Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-12-21
rEditOrial Correspondents Of the LrADEn.I

AubuOeE VI CuflOus IacEs tnAb auOrQ ample
material for reflection. The character o.
the people is an unfailing subject of study
1t is noticeable that the working popula,
tion Of the "oil diggings" is chiefly made
up of young men, from twenty to thirty
years of age The teamsters, the driIlers
the men employed at the wells, the boat.
men Of Oil Creek and the Allegheny, the
employees on the railroads, in the hotell
and telegraph Offices, in the land Offices,
in the stores, groceries and saloons, hack.
men and iverymen, and in other depart
ments of the petroleum interest, are, for
the most part, comparatively young men.
at the hotels, however, and having largely
the managing control of the lands and
wells, will be found men somewhat more
advanced in years, many of them middle
aged men. Men that have been drilled in
various business svocations Of life; law
yers that have but little to do at home;
men that have failed in other pursuits /;
brokers and bankers and speculators from
the large cities, constitute, to large ex-
tent the controlling men of the oil regions.
In addition to these CLASSES, there is q
sprinkling of sdventurers, gamblers and
confidence men from the larger cities,
eager-eyed lookers-on, bent on seeing the
sights. Although a vast amount of wealth
has been accumulated in the oil regions it
is a remarkable fact that crime is compar-
atively small. Therear mysterious stran-
gers about, who are said to have their eyes
on banks, on the offices of various oil COM
panies, on travellers with money in their
pockets, but as yet the criminal docket of
the oil regions numbers but few of that
class that haunt the gold diggings of Cali
fornia and Nevada, making themselves
terror to all peacesbly disposed persons.
The rsscality of oildom is chiefly confined
within the limits of legal scoundtelism.
In the buying and selling of lands and
wells there is a large field of operations
that has already been occupied and worked
with a success that fully makes up for all
the irregular rascality that has made the
Pacific slopes SO noted in years gone by.
The labor expended in procuring oil is
much less than in any other mining opera
tiOns. 1t is scarcely to be compared with
that which is now required either in
mining coal, iron, copper, lead or gold.
-Four men and steam engine can put
down well, working night and day, in
two months. When the well is completed,
if it be flowing well, all the labor re-
required is that necessary to barrel the OIL
which is both an easy and q delightful
employment. If the well is a pumping
well, two or three men only are necessary
to keep it going all the time. Herein is
the great profit of the oil So lit |
tie labor brings back 50 large returns. |
No department Of industry offers so great |
rewards at so small an expenditure. To /
offset this, however, is the fact that
there is as yet no science of Petroleum
which win enable q man unerringly to
touch the sources Of oil. The boring for
oil is matter of chance for the most part.
You may succeed. The probabilities,
however, are that you will not succeed.
As general rule it is the fancy of the oil
man that induces him to bore in one spot /
rather than in another. A little oil mani
festatiOn on top is supposed to indicate a
vast basin of oil below. An irregulsrity
in the surface of the ground, he fondly
to denote Irregularities, crevices
and assures in the oil-bearing rock direct
ly below. Sometimes he imagines that the
oil moves in currents below corresponding
to the water courses above. The oil man
faneies an island on Oil Creek or
the Allegheny. He follows up all the gull
lies and creeks. Sometimes he begins his
we'll at the foot of the high hills bordering
The creek supposing that, at that point, the
qualification below takes sudden upward
turn at the depth of from five to six hun
dred feet. Sometimes mere fancy is the
ruling consideration. The fancy takes the
form of dream, and the dream becomes
3 guide. The Coquette, the largest flow
ing well on Oil Greek, now estimated at
six hundred barrels day, is said to have
been bored in obedience to dream. 9th
ers imagine that the oil basin is found ev-
srywhere below and that one point is as
eligible as another. Beside these, there
are the witch-hszel" men, who are said
10 be very numerous, and who are very
of their ability to trace water
veins and oil veins by means of the
process, which has been used
from time immemerial by water
hunters. A triangular piece Of
hazel or elder or some other
that has the required virtue in If,
is held tightly in both hands, when 10
as the holder ther6ef walks about over the
ground, it is suddenly twisted about and
made to point to the oil and water flowing
several hundred feet below. There are
many men of sound Judgement and intel
Igence who have implicit faith in tlis pro-
cess. We heard of one New Yorker on
Cherry Valley, who is confident that he
has at last found out the great basin. He
began two wells, his tools got fast in them,
but he went to work Immediately on a |
third saying he could not lose time In get
ing out tools as he could do this after he
had tapped the great fountain-heads
Hundreds of men on the creek use the
"Wltch-hszeP' system and believe in no
other. Whether there is anything in il or
not wa Insnnnt sau We Lnnru thar thn