The daily gazette., 1877-03-06

mine turned out nothing, but the road
paid the company Ia Transporting lumber
and bituminous coal. Since the oil fever
set in the branch is one Of the best pieces
Of property the company own. Lime
are stations that have grown up in few
months. The business of the branch has
increased from $3 500 a month to $35, 900
Limestone is where Job Moses lives. He
is now making $500 day, and the peo-
pie don't think he is crazy now. Landin
this valley that could short time since
have been had almost for the taxes is
worth any price that the owners may ask.
The McCsrty farm at Limestone has
q history. It consists of sixty acres.
It was left bya provident old Irishman
McCarty 10 his son Mike two or three
years ago. Mike was o switchman on
the Erie Railway at Salamanca. His
principal trait Of character was getting
drunk whenever he got his pay. II
was with difficulty that he could pay
the taxes on the farm. Two or three
y ears ago he would have sold 1t for
81 500. They began to strike oil
aiound 10, and three weeks ago he sold
three acres for $1,000 cash. There are
several wells on his place, and he gets
one.eighth royalty on all they pro.
duce. His income ia now @50t q
week. Mike sticks to his oily switch.
mans clothes, but he has purchased
gsld-headed cane. Heis throwing his
money around loose among the boys.
He. is a second Johnny steele on q
small scale. Mike lives in Salamanca.
His wife built house some years ago,
and it was long time before he could
understand how she did it. At last
she told him. Whenever he came
home after a spree. she went through
his clothes and took out any meney
she could find. This was funded, and
resulted in the house. Mike tells how
he felt when he found it out:
"Be dad! III was very mad J..
For, dive moind, whin I'd foind no
money. in me pockets, fought l.
spint 1t wild the b'ys, and I'd 60 to
wur-r-k continted. But whin found
me money'd been washted in boords
for shanty, 1t was disap'inted l was,
sure"
The parties of whom TIE elder Nc
Carty bought the farm reserved the
right to oil for ten years. The time
expired the day Mike sold the three
acres. . ..I -
A man named Mudgett, of Salaman-
ca, sold Mexican county farmer an
organ and took for pay sixty acres of
wild land. Mudgett sold the land two
years ago for $2an acre. Oil has been
found on it,and it is bringing 81 900 an
acre now. People In Bradford and all
the other towns lease their dooryards,
gardens and every available spot they
have to operators. When the business
was first begun lessees were satisfied
with a one-sixteenth royalty. Then
they asked one-eighth. BY and by
they got UP to quarter. Now they
are demanding $500 bonus and quar-
ter of the oil. Many people who used
to sit around In the tavern, beg tobac~
CO, and borrow money to pay their
taxes, now 60 leisurely to the Oil Ex-
change and draw their royalty. a-
The lower oil country is very jeal-
Gus of the New Bradford district. The
operators in the latter say that its oil
is superior to that of the old districts.
But the ref1ners' combination say it is
not, and 1t does not bring as much by
35 cents a barrel. The combination
say the Bradford ell is too heavv, and
doesn't work we'll in the refineries. A
$500, 600 refinery Is being put up at
Olean, on the Erie Railway, thirteen
miles distant. The oil is now forced
by pipe lines from the Wells over the
hills to that station, where it is loaded
in the cars. A popularity of the
Bradford district is the great depth at
which the oil lies. Eleven hundred
feet is the average depth Of the wells.
What is the ''second sand" here is the
third or oil-bearing sand in the lower
region. The daily product in the val
ley is now 2,000 barrels. The wells
are mostly pumped, although there are
some flowing wells. 1t costs Sd. 500
to sink q well in this valley, Brad
ford must be moral town. for the
BARRIERS are forbidden by the Town
Council to shave any one on Sunday.
They had keno bank here while
ago, and it was "doing splendid" but
the man who tended it skipped away
ono night with all the money in the
bank, and that branch of Industry was
checked. But they are negotiating
for another. is
There is a place near Bradford where
they have had no winter this year. 1t
Is two miles from here. on the Bruce
Rogers farm. In drilling we'll there
they struck vein of gas at depth
OF 800 feet. The flow was 80 power
full that work had to be stopped. The
gas was lighted. and from October un.
til the 1st of February it illuminated
the country around. The jects were
from 25 to 40 feet high, and we're seen
twenty miles away. The heat gene,
rated by the burning gas so affected
the temperature of the locality that
flowers, berries, and all kinds of vege-
tation natural to the soil fourished up
to the day that the gas was shut oil.
Cows browsed around the burning
wells, and ''garden truck" was raised.
The gas is now being brought in pipes
to Bradford to furnish the fuel for
machine shops and foundries, and it
will eventually be used to light the
town. The roar of the well can be
heard at night in Bradford. .'