Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-05-12
Oil Region Fire-A Town Entirely
Destroyed.

BRADFORD, PA, May THE past
few days of dry weather have rendered
the forests in this section al ,nfamable
as tinder. Fires caugh: in number of
localities, and communicating with oil
wells, aided by a strong wind, have
caused the most widespread series of
confagrations ever known in the oil re-
gions. Near Rev City, eight miles
southeast of here, man was clearing
up some brush about Fisher & Pick
ett's WELL He set fire to the heap about
noon, and then went to dinner.
The flames crept among the dry
leaves to the well, and in moment it
was in flames. This was a starting
point, and burning oil from this well
ran down the hill, igniting well and
tank after tank in its course The great
est destruction was caused at Rev
City. This was thriving oil town of
about $50 buildings, occupied largely
as stores The fire ran up the hillside,
and every solitary building in the town
was burned. Telegraph lines were all
destroyed, and communication was en-
tirely shut off The flames spread with
such rapidity that all efforts to check
them were utterly useless.
At the same time fires had ignited
various other places throughout the
Bradford region At one time there were
eight different conhagrations progress
ing, and the sky on every side of the
city was black with dense smoke aris-
ing. A mile east of this city it burned
rels of oil. At one time the town of Tar
port was in danger, but the wind died
down toward evening, and the danger
was averted
Another fire broke out on Quintu-
pie hill just opposite this city, and the
woods were burning fercely for a
time, threatening the western end of
town. The entire fire department was
called out and succeeded in quenching
the flames. Near Lafferty several wells
were burned, together with consider
able quantity of oil. At Red Rock, 1875
wells and several thousand barrels of
oil were burned. Besides the destruc-
tion of Rev City there were in the
neighborhood of sixty rigs burned at
that point At Degalier, south of here,
there were half dozen burned. At
Duke Centre several were consumed,
but definite information is not obtaina
BILE. Each rig includes derrick, engine
house, boilerhouse and tank, most of
which latter contained from 100 to
800 barrels of OIL
The nearest estimate of losses made
places the aggregate at $500, 600. This
includes 300 wells and $4,000 barrels
of OIL Among the largest individual
losers are Baker & Malone, of Cleve-
land, Is wells; Bolton Bros, of Oil
City, Is wells 0ttman & Hyde, IA
wells; Munhall & Smithman, Pitts
burgh, wells; Van Vleok, of Buffalo,
7 wells, and many other firms losing
one to ten wells each.
The loss at Rev City in buildings
is placed at $4,000. In consequence of
the bullish influence excited by the
destruction of so many wells and
such large quantity of oil, the market
yesterday advanced p cents.
A CALIFORNIA TUNNEL.-The long
est of the series of tunnels on the
South Pacific Coast r. R., in the
Santa Cruz mountains, California, has
just been completely pierced. The tun-
mel, which is over mile in length,
was begun little over two years ago.
The presence of petroleum in the for
nation has resulted in several disas-
trous explosions, involving many de-
LAYS and considerable loss of life.