Connecticut western news., 1881-04-20
THE STORY OF AN OIL TOWN.
A Tale of the Days of Speculation How they Struck Oil" in Summit Ctty-Rnpfd Financial Changes SpeculatinS on a Small Capital.


 A Tribune correspondent writing from Summit City, Penn., says A visit to this once crowded and prosper ous place shows that it has suffered the fate that has overthrown many oil towns, aud threatens, soon or late, to rest upon them all. This spot, in the summer of 1876, was a fertile farm, on which the gram was just 1ipening. 4 ''wildcat' oil we'll WAS sunk, and the venture proved to be good one. The fences that inclosed the farms were thrown down and derricks erected on every side, many of them in wheat fields that were almost ready for the reaper. In Q few weeks more the yellow grain would have been gathered into the barns, but now it was trampled beneath busy feet and ground down into the earth beneath the wheels of heavily laden wagons that sunk far into the mellow soil The farmer had leased the land for twenty one years for one-sixteenth of all the oil that should be produced. But he still had to pay the taxes, and tine difference between the taxes, on Q farm valued at $2,000 and one valued at $1OO,0 ,000 amounted to about as much as his one- sixteenth royalty, while his land was reudered utterly useless for farming
 The word went forth that Q new oil ter ritory had been discovered, and the rush from other oil towns and all parts of the oil region where tho production had commenced to.decline was general. In one short year from the striking of the first we'll, there had arisen in this country township, that had scarcely ever before witnessed a gathering of over one hundred persons, 8 bustling, busy, crowded, wicked city of twelve thousand inhabitants. It was in this first year that parties who invested made money, but most of those who in- vested in real estate after the summer of 1877 were losers.
 During the fret excitement young man came to the place with but a25 but he wore good clothes, had good education and plenty of ''cheek." After surveying the situation for day or two he concluded to speculate, and finding a farmer who had not yet leased or sold his land, he represented himself as the agent for Q wealthy company, with in- structions to buy up land. The farmer was rather reluctant about selling, but finally terms were signed. Twenty dol lars were paid down to bind the bargain five thousand dollars were to be paid in thirty days ; and five thousand more in six months. He had but s dollars to meet on obligation of 10,000, but not despairing, he quietly awaited the com- pletion of well that was being drilled near his new purchase. The well was finished in five days after the sale, and ; proved to be good one. He was of. fered $20, 900 for the farm but SIC, ,O0O clear gain in five days did not tempt him to sell, for another well was being it prove to be big producer, his land , would be very valuable. On the other , hand, should it be "duster," he could r not even get as much for the land as he
 had agreed to pay for it. Still he did
 not sell, and the time passed rapidly away. Only few days remained be. . fore he would have to pay s, 900, or the sale would be cancelled. Twenty eight
 days had passed and the we'll was not down yet, although they expected tc reach the oil rock every hour. On the night of the twenty-ninth day he sat ur ,, in the derrick with the drillers, for they
 knew they were within few feet of the f sand. Midnight came, and the hands were relieved by another force. His : last day had come, and was wearing v away, and he knew that the farmer ] would not wait one minute longer thar
 the law required him, for he had beer , several times offered larger amour f for the land. At 2 o'clock the sand wa! : reached, and the we'll proved to be th' F largest producer yet struck in the new , field. The news of the new we'll rapidly
 spread, and by noon the next day . nu B Der of wealthy oil men were on thu b REOuuIs dhA1OlkS GO 60SllIO = territory. That day the young mal U sold his farm of no acres for $l ,000 pc : acre, clearing Ill thirty days $1OO O0O n with a capital of only $25 to start on. }. With the increase of the production e of petroleum the population increased \ and laborers of every class found plent, e of employment. What had been lam .- leading to pasture field, was changet - in @ fortnight into street, lined ol
 both sides by rows of houses. Lant
 that few weeks before would not hay !. brought $40 per acre, was now marked @ off in building lots and sold for $5 ! g foot front, 100 feet deep. In the sprini
 of 1877, there was not licensed hous n in the town, yet almost every othe e door was an opening to a gin mill where ''tanglefoot" was dealt out t
 the thirsty, and where the sullie' charms of the dance-hall lured tn Q sensual.
 In June, 1877, the Bullion excite b ment was at it's height. In this month y John H. Lee and the Hon. W. R. Craw '' ford, of Franklin, struck the "Big In jun" we'll which produced over fou - thousand barrels of oil in the frs s twenty-four hours, the largest quan
 tity of oil ever got out of any one wei s in that length of time. This famou d "gusher" now pumps about eight bar a rels daily, which is a good indication 0
 the decline of the place itself. Imme $ diately after the striking of the ''Bi