Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1861-04-11
tTroe the ksooas.heiA Republican,
OIL Up PIGEON CREEK.


A DAIs Jocnssr-wnAr " sAw Ard NOV
sr sAv H'--Ths oil fever has taken such frc.,
hold upon 20 many Of our friends up the Crs.k
and such tonderfsl stories are daily brough
down TO town. that anxious to deyelope tbe,,
truth We ordered horse and buggy. and start
ed for the theatre Of excitement on n pros
pecting tour, early last Monday. Taking IN,
valley Of Pigeon Greek, We frat came to the old
salt we'll At vanvoorhis' Mil There We found
Superintendent Caldwell and his assistant.
spinshing up TO their knees in hse article ol
OIL worth u esnts per gallos.. They say thi,
o'i 10 very good. and they could make fai,
living At it. but Mott Appleton has raised the
price Of barrels and they cant afford to saye /,
this year. We understand that Mr.. vauyoorbi,
ohers to lease them ten acres Of ground to raise
pumpkins on {; the seed was brought from Cali;
fornia by Hud Williams, who says they will
grow large enough to hold Eve barrels. It i,
intended TO grow these enormous pumpkins
binding them With hickory poles and bracinc
them inside with oak aapling, to keep them FROM
-srp'ns or splitting.
At Blythes We found William. Jim and John
., work, and they were having 6r,t rate luck
Eight feet from the surface they struck vein
OF hrst quality Cincinnati lard, worth At the
mine IL cents pound. They have taken ou,
y barrels day for four weeks are sati.fed
don't want to sell
At Col,ins We found all w.lI-snd time.
prosperous. Twenty-Five feet under the ground
they struck vein Of ~iniergr-en hair oil whel,
yielded we'll. They also found few pocket. Of
Pomatum; and . thin vein Of moustache co.mc,.
'e; not Pro6tabls 90 ~ork-thouch some Of tie
girls in the neighborhood have preserved some
hne specimens Of crystaIirsd pomatum in quartz
Are short Of barrsls-a fne chance for a good
cooper.
At Reeds MIL the principal find has been tai.
low IL Is found At the depth of two thou.a nd
ieet mixed with mica, brown stone and wLite
marble The process Of melting tallOw is inter.
est'ng. but we haven't time to describe IL There
is generally about - per cent Of pure ,allow.
Al Snydsrs lanyard they are puttrg down
well which promises finely. A little .net 10
found occasionally in thin deposits, and some
60. sP~s;.~.~s .f -A~i.'. bissss- and rsa pr,-
eiPitats ointment have been discovered here.
II. Fry 10 working fine vein Of fresh butter.
This valuable mineral 10 found IN grea, auan,i.
ties in combination with lard rock, dripp;ny
stone and red hair granite IL il washed with
cradle and long tom. and in some instance. wo.k.
ed With a quartz crusher and sluiee .tons.
AT Leander Beasell's we found them busy in
boring we'll that gave better appearance than
any one on the crerk-and n was VII kspered
around that the boys had surface indie alton. Of
sausage nest. with strong hopes Of q thick Law.
er OF Vandemarkis Patent Fence They don't
want to cell.
Al Withsro-s blacksmith shop was = great
crowd collected to hear Josiah TAylor tell nhoot
the progress Of the we'll. 81 had come there
10 get his horse shod and .aid NJ ~. f,c, hr h.d
tapped vein OF eroton oil As big ms . gimlet !;
at thirteen feet he encountered n la,er OF soft
soap; nj fourteen feet be struck n vein Of castor
oil, discharging barrel an hour st fourteen
and . half feet he found . valuable nugget Of
wilson's Pills, . small pocket Of oil OF einns-
mon, aud cre'iee that yielded ninety hogs
beads OF pure sPermAerti and then At eighty
two fvsi depth they struck lard. by ~hrh they
knew that butter ~As near; after cutting through
an feet Of solid leaf lard. they were rewarded
BY striking butter.
stopped for dinner at Newton vanvo his
and be took Us out to ses huge cave on bis farm
from the top Of which hung like ie,cle., millions
OF mould candles, six 10 the pound
Dave Foornier has struck a splendid belle Of
apples. anil Is bringing them up With sand
pumP-hfissn bushels by the hour be 1oOn
hopes TO reach the bottom where there ar. pdi.
cations Of q hrst class article Of crab cider.
We then came down to Simon Wilson's and
up tbs hill TO she Baptist church and then down
towards Hiram Rsbess. Here We saw n soap
rsase bog. and the hill 30 slippery With the liz
tie rivulets Of oil oosing out that man might
turn back he coat tails. cit dovs. and Glide
down The bill two miles ard q half without
friction enough 20 make bis psnisloons need =
patch
stopped in 10 sss our good old friend wm
Wicksrhsn wbo bad struck = vein of 6ne cas-
tor oil, and the boys vers out on the farm hunt.
ing Zoe = Tree that bore ready made glass bo,
iIss 9TH the eorts IN ssd gilt edged labels On.
We came on down The rtsr. past Mr. Ker
naas-uAo kosi0~ed 10 ~ ~ 80 pAsaed he
house that be bad dscovsrtd the hill 10 bs sol
ID rock candy. and wanted 10 know 4 We would
liks 70 ieass half an aers foT one nillion dol
lars Told him vs hsdnt the change along
vith us So vs joEged Aloug bone. and took
down these inperfeet botes from memory. We
may have omitted some thiRxa-but not many.