Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1888-08-10
An Oil-LeaSe Trust.

From Pittsburg Com Gazette of July 81.
For the past three months various
well known oil land leasing agents
have been actively engaged in seeur-
ing territory in various parts of Allie
gbeny county. Thousands upon
Thousands OF acres have been leased
in various townships between Allie
gheny City and the Butler county
line. The gentlemen who have been
engaged at this work ale considered
tie shrewdest in the business, and
many surmises were made as to
whether they were securing the terri,
tory for the purpose of ultimately
working it themselves or if they
were not the agents of some power
ful syndicate which wanted to secure
control of all the supposed oil lands
in this county.
Many producers here abouts who
are outside of the great oil monopoly
ring suspected that the Standard was
back of the move, but they could not
c5rfrm their suspicious, as the corpo-
rations which from time to time leas-
cd the territory claimed to be entirely
Independent of the Standard; in fact
they declared themselves the enc
mics of that big corporation. In the
meantime the territory in McCand
less, Stowe, West Deer, RichIand,
Marshall, Franklin and East Deer
township was fast being gobbled up
piece by piece.
A PECULIAR FEATURE.
. One peculiar feature about the
records was that while the different
farms were leased by a number Of
persoDs, that all the leases were
eventually transferred to one or two
persons as the representatives, of two
oil companies. The names Of the lat
ter are the Anchor and Forest Com.
panies. The active representatives
of these companies are j. j. Wander
grift, p. f. Calhoun, T. j. Wander
grift and w. Z. Patrick.
Nearly all the territory leased by
such well known agents as Messrs
Pennypacker, Buchanan, Webber and
kildallon we're in the end transferred
to the representatives of the compa-
nies naued above. When an oil
producer of prominence was asked
last night about these very significant
transfers, he said:
"The Anchor and Fores: Oil Com
panies are what is known as the
Allegheny County Oil Trust. 1t
was formed for the purpose of secur
ing the entire control Of all territory
in the county that is suspected to be
oil producing This trust has been
in existence for some time, and has
been remarkably successful. 1t vir-
tually has control of all the good
farms in this county and will hold
them until such time as the Standard
Company orders that the drillers be
put TO work"
Glow can the Standard give such
an order?"
For the reason that the Trust
Company is controlled by that big
concern in this way The Oil Trust
is separate organization from the
Standard, bat the Directors of the
litter company are also Directors in
The trust company J J. Wander
grift, Il. j. VandergrifL, PeLnypacker,
Calhoun and all the other active
agents who secured this vast terrific
ry are all associated with the Stand
ard ia many ways
"Why did the last named company
wish 10 conceal its connection with
the gigantic leasing scheme?"
FARMERS AND THE STANDARD.
"For various reasons, In the
first place if the owners of the farms
knew that the Standard was after the
leases they would hold the prices up
high and expect to get them. Then
there is prejudice exists among
farmers against 50 called monopolies,
and they do not like to do business
with concerns of that kind. They
think there is scheme on loot to de-
prive them of their rights. The
companies who composed the trust, ,as
well as the agents, told the owners of
the land that they were tho bitter
opponents of the the great monopoly,
and that by leasing the territory to
them they would keep the Standard
people out.
The scheme worked like charm
and the trust, alias the Standard, has
succeeded in controlling nearly all
the good oil land in this county
The leases are z 'adually being ex
tended towards Pittsburg, and in
fact there is considerable territory
been gobbled up by the trust which
has not yet been placed on record
| These leases will be recorded in time
but the lessees are in no hurry about
doing it, Some day you will see a
big batch placed on record that will
| surprise the natives Of this vicinity.
Some Of the territory may prove un-
productive but there is plenty that
will pay. The trust will control both
and thereby shut out all others. The
members of that combination are tax
| ing no chances"