Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-01-16
AN AMERICAN BAALBEC.
Aladdin's Lamp In Northwestern Penn
sylyania-..The Magic City That Arose
UDder the Wand OF an Oily Magician
Wiped from Existence in "A Year.

| AlhuulnS BbInp III NOTtHNfsteTH EtHu.
sylyania...The Magic City That Arose
Upder the Wand OF an Oily Magician
Wiped from Existence In "A Year.
New York sun.
"In that seat there by the stove" said
the conductor, pointing to man with
patched pantaloons and SLOUGH hat
with lock OF hair sticking through
hole in the top-"sitting there with
one arm on that oil-cloth carpetbag
with the black worn of, is one-third OF
the population of the great city Of Pit
hole"
"Shall il reduce your Mr.. Johnson,
Mr.. Perkins," etc.
"Then you are about all there is left
in PltholeW remarked, as / sat down
behind the man.
mo, thar's twice rs many as me thar.
The Fergusons and Hunts, they are
thar yet. PIthole suits them; they are
farmers. They are blowing up the
streets, and raising potatoes and corn
where the post Office and opera house
were. Step off at Oleopolis with me,
and I'll take you over to see the ruins
| il you'll furnish the team"
IAN right, Ill do it," | said, and in
two hours the horses. pulled us from
Olepols to- the modern ruin OF Pit
hole. Palmyra and Thebes are justly
celebrated AZ very ancient ruins, but
Plthole, Pa, is probably the grandest
young ruin in the world. Here was
great city which was founded, grew to
opuence, fell, and whose streets aer
now onion and cabbage patches-al
within fifteen years. Why, it took
those slow-coach Egyptians two thous-
end years to make such rum as thisl
Such is American enterprise.
"When did you come ?" asked
Mr.. Johnson, who acted in the capacity
of both founder AMI guide to the ruins.
"l'm carpenter, you know" he said;
81 came here in 1855 to help put down
the first we'll for the United States Pc
troleum Company on the Holmden
farm. The country around here was
stony and the fields were full of zine
Htump3."
"Did you strike oii?"
81 should say we did We struck
'how-er.' She threw 200 barrels of oil
into the air day. AS soon as she
flowed the spectators went of in the
night and bought the farm Of Tom
Holmden ut IL low figure. Lordl when
he came to see the well the next morn
ing, didn't he feel bad, thought
"What was the effect of the thousand
barrel well2" | asked.
"Why, it seemed to set the whole
neighborhood crazy. The whole oil
region turned out and came up here.
Soldiers, with pockets full of money,
| Just discharged from tho army, came
pouring in with the rest. In fact, Tom
Holmden's farm, in less than forty
eight hours, looked ~ if it had ten cir
cuses on it. You never saw such
scrambling. And prices Why, you
never heard Of such prices. Twenty
wells were under way in II week. Ma
chinery had to be drawn through the
mud from the station, on the Miller
farm, four miles distant. Thousands of
barrels of oil, worth So barrel, had to
be drawn through the mud. Farmers
rushed in with teams for fifty miles
around. Contractors paid 800 for
drawing mn engine four miles through
the mud. Fifteen dollars ton for
drawing coal. Ten dollars for taking u
trunk. Farmers got $40 for carrying
one passenger. Two and three dollars
were paid for meals, and 10 for q bed.
Dollars were rs common rs nickels are
now. Why, could make $25 n day
carpentering. got $3.50 for building u
one-story building, and | did the work,
with four men, in n day and half. |
got $40 for putting up some shelves for
u druggist and did the work in thirty
minutes. Nails were 80 cents pound,
and lumber $500 per 1000. Farmers
tore down their fences for miles around
and sold them to the crazy oil operat-
ors. Great guns how the merchants
poured inl and what prices they got;
$35 for pair of boots, and 81 for n
drink of whisky. Fortunes were made
and lost in day. Hundreds of wells
went down, were sold Mt fabulous
prices, afterwards ending in dry holes. +"
"How were the wells usually sold"
! asked.
"They were divided into 'sixteenths.
Thousands OF soldiers, farmers and
business men were inveigled into buy
ing these 'sixteenths. Some made for
tunes and more lost all Spectators
paid $500 for the refusal of II sixteenth
next o producing WELL telegraphed
to New York or Philadelphia, and made
several thousand dollars in II few hours.
A sixteenth Of n well often sold for $20,-
GOO cash. Millions Of dollars came
| floating into Pthole. Hotels went up
like magic. Theaters sprang into be-
ing, Murphy built shanty, got a
dance woman by the name of Brignoh,
and oil-men would throw titty-dollar
bills ut her feet. Streets sprang into
line. Within sixty days thirty pretty
bar-maids were holding forth ut free.
and-easy, First street, all in rude
board room, 30 by 60"
"When did Pithole culminateV'
"Well, she started in June. 1865, and
in June, 1866, she was full iledged
city, with 10000 people, with criminals,
policemen, eergymen, churches,
schools, and the third larges, postoilice
in the state of Pennsylvania. Why,
II,lI Hal o.,,,,,, ,InrDa unH