New-York tribune., 1868-08-08


non,i5st ofo hooyv rain storm, l crossed Oil
r,rool, ~ ptt,,l.r,o Center and cot aboard an oil
f,i, hound f,r TitusviUe Our load consisted OF a
oug string Of platform ears. each carrying two forty
harrl petrol,um tanks, and at the end OF the ualh
gyas one small caboose into which the passengers
Gucl,dino q few women) were packed exactly rs
U,o, ore in N,w-York hOrSe-cars OF a rainy morning
A fcv found seat, on chests and benches, ana the
est held on by rods fastened to the roof We had 10
choose between ain and suffocat II. so we Kept 'ho
doors open and took the II in We crawled along at
snails pace, for the engine was evidently over
fasked Everywhere the scene was the same the
creek bottom filed with abandoned wells, the der
ricks lifting their bla k timbers like one Oh those
dark. mysterious forests which Gustayo Dorc loves
todravy land and water stained wi the thick, green
oil the punlps hard Mt work mp on the hills, ana AT
every mile or so a sort of station, with huge reu
rcceiviDp tank, and black dripping platform where
the cars take in their fre ght. The piping
,ystem has made great change IN the
manner Of shipping OIL, and indeed III the
o. ole character of the trade. In old times ey-
ery producer must have large capital invested IN
barrels and the labor of many hands was needed to
Gl and empty, to load and unload them. load LOT
car then was jj barrels. But when this piping ana
pumping company came into o, Grafton, the railroad
people put wooden tanks upon their cars, so that
each car carries the contents of barrels The OIL Is
puulped into the cars at the point of Shipment ana
pumped ont again n. the lace OF destination the
pipes being so ;uanCed that whole tram can DC
filed or emitted at once he oil need not see bar
rel until il has passed through the refinery ana Is
ready for the retail dealer There are two lines OI
railway running north from Oil Clty-one thrOugh
TtusvilIc IN torr, on the Atlantic and Great West
ern. and Philadelphia and Erie Roads and the other
few mile, to the east connecting with
l..
This second roJ av cemetery OF
dead oil ( WINS. laces VIII ch have been
urospeiou if not vcrr comely but whose glory mas
dcarted and whose houses are 'ast vanishing OFT the
face Of tbc earth II the Alleghany for instance,
nj the mouth Of PithOe Creek is eopolis, and few
miles up the creek, on branch railroad IS Plthoe
City. They were both great IN their day. but thelr
wells have given ont the SPECTATORS have left them
and many Of their .,t nu,diurS are being taken to
pieces and removed to other localities. They do
some business yet however. being shipping points
of the second or third magnitude. But nobody
So us to an cpate my future for them except ulti-
mate extinction Further up the IryinetOn road
some - miles above the mOutl of PithOle Creek is a
more important lace IidIOute, in the immediate
neighboIhood of which there is daily yield OF l5OO
barrels though it is rather the de line than on
the increase as a rOduciny region. As shipping
point however it ranks next to Oil City, having
tankage for 1S5 900 barrel.
To leave these greasy places and ride into Titus
VILE is an ine1pressibe relief for Titusyile, though
an oil CITY, getting its wealth and owing even its eX-
istence to petroleum. is far off the verge OF the
flowing district that it spares time to make it
self decent and really 10 if it were intended to
last Factories, per-shops, machineshops, law
Offices daily newspaper, churches of all kinds, a
population of 10000 good plank sidewalks, a
"theater" and a number imposing private houses
tho only fault of which is that they are too rdcu-
lously good for {. cir neighborhoOd-such is the
Titusyille of to-day. 1t has some valuable wells on
Church Run, lust at the edge of t o City (for you
must know it is q city, and produces about $50
barrels of oil q day, but it makes money
rather out of the urrOunding country than from
its own resources and is the center of the rich
est and most interesting portion of the oil regions.
Here spectators and operators cOngregate here the
statistics and news of the whOleNenango region are
collected and discussed; here shippers transact
great part of their business, and the unfortunate
money.get ers who make their life among the wells
run hither every day or and refresh themselves
with a glimpse at civilization. During the depres-
sion in the business Titusville suffered like all the
other oil towns but the discoveries at Pleasantvile
and Shamburg this Spring have given it new life !;
real estate has dou lied in value within q few
months and every afternoon the taverns and street
corners are lively with excited crowds, discussing
products and prices with noise and agorneSs which
remind me of busy day in Wal-st. Six or seven
years ago Titusvle contained nothing but tavern.
blacksmths shop, and two three mean little
houses, and nobody dreamed 1t could ever be any
thing better than it was then. Its
people were simple, unsophisticated FARM
ers, who knew very little about farm
ing and still less about Ting else. And this re-
minds me OF story illustrating the simplicity
which still rules in of the outlying districts.
One Ned Brown keeps livery stable in Titusville
and when the village came into its fortune and be-
gan to call itself CITY. it occurred to Mr. Brown
that what Ttusville wanted most of anything in the
world was a nice good hearse. He bought one-the
first that Ttusye had ever seen-a splendid affair
with trappngs all com ete AMI eight big plumes of
black and white noddng over the roof. In due time
an oil prince died in 1idijute, and Ned Browns
hease was driven for the funeral As it passed
along the road, at work in field dropped his
hoe and shouted,
"HelOhp
Ned Brown pulled up his horses.
Uhere are yOu going 10 sbOcP
whats that y said Ned
"Where are you gongf Where's your show to
be p
On being informed that the show was to be at
TiCioute the honest farmer guessed he would hitch
up his team and drive over" and hope the perform
ance satisfied his expectations
Ned Brown, and every other man who owns ahorse
IN Titusville reap golden harvest now for all
day long and nearly all night on Sunday as on week
day, the whole city rushes to Pleasantvile and
Shamburg and back again. At least twenty omni-
buses holding from twelve to twenty passengers,
make the trip every day. crowded TO their utmost
capacity and the road lively the Central Park
on a SHmmer Saturday afternoon. Al the excite
ment in the oil regions is about these two places. In
Others money is bein. made, but the excitement is