The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1866-02-21
From the Prairie du Chen Courier.

The discovery of Petroleum in this
County, has for some time past been .
matter of cor siderable interest; and in view
of the recent developments at the Copper
Creek well, it bids fair to become the all
absorbing topic. 1t is on this subject We
| wish to say few words.
Early last summer it first became knoHHi
that evidences of the existence Of oil, had
been discovered ia Crawford County. In
company with experienced and sciet,fc men,
we made several trips into the country to
Copper Creek. In each instance we saw
oil exuding froun the earth, in springs, and
impregnatng the moist soil Of the Copper
Greek valley for miles. We saw the oil
| gathered as it came out Of the rocks and
| sprea1 over the water; saw it burned, and
| heard it pronounced crude Petroleum by
men Of undoubted scientific knowledge.-
Soon after, other developments of the same
nature were made in other parts Of the
County by others. We visited these also,
and in each instance satisfied ourself that
these evidences of oil were entirely natural
in their origin. AT this time there was %
much deception and swindling going on,
in the way Of Petroleum discoveries &c.,
that a general distrust filed the peoples
minds, and knowing that very little credit
would be given to anything of the kind,
we naturally enough concluded to keep
quiet and let future developme nts do the
convincing part of the business.
Companies were formed to develope the
oil Territory. The Copper Greek company
procured engines and all the machinery
requisite, commenced drilling, and at the
depth Of about three hundred feet below
the level of the valley, struck oN-or at
least came to strata that gave evidence
of yielding supply of Petroleum that in
duced them to stop boring; and they tub
ed the well and proceeded to work the
pumps. At every stroke of the Pump, oil
Is thrown into the tanks. Spirits OF gas
have occurred, and on one occasion, nearly
two barrels Of oil was thrown out in about
five minutes by the emission Of gas, and
some of the oil was forced hundred feet
beyond the tanks. These are facts that We.
| ascertained while at the we'll, and are
vouched for. We visited the well last Sa.
.urday, and in company with several res.
ponsible men, witnessed what we have
stated. We saw oil being pumped out of
the earth. Several gallons were pumped
while we were on the probably
ten or fifteen gallons only portion Of
tanks was saved. We saw the oil as it
tanks in tub and o:her vessels. Many
persons visit this well every day, and carry
off samples of the OIL AS many as 40
persons visited the well on the day we were
there, and each carried away liberal sup
ply. In the evening, just before we left,
the oil seemed to come faster, and We took
common dipper and dipped up full half
pint Of pure Petroleum, at oxe dip. We
held our hands under the water as it
streamed from the spout, and withdrawing
our hands, full of water, found the surface
of the water covered with the oil, and the
same oil made our hands greasy, and hada
strong odor of petroleum. We are not
much experienced in oil matters, so We
state what we know and saw in our own
way, leaving the reader to draw his own
conclusions.
From what we have seen it is our candid
opinion that there can now be no reaseri to-
doubt but that oil has been struck in Craw.
ford county, Wisconsin, and from what we
know Of the average success Of oil mining
in other regions. we have no inclination to
discourage any persons zeal in the matter
by comparative figures. In the best pay
ing oil regions Of Pennsylvania, only one
well in thirteen pays for pumping; and
there are fifty wells near the famous Pit
Hole well that are not worth working.
The oil prospects of Crawford county
are good-probably some viii! find the
prospect very good. In any event this
matter is being thoroughly developed, and
persons desiring to satisfy themselves fully
had better go and investigate on their own
hook
Any clndid man who visits Copper
Creek will agree with US that they have
struck oil,' and that old Crawford county
is bound to be benefited