Arizona weekly enterprise., 1882-09-30
Oil Scouts.
Their Delicate and Dangerous Work in the oii
 Regions of Pennsylvania


 When an operator goes into an unde- veloped field and puts down test we'll he naturally desires to have the profit of his risk. It costs him something like S6,0OO to put down that wildcat well, TOT which, in most cases, he gets no re- turn, for the majority of wildcat wells produce nothing If he finds a rich sand, however, and can keep it a secret for while, he has fortune in his hands. He can sell oil short, knowing that when 1t is known that new field has been discovered the price will 90 down. His most direct opportunity, however, is to lease the land ill the neighborhood of hls well, to be sold again at an enormous profit as soon as it is known that it is productive territory. So he guards his secret with every appliance he can invent. lis most dangerous enemies are the scouts" They are paid to discover what he is trying to conceal.
 Almost every prominent oil broker has scout regularly employed to keep him posted on the latest doings at the front. Daring, cautious, patient, untIrlng, interruptions, and honest, the scout must add to the experience of & driiler the subtle judgment of a broker and the keenness of an operator In the shadows of the night he earns his salary lurking about in the neighbor- hood Of new well. out of gunshot of the guards about the derrick; lying often in the snow or in the swamp for hours, with his nose and ears stretched above the shelter of some friendly log, to catch the smell of gas or the gurgle of flowing olli sneaking up to the tank-house to get peep in if possible; watching the motion of the walking beam, and esti- mating the depth of the tools thereby; ready to bribe the driller or exchange shots with the guard at moments notice.
 lie sometimes spends weeks watching one particular well. He studies the habits of the men working on it, notes Ii any of them are likely to succumb to the temptation of his brandy flask, iots down the hours when each one takes his nap, marks which way their faces are mostly turned in their rounds, and. II he can not court their favor, devises some scheme to get inside their guards and at their secret. In the gray of the morning he rides away to the nearest telegraph office and communicates with his employer before the market opens. It IS mystery when he sleeps Almost any time of the day he may be seen loi- ter!ng about wherever there is a crowd, picking mp acquaintances with the few drlliers whom he does not already know.
 The emoluments of the work are oc- caslonally of size to compensate for any amount of hardship. For instance, ''Si'' Hughes, who got the Anchor Oil company pointer on 646 has been taken into the company with the office of su- perintendent, and clear tenth of their profits. His springs work will net him not less then 315 ,o00; but there is q we'll defined path circling through the woods around 646, worn by the feet of those who worked as hard as he and got mo- thing but their salaries. How Hughes got his information is still mystery.- He is said to claim that he lay under the derrick for nineteen consecutive hours, but the prevailing impression is that he bought the secret from one of the guards.
 In the course of an experience-meet- ing the other evening, with Capt Peter Grace, one of the men who put down the 646 well in this district, he told me the true story of the mystery. Much has been written about it, more proba- ply than has ever been printed about an oil well before, but the captain told me few things which were new. This wonderful Cherry Grove district owes its development to the misfortunes of George H. Dimmick. He had been wrecked financially over in the Coal creek region, and Capt. Grace set him to work out this way rather to give him chance to recover than from any other motive. Land could be leased for & dollar an acre, and the experiment was not very costly.
 "When the tools broke through the shell of the sand about 10 o'clock on the morning of the 11th of March," said Capt. Grace, i've knew we had found wealth. The oil filled up hundred feet before we could get the tools out. The pressure of gas was tremendous We drove a tight-fitting wooden plug, 3 feet long, to the bottom of the well, poured the hole full of oil, screwed in the casing-head, and set the tools, which weigh not less than a ton, on top of it. Even then when the well flowed it blew the casing-head off and sent the tools flying up the derrick.
 One trick we played to deceive the scouts think has never got into print. l took torpedo man into a room in the hotel at Warren one day, very mvsteri- ously, but took good care to have scout see me do it. Of course the.scout immediately hid himself in the adioin- ing room. I told the shooter, with my voice trembling, that 1 had put my last dollar into the 646 venture. and had found no oil. 1 must get some appear ance of grease in order to sell my lease and get out whole. I Iarranged with him to go out that night and torpedo the we'll Well. we went out with a make believe torpedo filled with water. The scouts were at our heels, of course, and watched every motion. We went to the well in the dead of night, and there went through the form of shooting the well so accurately that even tie guards about the well were deceived The next morning they complained that the dvn- amite had given them the headache. Sharp as they were, the scouts were all taken in. and did not find out the trick untilweeks afterward. .''-Bradford Star.
 
 Alexander H. Stephens is friend of struggling young men and women, and now has no less than fourteen depend ent upon him for their education. For some of theSe ha Davc D,oral,- +bo +,,;.: