The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-09-06
SlLENCEI A CITY.
An Abandoned Oil Town In Pennsyl-
vania, Where . Million and q Half
Dollars We're Wasted

wanna, "nere . MtlO1On ana q Half
Dollars We're Wasted
"Dull, did you say, stranger? Yes,
Garfield is dull just now. But, stranger,
dull amt the word; it's dead you meant
to say, dead and buried--buried as deep
as though that Hill yonder stood over it.
And, stranger, when you are out of this
an this awful stiffness loses it's hold up-
on you, just sit down and think how
much the Garfield oil territory was like
the man it was named after-short-lived
you know, and shining on the world for
few months an then going down to
death an forgetfulness. Why when 1 sit
hele on this log an listen to the moan
ing of the wind in the pine trees an
the croak of crow flynn overhead, it
it seems that am in a land that God
Himself has forgotten; land hated of
nature and Stunned of man. But crOak
too much. stranger. Where might you
be going"
An old man sitting on a fallen tree,
whiting q pine stick, the sun shining
through the trees and playing hide and
go-seek with the shadows on the moss
and pine cones-nothing OF this de-
" CEGCu A0O "a 60AV q 0AAVO1 uCIO6S NY
heated cheeks; but the voice itself the
tone, the gesture of helpless despair,
the very shadow of death in the lap of
life and health, caused NE to feel as one
might feel at hearing the cry of murder
at wedding feast. After z few mo-
ments the man looked up and spoke
again. >.
if You like. III walk alongside your
horse. don't see many people to'talk
to these days. A year ago-just one
short year aRo-this whole Township Of
Cherry Grove was as lively as Gee.
bive day and night. Work? Why. men
sw rmed in here by the thousand, an
nearly every man had money to invest.
l was at Pithole in IS, but Pithole wasn't
marker to Cherry Grove in the way
of excitement"
While he talked of Garfield as it was,
the man seemed to be q different being.
But this enthusiasm fell from aim like .
discarded cloak when we came in sight
was once the town of Garfield.
"Everything's changed now" he
moaned. "Why, the very birds shun
the place. 1t seems as though nature
had committed some sin against herself.
in covering the grass and the trees with
black vOmit Of oil. Wherever a blot
of oil has touched, all vege table life
ceases for years. After this spot has paid
the penalty of its sin. nature will be
kind again, and the trees will grow and
the flowers blossom and the birds sing
as of old. But I say, stranger, where
are you 2oing?" i.
"Why," I said, ito Garfield, Of
course"
"Hold on, then; here you are"
/ looked at the man for an explains
ton.
"Here you are. stranger. This is Gar
And this was Garfield! A year ago
only twelve months ago-a city stood
upon the crest of this gently rolling hill;
city with no room or time for visitors.
and only elbow-room for men with ur-
gent business. A year ago, when was
here first, ! slept in a blanket on the
sales counter Of bake shop, and was
glad to pay dollar for the privileges
to-day the bake shop is gone, hut l
could sleep in az many empty buildings
as there are days in the month. The
Garfield o: to-day is the poor, forlorn
wreck of once wonderful giant. A
cluster of buildings turning gray in the
sun and wind q main street, in which the
grass has begun to grow again; 'tiiiness
that seemingly clings about me like
mist in the valley, and hi'ltops that echo
the footballs OF the impatient borse-this
is the Garfield of to-day. The wide
swinging doors ard broken windows of
the empty houses are as the half-opened
lips and staring, CLASSY eyes of the MUIR
dered man bv the wayside, and a mon
ster rattlesnake summing himself on the
doorstep seems all that ia needed to
lation.
Some of the houses of the dead city
were picked up bodily and carried to
Gusher City and to other points in the
extreme front of oil development;
! others vefe torn down and shipped, no
one knows where. A few houses, q few
stores and a few people are in Garfield
yet to mourn for glory that was as
brief and bright as the MONDAY SUM-
!, Correspondence Philadelphia Times.