The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-10-02
For the Gate City.l
Oil and the OIL Wells.

ALLRoAsY, N. T., Sept. IS, 1868.
Editor Gate: z-ssr.--
A very good way to judge mans business,
is by the subject of his conversation so one
win know he is in the vicinity Of oildom when
riding on the Atlantic and Great Western
railway, which passes through Pennsylvania,
as he will hear nothing, see nothing, and
smell nothing but % oil" from the time he
leaves the Ohio line until he arrives at Sala-
manca, on the New York and Erie. But in
order to get into the heart Of the great Penn.
sylvania Oil Diggings, we must leave the
Great Western At Cory, and take the Oil
creek Railroad to Titusville, thence down the
creek six or seven miles to MILLERs farm,
where we will leave the railroad and cross
the hill six miles, to Pit Hole" The last
six miles We can stage 1umber wagon and
pay three dollars, or go on foot in mud over
boot top, but after trying both we will find
footing the cheapest, even at the same price.
We are, now. at what is considered, by oil
men, to be the greatest oil territory extant.
In March last the 6rst well was put down in
this place, which proved to be aperfect sue
cess, bsing flowing we'll of about fifteen
hundred barrels per day, and is known ss the
i" United States we'll
There is now about twenty wells, yielding
from forty TO two thousand barrels per day
each, and the largest yield is from some of
the Last s.stunck,i and oil within square Of
one half mile. But few have been put down
to the standard depth (six hundred feet but
what pay more or less.
The wells now going down in the immedi-
date vicinity are numbered by thousands,
and in some places SO thick there would be
no room for any more without interfering With
each other; whether they will all pay is to be
seen, but 1t is not likely they wiIIss they have
already commenced tapping No. 10,
which "struck" few days since, Is now
flowing twelve hundred barrels per day, is
supposed to have tapped the " Homeslead, !.
which was flowing the same amount, but since
that has done. nothing. Some of the best
paying wells are put down without any
" show" until they are thoroughly tested.
The testing process is As follows: After the
we'll is down TO the proper place the pump il
put in and run night and day, sometimes for
weeks, and nothing but sand and water
brought up, until finally show Of gas, which
is considered sure Indication, and the more
gas, the more OIL. The atmosphere around
the flowing wells is SO thoroughly impregna-
ted With gas that visitors are not permitted 70
smoke, or carry matches IN their pockets,
while they are anywhere in the vicinity. They
sometimes get on Ere, In which event large
amount of oil and other property is destroy
"a. and SON nekines many lives lost. ! Toe cost
of drilling each well Is ssid 70 be about eight
thousand dollsrg. The drill used is four inches
IN diameter 6incs saas oil excitement in
Western Pennsylvania there has sssn thou
sands drilled without eyer fading any, signs
Of. oil On the whole, small per cent. Of
the keMs put down ever ~ strike"
There IS some large fortunes made in the
Oh business, yet all concur in one fact, that
there is many lost where is one made
But there is thousand and one ways of
making money in an OIL country lna . P!sss
like Pit Hole, where there is no railroad, it
thirty thousand barrels Of oil per day to the
different shipping points, besides thousands
of men employed sinking and it takes
an immense amount TO cloth, feed and drink
alln slL Regular board is ten 10 twenty one
dollars per week, and : stranger Is .takeu
in ct four to eight dollars day. Every
BODY here ID ION the make" so everything
must be paid for ~ high price; and al
though good springs are plenty water is sold
nshe boarding. houses q 6ayee4tsn 4 heszsh
Last Marsh thsresyas. hnt one house in FIT
Hole. and now Pit Hole City and vicinity has
a population Of over twenty thousand, great
majority of whom srs lebering men.
We may at some future time give the nsodas
Qperandi for the benefit of some experiment
ers III ~ Des Molnes Valley aatAough b
may IS Ssn4nossS ~ ssAs. pretesasn The
largest wells from the oil runs, or in other
words is thrown out by the gas, are called
"Aovipg wells;" in the smaller ones pumps
are assd night and day. At each Of these
there is from two to twalye tanks, sixteen feee
high by twenty feet across, in WHICH the oil
i preserved until barreling. More aAoa.
sFs@ PHRANQUE.