, but to rate it at what it was in its palmiest days, 
 using the conveniently loose phrase : " She s a two hun 
 dred barrel well." In the absence of a recent and accu 
 rate test, the person in search of information may certain 
 ly infer that a decline has set in, otherwise the telegraph 
 would have kept talking about the Big Squirt, within the 
 last forty-eight hours. The maxim that silence gives con 
 sent must be interpreted by the rule of contraries in the 
 oil regions. 
 
 If I have thus exposed certain of the less notorious ar 
 tifices by which the unsuspecting, and even some of the 
 most wary, are fleeced, it is not with the design of war 
 ring on Petrolia or its master-spirits, much less retarding 
 its prosperity in future. For it is indisputable that no 
 well will sympathize with its owners reputation merely 
 to the extent of one pint in seven years. And the abid- 
 
How Strangers are Taken in. 227 
 
 ing prosperity of that section of country, with the true 
 welfare of its population, will be promoted, not damaged, 
 by putting a stop to the devices by which unsuspecting 
 men and women, even widows and orphans, are stripped, 
 and scalped, and flayed, and packed to the bone by a gen 
 eration of sharpers. These of right no more constitute 
 the people of Petrolia than did the slave-owning aristo 
 cracy of Dixie constitute " the South." Whether the acre 
 of land shall sell for five hundred or five thousand dol 
 lars matters nothing to the aggregate production of oil ; 
 and ultimately this production is likely rather to increase 
 than to fall off from an exposure of how strangers are 
 taken in. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OUGHT I TO INVEST IN PETROLIA, AND HOW ? 
 
 AT last we have obtained, in the shape of facts and 
 figures, something definite, tangible, trustworthy, as to the 
 productiveness of the Pennsylvania oil region. In the 
 month of April the wells actually yielded eight thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty barrels per day, which is equiva- 
 ent to three millions of barrels a year to be increased at 
 least half a million by additions during the spring months. 
 I have no hesitation in asserting that the production for 
 1865 promises to be nearer four millions than three ; and, 
 indeed, may amount to all of the former figure. But 
 without speculating too much as to the future, let us pro 
 ceed to reckon up values upon facts as they are. 
 
 During the past five years the price of petroleum at the 
 wells has ranged from ten cents to thirteen dollars and 
 fifty cents per barrel. In the latter part of 1861, owing 
 to the outbreak of a large number of flowing wells, bring 
 ing the supply suddenly up from one hundred and fifty 
 to three thousand or four thousand barrels per day, the 
 market value sunk so low that the cost of the barrel ex 
 ceeded that of its contents ; indeed, for illuminating oil, 
 twenty-five cents per barrel was thought a high figure. 
 This extraordinary cheapness had the effect of forcing the 
 article into all parts of the country open to domestic trade, 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia^ and How f 229 
 
 and even into Europe, where a large demand sprang up. 
 In 1862 there was a considerable improvement in prices, 
 but in the spring of 1863 they again receded from ten 
 dollars to thirty or forty cents per barrel, in consequence 
 of large numbers of flowing wells beginning to pour 
 forth their liquid treasures. From that time an advance 
 took place, and continued steadily till the middle of last 
 winter, when it stopped at thirteen dollars and fifty cents. 
 Various causes, the principal of which was a panic in the 
 money-market, made prices again recede ; and in April 
 illuminating oil sold for only three dollars per barrel at 
 the wells. Since then the movement has been slowly 
 but gradually upward. 
 
 I shall assume, then, that during this period the average 
 price has been midway between the extremes, namely, ten 
 cents and thirteen dollars and fifty cents, which would 
 be equivalent to six dollars and eighty cents* per barrel. 
 The times in which it has been below that figure will not 
 be found to differ materially in duration from those in 
 which it has been above. As a rule, producers dispose of 
 their oil from week to week, their tankage being insuffi 
 cient to retain quantities for a long time on hand. Be 
 sides, the danger from fire and flood is such that if it 
 were possible to hoard up, it would not be judged advis 
 able. 
 
 Taking this as a standard, then, it will be seen that the 
 
 * Perhaps an extra allowance of one or two cents per barrel should be 
 made for the higher price paid for lubricating oil on French Creek, and a 
 small section of the Alleghany. But as the entire product of this quality 
 has probably never gone up to one hundred and fifty barrels per day, and is 
 now under one hundred, it was not thought worth while to take the differ 
 ence into account, the values being only approximations to the actual fig- 
 
230 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia^ and How f 
 
 actual yield in April was worth the sum of sixty thousand 
 one hundred and eighty dollars per day, or twenty mil 
 lion four hundred and sixty-one thousand three hundred 
 dollars per annum. Taking into account the net increase 
 to be made during the spring months, the gross receipts 
 of Petrolia, from oil only, during the year, would amount 
 to twenty-three million eight hundred thousand dollars, 
 and may run up, in 1865, to twenty-five millions. 
 
 So much for the crude article, delivered at the works ; 
 but it is manifest that the additional value given by re 
 fining the oil, and the cost of barrels, transportation, stor 
 age, and the like, enter into the regular, legitimate re 
 ceipts of the Petrolians from this product. Ten millions of 
 dollars would not be a too liberal estimate for all these 
 services, making the yearly receipts from the oil business 
 between thirty and thirty-five millions of dollars. 
 
 But in truth this has not been its principal source of 
 income at some times. For the enormous profits realized 
 by land speculators, during periods of excitement, such as 
 prevailed last winter ; the flood of strangers pouring into 
 the valleys from every direction, with the mechanics and 
 laborers seeking employment all spending money lav 
 ishly, and most of it remaining in that country as profits 
 have added almost incalculable sums to the vast aggre 
 gate given above ; and making the grand total, one year 
 with another, probably not far from fifty millions of dol 
 lars per annum a sum equal to the receipts of the gene 
 ral government twenty years ago. 
 
 Up to this time the most diverse as well as extravagant 
 estimates of the productions of Petrolia have been set 
 afloat by writers, who seemed to have adopted the maxim, 
 in such matters : " Guess at half the amount and then 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia^ and How f 231 
 
 multiply by two !" One of these " authorities " puts the 
 production of 1865 at the modest sum of seventy-five mil 
 lion dollars, of which probably not more than two million 
 dollars will be paid out as working expenses ! It is patent 
 that he has never been within one hundred miles of the 
 country, or that he is doing his best to mislead the public. 
 In accordance with these magnificent calculations, he sets 
 down the capital invested in petroleum wells, lands, etc., 
 at four hundred and fifty million dollars. It might just 
 as correctly have been set down at a round billion, which 
 would have been still more easily remembered. Every 
 person knows that the nominal capital of most companies 
 affords no index to the money actually paid in, making 
 no allowance for the shares distributed among " friends at 
 court," in order to secure their influence or their names 
 as officers. If the profits, both gross and net, have been 
 magnified out of all just proportion, there can be no doubt 
 that the estimated amount of capital invested has gone 
 through a like process. " The annual amount of the oil- 
 product from the old wells," he goes on to say, " is suffi 
 cient to pay over twelve per cent per annum on the aggre 
 gate total of four hundred and fifty million dollars, esti 
 mated nominal capital invested in the business." I have 
 no patience in reading such stuff, and shall not weary the 
 reader s patience in attempting to refute it. 
 
 The Philadelphia Board of Trade, in their annual re 
 port for 1864, estimate the value of the product of petro 
 leum for that year at forty-six million nine hundred and 
 nineteen thousand four hundred and thirty dollars, or only 
 sixteen per cent less than that of the iron product of the 
 state, and two-thirds of the value of the coal-product. A 
 decided drawback on these figures is that the learned 
 
232 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 
 
 statistician omitted the odd cents ! The former writer 
 guessed the product, and multiplied it by three ; the latter 
 stopped with doubling the figures ! 
 
 Number Three steps forward, and gravely announces 
 that all those estimates are huge exaggerations, the yield 
 being now not more than six thousand barrels per day, 
 against ten thousand or twelve thousand in 1862. This 
 would make the annual value of petroleum at the wells 
 amount to thirteen million seven hundred and ninety 
 thousand four hundred dollars, or a little more than one- 
 sixth of the first estimate ! Even if we add fifty per cent 
 for refining, transporting, etc., the total would be only 
 twenty and a half millions, minus the operating expenses, 
 government taxes, and the cost of replacement. 
 
 I have no means of estimating the productions of for 
 mer years, and hence institute no comparisons as to in 
 crease or decrease. I am, however, fully satisfied that no 
 such falling off (forty to fifty per cent) has taken place as 
 is represented, and perhaps no falling off at all. Indeed, 
 considering the veins opened on Cherry Run, in 1864, it 
 would seem that there must have been rather a gain than 
 a loss. The tables of exportation, at all events, do not 
 warrant the belief that there has been a decrease. In 
 1862 the number of gallons of the oil-product, including 
 crude, refined, and naphtha, was ten million three hun 
 dred and eighty-seven thousand seven hundred and one ; 
 in 1863, twenty-eight million two hundred and fifty thou 
 sand seven hundred and twenty-one ; and in 1864, thirty- 
 one million seven hundred and ninety-two thousand nine 
 hundred and seventy-two. From the single port of New- 
 York alone last year were exported five hundred and 
 thirty-three thousand three hundred and ninety -four bar- 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 233 
 
 rels, against four hundred and eighty-eight thousand six 
 hundred and ninety the preceding year; and from all 
 other ports, two hundred and sixty -one thousand three 
 hundred and nineteen, against two hundred and seventeen 
 thousand five hundred and seventy-six barrels in 1863. 
 There is no likelihood that the exportations of 1865 will 
 fall behind those of last year, but the reverse ; while the 
 home consumption will certainly be on the increase. 
 With these data before us, and the knowledge that a 
 heavy fall in the price of petroleum has taken place this 
 season, we may dismiss all fears about a diminished yield 
 having already begun. 
 
 The statements given above show what a degree of 
 looseness has hitherto prevailed in making calculations 
 of incomes, profits, business prospects, and the like. In 
 fact, every thing has been conducted in the most reck 
 less, hap-hazard manner imaginable, as if it were as diffi 
 cult to arrive at the actual statistics of production as it is 
 to strike an oil- vein from superficial examinations only. 
 The author of Derrick and Drill a volume which, what 
 ever the slovenliness of its arrangement, was manifestly 
 not written with a view to deceive assumes that there 
 are "no reliable statistics," and gives up the attempt to 
 discover the truth in despair. 
 
 While I have estimated the actual receipts of Petrolia, 
 from the oil business only, at between thirty million and 
 thirty-five million dollars a year, and those arising from the 
 sale of crude oil at the wells, at twenty million five hundred 
 thousand dollars, with a probable increase to nearly twenty- 
 four million dollars, it will not do to reckon this as such 
 a rate per cent of dividend on so much capital invested. 
 For, first, there must be deducted therefrom working ex- 
 
234 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 
 
 penses and, second, an amount sufficing to constitute a 
 renewal fund that is, to replace the old well when it 
 gives out, by a new one equally productive. Thirdly, 
 there is the government tax of one dollar per barrel. 
 These matters have never been reduced to any thing like 
 a system ; and I am well aware that, in attempting to dis 
 cuss them here, I am rather opening questions than set 
 tling them. To arrive at accuracy in the matter, twelve 
 months examination of the country and the history of its 
 wells would be requisite. 
 
 Of the whole number of works on my list, (three hun 
 dred and twelve) only fifty-two are marked as flowing 
 wells. I have not been sufficiently careful in every case 
 to mark the distinction on my memorandum-books, but 
 am positive that the total of these " institutions " is under 
 seventy, and believe it to be less than sixty. 
 
 Let us assume, then, the last as the actual number. 
 This would leave, at the time of my visit, the number of 
 pumping wells yielding oil at about two hundred and fifty. 
 But to this should be added those undergoing repairs and 
 those exhausting the water at least one hundred in all, 
 and making three hundred and fifty requiring fuel, 
 repairs, and wages for attendance. 
 
 Here again, however, we confront " the law of lawless 
 ness," a few of those wells running night and day, some 
 seven days in the week, others using their own gas as 
 fuel, several engines pumping two wells, while others per 
 form their work in three or four hours per day. Taking 
 these and other irregularities into account, it will be seen 
 that, to arrive at an accurate estimate of average working 
 expenses would involve no small amount of time and 
 labor, to say nothing of the outlay. But an approxima- 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia^ and How f 235 
 
 tive estimate to each well of seven dollars per day for fuel, 
 and fourteen dollars for superintendence, wages, and re 
 pairs, or one hundred and twenty-five dollars per week 
 for each paying well, will not be found very wide of the 
 mark. This sum, multiplied by three hundred and fifty, 
 the number of pumping concerns, will give as the total 
 working expenses two million two hundred and seventy- 
 five thousand dollars, to which should be added (say) two 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for superin 
 tendence, wages, and repairs to the flowing wells, and 
 making the aggregate outlays for operating expenses, two 
 millions and a half of dollars. 
 
 The next item to be taken into account is wear and tear 
 or the replacing of exhausted wells, as they give out, by 
 new ones. Here again a number of circumstances must 
 be taken into account, not likely to be noticed by the un 
 initiated. In the first place, numbers of wells in operation 
 are not paying their way, but kept going either with the 
 expectation of finding purchasers, or that they may turn 
 out better in time to come. Thus, the one which has 
 been three years in operation, and is now producing only 
 as many barrels of common oil daily, even if pumped 
 every day from January to December, is unprofitable, and 
 might better have been abandoned long ago. It will not 
 do to put down three years as the period of its produc 
 tiveness, but only that in which it actually earned a profit 
 above working expenses. 
 
 The prevalent idea that wells can be " rejuvenated" or 
 " resuscitated," so as to be nearly as good as new, is es 
 sentially a mistaken one. The Sherman, at one time flow 
 ing fifteen hundred barrels per day, has been resuscitated, 
 by the blower, to tbe grade of fifty or sixty barrels. The 
 
236 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia^ and How ? 
 
 blower and the pump have both failed to rejuvenate the 
 Noble. The great Philips is no longer Philips drunk, 
 but Philips sober, pumping fifty barrels instead of flowing 
 nearly four thousand. How long even this may continue, 
 is simply matter of conjecture. The best of wells, after 
 deepening, re-reaming, and using every known appliance 
 to force up the oil, have failed to become even second- 
 class concerns. Their sources of supply are manifestly 
 rather the leakings and oozings out of thousands of little 
 crevices in the subterranean world than the fountains 
 which leaped upward so impetuously when first tapped. 
 
 From the best information accessible, I am led to esti 
 mate the average period of a good well s productiveness 
 at eighteen months. In a majority of instances the re 
 pairing and tinkering done after that date does not pay. 
 In any case the purchaser should be careful not to accept 
 the first day or two s yield thereafter as evidence of what 
 it will be on the average. Now, to reach one productive 
 source, with all the knowledge that has been gathered, it 
 is necessary to put down five wells. Some persons say 
 that one-fourth of those now sunk become profitable ; but 
 taking the entire oil region, I am within the mark in set 
 ting down the ratio at one in five. Now, assuming that 
 machinery has only to be provided for the first, and that 
 the depth will be five hundred feet, the cost of re 
 newals will amount to twenty-five thousand dollars. This, 
 multiplied by four hundred, the number of works already 
 or prospectively yielding, would require an outlay, every 
 eighteen months, of ten million dollars. I do not see how 
 this heavy drawback can be safely reduced below five mil 
 lions of dollars per annum, which would imply renewal 
 only once in two years. In point of fact, the newly in- 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petvolia, and Sow f 237 
 
 $ 
 
 vested capital in the oil region is used to replace the old 
 works as they give out, much of the original capital hav 
 ing disappeared for ever, either as unearned dividends, or 
 gone to the wrong side of the profit and loss account. 
 
 Lastly, we have the government tax of one dollar per 
 barrel on crude petroleum. There is a short and easy 
 method of arriving at the amount of that : If the yield for 
 1865 be three million five hundred thousand barrels, the 
 excise duty will amount to precisely three millions and a 
 half of dollars. 
 
 We are now in a position to cast up the account, as 
 follows : 
 
 Value of the crude oil at the wells, (say,) $24,000,000 
 
 Operating expenses, $2,500,000 
 
 Cost of replacing works, 5,000,000 
 
 Government excise, 3,500,000 11,000,000 
 
 Net profit, (say,) $13,000,000 
 
 This would pay seven per cent per annum, on a bona- 
 fide capital of one hundred and eighty-five million seven 
 hundred and fourteen thousand dollars. 
 
 The political and commercial aspects of the subject re 
 main to be considered, and to these I propose to devote a 
 few words only. 
 
 Had the demand for American breadstuffs in Europe 
 continued, during 1863 and 1864, as active as during the 
 two previous years, it appears to me very questionable 
 whether the diversion of so much capital and labor from 
 the fields to the oil regions would have proved beneficial 
 to us as a nation, in keeping our exports at about an 
 equilibrium with our imports. It is not probable that the 
 receipts, in currency or its equivalent, amounted to 
 twenty-five million dollars last year, for crude and refined 
 
238 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia^ and How ? 
 
 oil, naphtha, or other products of petroleum. As a people, 
 we would have been quite as much enriched by twenty- 
 five millions or its equivalent in return for wheat, flour, 
 or corn, cotton, tobacco, or rice, as for petroleum, and no 
 more. But it happened, very fortunately for us, as re 
 spects our trade with foreign countries, that about the 
 time when the demand for breadstuffs fell off, petroleum 
 found its way into market. By exporting it in such quan 
 tities, our government was enabled to make extensive 
 purchases of war material abroad, without exporting the 
 precious metals in such quantity as might have generated 
 a panic at home, and thus have brought its own credit 
 into disrepute at the moment when the scale began to 
 turn decisively against the rebellion. As an instrument 
 for buoying up the hopes of the people during a most ter 
 rible crisis, I view its effects as much more advantageous 
 than in the mere money value of the exported article. 
 For it is a serious matter to withdraw thousands of work 
 ers from the field and the shop, at a time when all pro 
 ducts are selling for two or three prices partly, it is true, 
 through currency derangements, but partly also from the 
 fact of such a diminished supply of the necessaries of life 
 offering, that speculators are enabled to buy and hoard 
 them up, compelling the government to pay largely in 
 creased prices, and thus heap up the aggregate of national 
 indebtedness. 
 
 The total exports of this article in its several conditions, 
 during the last three years, were as follows : 
 
 YEAR. GALLONS. 
 
 1862, 10,387,701 
 
 1863, 28,250,721 
 
 1864, 31,792,972 
 
 Total, 70,431,394 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 239 
 
 The quantities of crude oil and naphtha were compara 
 tively small. If we average the price last year at sixty 
 cents, the product will be nineteen million seventy-five 
 thousand seven hundred and eighty -three dollars. If we 
 take the whole seventy million four hundred and thirty- one 
 thousand three hundred and ninety -four at the same rate, 
 the product will be forty-two million two hundred and 
 fifty-eight thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight dollars 
 a respectable amount certainly, yet a moderate percent 
 age on our entire exports during the past three years. 
 
 The amount of government revenue on crude oil for 
 the year ending March 31, 1866, 1 have estimated at three 
 million five hundred thousand dollars, on the assumptions, 
 first, that the yield of the new wells will equal the decline 
 on old ones ; and, second, that the correct figures will be 
 returned in to the government agents. That at many 
 works the owners or managers will resort to every species 
 of device to avoid payment of the heavy and almost op 
 pressive impost, is what every person intimately acquainted 
 with, life and manners there will naturally expect. If, 
 however, the officers experience any trouble, or have rea 
 son to believe that misrepresentations have been made, a 
 very simple and efficient remedy offers itself. PUBLISH 
 
 THE FIGURES OF EACH WELL EVERY MONTH ! It would 
 
 be a terrible infliction, but one richly deserved. While 
 essentially right and fair in itself, the measure would 
 purify the stifling atmosphere of Petrolia, and for that 
 matter, that of the whole country. Weak-kneed interests 
 would growl over it more than the imposition of one dol 
 lar per barrel of tax ; but the people at large would be 
 greatly benefited through the instruction thus received. 
 That the wells in process of sinking will yield enough 
 
24:0 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 
 
 to make the supply keep up with what it now is, I haye 
 no manner of doubt. The prospect for 1865 is, that they 
 will do considerably more than this; for 1866, that they 
 will at least equal it ; beyond that year it is not advisable 
 to venture on calculations or estimates of production in a 
 field where the law of lawlessness has all along prevailed. 
 
 If we add to the revenue to be derived on crude oil, that 
 which is already being received upon the refined article, 
 (twenty cents per gallon,) the aggregate receipts into the 
 United States Treasury cannot fall below twenty million 
 dollars, and may amount to twenty-five millions, during 
 the twelve months stated. Of course, all this comes out 
 of the pockets of the American people as consumers ; yet 
 there is perhaps no other source, yielding so much rev 
 enue, where the load would be felt less oppressive than 
 on this article, as is manifest from the fact that petroleum 
 not only maintains its sway, in spite of these heavy im 
 positions, but is extending it in every direction. 
 
 It may be observed here that, by the present law, the 
 greater portion of the lubricating oil nearly escapes taxa 
 tion, the excise duty of one dollar per barrel on the 
 crude article being barely three per cent on the selling 
 value at the wells. As most of it is used in that condi 
 tion, it is manifest that the revenue suffers a considerable 
 loss, or else the imposition is too heavy on the illuminat 
 ing kind. A thorough revision of the whole subject is 
 one of the first matters to which Congress should give its 
 attention. 
 
 I have been asked, scores of times, whether petroleum 
 is likely to be found elsewhere, particularly on the great 
 slope east of the Alleghanies. Where the most distin 
 guished savans have been found at fault, the discovery 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 241 
 
 marking a new era in geological science, the mere learner 
 may well be excused from taking his finger from his lips 
 until experiments have settled the question. I shall, how 
 ever, venture a few opinions, which may be taken for 
 what they are worth. In the first place, then, those great 
 divisions of the secondary formation, known as the Cam 
 brian, the Devonian, the Silurian, and the carboniferous, 
 are not known to exist east of the Blue Eidge from Vir 
 ginia to New- York. The Silurian and the Devonian 
 abound in North-western New-Jersey and that portion of 
 Pennsylvania on the opposite side of the Delaware. Sec 
 ond, the groups known as the Chemung and Portage 
 rocks, (the former composed of highly fossiliferous shales 
 with thin-bedded sandstones, and the latter of flag-stones 
 and shales,) which abound in the oil regions above the 
 river-beds, send only a small arm into the eastern part of 
 New-York, touching the Hudson near Catskill. With 
 that exception, there exists none of these groups east of 
 the head-waters of the Delaware. Third, sufficient infor 
 mation has not yet been obtained respecting the inferior 
 sand-rocks of Yenango county in which oil is obtained, 
 whether to identify them with the Onondaga, the Helder- 
 berg, the Hamilton, the Clinton or the Medina group, all 
 coming to the surface in Western New -York ; but it seems 
 probable that the oil-bearing rock extends a considerable 
 distance in that direction, and may enter the Empire State 
 from the south-west. A much better guide, however, 
 will be to get large fragments of the second, third, or fourth 
 sand -rocks from below, and compare these with rocks near 
 the surface in New- York, than to trust to mere surface 
 resemblances or dislocations, which are of no account 
 whatever. Fourth, we know that the sand-rocks of West- 
 11 
 
24:2 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 
 
 Virginia, as also those of Eastern Kentucky and Eastern 
 Ohio, yield petroleum at the average elevation of fifteen 
 hundred or two thousand feet, geologically, above the oil- 
 bearing measures of Yenango county. How far beyond 
 Kentucky or how far west of Ohio this liquid may be 
 discovered, time alone will show ; but it seems likely 
 enough to be obtained in parts of Tennessee, Alabama, 
 and a very considerable portion of the North-west. Fifth, 
 it is certain that the sandstones and shales of New-Jersey 
 and the sandstones of Connecticut have no sort of affinity 
 with those of Western Pennsylvania, where the shales are 
 principally of clay and full of fossils, and the sandstones 
 or conglomerates are more or less fossiliferous and ar 
 ranged in thin layers, with hardly a perceptible inclina 
 tion. Sixth, / think it will be found that the true source 
 of petroleum is not the sandstone or arenaceous limestone, 
 but the shales which are in places bituminous and in 
 places petroleous, (to coin *a word.) By what particular 
 process the carbon, originally mix"ed with the clay-beds, 
 (now shales,) was distilled into oil and gas, and then , in 
 jected into the crevices of the harder rocks above, I do 
 not pretend to know ; and possibly it will never be known 
 until deep shafts have been sunk to the depth of one 
 thousand or fifteen hundred feet. 
 
 But of one thing we may rest assured, namely, that 
 there is quite as good a chance of striking a rich deposit 
 of Orange county milk, or even butter and cheese, at any 
 point east of the Blue Kidge in Virginia, Maryland, Penn 
 sylvania, New-Jersey, and New- York, as in opening a 
 ten-barrel vein of petroleum. There is abundance of 
 wealth in the mountains and valleys of that section, be 
 sides rock-oil ; but as the old-fashioned article does not 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 243 
 
 possess the charm of novelty, nor even that of distance, 
 to "lend enchantment to the view," it is despised. The 
 millions of money which, if judiciously invested there, 
 might double themselves in a few years, are transported 
 to Western Pennsylvania and West- Virginia, to add to 
 the intoxication already too prevalent, and come back if 
 in hundreds of thousands, the owners will have good 
 cause to bless their stars. 
 
 Men s theories, as openly avowed, are apt to be modi 
 fied by their interests, and their calculations as to the 
 future by their theories. Hence it is found that the natu 
 rally sanguine and the mercenary advocate the notion 
 that, in the great laboratories of Nature, chemical and 
 mechanical agencies are at work, by which petroleum is 
 constantly generated, and hence that there need be no 
 fear of exhaustion. They point to Babylonia, Birmah, 
 and Trinidad as proofs ; but it is manifest that Petrolia 
 does not adopt the fashions set abroad ; and indeed does 
 not follow any set fashion, either at home or abroad. It 
 recognizes no rule, no precedent ; but follows its own 
 strong, wild impulses from day to day. That argument, 
 therefore, will be found very childish against the hard 
 fact that hundreds and thousands of wells have already 
 dried up, and cannot be made to reproduce oil; though 
 salt, brine flows profusely enough. Attribute this falling 
 off to the lack of gas or of pressure from above, as we may, 
 the painful truth forces itself upon our understandings, 
 that petroleum is not there, and cannot be coaxed, wheedled, 
 or forced to the surface, for the best of reasons. 
 
 On the other hand, I think, they err who hold that be 
 cause individual wells have ceased to yield, therefore the 
 production of petroleum is likely to stop, one of these days, 
 
244: Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 
 
 as suddenly as it began. Facts show that the area of oil- 
 bearing territory is not confined to the " pent-up Utica " of 
 any creek or river bottom. A careful examination of the 
 country shows, further, that the bottoms, as such, have no 
 connection whatever with the deposition of oil ; though 
 they have had some with its discovery. But, making al 
 lowance for the greater cost of boring in the first place, 
 and of operating expenses, in the second, I have no doubt 
 that the hills will yield as freely as the low-lands. So 
 believing, I have so taught. My mind has neither been 
 influenced by the fear of a sudden cessation, nor the be 
 lief of a constant creation of oil to any great extent. 
 Petrolia has not appeared to me in rainbow-hues, as 
 viewed from a distance ; nor a gray, drizzly mass, as 
 viewed from within. With land and labor at reasonable 
 rates, it is likely enough to be good for seven per cent per 
 annum perhaps even ten ; though if I were a stranger, 
 I should decidedly prefer a United States seven-thirty 
 bond. 
 
 " Then you maintain," say some readers, " that it is 
 foolish to invest a dollar in oil stocks, to sink a well, or to 
 organize a company with a view to the further develop 
 ment of that region. For if the business be in many 
 cases a swindle, a system of deception and falsehood, as 
 you represent, and but a poor affair at the best, no pru 
 dent man will have any thing to do with it, except to get 
 out of it as quickly as possible." 
 
 As at present carried on by many, I have no hesitation 
 in pronouncing the enterprise a gigantic system of wrong ; 
 but surely this is no reason why good and bad interests, 
 honorable and dishonorable men, should suffer together. 
 N"ay, it should be the desire of every individual and every 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 245 
 
 company conducting business in a straightforward man 
 ner, to have the villainies of their unprincipled neighbors 
 exposed. The sooner this is done the better for them 
 selves and the community. For it is as certain as sun 
 light that roguery will be detected some day ; and the 
 longer that is put off, its consequences will reach the fur 
 ther, so many more persons will be involved in the guilt, 
 so much less rigid will be public sentiment as to right and 
 wrong. The reaction which set in with this spring freshet 
 might perhaps have been put off by some newly organ 
 ized method of deception ; but with a shoal of fresh for 
 tune-hunters sent into the oil region, mostly to return 
 minus the contents of their pocket-books and their bal 
 ances at bank, a fresh and deeper outburst of indignation 
 would have arisen against Petrolia and all connected with 
 it. It is for the salvation of what is genuine in that 
 country that I have made some of these exposures. It 
 may disarrange the calculations of some, who have ex 
 pected that "to-morrow would be as this day, but more 
 abundant ;" but it is one of the punishments of injustice 
 that the pillars upholding it are liable to be knocked away, 
 and the -edifice to tumble into ruin at any moment al 
 ways the wrong moment, of course. Samson is not to be 
 blamed for tugging at the pillars of the temple ; but let 
 the gaping and jubilant Philistines on its roof look out 
 for their personal safety. 
 
 Every enterprise that proved pecuniarily profitable at 
 first has been almost ridden to death by knaves or fools 
 for a time. Look at the history of the railroad interest, 
 both in Great Britain and this country ; at telegraphs, 
 commerce, manufactures, even agriculture. In all a few 
 sagacious individuals have originally done well, on learn- 
 
246 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia^ and How f 
 
 ing -which excitements have sprung up, and for a season 
 it looked as if all creation were rushing in that direction. 
 The American mind is peculiarly subject to these financial 
 whirlwinds. Eeady enough to suspect sordid motives in 
 others, it puts the same implicit faith in its frothy news 
 paper articles or letters, as if it never had been misguided 
 by those so-called leaders of public opinion. He is not 
 the people s friend who fails to point out this liability to 
 go wrong as well as right, by rushing in droves toward 
 some common object. 
 
 As a rule, the judicious will suspect the existence of 
 clanger in whatever direction the crowd is driving. If in 
 politics, it is likely to be impelled too far and too violent 
 ly by leaders, who are often selfish, or who have let 
 passion get the better of their judgment. If in any par 
 ticular department of industry, it is likely so to glut the 
 market that prices will fall to ruinous figures, leaving 
 bankruptcy to restore the equilibrium between supply 
 and demand. On two occasions only will the most saga 
 cious financial boatman dip in his oar when an enter 
 prise is in its incipiency, and he foresees with certainty 
 that it will be profitable ; or after a general collapse, when 
 fragments of the wreck can be gathered cheaply, and wis 
 dom can be learned from the misfortunes of others. The 
 intermediate stage, when the public mind is at fever-heat 
 with high expectations, is one that ought to be selected 
 for selling out and retiring from active participation. Of 
 course, every man cannot act thus ; but if a number of 
 sensible men should do so, the step would have a most 
 salutary effect in checking the blind rush of the thought 
 less multitude. 
 
 Now, on three different occasions Petrolia has passed 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 247 
 
 through this process before the great downfall in the 
 price of oil, in the . autumn of 1861, in the spring of 1863, 
 and that of 1865. Previous to each of these lapses nu 
 merous operators had made fortunes, which turned the 
 brain of tfie community. A strife sprang up as to who 
 could first "stake a claim" in this new El Dorado, which 
 as far surpassed California as the Golden State did the 
 land of steady habits. The market was, presently or 
 prospectively, glutted, and down tumbled prices at two 
 of these epochs to a ruinous degree. Multitudes of wells 
 were thrown up in disgust, and a general exodus of pop 
 ulation took place. This refluent wave has not been so 
 great the present year, and will not be so great hereafter, 
 because the demand for the article has immensely increas 
 ed, and the business of boring for it has become one of 
 the permanent interests of the country. At the same 
 time, in proportion to its permanence, and the decrease of 
 great fluctuations in price, its profitableness as a whole is 
 reduced to a common level with all other legitimate en 
 terprises. There is no escape from this social law, either 
 in or out of Petrolia. Great fluctuations great profits 
 great losses great risks and, it may be added, great im 
 morality. Per contra. Increased demand less risk 
 less profit or loss less immorality in conducting it. 
 
 I may be told that this is altogether too sombre a view 
 of an enterprise which has enriched and is now enriching 
 thousands ; which turned the rate of exchange in our 
 favor, while a most expensive war was being waged ; 
 which promises to be like the widow s cruse, when the 
 prophet directed her to go and pay what she owed and 
 live, she and her son, with the residue ; which came pro 
 videntially, if not miraculously, to aid us in throttling the 
 
248 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 
 
 great rebellion. For the good that it has accomplished, I 
 feel grateful. In the long run, one well the less will not 
 be put down from an exposure of the frauds perpetrated 
 by those concerned in it, nor will a gallon the less be ex 
 ported. The country as such has nothing to fear from the 
 truth, whatever those engaged in the work of deception 
 may have. As to the enriching of individuals, a very 
 pertinent inquiry arises How much of that wealth is due 
 to legitimate enterprise in raising petroleum, and how 
 much in speculating in land, or taking advantage in some 
 way of others necessities ? It has always been the boast 
 of wrong to get its dividends first ! 
 
 "But there are large companies," I may be told, " which 
 have paid as dividends two, five, nay, ten times the amount 
 of capital stock paid in. What will you say to them T"* 
 And here occurs an account of the Columbia Oil Company 
 of Pittsburgh, which will serve as an illustration of per 
 haps a dozen others. The facts are taken from the Trade 
 Circular : " The Columbia Oil Company was originally a 
 firm, under the style of Eitchie, Hardie & Co., consisting 
 of seven persons, who purchased the Story farm, contain 
 ing nearly five hundred acres, at the outburst of the pe 
 troleum excitement in Venango county, for a few thousand 
 dollars. In 1862 the company was organized, and pur 
 chased the Story farm from the firm of Eitchie, Hardie 
 & Company for one hundred and twenty-eight thousand 
 dollars. The company was organized with a capital of 
 two hundred thousand dollars, divided into ten thousand 
 shares of the par value of twenty dollars each. These shares 
 sold in the market, during 1862, for from two to ten dol 
 lars. The shares gradually increased in value until, in 
 March, 1864, they were worth one hundred and twenty- 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 249 
 
 five dollars each. From the time of the organization in 
 1862, until March, 1864, dividends had been paid on the 
 stock to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars. In 
 April, 1864, a further dividend of eighty thousand dol 
 lars ; in May, of one hundred thousand dollars ; and in 
 June, of one hundred thousand dollars were paid, or near 
 ly three times the original value of the stock. In June, 
 1864, the stock was enlarged that is, the original shares 
 were called in, and fresh stock at the par value of fifty 
 dollars per share, in the ratio of five shares of new stock 
 for each original share, issued to the holder thereof. From 
 June until August, the new stock advanced in price until, 
 in the latter month, it was worth one hundred dollars per 
 share, or double its par value ; and the stockholders had 
 received dividends, in July and August, to the amount of 
 two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The div 
 idends for September, October, November, and December 
 amounted to four hundred thousand dollars, being to par 
 ties who have held their original stock a payment of one 
 hundred and twenty dollars per share in dividends in 
 eighteen months. The person who paid, one year and a 
 half ago, the original value of twenty dollars [per share] 
 for one hundred shares, and has held his stock, has re 
 ceived twelve thousand dollars dividend up to December, 
 and from the profits of increase of capital made in June 
 last obtained an accession to his stock of four hundred 
 shares, which shares, although of fifty dollars par, are now 
 worth, with his original shares, forty-two thousand five 
 hundred dollars, making a clear profit of fifty-four thou 
 sand five hundred dollars in eighteen months." 
 
 That is to say, the person who paid in two thousand 
 dollars as stock has received over twelve thousand dollars 
 11* 
 
250 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 
 
 as dividends, besides a multiplication of his shares by five, 
 the new issue being one hundred per cent above par last 
 December ; but since then there has been a large fall in 
 stocks, so that Columbia, which had reached one hundred 
 dollars, as stated, has fallen to seventy dollars. This di 
 minishes the " pile" of profits very materially. 
 
 Again, the Columbia Company purchased a farm which 
 happened to be in the centre of the valley the very core 
 of the oil region. Three miles above and as many below 
 it would not have enjoyed such a " streak of good luck." 
 
 But, thirdly, it is quite true that not a few firms and 
 companies that went largely into the movement purchas 
 ing at low prices large tracts of land, and leasing it out in 
 small lots to others for one-half of the oil, with perhaps a 
 large bonus besides have succeeded to a degree almost 
 unparalleled in these times of novel developments. "What 
 individual or association would not become princely, rich, 
 if owning in fee simple a few hundred acres of the Wash. 
 McClintock, the Hyde and Egbert, or the Story farm ? 
 But the matter wears a different aspect when it is propos 
 ed to go to that country and lease property on the terms 
 usually granted by the present owners, who are not likely 
 to act from the principles of pure charity, as they are 
 probably quite as familiar with the productiveness of their 
 lands as strangers could be the next hour after their 
 arrival ! 
 
 In a word, it was one thing to organize a company, 
 purchase lands, and bore for oil in 1862, and another in 
 1865. 
 
 Whether it is or is not advisable for a prudent man to 
 embark in petroleum enterprises at present, is a point on 
 which I refrain from giving an opinion. That many of 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 251 
 
 both the new and the older wells will be amply remuner 
 ative, none but prejudice will attempt to deny. That a 
 large amount of valuable experience has been gathered 
 from the past is known to every body ; and the effect of 
 this, in the judgment of careful and conscientious opera 
 tors, is to reduce the proportion of non-paying works from 
 nine out of every ten to four out of five or three out of 
 four. This consideration, however, is offset by another, 
 namely, that no such productive wells have been opened 
 the past two years as were during 1861 and the two fol 
 lowing years. To tap a two thousand barrel spring was 
 at one time a matter of not very unfrequent occurrence ; 
 there is not a well which yields over five hundred barrels 
 to-day, only one gives over three hundred, and ten over 
 one hundred. A two hundred barrel well is viewed with 
 as much interest now as one flowing two thousand was 
 three years ago. 
 
 Hence, while the ratio of paying works opened is on 
 the increase, those mammoth concerns which poured out 
 their thousands of barrels daily have disappeared, prob 
 ably for ever. The risk is less, but so are the prizes. The 
 enterprise is rising from the plane of a lottery toward that 
 of certainty, and I may add, toward legitimacy and mo 
 rality. So much the better for all concerned, not even 
 excepting the land and stock gamblers. 
 
 To ask such indefinite questions as, "What do you 
 think of the oil regions ?" " What is your opinion of in 
 vesting in petroleum stocks ?" is childish in the extreme, 
 it being impossible to give a general answer on the sub 
 ject. In another chapter I have pointed out to what an 
 extent " the law of lawlessness" prevails ; and that prin 
 ciple holds good as to the productiveness of farms and 
 
252 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 
 
 the financial condition of companies. That one property 
 is " dry" affords no criterion to the lot adjoining it, which 
 may open with a fine flowing well ; that one company is 
 rotten to the core, being managed by rogues and sustained 
 by dupes, affords no proof that another may not be sound 
 and remunerative. One may pay out its working capital 
 in dividends ; another may scatter and yet increase. It 
 is true that Tray suffered from being in Snap s company ; 
 and that the worthily managed have to bear a part of the 
 odium which is attached to the worthless, when both are 
 engaged in the same calling. The prudent stockholder 
 will be as careful about sacrificing his shares during a time 
 of panic or reverse, when errors in the management have 
 been discovered, as he would be about investing in com 
 pany with a crowd. In truth, his interest is more valu 
 able after each instance of mismanagement or wrong- doing 
 has been brought to light, and that is the time, above all 
 others, when he should hold on to his interest. Let him 
 address himself to manning the pumps, lightening the 
 hold, and seizing the helm, not to throwing himself into 
 the yawl at the first note of alarm. 
 
 But when I observe, at this late day, men who have 
 been all their lives engaged in other pursuits crowding 
 into the oil regions, and expecting to make fortunes speed 
 ily, as land speculators, agents, and even superintendents, 
 competing with those who have served years of appren 
 ticeship in these capacities ; when I see those at home ex 
 pending their means lavishly to sustain others equally 
 inexperienced with themselves, I inwardly say : " Friend, 
 you will have to pay dearly for your whistle before all is 
 over ; but probably no other lesson would have taught 
 you needed wisdom, so profound was your belief in your 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolic*,, and How f 253 
 
 own invincibility, after becoming well-to-do through mea 
 suring tape or paring cheese. Go forward and be taught 1" 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances, we should hardly think 
 of employing a butcher to do our preaching, or a farmer 
 to purchase dry-goods at wholesale. Most persons have 
 come to believe that a certain amount of training, of ex 
 perience, as well as natural capacity, is requisite to em 
 ployment in any situation requiring knowledge, skill, and 
 judgment. Not so with many of the oil companies. An 
 officer who has done his duty bravely on the field, a glib- 
 tongued lawyer or politician, a broken-down merchant 
 any body, in fact, who is " smart" enough to button-hole a 
 board of ignorant directors may be safely intrusted with 
 the charge of a heavy interest in Petrolia. I am not im 
 pugning the characters or capabilities of superintendents 
 as a class ; yet those who have been longest there will 
 most readily concede that at first they were so verdant as 
 to be unfit for the trust reposed in them. When the en 
 terprise was in its infancy, the readiest and likeliest had 
 to be selected as managers. But surely the history of six 
 years has not been without its fruits in training a body of 
 practical men, whose experience of the various operations 
 and processes to be gone through is worth something. Yet 
 scarcely a day elapses without witnessing utterly green 
 hands coming out to take charge of important works 
 men who are, nevertheless, too indolent or self-opinionated 
 to spend their leisure hours in gaining instruction from 
 their more experienced neighbors. 
 
 And so, before forming an opinion as to the merits of 
 any particular interest, it becomes necessary to examine 
 into the character of the agent sent out to conduct its 
 affairs his soundness of judgment, his knowledge of the 
 
254: Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 
 
 business, his integrity, his application. Does he spend 
 most of his time on the ground, or is he to be heard blus 
 tering in the bar-rooms, or, it may be, using his own po 
 sition to acquire wealth by dishonorable methods ? Ke- 
 cently, in Titusville, a bureau of statistical and other 
 information was started. I suggest that its agents make 
 particular inquiry as to the calibre and conduct of those 
 who are intrusted with the management of important works 
 there! To lead a company triumphantly through the 
 storm of battle is glorious ; but it does not insure success 
 in purchasing real estate and machinery, employing labor, 
 locating wells, making contracts with persons who are up 
 to every conceivable dodge and evasion. It is fine to 
 display eminent ability in a law court, or to glisten on the 
 editorial page ; but it by no means follows thac the genius 
 will be crowned with laurel as an oil operator. 
 
 To the individual, therefore, desirous of investing there, 
 the first consideration should be to procure full and accu 
 rate information as to the facts ascertained and the persons 
 employed by companies. This he can do either by a per 
 sonal inspection, which must not be too hurried, or by 
 consulting those on whose word he can place implicit re 
 liance. There are some such in the oil regions. I have 
 found an agent who corrected too high figures which had 
 been given me as to the yield of a well, against the inter 
 est of the company and himself as a stockholder. Nor 
 are such men in minorities as lean as may be supposed. 
 It takes time to separate the wheat from the chaff to as 
 certain whose word is deserving of trust and whose is not. 
 
 A refiner, of several years experience in that country, 
 and in easy circumstances, remarked to me that he and 
 his partner always invested their surplus profits in new 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 255 
 
 wells, though they did not believe that more than one in 
 ten returned first cost and operating expenses. Nay, he 
 would go further, and as a business man would guarantee 
 to pay fifty per cent per annum as dividends on moneys 
 intrusted to him for investment. This is certainly a 
 tempting return, and I have no doubt was uttered in good 
 faith ; but he did not state for how many years the obliga 
 tion would hold good ; and this is the point of all points in 
 oil investments to be considered. He added that he would 
 expend the money in localities selected by himself, and 
 under the direction of men in whom he could confide. 
 
 Another observation made by the same person was this : 
 Let the man who has only a moderate sum to spare, dis 
 tribute it among several interests, instead of risking all in 
 one, where he is liable to lose all. I can imagine no bet 
 ter piece of advice than this, the only obstacle to outsiders 
 in carrying it out being the lack of information as to the 
 character of companies having shares for sale. But such 
 an inquiry must be made about all incorporated concerns 
 coming before the public for means, or woe betide the 
 unlucky wight who trusts to chance. The man who invests 
 in any enterprise blindly, does what in him lies to demor 
 alize business, by holding out temptations to defraud. 
 The duty, on moral grounds, of exercising strict vigilance 
 in such matters, has not been sufficiently impressed upon 
 the public by their professional teachers. 
 
 Among the methods by which, it seems to me, boring 
 for oil might be properly and profitably conducted, is 
 the following : From four to six persons might associate 
 as a firm or a company, putting in a total capital of 
 twelve thousand to fifteen thousand dollars. These men 
 should consist of an experienced driller, an engineer, a 
 
256 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia^ and How ? 
 
 carpenter, a tool-dresser, with perhaps a teamster, and a 
 general manager, all ready to put down their hands and 
 take vigorous hold at work. They select their acre-lot, 
 which they should own in fee simple ; erect their own der 
 rick, engine-house, and machinery ; haul their own lum 
 ber, fuel, and supplies; purchase their own engine and 
 apparatus, then proceed to drill out their own well. Thus 
 associated, they become their own grocers, boarding-house 
 keepers, teamsters, clerks, etc., each having charge of his 
 several department. If thought advisable, two relays 
 could relieve each other, taking turns by day and night 
 at the machinery. With a reasonable surplus to begin 
 with, if one well proved unsuccessful, they could proceed 
 with a second, a third, or even a tenth, until they " struck 
 oil," if it should be strikeable. This done, a portion of 
 the proceeds might be set apart to extending operations. 
 
 There are too many and too obvious advantages arising 
 from such associative effort to need further elaboration 
 here ; and it only requires one attempt of the kind to be 
 made in Petrolia for such a movement to become quite 
 general. When this has been accomplished, companies, 
 with their stocks " watered " to insipid weakness, with 
 their costly superintendence at the works and management 
 in the large cities, will find competitors in the producing 
 field who can both undersell them and make a profit by 
 so doing ; at the same time the workmen, with this new 
 avenue to preferment thrown open, will have a stimulus 
 to steadiness, economy, and the acquisition of knowledge, 
 such as they cannot have at present. 
 
 The excise duty of one dollar per barrel on crude oil 
 will fall with almost oppressive weight upon this interest, 
 in view of the effects of the late freshet and the reaction 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 257 
 
 which has arisen in the public mind. Of the dead-and- 
 alive concerns, kept going in order to find purchasers, I 
 have no doubt that very many will suspend operations 
 altogether. Probably one well out of every ten now 
 pumping will thus get snuffed out before midsummer, after 
 flickering a few weeks longer in the socket. The falling 
 off thereby in the production of petroleum will not, how 
 ever, exceed one or two per cent, except indirectly ; but 
 in that way its effects cannot fail to be serious, the impo 
 sition being from ten to thirty per cent on the gross pro 
 duct of an interest, which is certainly not netting ten per 
 cent on the capital invested. Yet it is hard to sympathize 
 with Petrolia in its misfortune, considering the systematic 
 falsifying and swindling at which it has connived, if it 
 did not directly encourage. Assuredly, if its inhabitants 
 had been careful to represent matters precisely as they 
 were, such a tax, in addition to twenty cents per gallon on 
 the refined article, would not have been thought of. But 
 the oil men gave encouragement to the belief that they 
 could stand that or any other burthen, and so it was fast 
 ened on their shoulders. They are the sole authors of 
 their own misfortunes, the architects of their own ruin, if 
 ruinous the duty shall turn out to be. Often, on passing 
 through the country, I could not fail to perceive the un 
 pleasantness of their situation. Occasionally taken for a 
 government official, I found the yield at which a well 
 would be rated as- much too low, as it was likely not to be 
 when the true object of my visit was understood. Poor 
 fellows ! They are placed between the upper millstone of 
 Uncle Sam and the lower of the public prints, between 
 which their situation is not to be envied. 
 
 The annoyances connected with this impost are fullyxis 
 
258 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 
 
 much a theme of complaint as the tax itself. It may be, 
 however, that these are selected as a side-issue for attack, 
 when the true object assailed is the one dollar per barrel, 
 operators being fearful of confessing that it falls with 
 crushing weight. Be this as it may, the duty must be 
 paid by the owner or superintendent of the well within 
 ten days, after rendering into the deputy assessor s office 
 an account of its actual production, which must be done 
 on the first, eleventh, and twenty -first days of every 
 month. This necessitates at least three journeys in the 
 month to that functionary s headquarters, and may require 
 four or five, through a country not the best adapted in 
 the world for pedestrian excursions, and where horse-flesh 
 is an expensive luxury. It seems to me to be the obvious 
 duty of the government to have its agents visit certain 
 sub-districts on days specified, and receive the statements 
 of production, if not the tax itself. With a load so exceed 
 ingly heavy it ought to offer every facility in its power for 
 mitigating the effect ; and it is to be hoped that, despite 
 the folly which brought on such a visitation, Congress 
 will see the necessity of lightening this burthen upon an 
 interest which, as a whole, has doubtless sunk to the gen 
 eral level of American industry on the score of profitable 
 ness. There is no valid reason, when the truth becomes 
 known, why Petrolia should be taxed from fifty to eighty 
 per cent on its gross production, in addition to income 
 and indirect taxes, while all other interests are rated, as 
 nearly as may be, at from three to six. 
 
 I am not sure but the statement that "oil-mining" has 
 been reduced to the general level of American industry, is 
 a truism rather than a truth. In fact, the sea and the at- 
 .mosphere do not more constantly find their own general 
 
Ought I to Invest in Petrolia^ and How ? 259 
 
 levels than does business to ascend or descend to the gen 
 eral average. This may shock the notions of those who 
 have been made dizzy by perusing the reports of certain 
 great companies, or the productiveness of certain mam 
 moth wells ; but such must learn to take into account the 
 thousands who have invested money and got* back little 
 or nothing, as well as the hundreds who have grown rich, 
 and the tens who have become millionaires. They must 
 bear in mind the disproportion of " dry territory" to that 
 which bursts forth every little while with spouting wells. 
 They must take in the disastrous years 1861, 1863, and 
 1865. equally with the prosperous ones which were sand 
 wiched between these. And they must, if they would 
 arrive at truth, make a note of the secret disgust, the 
 silent disappointment endured, as truly as of the demon 
 strative displays made by those who have made their 
 fortunes by a single throw. When the dark background 
 as well as the bright coloring of this oil-painting has been 
 contemplated, it will be seen that it differs from other pic 
 tures only in the intensity of contrast, not in the proportion 
 of light to shade. The bright lines are more brilliant, as 
 the sable portion is more pitchy dark than other works of 
 the kind. With a region close by our doors, with free 
 exit and entrance, with every facility for acquiring infor 
 mation about it, how could it, indeed, be otherwise ? 
 Common-sense and the principles of sound political econ 
 omy teach, a priori, what I have demonstrated by figures. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 
 
 SINCE the discovery of petroleum in Yenango county, 
 the state of Pennsylvania has done nothing to assist in its 
 development, although deriving a large revenue therefrom. 
 There is an urgent necessity for immediate reform in 
 this regard. From the outset, for example, a state agent 
 ought to have been appointed, with authority to collect 
 statistics of the wells productions, arrange, and publish 
 them. That this should have been so long neglected, is 
 alike discreditable to Pennsylvania and the interests more 
 immediately concerned. At this time of the day, the pro 
 priety of gathering the statistics of all great departments 
 of industry, fortunately requires no extended argumenta 
 tion ; but in a new growth of the sort, where the public 
 mind was so liable to be led astray by falsehood, and 
 where a dangerous reaction was sure to set in after the 
 discovery of systematic misrepresentation, the case was so 
 much the more urgent. Had monthly or even quarterly 
 returns of the actual yield of those fountains, under oath, 
 been made compulsory, the fever of excitement would not, 
 it is true, have risen to so dangerous a pitch, but neither 
 would it have been followed by a corresponding prostra 
 tion. It is supposed that this oversight will be remedied 
 by the general government requiring such returns thrice 
 
Practical Considerations. 261 
 
 a month ; but as the assessor is not obligated to publish 
 the amount of taxes collected on crude petroleum from 
 month to month, the public at large will have no access, 
 within reasonable time, if at all, to full and trustworthy 
 information through this avenue. Favored individuals or 
 newspapers, it is true, may procure this on the sly ; but 
 partiality in such matters is exceedingly mischievous, as 
 it is essentially unfair. The earnest attention of the state 
 authorities is, therefore, asked to this matter. 
 
 Again, while Petrolia is inhabited by an essentially 
 peaceable and orderly population, no protection exists to 
 property-owners against careless or malicious persons, 
 who withdraw the tubes and leave their wells open, to 
 render unproductive perhaps half the works on a large 
 farm. Along all the lower portion of Oil Creek, particu 
 larly Tarr farm, I have elsewhere pointed out the calami 
 tous effect of this careless selfishness or a disposition still 
 more objectionable. Beyond a question, the aggregate 
 productiveness of the oil region is lessened one thousand 
 barrels per day from this cause only. The matter is one 
 coming properly under legislative co gnizance, and should 
 receive immediate attention. I more than suspect that 
 hitherto the companies most interested in having such 
 abuses corrected, have been afraid to move in the matter, 
 lest the admission might expose " the nakedness of the 
 land " before the public, chiefly at the great money cen 
 tres. They have chosen to keep on suffering that they 
 might have the privilege of uninterrupted sinning ! 
 
 The small outlay connected with carrying these sugges 
 tions into effect could be borne by a tax on each produc 
 tive well, or upon the capital invested by each company, 
 firm, or individual. 
 
262 Practical Considerations. 
 
 Once more, it should be the duty of such a state agent 
 to require the constructing and keeping in proper repair 
 of suitable highways, bridges, sidewalks, etc. This is a 
 matter of prime necessity. Extraordinary abuses call for 
 extraordinary remedies. At Oil City, for example, the 
 municipal authorities seem neither to know nor care for 
 such matters ; the attention of men of means is too much 
 absorbed in the race-course to descend to such a pitiful 
 level as a common road. Outside of the borough there is 
 no law recognized. The short-sightedness of individuals 
 and companies has literally converted the Petrolians into 
 a community of murderers ; for I can regard the system 
 atic, persistent cruelty and oppression shown to the horse, 
 as at least " murder in the second degree." Teamsters 
 assign six months as the average period for using up the 
 finest quadruped that ever toiled on man s behalf. This 
 harsh treatment brutalizes drivers, as it benumbs the best 
 feelings of every looker-on. The compelling of all land 
 owners to lay out proper roads and keep them in suitable 
 condition, for which abundant materials are everywhere 
 close at hand, would prove a vast saving pecuniarily to 
 all concerned at the year s end ; but until all are forced to 
 act, it is idle to expect any one person or interest to move 
 in the matter. 
 
 Legal enactments are also needed to provide for the 
 construction of levees, drains, etc., as well as roads. It is 
 true, government machinery is usually heavy and compli 
 cated, as compared with individual action ; but where, as 
 in the region under consideration, individuals and associa 
 tions refuse to move a step in the prosecution of improve 
 ments, which would enure to the benefit of all, it becomes 
 the duty of the law-making power to interfere, perform 
 
Practical Considerations. 263 
 
 the work in the most expeditious and efficient way it can, 
 and charge its cost upon the interests thus benefited, or 
 rather rescued from destruction. 
 
 It is little to the credit of the " Keystone State " that 
 no systematic and thorough examination of the oil region 
 should have been undertaken on its behalf by scientific 
 men. The Geological Survey of Pennsylvania is a noble 
 work, unfortunately published shortly before the extraction 
 of petroleum. When an interest has sprung into exist 
 ence, with taxable property annually increasing at the 
 rate of many millions of dollars, some consideration is 
 due it by the constituted authorities of a great and enter 
 prising state like Pennsylvania. The best talent, joined 
 to the utmost disinterestedness of purpose, ought long 
 since to have been secured and kept in the oil region 
 to collect every specimen, and record every observation 
 made by practical men ; assisting the latter, whenever ne 
 cessary, or rectifying their mistakes in matters of fact or 
 inferences. With all thus working harmoniously toge 
 ther, a body of scientific truths, of the utmost value in a 
 practical point of view, might have been collected and 
 published by this time, instead of the chaotic mass of 
 facts, opinions, and endless contradictions, which have 
 arisen out of Petrolia, as dark and dense as the smoke of 
 the bottomless pit. Such an agency would have cost a 
 few thousand dollars, which could easily have been as 
 sessed upon the interests benefited ; while it would doubt 
 less have added millions to the permanent wealth of the 
 state, and thus indirectly have been a source of revenue. 
 It is not yet too late to begin this most desirable under 
 taking ; but not an hour should be lost in setting about 
 it. So far all is " confusion worse confounded " in this re- 
 
264: Practical Considerations. 
 
 spect. The accounts and theories of men are as diverse 
 as the characteristics of the wells. The upper and nether 
 worlds are for once in most delightful accord, and man 
 lives according to nature. Scarcely two persons will be 
 found to agree in their versions of either facts, phenome 
 na, or causes. The rock which one styles a sandstone, 
 another terms a limestone. What A denominates soap- 
 stone, B calls a tenacious clay. Theories are as dissimilar 
 as men s faces, every body ridiculing that entertained by 
 every body else. No wonder ; for Petrolia does not con 
 tain twenty men who have had a good scientific training, 
 and acquired accurate and diligent habits of observation. 
 The state authorities must undertake the task of reducing 
 this chaos to order, of reconstructing these disjecta membra 
 into a system of utility and beauty, or it will never be 
 done properly. 
 
 While the state is under obligation for duly protecting 
 and extending this great interest, the public press of the 
 country should bestow on it more earnest attention than 
 has yet been given to it. A sufficient excuse for such 
 oversight hitherto has been the frightful civil war, which 
 involved most of our leading dailies in enormous ex 
 penses. No such excuse, however, can be justly offered 
 on behalf of journals professedly established to throw 
 light upon Petrolia. Every such paper should have one 
 or more able and trustworthy correspondents in the field 
 men who would religiously keep their fingers from be 
 ing soiled with a bribe. Unfortunately it has long been 
 remarked that journals " devoted to" certain specialties 
 have not been devoted at all ; their conductors satisfying 
 themselves with facts rehashed from the daily papers, 
 with some common-place observations to fill up a column. 
 
P Tactical Considerations. 265 
 
 The petroleum journals have an opportunity of wiping 
 away this reproach ; and I learn with pleasure that some 
 of them are striving to do so. 
 
 Allusion has already been made to the cost of keeping 
 a pumping well in operation. Unless gas be freely given 
 off, it requires nearly a cord of wood to supply the fur 
 nace for twelve hours, costing from seven to ten dollars. 
 Coal is rather more costly, especially in the winter season. 
 Add to the outlay for fuel the salary paid a superintend 
 ent, the wages of an engineer and a laborer, besides occa 
 sional outlays for repairs, and the total working expenses 
 can hardly be set down at less than one hundred and 
 twenty-five dollars per week, for a work of ordinary pro 
 ductiveness. This absorbs the receipts, at the average 
 price of six dollars and eighty cents, of three and a half 
 barrels of illuminating oil to begin with, assuming that 
 the well is pumped steadily all the year round ; otherwise, 
 the proportion of loss is still larger. Seldom does a four 
 or five barrel well, after paying the excise, do more than 
 clear working expenses, in the absence of gas as fuel. 
 
 To reduce these the engineer is, in some instances, re 
 quired to make himself a man of all work, occasionally 
 dressing tools, repairing the sheds, or repairing the ma 
 chinery which may have got out of order. The superin 
 tendent of a small concern also performs often the func 
 tions of clerk and laborer, in addition to his own, or he 
 hires out a portion of his time to other companies or 
 individuals. One man may thus have the general over 
 sight of half a dozen or more contiguous interests. The 
 work of barrelling the oil requires little labor and (com 
 monly) too little time. Refiners or their agents ordinarily 
 go from farm to farm and purchase it on the ground. 
 12 
 
266 Practical Considerations. 
 
 sending their own boats or teams with barrels for its recep 
 tion. In this case it sometimes needs ajdegree of watch 
 fulness, as the purchaser may have his barrel ever so little 
 above the size, all the excess over forty gallons being so 
 much clear gain to him. On this account, some prefer to 
 sell the petroleum in bulk only. In all these respects I 
 have no doubt much saving may be effected, and, further, 
 that the time for turning a new leaf on the score of econ 
 omy has fully arrived. 
 
 An intelligent operator lays down the following rules 
 for the guidance of superintendents and other employes : 
 Be careful in every thing. Measure, calculate, estimate, 
 weigh accurately in advance ; and when action is required, 
 let nothing be done rashly. A well requires to be as ten 
 derly dealt with as a nurse s patient. Let well enough 
 alone. If your well be yielding ten or twenty barrels 
 per day steadily, don t undertake to make new and rash 
 experiments upon it, even though they may have suc 
 ceeded elsewhere. Never count upon two wells being 
 quite alike in this respect. What is sauce for the goose 
 in Petrolia may not be sauce for the gander. LooJc care 
 fully to the pump-valves. The sudden stoppage in the 
 yield of productive wells is more frequently due to disor 
 der in the valves than to any other cause. 
 
 Of mercantile business in Petrolia the same remark is 
 usually made as as about boring for oil : The man who is 
 adapted to it and conducts it on correct principles, can 
 hardly fail to succeed. On the other hand, he who breaks 
 down elsewhere stands a poor chance there. The con 
 sumption of groceries, meats, horse-feed, clothing, boots, 
 and the like, is enormous, owing to the vast influx of 
 strangers, and the absence of economy in trifles, charac- 
 
Practical Considerations. 267 
 
 teristic of all countries into which a great stream of wealth 
 has been suddenly poured. Such articles usually sell at 
 from fifteen to twenty-five per cent higher than in most 
 country towns and villages, the prices depending somewhat 
 on the means of transportation from the more prominent 
 points. The cash principle is nearly universal. The 
 apology made by the retail-trader for high prices is, that 
 rents and horse-hire are oppressively high ; that fuel 
 and every other article he purchases costs two or three 
 prices. In like manner, the owner of a house falls back 
 upon the exorbitant sums charged for lots or ground- rents 
 which are, he alleges, fully up to the New- York city 
 standard ; while labor and materials are so costly that 
 it requires two or three times the sum to erect a store 
 or dwelling that it formerly did. 
 
 Of hotels and boarding-house accommodations some 
 thing has been said elsewhere. For transient guests the 
 charges are nowhere below two dollars and fifty cents 
 per day, and more frequently from three to four dollars. 
 Even at these metropolitan figures the stranger, who has 
 been " taken in," cannot count upon a bed for himself, 
 much less clean sheets and a separate apartment. At 
 Shaffer s, for four dollars per day, he may perhaps get all 
 these ; and at Irvine, at a still more reasonable charge, 
 with a manifest disposition to oblige. Everywhere the 
 tables are abundantly spread with the substantials requi 
 site for a good meal ; but in a majority of places milk and 
 the more delicate articles of fare are usually absent. The 
 culinary arrangements are apt to be primitive, and cooks 
 are of all imaginable grades. There is certainly little 
 cleanliness in the eating, as in the sleeping apartments ; 
 but something must be pardoned to the genius of mud, as 
 
268 Practical Considerations. 
 
 well as to the spirit of liberty. For permanent boarders 
 the rate usually charged is ten dollars per week in hotels, 
 and eight or nine dollars in boarding-houses. 
 
 If a man rates even moderately on that standard of 
 measurement, " how to keep a hotel," and applies himself 
 to his business, I hardly see how he can help getting rich 
 in a few years, in spite of the extravagant rents and high 
 prices of provisions, fuel, labor, etc. The rush of travel 
 has hitherto been so immense that strangers have been 
 completely at the mercy of landlords. The most tender 
 ly reared and fastidious in taste have often been only too 
 happy to secure six feet by two on a floor or a counter, 
 wrapped in a buffalo-robe. No use in complaining about 
 package, unventilated rooms, or dingy sheets ; for a sig 
 nificant hint from the proprietor, that half a dozen others 
 would have paid a premium for the same berth, invaria 
 bly suppresses all uprisings of discontent. " Sir, we do 
 the best we can for you. This is the oil country, you 
 know." 
 
 But let the tide thitherward of excited folly decline, as 
 it has already begun to decline, and hotel-keepers will 
 find themselves competing for public " patronage/ instead 
 of patronizing the weary pilgrim by condescending to 
 give him a coarse supper and a coarser bed for two prices. 
 The owners of real estate will also begin to feel the up 
 risings of a sentiment akin to moderation. Lots for 
 building purposes will be brought within the reach of in 
 dustrious men, though they be not petroleum aristocrats ; 
 while those of more ambitious views may naturally aspire 
 to the possession of a whole acre, to be cultivated for gar 
 dening purposes or devoted to pasture. 
 
 This brings me to consider the stolid stupidity of many 
 
Practical Considerations. 269 
 
 oil companies, in the discouragement they have offered to 
 the cultivation of the soil by demanding prices as the rent 
 of land such as no person could afford to pay. They have 
 preferred to let thousands of acres lie idle to having them 
 producing food for their workmen, or even hay for their 
 horses. Their idea appears to have been that the proper 
 ty they have purchased as oil-lands should rent for only 
 six month, at rates paying high interest on the invest 
 ment ! Short of such returns they would let those broad 
 acres, which they were unable to bore, run idle. They 
 have thus reduced an originally fertile country to the con 
 dition of a desert, depending upon remote localities for 
 every measure of garden vegetables, every quart of milk, 
 as well as the staple articles of food consumed. Hence, 
 with all their high earnings, the Petrolians can seldom 
 procure a glass of fresh milk or a mess of fresh vegeta 
 bles. Hence, too, with abundance of land susceptible of 
 cultivation, employes must pay two prices for board, which, 
 in turn, reacts upon the companies, compelling them to 
 pay double wages, and reduce dividends in a correspond 
 ing degree. All this is attributable to the whirlwind of 
 excitement, which has led all interests to despise the in 
 significant gains derivable from the soil, or from the prac 
 tice of a prudent, far-sighted policy in procuring supplies 
 at home for the rapidly increasing market. The nume 
 rous failures in proportion to the successes achieved there, 
 an understanding by the public of the tricks and traps 
 i esorted to for the purpose of deceiving the unwary, must 
 have the effect of bringing about (by necessity) a com 
 plete change of policy in this respect, on the part of in 
 terests which expect to survive. One or two Philadel 
 phia concerns have already had the sagacity to see this 
 
270 Practical Considerations. 
 
 and take action upon it. They offer such lands as are 
 not likely to be taken up otherwise at moderate rents, for 
 six months or a year, in the hope of inducing farmers and 
 gardeners to migrate thither. But this is only a drop at 
 the bucket. It is important that a general movement in 
 the same direction shall take place, and that without de 
 lay. Migration on the part of the classes named must be 
 systematized, and every reasonable inducement held out 
 to them to take up their abode in the unoccupied lands. 
 With a fair chance many hundreds would readily take 
 hold there ; and such men would constitute an efficient 
 force of laborers to sink wells at a minimum price dur 
 ing the fall and winter months, as also to do hauling and 
 other work at reasonable rates. 
 
 In fact, if petroleum is not to be brought down to, l>ut 
 kept up with, the general level of our great interests, the 
 first proceeding in order is to strip it of the false glare in 
 which it has hitherto been presented to the world ; to in 
 culcate the necessity of certain old-fashioned virtues like 
 moderation, economy, prudence, forethought, public spirit, 
 etc. After the money-making and money -losing fanati 
 cism which has raged there for nearly half a dozen years, 
 it may go hard with many to sit down to master afresh 
 these rudiments of education ; but the longer this task 
 shall be put off, the worse for all concerned. 
 
 Owing to the impolicy noticed above, an evil of still 
 greater magnitude one which can hardly be measured in 
 dollars and cents has arisen. There is, in manjr places, 
 scarcely a trace of what can be termed a permanent ele 
 ment in the population certainly not outside of a few 
 principal towns. In Oil City ninety-nine out of every 
 hundred persons expect to leave it as soon as they have 
 
Practical Considerations. 271 
 
 got " money enough." Hence, on the part of nearly 
 every one, the understanding is to acquire wealth as rap 
 idly as possible, without being too scrupulous as to the 
 means; then clear out of the country, or "return to the 
 States," as they term it. No impression could be more 
 detrimental to the general well-being of a community than 
 this. It bars all progress, except such as is concerned in 
 momentarily inflating market- values. It brings the race 
 course with its excitement, but not the passable highway 
 with its utility and comfort ; the telegraph, with its cook- 
 ed-up dispatches, not the decent sidewalk ; the caravan 
 sary, not the well-kept hotel ; the mountebank with his 
 " gift enterprises," not the sound public teacher ; the 
 tribe of "Moses," not the class of honorable, public-spir 
 ited merchants ; wild excitements, instead of the purer 
 enjoyments becoming rational and accountable beings. 
 It is an obstruction alike to good morals, pure religion, 
 general education and refinement, as well as to public 
 improvement. Where no person expects to remain, ex 
 cept for the briefest possible period, who feels interested 
 in giving tone to a community ? Who cares for its repu 
 tation outside, whether it be good or bad ? Who will ex 
 pend a dime in beautifying house, grounds, etc., adorn 
 ments which add so much to the sweets of existence in 
 beholders as well as owners ? Who will oppose abuses, 
 be they ever so monstrous, or institute reforms, be the 
 necessity ever so urgent, when every step is certain to 
 arouse opposition, and no one feels concerned about the 
 distant future ? The Spartans made their slaves drunk, 
 in order to exhibit them in that condition to their child 
 ren, and thereby fill their minds with disgust at the prac 
 tice. If I wanted to impress on the mind of a youth the 
 
272 Practical Considerations. 
 
 debasing effects of selfishness, I should transport him for 
 a whole week to Oil City ! 
 
 The social condition of Petrolia is thus in a measure 
 that of California, for some years after " the gold fever " 
 began to rage. Society remained utterly demoralized un 
 til the idea got into some men s heads that " the Golden 
 State " might be made a desirable place for one s perma 
 nent abode. This revolution in idea was followed by the 
 social uprising which overthrew the lawless element and 
 established order, protection, quiet. What California has 
 been made under the influence of a thought, Petrolia 
 may become by the same instrumentality. Let this 
 thought only take root there, and from it will spring up 
 at once a beauteous growth of public spirit, generosity, 
 kindness, accompanied by the march of improvement 
 such as it has never yet witnessed. Until this idea has 
 taken hold of the people, it is idle to expect aught but a 
 continuation of the same recklessness, the same fluctua 
 tions in business, the same acquisition of princely fortunes 
 by a few, at the expense of many and sad wm-fortunes 
 on the part of the multitude. Petrolia will become a 
 plague-spot on the score of manners, a great gambling- 
 school, a camp of instruction for the whole country in 
 falsehood and rascality. Principles which have lain latent 
 in the human breast elsewhere, will there be " developed" 
 equally with " oil territory ;" and taking their places there 
 as so many cardinal virtues, will come forth to walk the 
 earth with unblushing front, and communicate to old and 
 young the sad distemper. 
 
 However it may be with companies and individual spec 
 ulators, he is a friend to the country and his race who ex 
 poses the abuses which have grown up in connection with 
 
Practical Considerations. 273 
 
 the oil discovery ; who proves that while there exist in 
 Petrolia the conditions of an abiding prosperity, (the de 
 posit extending to uplands as well as lowlands,) yet the 
 average profits on extracting oil from the earth are noth 
 ing like so great as have been represented ; that the agen 
 cies made use of to influence public opinion elsewhere are 
 for the most part deceptive ; that the men who have pros 
 tituted their tongues or their pens to induce strangers in 
 such multitudes to invest their means, without any per 
 sonal examination, in the business, belong to the class 
 knave or the class fool / in a word, that it is by putting 
 a stop to this temporary flush of prosperity, and turning 
 men s attention to what is permanent, that the true well- 
 being of that region is to be brought about. This I have 
 at least endeavored to do. 
 
 It has been established, I think, that the river-system 
 of that country has had nothing whatever to do with the 
 original depositing of petroleum ; consequently, that it 
 may be expected with the same chance of success in the 
 table-lands as along the bottoms, plus the cost and trouble 
 of reaching and pumping it. It has been shown that in 
 some valleys the supply of oil is fast becoming exhausted, 
 whatever quantities may be brought up by boring new 
 wells or deepening old ones. This is a painfully import 
 ant truth, which, however, can no longer be concealed by 
 the specious reasoning of scribes who have hired them 
 selves out to puff general or individual interests. The 
 hard fact of four-fifths of the" old wells remaining idle 
 year after year, in spite of repeated attempts to resusci 
 tate them, also demonstrates that there is no chemical ac 
 tion going on which generates petroleum in large quanti 
 ties out of its original constituents ; but that the small 
 12* 
 
274 Practical Considerations. 
 
 quantities obtained are due to leakage, or some other 
 equally simple agency. 
 
 It has been shown that many of the fortunes rapidly 
 acquired in the oil regions by selling interests in produc 
 tive wells or those expected to become such, are gained 
 by unscrupulous lying and dishonorable stratagems, ~by 
 which the uninitiated have been swindled and robbed, 
 while in a state of mind approaching intoxication, from 
 the " ardent spirits " distributed along the outposts of the 
 country. 
 
 The actual yield of the producing wells has been ascer 
 tained or closely approximated to, and published for the 
 first time. I feel confident that no well s production has 
 been designedly misrepresented, and that the figures pub 
 lished as to what each was doing at the time of my visit, 
 are not in one instance out of twenty far - from the mark ; 
 that they are as often below it as above. From these data 
 I have estimated the average production of the entire re 
 gion ; and though making no account of the loose esti 
 mates of others who were never on the ground, it is satis 
 factory to learn that the figures given here are nearly 
 midway between the extremes. Estimates for working ex 
 penses, for replacing defunct concerns, excise duties, etc., 
 have also been given ; and a result on the score of pro 
 fitableness arrived at, which will be found in accordance 
 with common-sense and sound principle. 
 
 Finally, a number of practical suggestions have been 
 offered, embodying not only the author s individual views, 
 but those of experienced operators, whose knowledge and 
 characters entitle them to a fair, fall hearing on the part 
 of residents, directors, legislators, and all others concerned 
 in the permanent prosperity of the oil region. These va- 
 
Practical Considerations. 275 
 
 rious topics discussed, together with the processes of bor 
 ing, refining, and repairing, the author would conclude 
 by declaring once more that in dealing with every depart 
 ment of the subject his sole aim has been to arrive at and 
 state "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
 truth." 
 
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