The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-08-11
OIL SCOUTS.
Their Dangerous Work In the Pennsylvania
Oil Regions.
Bradford Star.

oped field and puts down test we'll, he nat
urally desires to have the profit of his risk.
It costs him something like $1,000 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
a rich sand, however, and can keep 1t Sc
cret for a while, he has fortune In his
hands. He can sell oil short, knowing that
when it is known that new field has been
discovered the price will 60 down. His most
direct opportunity, however, is to lease the
land in the neighborhood of his we'll, to be
sold again at an enormous profit as soon as
1t Is known that it Is productive territory.
So he guards his secret with every appliance
he can invent. His most dangerous enemies
are the "scouts." They are paid to discover
what he is trying to conceal.
Almost every prominent oil broker has a
"scout " regularly employed to kesT him
posted on the latest doings at the front. Dar-
ing, cautious, patient, untiring, unscrapu-
lous, 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 sal.
ary, lurking about in the neighborhood of q
new we'll 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 o: gas or the gurgle OF
flowing oil; sneaking up to the tank house
to get peep in, if possible; watching the
motion of the walking beam and estimating
the depth of the tools thereby; ready to
bribe a driller or exchange shots with q
guard at moments notice.
He sometimes spends weeks watching one
particular well. He studies the habits or
the men working on it, notes if any of them
are likely to succumb to the temptation OF
his brandy flask, jots down the hours when
each one takes his nap, marks which way
their faces are mostly turned In their rounds,
and If he can not court their favor devises
some scheme to get inside their guard 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. 1t is mystery when he
sleeps. Almost any time of the day he may
be seen lettering about wherever there is a
crowd, picking up acquaintance with the few
drillers whom he does not already know.
The emoluments of the work are occasion
ally of size to compensate tor any amount
Of hardship. For instance, "Si" Hughes,
who got the Anchor Oil Company a pointer
on 646, 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 $l5O,O0O; but there is
a well-defned path eircling 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 in
formation is still mystery. He Is said tt
claim that he lay under the derrick for nine
teen consecutive hours, but the prevailing
impression is that he bought the secret from
one of the guards.
In the course of an experience meeting th'
other evening with Captain Peter Grace, ont
of the men who put down the GAG we'll il
this district, he told me the true story Of th,
mystery. Much has been written about il
more probably than was ever printed ahou
an oil well before, but the Captain told m
few things which were new. This won
derful Cherry Grove district owes Its devel
opment to the misfortunes of George q
Dimmick. He had been wrecked fnanciall
over in the Coal Creek region, and Captai
Grace set him to work out this way rathe
to give him chance to recover than frol
any other motive. Land could be leased fc
dollar an acre, aud the experiment WI
not very costly. ~ @@
"When the tools broke through the she
of the sand about ten o'clock on the mornin
of the 1lth of March," said Captain Grac'
I'VE knew we had found wealth. The o
filled up hundred feet before we could g
the tools out. The pressure of gas was tr
mendous. We drove tight-fitting woode
plug, three and half feet long, to the be
tom of the we'll, poured the hole fall of oi
screwed in the casing head, and set Il
tools, which way not less than ton, on tc
of It. Even then when the we'll flowed
blew the casing head off and sent the too
a.fying up the derrick. i
"One trick we played to deceive the scou
/ think has never got into print. took
torpedo man into room at the hotel
Warren one day, very mysteriously, but toe
good care to have scout see me do II.
course the scout Immediately hid in the y
joining room. told the shooter, with n
voice trembling, that had put my last dc
lar into the 648 venture, and had found !
oil. must get some appearance of grea'
in order to sell my lease and get out Who'll
l arranged with him to 60 out that night al
torpedo the we'll. Well, we went out vii
q make-belleve torpedo filled with waite
The scouts we're at our heels, of course, ar
watched every motion. We went to u
well In the dead Of night, and there wei
through the form Of shooting the well 80 .
curately that even the guards about the we
were deceived. The next morning tht
complained that the smell Of the dynami
had given them the headache. Sharp q the
were, the scouts were all taken In, and d
not find out the trick until weeks afterward