The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-05-26
THE DECLINE OF OIL CITY.

THE DECLINE OF OIL CITY.
AN EPHEAiERAL KEROSENE METROPOLIS
CHANGES IN THE BASE OF OPERATIONS IN
THE OIL REGIoNs-THE SUSPENSION FOR
NINTY DAYS.
A correspondent of the Philadelphia Press,
writing from Oil City, Penn, gives strange
chapter of changes in the oil business of that
region: The condition, commercially, of no
place in the United States, probably, has
changed so much as this city within a year.
Last summer furnished the Press with a
series of letters on the oil country and its
valuable and extensive productions of pc
srole1m, which was copied far and wide. \
hat time Oil City and the contiguous cities
and towns were in a prosperous condition.
The production of oil was great, money was
plenty, speculation ran high, business was
good, and every body was happy. Now
there is a change Production has run down;
wells which formerly ''spouted'' or "pump-
ed' from 200 to 1000 barrels per day do not
at present run but from 10 to so barrels. and
then have to be pumped" hard day and
night. Money is scarce, business is at
low ebb, and the population has decreased.
An old resident said this morning to the
Press correspondent, Oil City, has seen its
oalmiest dsys, the move is to the 'front.'
he meaning the new field in Butler county
and before long the city will be thing of
the past. While this is bad, the state of
things in once fiourishing adjacent towns is
far worse. Petroleum Center, which at one
time literally was tie center of petroleum,
has been lost entirely in the grand move
ment to Butler county, the pc 1ple having
gone so far even as to take their houses with
them Much ''crude oil" remains at some
of the cities, in bulk, but the same is difficult
to dispose of at paying prices. AT this place
alone there are between four and five hun
dred thousand barrels tanked, some of
which was bought when oil was paying
from three to four dollars per barrel, but
heavy production brought down the price.
and it was kept until good figures could be
got for it. 1t is difficult to say when that
time will arrive. At the present day 1t is
hard to get two dollars per barrel and
IT DOES NOT PAY
even to accept this price, the producers
preferring to hold on till brighter days. To
make the market improve, the Oil Produc-
ers, Association has decided to f'shut down"
on the drilling of new wells, so that tf.o sur.
plus stock of oil at the sea-bos-d and pro-
duction can both be decreased. Already III
out of the go new Openings" in Butler
county have stopped. A number in this
immediate section have followed suit, and
suspension OF operations will become gen.
eral Tomorrow, May 1. The "shut down"
will continue for period of 90 days. 1t is
the impression among the prominent pro-
ducers that the present government prices
of between 81 and 81 80 per barrel, will be
raised to s. 20 and 81 in 60 days, the con-
sumption of petroleum in the cities lower
ing the production in the oil fields very
mil NJ af
employment between l 800 to 2, 900 men, who
will not suffer, however, as the operators
have guaranteed to pay them half wages.
Some Individual producers assert that the
'pooln have suspended propuction for the
purpose of forcing speculative prices; but
this is erroneous, as careful survey OF the
market here and interviews with the lead
ing operators have fully proved. Much
excitement is manifested by all parties in
terested in the various departments Of the
trade in all sections, and some of the more
excitable ones express the opinion that by
the stoppage the interest will be ruined In
the cities. Such a thing is positively alb
THERE Is ENOUGH OIL
tanked mere alone to supply the greater
portion of refiners in the United States.
There is more than twice as much at St.
Petersburg, Petrolis, Kain's City ane Mil
lerstown, the entire amount reaching nearly
800 900 barrels. The oil men have from
81, 900 to s5,OOO,OO locked up in the
''tanke d" petroleum, and so long as this re-
mains unsold there viii be a scarcity of
money and ruinous depression Of business.
The "shut down" for ninety days is certain
ly the only alternatives there is for the
operatives to protect themselves from loss
and eventually BANKRUPTCY. Their course,
a wise one, will soon be acknowledged so
by the ref ners and other oil manufacturers
in Philadelphia. New York and other cities,
when they learn that there is plenty of
.'crude in hulk" on hand. In Butler county
where the old producers and prospector s
are now travelling, the production of
petroleum is greater and of a more superior
duality than in any direction in the great
oil belt. The cost of putting down wells is
much heavier, as the oil lies 81 great depth.
some of the workings going down from 1 200
to 1,s00 fee {. The expense of starting a
pump will reach $4,000, while in this dis
trict it does no cost but from 81 900 to So 900.
The quality ofpetrolum. produced from the
time the we'll commences to spout, will be
from 900 to 5000 barrels per day, which is
considerably more than the amount got from
the heaviest running opening in the upper
region. No we'll has ever produced over
1000 barrels here