The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-09-14
THE OIL REGION
The PVtrOIeum wells Of Western Penn.
lvania--Interesting Particulars.


sagos.-
WoNpERrUL GROWTH or THE OIL EMPORIUM
a ride Of twenty.eight miles by rail southorly
from Cory, Pa, Though rough but richly tim.
bercd country brings You 10 the celebrated OIL
creek aud Ttusvil'e emporium Of Petroleum.
Four years ago this place was but little village
oi some twenty dwelling houses.
10 lies mainly on q broad plateau upon the
nOrtLcasterlv or left bank Of the rivers and has,
| 10 may be, something like six thousaud inhubi-
tauts, Of whom nine hundred and eighty are tax
payers, J be soil Is yCllOwsh loan and clay, and
The streets are cNeCrabc. As many as one thou
I sand teams, carrying each about six barrels of
petroleum, have been seen TO cross the bridge and
pass through them In q single day, and as no.
| body thinks Of repairing them, they are full Of
| gulches, mud-holCs, ruts and ridges, rock and
lumber, to say nothing Of the debris Of all Sorts
OF vehicles wrecked and ruined In passing over
them. Al this dry season they seem 10 be almost
impassablei what they are In the spring, those
only who have followed our army in the wet
months in Virginia can conceive.
have counted twenty. one hotels six Of which
are called "hrst-Class.' These public houses are
| tbrOugcd with spcCul1tOrs, OIL m HrchIuts from
Atlantic cities, well owners, brokers, sharpers
blaCkCgs, ct d OBiHo geIvg-nud they, Of course,
make money easily a the oil springs from the
earth around them. The SIZE and number of the
stores astonsh you, as we'll MS the prices at which
goods are selling. The paper ON which / write,
for instance, sells for fifty cents per quirc, but
nobody complains, for money comes by magic
here.
Two Dauks are lUtulIisicuL 10 meet Lle NUtUHltl
necessities Of the place, ana another VIII hc soon
established. The Petroleum Reporter Is the only
paper-thc people have not time 20 read; 10 is
enough for them TO know the price Of oil; how
such and such wells run, and where 70 drill the
next one and yet, wtha there is more Of intelli-
rCuCC and courtesy here than I anticipated and,
If profanity and Sabbath breaking be excepted
more Of social order and decorum. Ttusville
has already SIX religious societies, and as many
churches either built or in the process Of cree
lion, Of which the Episcopal, Of yellow sand
stone, will lC the most beautiful aud expensive
The other societies are the Methodist, which
| has q very neat ediicc nearly tinishcd the Pres
bytCrian, which worships in Crittendcn Hall the
| Baptist Universalst, and Roman Catholic. The
| schools are few and poor; there are not many
children to be educated any way. Young men
| in search of fortune make up two-thirds of the
| whole community.
PRICES.
! As to the prices here, l give you these Crude
| oil, with the barrel, forty gallons, $3.50, the
barrel itself being 50 %, -FOUR Sl3; oats, SllO
butter, soc. potatoes SOC. per peck apples, S22i
| per bushel; peaches, sc. apiece milk, &c. per
| quart wages of engineers, Ss3 per day machi-
| nists, S5 teamsters, with twO-hOrse wagons, $40
| board at boarding. houses, 81 per day, and oil
| wells Qunnng) from one TO two millions.
now TIE OIL WAS DISCOVERED.
From time immcmoriul little blotches OF oil had
been noticed floating, sometimes on the surface
of the springs, just by the margin Of the creek,
and sometimes on the surface of the creek itself,
| and hence the name "Oil Greek" was early given
The Indians obtained this oil by digging out these
springs, and held their iuCautatious over it while
burning; ana find large tree now growing il
one Of their ancient wells. From these springs
too, the people Of the creek obtained little oil b,
, | soaking blankets in them and by wringing them
| fOr medicinal purposes. This is what is tcrmc
surface oil, and the springs are just below Wat
sons FLATS and about a mile from Titusville.
. In the summer of 1859 the attention of ColonC
. | Drake was directed to this spot, and he emplOye
: an experienced driler from Saina, Mr. W
In Gin IN nrtn wal nnp
J, | springs, and on the 18th day of August Of tia
year, Mr.. Smith, at the depth of sixty. nine fec
only, had the pleasure of seeing gus and oil rus
: up the tube. Eureka, lie cried out, and surel
B he had touched that day one of the richest mine
this continent has seen. The oil came up at tn
, rate Of about twenty-five barrels per day, an
was then sold at one dollar per gallon for lubri
eating purposes. This is the parent of the thou
: | sand wells in operation In this valley.
have just visited it, and find Mr. Smith still
at work there-the honest and hOnOred pionee
! | OF the whole business in this region. He keep
the very drill and rimmer-some twenty feet i
| length-with which he bored the well, and CAV
: me beautiful specimen of tOssterOus ston
! taken from the well. lie also led me TO th
creek, and introducing long iron rod into a spO
| known only to himself, caused the petroleum t
low up in liberal quantities, which, tloatin
away upon the surface Of the stream, spread on
into fantastic forms and CLEANED and gstenc
IN all the cUlOrs OF the rainbow Other well
were Immediately put down, and now trDu
Ttusvillo 10 OIL City, sixteen or seventeen mile
below, the margin of the river is literally coyere
with them, ana streams Of golden oil" are pOul
ing day and night out Of their long, slender rO
tubes.
FORTUNES.
The original owners of the land have several {
them retired upon their millions, and man pre-
| posed to sell little spot to me to-day which
| thought hardly worth the taFing-when on ash
| ing him his price the answer was-"One hrndre
| and fifty only" zone hundred and fifty what
said 1. 90, you are not in the business" he rt
| piled, indherenty, zone hundred and tiii
| thousand cash" As this was at least one huI
drCd and forty-niue thousand futhoms below tl
length OF my honest purse, walked thoughtfull
away, still musing upon the mighty subterrancd
currents Of petroleum, and growing stronger an
| stronger in my conviction that the most cgrtai
way TO reach them is TO avoid the "iats" and
strike into the edge Of tie mountains in the gen
{ raj line of the oil current Of you can find it, an
of the successful operators.
HOW IHE OIL Is OBTAINED.
a In selecting a spot for well, the artcsan drill,
raises derrick about one hundred and ten le
in height brings up steam engine of about 81
horse power, and then, after driving down a
| iron pipe about SIX inches in diameter thrOug
the earth and gravel some fifty feet or so, to q
e first strata of rock, introduces drill of about Tvs
+, and a half inches IN diameter attached to a ten
| per screw, and thence 10 the "Walkiug beam
and engine, with which he bores now at the RAJ
i of eight or ten feet per day into the solid sla
and sCap-stope, say one hundred ieeti
d then comes 10 the first strata OF slndston
g. and boring Though this, comes again TO ia
10 aud soaps one Of u blush cast and wOrkir
on, say for twenty tive feet or SO, n" reaches Ll
ne second strata Of sandstone, out of which tdg
So comes rushing up, when the right vein is strUt
is iutummable gas, salt water, aud petroleum. II
IN | bore of the well is en- arged hy an in,trume
10 callt "rimmer," and then an iron tube ia sc
c, lions Of al out fourteen feet, and closely screw,
ne | topelhtr, is inserted 10y section, and run dow
r.. TO tie veins Of oil; tlaX.seed bag, which C.
of | punds when Wet, Us fixed between the tubu
We and the walls OF the well in order 10 prevent Il
ID | surface water rom descending; "pluuger,"
IN waived piston, is introduced into the tube, az
ss the suCker.rOd being attached TO The walking
BEAM the UUICuit ipes and tank, which mp
L. hold sixty barrels, being in readiness, the eugii
le moves, and the precious treasure gushes fort
IN ! This is what is called pumping u well In d
Of | flowing wes'-that is such as send the oil OF
&C | sIontaucOusly-tbe drill must 20 down into q
in thid strata OF the sandstone but this in son
ne instances, is very deep, In a well ON Watson
re Flat, the drill has reached the depth of elev,
E. hundred feet, and yet the third bed Of saudstol
~ is not yet reached.
" OTHBR OIL WELLS.
~ Although the OH Creek valley is the richest
" the world, 1t still is not the only one where petr
y lgum is found, and where oil wells are sunk su
~, Cessfully. At TidiOute, on the Allegheny
n French Creek, tributary Of that river; on Il
NJ Khnawha river, In Virginia in one or two plaC
H | IN kentucky In Ohio and especially at Mecca