The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1876-08-31
OUR CENTENNIAL LETTER.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. FL, 1876.

Not the least wonderful pest in this
proat Exhibition is the vast number
of things it has brought together, in
teresting beyond all power of de-
eoriptiou and yet seeming to have no
direct connection with the great ES-
hibition itself In formor letter !
remarked that thore wore buildings
~ on this ground the namos OF which
afforded not the slightest indication
of the uses to which they wore ap-
Piled; conversant as / ain with the
fact never realized tho full extent
of its truth till entered this morning
the building OF the Empire Transpor~
tation Company. l had passed it
DIS by day for nearly three months
= without ever suspecting that it con-
tanned on exhibition as raro and Gu
rious as any on the grounds. The
building itself has nothing 10 distin-
guish it from an ordinary freight
she'd, such as you might fnd beside
any railroad track. 1t stands at the
end Of the Narrow Gauge Passenger
~ Railway, and you might reasonably
suppose that it was part Of the conf
pany's works; but once inside and the
illusion is dispeIled, yon find your
self at single bound transported to
the midst of the oil region. It's noun
Ptains tower above YOU it's vnlles arc
beneath 2snr feet and around you
I1are theS Darophornalia and gar OF
boring, hosting, carrying, storing
delivering, and all the multifariout
operations that belong 20 the history
Of Petroleum. Wells arc being bor>
cd, engine are pumping, trains OF
care loaded with light freight (his is
lnteudcd for a jokc), arc rushing
along ut lightning speed, bearing thu
oil from tie mountains to the sea
~ there to be carried over mighty
oceans and across the desort sands
,il at last it may be found adding {
eoitor lus're to the palace Of Haroul
ut BagdaP lightning up the dool
gloom of the eacred sepulchcr at Jo
rusa!enl, or feeding lilo eternal ham'
.aat burns on Viehnn'e altar on TIN
sacred plains of further Ind. TIL
rise and tall of oil cities and town
reads moro like romance than reality
In the epring of 1865 Pithole was
name unknown in ninety days ATTIC
It was city of $4,000 inhabtante
with post office, water works, ga
wopke, and all tho working parApaeI
MALTA of q first class metropolis, an
in ninety days moro the bat and th
: owl were fighting for precedence j
= chambers whore the kings of spccult
tion had laid Themselves to reposc o
bod Of cider down, and indulgcd i
feasts which would have shamed til
gluttonous banquits of Celignla an
IIeliogabulus. Here the whole sys
tom of delivery is developed, HuI
drcds of miles of pipe arc laid frol
the oil producing rcgions to tue poiI
Of railroad delivery; at each oil we
Athe company has delivery tanks, the,
4 check the amount received, an
these checks are negotiable as ban
j notee for the amount named on the
<zace. The Eastern fable of the kin
and the cobbler was m"re than rea
lied in the history of Coal Oil Citt
Titusville, and Pithole. Fortune
her widest freaks, never induIged 4
more startling vagarics than che d.
Eamong the oil wells, po
wletches whose lives had boel d
unremitting scene OF poverty and d
feriDg, suddenly found themselj
transformed into millionares With
world wido fame and an unlimi
bank account. Coal Oil Johnny |
came representative Ameri
SPrince and two years after the
covcry the daughters of parveH
md houuars loaded with cootl,