Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-03-23
PETROLEUM.

The rush to the Oil Fields of Pennsylvania
is nearly equal to that which took place to
California when gold was discovered there;
and the adventurers fare about as well III
the one place as they did in the other.
Sleeping on benches, and on cabin-tloors,
with single blanket, or a Buf1ialo-robe, at
the rate of dollar night and five dol
lars per day for board, made up of badly
boiled potatoes, and worse boiled beef and
pork, and rye coffee The oil region is ex-
tremely broken and rough in its natural
features being barren, rocky, hilly, and
even mountainous in many places and the
prospecting over this territory is attended
with nearly all the difficulties, and hardships
which the gold-seekers encountered in the
Sierra Nevada nor are the fortunes which
many realize from the oil, any less wonder
full than those which attended some of the
enterprising gold-seekers. a great many
farms that five and six years ago could
hardly be sold for from one to three and
as many millions, and yield heavy per-
centage on these valuations, while many
that were held at only a few hundred dol
lars cash, but two years ago, are now read
lily sold at as many hundred thousands; but
a great deal Of money is also lost in these
ventures, some through fraud, and much
Al, rf &c
the business, and the incautious Many a
one spends his last dollar, and comes away
poorer than he went. Experience is, how
ever doing much to settle, define, and reg
ulate all the processes connected with this
new source of riches. This is the case par
ticularly along Oil Creek, where the prop
erty has fallen into permanent hands, that
have means to develope it to the fullest ex-
tent The prospecting and speculation are
now more confined to Cherry Run, and
Cherry Tree Run, tributaries of OiECreek,
to Pit-Hole Greek, Tionesta Creek, Corn
planter and Bennyhoof runs, and along the
banks of the Allegheny river in the vicinity
of the last named tributaries.
The amount of oil taken from some of
the wells is astonishing, and really almost
past credence, although the average yield
is perhaps not over one hundred barrels
per day 1t is said by the correspondent
of the New York World, from whose state
ments we gather most of the accompanying
facts, that the Big Phillips we'll on Oil Creek
-four hundred and eighty feet deep-had
flow, for some time aft9r it was first open
ed, of from three to four thousand barrels
per day. and that the run was so heavy that
forty or fifty thousand barrels were lost, be-
fore the flow could be controlled. This well
was opened in 1861, and is now yielding
three hundred and twenty-five barrels per
day. The Noble and Delamater well open
ed in April, 1868, had an undiminished flow
for six months of nearly two thousand bar
rels per day, and has netted to its owners,
since it was opened, over three millions of
dollars.
The product of most of the wells is not
uniform, but irregular and spasmodic, indeed,
all the wells having a heavy flow at first,
run out, and were generally abandoned un-
til recently, when, by the application of air.
pumps, many have been resuscitated, and
are again yielding proftably, Some wells,