Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-09-10


In Januars 1896, the tswu was at the
aeigh. OF US prosperity. IL had BANKS,
churches, daily newspasssrs, water-wcrks,
several theatres. a GOOD 'opera-bouse. large
hotels, ten teleglaelrvfiiccs, pipe lines,
pIank.roads 10 neighhoring towns. and 4
narrowIauge railroad from Pithoic IA
Oleopcps and on City. The directors 81
the rsss-oad were William Thorp. William
REYNOLDS, J. J. shryock. I. II. Porteons,
aud a. j. yandcrxnit. Mr.. Thorp was
president Mr.. Porteous vicespresident,
}. Shlrk superiut and ,. q. Blair
secretary and treasurer. The Reno,
Of. Creek and Plthole Railroad Company
hid road-lrcd rTaded and ties Iaia from
Reno 10 Pithoic. but the work was never
finished. The Pithole Daily Rst1rd--the
'.irst daily newspaper published In Venango
county--wus started by Colopcl Lee NJ,
Morton September %. 1865. TWAS printed
on a Washington hand.prcss. and had q
circulation 81 I,500--the limit of the press.
mans working capacity. Caftsin William
II. Longwei, late proprietor Of the Oil City
Derrick arid part owner cf the Bradford
Era, and q. G. Wicker, were admitted into
partnership. The paper aid good BUSH
ness. aud was prosperous so long as the
town had q paying existence.
The Town held up well TOR nearly year,
and then began TO fade. II went very sud
denly. A few weeks before ITS decline the
people were confident that the big wells
could never cease 10 produce oil In immense
quantities. The general confidence In the
town was 80 strong that on February ~,
1866, the Daily Record printed this:
THE Record Is now fixed fact; and as
long ss single hole shows signs OF oil, or
a derrick is visible, 1t will continue TO make
its appearance. While oil City. Petroleum
Centre, Tidloute. and other older and $50
called" livelier towns, have been without
n paper, Pitbole, from its birth, has sup.
ported a daily paper, and is likely TO do so
Tor wears TO Gomez
What a vain boast that was never real
lied fully until | visited the ruins OF Pit
hole few weeks ago. | had known, OF
course. that the oil wells had suddenly
ceased to pour out their floods OF petrO-
leum; that the people had gone elsewhere
20 speculate, and that the erratic city had
fallen into decay. But was rot prepared
for what ] saw when, in an en-
dcayor TO live the old days over again,
| hired saddc-hOrse at Titusvillc
and pushed my way through the almost
forgotten country that leads TO the Plthole
Valley. On the edge OF bluff, eleven miles
FROM Titusville, / came upon an old man,
shabby. deCrepit, and weather. beaten. who
sat upon log at the upper edge Of the
field. with bis bearded chin in his hands.
looking yacantly down the still valley. lie
glanced Up a moment TO speak as ap-
preached, and then resumed his doubled-up
attitude.
"LoOkin' for Piihole. stranger?" he
asked. eli y'arc. jest tie your gray TO chat
saplin' there, an come an sit down here
Oh this stick O. timber N look till you're
tired"
"And this is-pltholeY'
"The same, my friend; or what there's
left of it,"
had ridden eleven miles through mud
aud water. over rocks and logs, up bill and
down, to see this-an old log cabin, the
dismantled wing Of an old hotel, and q
lonely field upon which neither tree nor
shrub would grow. And this was Pit
hole had left il tceming with busy peo-
pie. busting with business, and hall mad
with the excitement Of wild speculation.
Now. even nature had forsaken il, leaving
only one half-Crazed old man to guard its
dust and ashes. The harmless old man had
lived in peace and contentmcnt on little
clearing on the site OF Pithole all bis life.
The oil fever had found him poor; il had
made him fabulously rich, and when 1t
subsidized IL left him poorer than Eeforc. for
il had wrenchcd his poor old mind oil its
bearings.
"What do y0u sce?" | asked, seating
myself beside the old man, and not letting
him know that the landscape was by de-
grooS becoming strangely familiar 10 me.
"What do soe!" said he slowly, with
out moving his eyes from the bare, brown
valley. 81 see q city full OF people; | see
valley swarming with life and business,
he smoke Of countless furnaces. the steam
rom countless engines. ! hear the clang
u hammer and anvil, the roar OF swift
wheels. the rattle OF cranks and bolts, the
voices Of busy men, the hum Of industry.
This" said the old nan. laying his
hand soTrowfully upon the routing timber,
81 This is all that is left OF the Bonita House,
4 noble structure. Down there, where
YOU see a woodchuck burrowing, stood |
he Chase House. the best hotel in North !
western Pcnnsy lvahia. The post-otiice &C. |
,upiod one Of it, dig corners, and noisy /
.rowd Of oil princes filed its scores OF |
ooms. Right across the street, where a |
apling grows, murder was done, and |
ust above is where the first woman in |
Pithole shot herself through the heart in |
iii Of remorse. Drink. some said, brit !
knew better. a short distance below
here's a COW munching dry grass there /
low-stOod the Methodist church, dedica- /
ed with great pomp by Bishop Simpson. |
4 Philadelphia DR.. LOOMS, president Of |
\lleghany College, and the Rev. G. W. !
Ialthy, Presiding Elder OF the Jamestown |
district; never had dollar OF debt, as / /
now personally.
"Oh, yes, can point email out banks, /
and theatres There was Murphy's |
Theatre over that pool OF water), machine
hops, pipeline offices, the railroad STATEN, /
lolclS; there stood the MOrey Farm Hotel, |
destroyed by tire by an incendary. And
he big oil wells. Why, over there among
hose new.grown bushes was the great !
Pool well, the pride Of the town,
he wonder Of the whole country. II I
lowed for a time at the rate OF
800 barrels day Then there were the
I'D Frazier, good for 900 barrels day the
,ig Grant well, 200 barrels the Burtis,
100 barrels the two Homestead wells the
Eureka, that produced $4,000 barrels all
old; the famous Twin wells, No. and
80. ,, on the Thomas liolmden farm, and
Of others. The land all around
eIe was covered as thick rs trees with
hem. What do you see nOwy Here and
here the blackened end Of length OF iron
asting sticking loot above ground-that
all. Everything is gone now-buidings,
erricks, tanks, machinery, tools, men,
nd money. The town lasted two years, and
hen faded away untilto.day there is nothing
IT. | lived here almost alone when the
own started, and | am living here alone
ov "on have come and gone ky thou
lnds, but have ST.. ~. remained true to the
Id place. Sometimes al nigu. ""o" aiI
lone In my little old house down tne,e
We over the days OF 'G5. | see the waves
speculation and strange innovation
weeping up against the solid door, only to
bb again. leaving the old house aud me
lone, Sometimes when l sit here the city
ises up before me IS OF old, and the valley
warns with busy men.
"Goiug now, stranger? Well, it's always
'een that way with me. Walk your horse
lown this little path--it used to be busy,
BOWLING street-and III show you where
he buildings stood. guess Pm the only
nan in the world that can guide YOU over
he ruins Of the city that he himself laid out
md helped TO build. Strange, isn't IL,
stranger than death. Well, the lower
paths your best Way out, ! guess-old IT.
usyile plank road, you know. You'd
better prod the gray little; there's big
rain-Storm coming. Good day"
Standing in the middle OF his lonely field
he old man watched me out Of sight. aud
when the trees hid my horse he turned
slowly and. climbing to his seat on the
bluff, buried his grizzled face in his thin
brown hands.
And that (said the Wsll.street man In
Is the history OF j. Nelson Tap
pans town among the Pennsylvania hills.