The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-12-09

Ths Mfg WHO DISCOVERED tEO
. LikDe FORTUNES OUT or n.
rhc n,ymak,r IroiLers-How Pew aud
CTacrfon Ecrpcd the T.rit Golden Iia--
sc-i- kitten Gcstor'1 U-ts,c- george
Westinghouse late IL. n.stc,isr


havc-bccns." This little incident strik-
ingly illustrates the phenomenal growth
Of the natural gas business. The Car
nceios. who in lSl, couldn't See any
profit i'm the new fuel. now own their
own wells and have laid their own pipe
lines TO supply their iron and steel mills
near pittsburg. I'm 1875 there wasn't ten
miles Of natural gas pipe lines in the
country; now there are over 1000 miles
Of lines. and in the city of Pittsburg
alone $4,000. 900 IS Invested in the bust
ness. Wherever IL can be obtained II l.
displacing the use OF coal, and in the coal
regions OF western Pennsylvania during
the past three years thousands Of men
have been thrown ont Of employment on
that account One company IN Piitsburp
controls GO. OOO acres OF tested gas lands
and has capital Of StGO0OOO, with IT,
stock away above par
The first men 10 make money out Of
natural gas were The ilaymaLcr Broth
ers. They were old oil operators. Nine
years ago they turned up in Murray
Vile. a sleepy l.sle village IN the old
national pike above fiitsbmg. leased "a
few thousand acres of land and started a
wildcat well. They didn't get any oil,
bat six weeks after the drill was started
they puncturcd the Muuaysyiye gas beit,
and tie result was roIlcf that made
life q burden to he natives The Hay
makers were disappointed: they were
after oil and had no use fog "a natural
gas well even Of the high pressure kind
For three years the vel roarvd and
fumed. flowing is fuel into the air nm
checked Then q Itusville firm. Pew
and Emerson. thought they SAW q good
thing in the neglected Wei. bought a
with part Of the liaymakels lya.e- and
laid q pipe line To rittshdIs. The clcvei
little Ll-incss transaction ia six year.
has retted them as many millions, and
land about llurraysviilc which IN ls-u
could have been bought for So au acre
now commands forty t.nes a7 much
The story Of the eiowth Of the natural
pas indu.try has becn todd and retoli
but little has ever been said OF the men
Whose pockets il has lined. Pew AND
Emerson. who LAID the fist iSpe line and
reaDed the first Golden harvest, have both
had remarkable c.r-1i5. la 1872 tho
former was an oil we'll contractor ana
thc latter bank cashier in Iitusvhle
They formed a partnership IL Tie oil
business with joint capital ci less than
$1,000 apiece Their first transaction
was the purchase II fix played out oil
wells in Clarion county. whose combined
monthly production was less than 100
barrcls they drilled Ole 81 lhe WELL
few hundred i,rt deeper and
it started On III q daily gait Vi
800 bauls Before they mad timt
to deepen the remaining i've an oil City
man offered them 0lj.OUD fl The 1T and
they accepted The new owner continued
the deepening process. bat Lot one VI the
others responded to the influence a the
drill. and iii time he found himself oUl
s6O 900 bv the dead. However, what was
his loss was Pew and EmcisOn's gain
and theuneNpected lift they had received
enabled them T. engage in operations in
the Bradford and Allegheny fields which
made them millionaire. When they be-.
came the pioneers in the natural gas
business their good luck did not desert
them. The pipe line which they laid t.
Pnisbure yielded them a princely in
como from the outset, and The leases
which they purchased from the Hay
makers gave them control 81 the best
producing territory in the Muuaysvillc
field When they sold cat 70 the Phill.
lelphia Natural Gas company in the
winter of 1856 they received in stock and
cash something over S3,OOJ0OO.
While still in its infancy the natural
gas industry received baptism Of blood.
Almost as quickly as Pew and Emerson,
Milton Weston. q shrewd Chicago broker
and n reputed millionaire, discovered the
possibilities Of the new fuel and hurry
Ing to Murraysyillc ne leased several
hundred acres Of land from the Hay
makers for $4,000. OF the purchase
money one-fourth was paid down and
the other threc-fOurths was 70 be paid in
quarterly payments Of $4,000 each. one
defaulted payment 10 render the lease
void. When the second payment fell
due and the three days of grace expired
without Weston putting in an appear
ance, the Haymakers at once released
the land to Pew and Emerson, and when
Weston, who had been detained on the
way, arrived in MurraysViNe, a few
hours later, he found the lease guarded
by the new proprietors' men. Returning
toPittsburgh he engaged some eightymen
and arming them with nuskets and revol-
vers told them to 90 TO Murraysville and
regain possession Of the lease 1T any cost
The men attempted 10 carry out his in
stiuctions and the result was a riot in
which three of the defending party, in
Guiding one of the liaymakcrs, Were
killed and several others badly wounded
although at the end of the fray Pew and
Emerson still retained possession Of the
disputed property As a result of the
riot WestOn's foreman was found guilty
Of manslaughter and sentenced 10 ten
years Imprisonment. Weston himself
was arrested on the same charge. as be-
ing accessory to the fact. Notwithsland-
ing the strenuous efforts Of his friends
and counsel 10 save him, he was con
yicted and served three years Of a five
years sentence in the Riverside peni-
Tertiary III Allegheny before he was par
dOned.
A man whose profits from the gas bust
ness have been even moro magnificent
than those OF Pew and Emerson IS George
Westinghouse Of air brake fame. lie i,
still Young man, only little past 40
but Tor more than decade he las been
counted among the several times million
aires Westinghouse is New York state
man, raised somewhere in the central
part OF the state, at Cortland, think.
where lie learned the machinist'5 trade
Twenty years ago he went to Pittsburg
in search Of work. On the way the train
no Was on coihdcd with another and
Westinghouse narrowly escaped being
killed. However, this collision proved "a
turning point IL lis lille and the iounda-
ton OF lis vast fortune. It set him 10
thinking whether or not some plan could
not be Contriyed fer bringing rapidly
moving rains more quickly to a stand
still, and the result Of repeated expert
ments in this direction was the Westing-
house air brake After he had received
Il patent on his invention he endeavored
TO sell half interest in it Tor 81 900, but
was unable to find a purchaser.
Then he determined To manufacture il
lifpS.lf .nI aff.r tho fret f.Vg or flra.