Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-07-29
THE OIL SCOUTS.
Their Delicate and Dangerous Work
i'm the Oil Regions of Pennsyl-
yania.
From the Bradford Star.

he naturally desires to have a profit of
his risk. II costs him something like
$4,000 to put down that wildcat well,
for which, in most cases, he gets no re-
turn, for the majority of wildcat wells
produce nothing. Ii he finds rich sand,
however, and can keep it secret for q
while, he has a fortune in his hands.
He can sell oil short, knowing that
when it is known that new field has
been discovered the price will go down.
His most direct opportunity, however,
is to lease the land in the neighborhood
of his well, to be sold again at an enor-
nous profit as soon as it 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 ''scout" regularly employed to
keep him posted on the latest doings at
the front. Daring, cautious, patient.
untiring, unscrupulous and honest, the
scout must add to the experience of a
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 a new well out of the 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 oil sneaking up to the tank
house to get a 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 a guard at
moments notice.
He sometimes spends weeks watching
one particular well. He studies the
habits of the men working on it, notes
il 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 cannot 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 a mystery when he sleeps. AL
most any time of the DAY he may be
seen lettering about where there is a
crowd, picking up acquaintance with
the few driIlers whom he does not al-
ready know.
The emoluments of the work are oc-
cassionally of size to compensate for
any amount of hardship For instance,
81 Hughes, who got the Anchor Oil
Company 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 S150,000; but
there is well-defined 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 information Is still
a mystery. He is said to claim that he
lay under the derrick nineteen consecu-
tive hours, but the prevailing impress
sion 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 GAG we'll in this district, he told me
has been written about it, more proba-
bly, than was ever printed about an oil
we'll before, but the Captain told me a
few things which were new. This Won
derful Cherry Grove district owes its
developement to the misfortunes of
George FL. Dimmick. He had been
wrecked financially over in the Coal
Greek region, and Capt. Grace set him
to work out this way rather to give him
a chance to recover than from any other
motive. Land could be leased for dol
lar an acre, and the experiment was not
very costly.
"When the tools broke through the
shell of sand about 10 o'clock on the
morning of the 11th of March," said
Capt. Grace, "we 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 ight-fitting wooden plug,
81 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 ton, on top of it.
Even then when the we'll flowed 1t blew
the casing head off and sent the tools a
flying up the derrick.
Gone trick we played to deceive the
scouts | think has never got into print.
took o torpedo man into room in the
hotel at Warren one day, very myste-
riously, but took good care to have a
scout see me do it. OF course the scout
Immediately hid himself in the adjoin-
ing room. told the shooter, with my
voice trembling, that l had put my last
dollar into the GAG venture, and had
found no OIL | must get some appear
ance of grease in order to sell my lease
and get out whole. / arranged with
him.to go that night and torpedo the
well. 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
we'll IN the dead of night, and there
went through the form of shooting the
well SO accurately that even the guards
about the we'll were deceived. The next
morning they compiained that the smell
of the dynamite had given them the
headache. Sharp as they were, the
scouts were all taken in, and did not
find out the trick until several weeks
afterward."
WHAT's that you're playing ?" said
New Haven man to his dau Shter. who
was poundinp at the piano kevhOari