The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-08-04
Oil Scouts.

veloped field and puts down test Wen
he naturally desires to have the profit
of his risk 1t costs him something
like $4,000 TO put down that wildcat
well, for which, in most cases, he gets
no return, for the majority OF wildcat
wells produce nothing. If he finds n
rich sand, however, and can keep it a
secret for a while, he has a fortune in
his hands. lie can sell oil short,
knowing that when it is known that a
new field has been discovered the price
will 90 down. His most direct oppor-
tunity, however, is TO lease the land in
the neighborhood of his well, to be sold
again at an enormous profit as soon rs
il is known that it is productive terri
tory. SO he guards his secret with
every appliance he can invent. Ills
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,
untiring, INSCRIPTIONS, and honest, the
scout must add to the experience of
driller the subtle judgment OF 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 derrick; lying often
in the snow or in the swamp for hours
with his nose and ears stretched above
II e fvin lner In
catch the smell of gas or the gurgle of
flowing OIL sneaking up to the tank
house to get peep i'll if possible;
watching the motion of the walking
beam and estimating the depth of the
tools thereby; ready to bribe driller
or exchange shots with a guard at a
moments notice.
He sometimes spends weeks watch
ing one particular well. He studies
the habits of the men working on it,
notes if any of them are likely to sue
cumb to the temptation of his brandy
flask, lots down the hours when each
one takes his nap, marks which way
their faces are mostly turned in their
rounds, and if he cannot court their
favor, devises some scheme to get in
side their guard and at their secret. In
the gray Of the morning he rides away
to the nearest telegraph office and com
municates with his employer before the
market opens. 1t is mystery when
he sleeps. Aim ,st any time of the day
he may be seen lettering about wher
ever there is crowd, picking up ac.
quaintance with the few drillers he
does not already know.
The emoluments of the work are oc-
casionly of size to compensate for any
amount of hardship. For instance:
Isl" Hughes, who got the Anchor oil
company a pointer on GAG, has been
taken into the company with the Office
of superintendent and clear tenth of
their profits. His springs work will
net him not less than Sl5O,000; but
there is well-dehned path circling
through the woods around GAG, worn
by the feet of those who worked as
hard as he and got nothing but their
salaries. How Hughes got his infor.
nation is still a mystery. He is said
to claim that he lay under the derrick
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 Captain
Peter Grace, one of the men who put
down the GAG well in this district, he
told me the true story of the mystery.
Much has been written about it, more
probably than was ever printed about
an oil we'll before, but the captain told
me few things which were new.
This wonderful Cherry Grove district
| owes its development to the misfortune
of George II. Dimmick. He had been
wrecked financially over in the Coal
creek region, and Captain 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 on the llth of March,
said Captain Grace, "we knew we had
found wealth. The oil filled up a hun
dred feet before we could get the tools
out. The pressure on rs was tremen-
dous We drove a tight fitting wood
en- plug 81 feet long o 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. | took torpedo man into Il
room in the hotel at Warren one day
very mysteriOusly, but took good care
to have scout see me do it, Of
course the scout Immediately hid him
self in the adjoining room. | told the
shooter, with my voice trembling, that
| had put my last dollar into the GAG
venture and had found no oil. | must
get some appearance Of grease in order
to sell my lease and get out whole
arranged with him to 90 out that night
and torpedo the well. Well, we went
out with a make-belieye 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 accu-
rately that even the guards about the
well were deceived, The next morn
ing they complained that the smell of
dynamite had given them the headache
Sharp AS they were, the scouts were all
taken in and did not find out the trick
until weeks afterward, Bradford