Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-21
A FORMER OIL KING,
The Death of His Wife Recalls the
Wonderful Story of James S. McCray.

Franklin. Pa, Correspondence New York Sun
The death in this city of Mrs. James S. Nc
Cray recalls remarkable incident Franklin
is the county seat Of Venango county, through
which flows Oil creek. along whose banks rolled
the great oil excitement. James s. McCray
was a Nenango county farmer, whose farm of
$50 acres was on top of hill near Petroleum
Center. He had been a woodchopper and mill
hand, and after time bought a team of horses.
With his team he made some money hauling in
lumber from the woods, and then bought the
farm referred to. He was to pay $4,000 for it.
and 1t was several years before he had it free
of encumbrances.
Daring the first oil excitement on the creek
no one thought of going on the hills to find oil,
and the McCray farm passed by unnoticed
In 1870 the seekers after oil began to double on
their track, and Keefer and Watson struck a
well on the Dalzell lands, adjoining McCray's,
that flowed 400 barrels a day. Oil was worth
nearly IS barrel. Big wells were soon opened
up on the McCray farm, and for the acreage it
proved to be the most prolific oil farm ever de-
veloped- For the privilege of drilling on his
farm McCray received 81 900 an acre bonus and
half the oil. Wells were put down in rapid sue
cession until the output of the farm was 2.7OO
barrels day. Oil was then IS barrel. and as
half the production of the farm belonged to
McCray, 1t made his income nearly IS a minute.
night and day. For the farm for which he paid
$1,000 he received an offer of $500 OOO but would
not take it.
Operators and sightseers f1ocked to the farm
by hundreds, and McCray's children, with a
keen commercial instinct, set up an apple
stand on the road leading up the hillside to
turn an honest penny with fruit gathered from
the orchard. At the time of this wonderful
development McCray's hilltop farm yielded the
largest revenue ever received by single firm
from the production of petroleum. From a
humble farmer McCray became one of the bo-
nanza kings of the oil region. He did not sell
his oil as fast as produced, but erected immense
iron tanks in which TO hold it for a still higher
price. He built and filled tanks until he had
10000 barrels stored. For this oil he had an
offer of SJ00,00 cash, but would not accept it.
he was holding it, he said for So a barrel
There came panic in the market and oil
dropped to SO barrel, then to %. His tanks
got to leaking and large amount of the oil ran
into the creek. Lightning struck some of the
tanks and they burned. with their contents. He
held what was left of his oil for years. and
finally closed out the mere remnant of his rich
holdings for 81 barrel, realizing a few thou
sand dollars instead of $500, 900.
McCray was the victim of many sharpers He
was taken TO New York one time in a gorgeous
car as guest of the late Jim Fisk, of the Erie
road. and is reputed to have dropped big roll
before he got home. In one way and another
his bonanza fortune was reduced to only a COM
paratlvely moderate amount. While he still
had plenty he bought fine house in Franklin,
IN which he has lived for several years. aban-
donlng the old farm on the creek.