Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1870-06-30

ceSsfully until IL had nearly "busted the lessee,
and he sold considerable portion Of his interest
for eighty dollars and . shotgun. The $50 was
exhausted, and the discouraged borers were
about to abandon the hole in disgust, when the
drill penetrated crevice that yielded at once
from 600 to 200 barrels per day, and their for
tunes were made.
The great Noble well, started under similar
unfavorabe auspices, is said to have yielded its
owners sS,OO0,OOO.
The Cherry Run Farm, of fifty acres, from
which 30 many enormous fortunes have been
drawn in the shape of oil, was sold for $500 by
its owners man named Smith-who had bored
unsuccessfully for considerable time.
remarkable feature Of some of the wells
running to q great depth is that the tempera-
ture of the Oil as it comes to the surface is but
slightly above the freezing point. Mr.. Johns,
in his Petrolia," states that he has himself seen
pellets Of ice discharged from the conducting
pipe of a well in midsummer. According TO the
igneous theory of the geologs's oil brought from
depth of 600 feet ought to be ten degrees
warmer than on the surface of the earth; and
| thus the facts mentioned would seem to be in
| opposition to the doctrine that the interior of
| the earth is on the boil Mr.. Johns supposes.
| however, that the ice discharge noted by him
| may have proceeded from the rapid condensa-
ton, evaporation of the gas as it came in con-
l tact with the atmosphere.
The oil at Oil City, and for the most part in
this oil region, is of a dark green color, while
that at Pleasantville is nearly black.
The Oil is now found mainly in what is called
| the third sand-rock, and it is a comfortable
theory OF the oil region that sand-rocks equally
| as abundant in petroleum will eventually be
found below the present oil bearing strata. This
theory is sustained by the fact that in the early
discoveries of the oil it was not suspected that
| it existed below the first sand-rock, a hundred
| or two feet below the surface, while the third
| sand.rOck, from which it is now obtained, Is
| from coo to 800 below. Surface indications of
| oil are very deceptive. On the Newell Farm, a
tract abounding in such indications. so 900
| have been expended in boring, without any re-
/ turn.
The Ham. McClintock Farm is the point on
Oil Creek where the Senecas and other tribes OF
the Six Nations had their yearly festival and
/ collected oil for medicinal purposes and as
| cosmetic or paint for adorning their persons
Montcalm, the French commander, gives a de-
/ scriptiOns Of one of these festivals, which wa
| concluded with fireworks on a grand scale, by
setting fire to the oil on the surface of the creek
lighting up the heavens for miles around.
The Steele Tor Widow McClintock) Farm is
| noted. through the remarkable history of its
late proprietor, j. w. Steele. This farm
struck, and in 1863 several very rich wells were
discovered, one Of which, the Van Slyke well,
| yielded at the rate of twenty-five hundred bar
| rels per day for q considerable period. In the
| next year the owner, the widow McClintock
| was burned to death while kindling a fire with
| oil, and all her property, including the farm.
| the income of which was ttoo thousand dollars per
day, went by her will to her adopted son
| John w. Steele, young man of twenty. In
her safe was found sl75,OOO in money, which
also went to young Steele, and he seemed
| to think he had come in possession of
sort of inexhaustable Fortunatus purse
| His wild career of dissipation in New York and
elsewhere was duly chronicled at the time, and
also the fact, that Hon. John Morrissey "went
| through" him to the amount of one hundred
4 .hn..s.-.6 5nlia-s IN two oh A., twa,tr
| months Steele had squandered two millions OF
| dollars on wine, women, faro, fast horses start
ing newspapers and other shorthand processes
for getting rid of money. He speedily reached
| his bottom dollar, and for a bare existence was
1 obliged to take the position Of door keeper for
Skiff and Gaylord's Minstrels, company he had
| organized in his flush DAYS. He is now dead
| and his career adds another to the long list OF
/ instances OF money lightly got, departing a.
hghtly-those instances so consoling to the Door
| devils who don't get any!
| The Tarr Farm affords another illustration o,
| fluctuations in values here. A third of thi-
farm of 1873 acres was purchased by some partie,
in Rochester, New York, for $4,000, but the,
| got discouraged, and sold back at the sam
| price. Afterwards a number of valuable well.
were discovered, and Mr.. Tarr was offered tw
| million dollars for the farm, W hich he declined
| The wells gave out subsequently, and in March
1865, were not producing a barrel of oil. Th
1 torpedo process was then tried upon them viii
Il such effect IN causa the IN prndu.a 49,.
| barrels per day.
The Noble and Delameter well, on the Fare
| farm, commenced flowing in January, 1868, al
the rate OF 3,OO0 barrels per day, and ceased the
| 2sth day of February, 1865 This well was the
| most productive one ever struck, and the value
| Of its product has been estimated at i've mil
lions Of dollars
The Smith farm, of 81 acres, one of the bes'
tracts for Oil production of its size In the Oil re-
| gion, was purchased in 1858 by VIM. Smith for
yoke of oxen. Smith sold it in 1862 for $1,000
after an Intellectual attempt to strike lie. 1t has
since been valued at several million of dollars
As showing the way in which speculation
ragged in the early period of the Oil Fever Il
may be mentioned that a lease on the Holmden
farm was speculased on until the bonus PAID
amounted to s2I,OOO, and the well on the same
is yet to be drilled!
Region.
AT Oil City, city of the shed order Of archi
lecture, but which expects to be something, and
which has already considerable wealth, met ar
old Washington friend, Mr.. Walter r. Johns
well known to the newspaper craft in our CITY
and who now publishes an excellent paper
Oil City, called the Register. His book, entitle
"Petrolia," giving ahistory of the Pennsylvani.
oil region, published in handsome style by th
AIpletons,) is, find, held here as the mos
valuable and complete work Of the kind that ha
yet appeared. L have found it Of the creates
service in giving readily an intelligent idea o,
this interesting region.
HOW Oil Goes TO Market.
AT the Miller Farm we stopped to see the
modern system of oil tankage on large scale
Oil is sent to New York, Philadelphia, &C., b.
railroad, without change of cars, in large iro:
tanks, mounted upon platform cars, the oil be
ing pumped from receiving tanks, which ar.
fed by pipes running all through the oil dis
trict, and which take the oil direct from IN,