davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07
STATE HOUSE AT OLYMPIA.

down TO Ogden and Salt Lake City by an
other road, and to adjacent points by still
other lines The city is also building an in
cline on what is called the "Switch-back"
principle To the summit of the Rocky noun
tains only few miles away. Ten miles west
Of the city are the great baths, supplied from
hot springs in the mountains, and at these
baths Col. Broadwater has lately opened one
of the finest hotels in the west. The main
swimming tank ut the baths is 300 feet long
and l20 feet wide-a sort of popular fun-and-
frolic bath.
The Montanians have agreed that Helena
shall he the capital until 1890, and then the
people shall decide by vote on permanent
capital. During this time the Lewis and
Clarke county court house will be used AZ
state capitol-it Is a sort of miniature state
house. and ample for present purposes-and
II the people decide on Helena ms the perma-
nent capital they expect to expend u, 100000
on building that will DO their capitol and
their pride for all time to come. The city is
well supplied with hotels, street cars, branch
railroads TO mining camps aud other appli-
ances Tor state capital, and, aside from
what nature has done, the legislators will find
plenty of amusement in the lively city.
Olympia never professed 10 be the first
among The cities of the nav state of Wash
ington, aud makes no extravaGant promises
of being permanently even the fourth or
fifth; but it Is AN exceedingly lively town,
and was certainly the best cho.ce for the cap
ital Tie streets are broad and the shade
trees have had time to grow, the point on
which tile towE is built is attractive from
the near vicinity of Budd's inlet # Puget's
sound, and the climate is almost Perfection,
while not far away are the falls wbsre the
Des Chutes river descends eighty-five feet In
800 yards, making an abundant water power
Il Is asserted that no other place in America
Is so conveniently near both fishing and
hunting grounds Of the very best, and is at
the same time 50 lavishly supplied with agri-
cultural products
The sound affords oysters, clans and fish
Ill the year round, the adjacent woods still
abound IN grouse and pheasants, while in the
mountains. not more than twenty-five miles
away, bear, deer, elk, and mountain sheep
are still found IN winter The many prongs
Of Puget's sound give tho interior navigation
of Washington such a peculiar geography
that the nonresident could not divine by any
amount OF ss-dy the natural place for the
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07

LEWIS AND CLARKE COUNTY COURT HOUSE.
Temporary State House
dian trading post, and finally "rattling
frontier town." reached by daily stage, it be-
came place of note when the great travel
ahead of the Northern Pacific railroad set in.
In 1874 IL became the terminus Of that road
and so remained till the "hard times" were
past and the great northwestern boom"
Bismarck had 1t bad. Corner lots sold at
Chicago prices, and real estate owners spoke
confidently of "holding for 1000 per front
foot" The regular collapse followed, and
after that legitimate development. But an
extremely trying period interviewed.
When the territorial capital was located at
Bismarck the Northern Pacific Railroad COM
piny donated site for the state house-on q
hill, mile or more from the station, and no
house within half a mile Of 1t. mo matter"
said the citizens, "the town will soon grow to
it, and 5000 600 were put into the new Capt.
tol. One could have got even bets that the
town would surround the Capitol in a year.
1t is only by figure of speech that it can he
said to have reached it yet. The railroad
went on west, and this cut OFF the outfitting
and terminus freighting, and real estate took
u
enthusiastic Bismarckers that the place is
what it used to be, or even what it ought to
be- but that it will be all that they ever ex
pected it to be they do not admit doubt
The Milwaukee and st. Paul road promises
speedy connection, and roadbed is graded to
Aberdeen. Already the assured permanence
of the capital location has done something
and Bismarck once more anticipates great
future Atany rate it is the capital of North
Dakota.
Pierre, capital of South Dakota, is far less
known to the public than Bismarck, and in
deed it became capital by sort of resolution
of farces, as a certain school of scientists say
when they cannot explain phenomenon 1t
was simply "in the way" pretty near the cen
ter Of the territory and on the Missouri river
that decided it, Huron, in Beadle county,
being already railroad center, had bright
hopes of becoming the capital, but the people
decided that the growth Of the country
would soon make Pierre the center of popua-
ton, especially since the great Sioux reserva-
ton of IL 100000 acres had just been thrown
open to settlement. Pierre received n plural
ity only Of the votes, there being other can
didate cities Huron, Sioux Falls, Mitchell,
Watertown and Chamberlain. their vote
ranking in the order named.
Pierre is ON the east bank of the Missouri,
and really seems point designed by nature
for the junction of several lines Of traffic.
AT present there is but one railroad, but that
is the great east and west artery of south
Dakota-a branch OF the Chicago and North
western system The Manitoba system will
soon have line to Pierre, and, Of course, the
natural routes westward will be utilized in
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07

always knew without waiting for the returns
Just how the township had gone, for 1t con-
tanned but fourteen voters. -Four men early
in 1889 set up derrick in that wilderness
and began to bore, and soon alarming reports
reached those who were ''long of oil stocks"
that Is, those who held much oil and there
fore wanted the price to go up. Sothe woods
were soon full Of scouts"
The owners surrounded the derrick with
high board fence, and had several guards,
who at night kept up random firing into
the woods to scare away the scouts" Never
theless, one daring young man crept past the
guards and lay hidden for seventeen hours In
aide the derrick, gaining the all important
knowledge that Number 646' was flowing
we'll. His fortune was made, and so was that
Of his employers, for they ''sold short" and
in a few days prices fell so greatly as to in
volye a total loss of sS0,0oo,0oo to the hold
era It was "Black Friday" to the bulls. !"
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07


good time The town got its start as an out
fitting point for the Black Hills, and has held
1t as the site of government Indian school
and of the Pierre university. At present the
population is increasing rapidly, and there
are fair indications of n capital boom. II is
behind the other capitals, however, in hav-
ing no legislative building, and the legisla-
ture which cnJs- the first United States sena-
tor met in a ward school building
Pierre las a complete and well organized
city government, very good system Of cleo
trio lights, iirst class water works and fire
department ami system OF fire protection
which is really quite phenomenal for 50 new
q place. This comprises ten miles OF mains,
sxty-flve hydrants and commodious quarters
for the dire companies. The new hotel, to
cost Ss0,OOD, will be after the taste Of the
most faI!t.o1s, Nnd, in short, 1t may be said
that Pierre VII 10 able to make the Dakota
Solons quite comfortable
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07

and no wonder, for "Number 646n yielded
1000 barrels day from the start, and what
was more, it proved that new field was to
be opened, and that hundreds of new wells
would soon be flowing. Crude petroleum,
which had been selling at eighty-five cents a
barrel, declined rapidly to forty-nine cents
a figure which, for time, stopped produc-
tion on all but the big flowing wells
shooting n well,n or "torpedoingn is a
ticllish business The nitro-glycerins-e enough
Of IT 10 blow up a regiment-must be poured
into a canister which looks like a section Of a
water spout, and re same lowered very gent
ly to the bottom of the well, so fixed with a
trigger attachment that it will in due time
explode. This blows out the loose sand and
oosens the sand rock in which is the petro-
cum, and so the oil flows again. But if any
hing sets off the nitro-g lycerine prematurely,
either in the hands Of the shooter or be-
'ore he can get away from the mouth of the
well, then "Good-by, Johnm Cases have oc-
cured in which a single finger was the only
remnant ever found. And at least one case
n which teamster, wagon and two mules,
transporting the pesky stuff, were suddenly
Observation-Disclosures, so TO speak, for not a
race of either was ever found, not even a
plinter of the wagon. 1t was supposed that
ihe man drove too hard against a big stone
here was a terrific explosion, a cloud of dust,
/. hole in the ground and nothing more.
A blazing well is a sublime, an awful sight.
IF course there are many ways in which so
lnfammable a substance may take fire, and
formerly such calamity was irremediable;
but Yankee ingenuity has found remedies.
Quite recently some brilliant triumphs over
the fire are reported, the operators having
rugged immense derricks and swung NAM
moth leap" over the mouth Of the WELL then
lowered it and smothered out the fire.
Thirty years of practical work and daily
experience with the fluid have not destroyed,
have scarcely lessened, the romance of oil.
Still it excites the liveest interest, still it in
flames the Imagination; and now the devel-
Opment and control of natural gas have
come to heighten the wonder of mans tri-
umph over nature. That puny man should
bore deep into the earth for hidden powers
and harness the internal elements to the car
of progress is indeed a matter to swell the
heart with pride and hope, to add proof to
the theory that mind will eventually control
all matter and strengthen faith in the divine
origin Of the intellect and the Immortality of
the soul. The cut Of the Pittsburg well is
from Frank Leslie's.
OR. CARL PETERS AND HIS COMMAND
CUT OFF BY SOMAULEES.
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07

The export trade has far outgrown 10y per-
centages) that In any other product. In the
campaign OF 81 the people learned with
ama2cment that III one dozen years the
United States had exported more wheat than
in all previous years since the Pilgrims
landed; but Of petroleum the increase in
twenty years was from 400, 900 10 100000, 900
gallons per year-the latter in lsS3-and its
value at point Of product sil0Q0,OO0. But
The amount produced or exported was but
tribe 10 the amount sold-the former could
happen but once to n barrel, but it might be
sold any number of times. So in 1888, which
ranks as the last very speculative year. the
sales at four "oil exchanges" were:
New York City Exchange. 16ij 40 900
Bradford Exchange. ...............1,s 12, lilOOO
PittSburg Exchange POS, $40 600
Total '...,........... 600, 203OVo
The first vein of oil struck by boring was
at Titusville, Pa, on Aug. 25, 1850, and the
man who did the work, who inaugurated this
great industry, was an unsung hero, Col. +.
L. Drake He read of the ancient methods
of collecting rock oil in Persia and other
lands of the orient, saw the American meth
od Of digging pits for it to seep into and af-
ter long study of the subject concluded that
its storage place was in the rocks and that it
must be bored or dug for. He did it, made
success and established new and peculiarly
American industry-for this he deserves, and
oil men say shall have, a monument.
Edwin H. Drake was born March 90, 1919,
In Greenville, Green county, N. j. In early
manhood he located near Ann Arbor, Mich,
on a farm, but later became dry goods
clerk in New York city. The i'll health of
his wife drove him to change his residence,
and he followed various pursuits, till in 1886
he became manager for a little oil company.
He found the people using the "Seneca OIL"
as they called it, for medicine, and after
many discouragements he succeeded, on the
23d day of March, 1853, in organizing what
was called the "Seneca Oil company" He
was their local agent with a salary of $1,000
year and commenced drilling. The pain
full details of his dscouragements need not he
set forth. again and again the company de-
cared they would do no more; but again
he persuaded them to resume.
On the 25th of August, 1859, they 'struck
oil !" on the 2Sth they withdrew the drills, and
the next day they drew up tin pipe section
full of oil. There was an excitement" On
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07

in which they located all their accounts of
pygmies dog headed men and mysterious
princes with palaces finished in gold, and ele-
plants with housings of silk and silver.
When however, the Mahometan Arabs had
overrun Egypt and northern Africa, they
soon made inroads to the southwark, and
from very remote times have had routes OF
travel far into the interior. AT this day the
interior trade is wholly in the hands OF
Arabs, who even cross the continent to An
COLA and st. Paul de Loando, on the west
coast.
Within quite recent times people OF the
same race and faith have crossed the great
desert from Northern Africa and built up
connected line of half Arab half negro
kingdoms entirely across the oroadest
part of the acknowledgements, Tim
buctoo, Houssa, Bornou, Darfur, kordo-
fan and SEMINAR According TO Winwood
Reade, latest full authority on the Soudan,
the line Of Mahometanism has been carried
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07
Or. CARL PETERS AND HIS COMMAND
CUT OFF BY SOMAULEES.

The Tropical Prize for Which Arab, Eng
Beauties and Terrors of Zanzibar-PrOg-
| ress In Redeeming the Black Continent.
Details Of another awful massacre must
now be added to the horror laden annals of
| African travel and development. DR.. Carl
| Peters, the noted German explorer, organizer
and diplomat of East Africa, has been killed
with all his party, amounting to some hun
dreds of natives, Europeans and volunteers
from the mixed population of the Zanzibar
coast 1t adds not little to the dark features
Of the case that this massacre is largely due
to international jealousies between English
men and Germans, and the struggle between
them for the monopoly of the east coast trade
DR.. Peters was nominally leading an indie
pendent expedition for the relief of Emin
Bey, but as his object was really to develop
a new line of trade, he took short route or
northern line, through an unexplored re-
gion, and the result has been his destruction
| by the Somali, or Somaulees
The country for which England, Germany
and the Arabs are contending is at once fer
tile, valuable and deadly. Zanzibar as a real
sovereignty extends for ID degrees along the
coast, from deg. Som. N to 10 deg. 45m. s.,
and has no determined boundary in the in
terror On the island and coast of the main
| land the authority Of the seyid or sultan of
| Zanzibar is complete, and there is ample pro-
lection for traders of all natons but inland
| there is no government beyond the walled
| towns held by the seyid's troops, and he who
| cannot protect himself with the strong hand
| is not protected at all. On the coast the eli
mate is of course hot and enervating. inland
| the country rises rapidly to splendid plateaus,
| heavily wooded mountains and valleys OF
surprising lovelness The air is compare
| lively pure, the natural wealth great, and
| "every prospect pleases, while only man Is
VILE"
To give al idea of the valuable prize for
which the rivals are contending, it is only
| necessary to state that, in spite of savage
war and defective communications, the trade
has already made Zanzibar-the capital, on
| the west side of the island-a city of nearly
or quite 100, 900 people Although the Arabs
are the ruling race and still form the mass OF
the population, all races enjoy equal free
dom, and the trade is largely in the hands OF
Europeans and Hindoos. The adjacent main
| land as well as the island abound in valu-
able woods and furnish sugar, cotton, coffee,
cocoa, cloves, nutmegs, cinnamon, pepper
sesame. indigo, and some other tropical pro-
auctions Rice has lately been produced in
large quantities, and the inner valleys, wher-
ever cultivated, yield abundantly of maize,
millet and other productions of warm tenn
perate lands Further inland the elephant,
rhinoceros, hippopotamus, crocodile and
many kinds of antelope abound, and the
rivers are we'll stocked with fish. The ex-
ports already exceed S3,OOO,0OO, nearly one
third being of ivory.
Into this land at date far beyond the be-
ginning of history went the daring Ham
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07


nized in Titusville as a success, for it was
known that early that the well would yield
at least twenty barrels day. 1t soon rose
to twenty-five, then gradually declined; but
the problem was solved. "boring for oil' was
soon to be a rage Like most great discov-
erers, Mr. Drake got no benefit from it. In
1869 he was so poor that the oil operators
made up for him purse Of 1900. Like
James Marshall, who discovered gold in
Capt Suffers mill race in California, he was
long forgotten. In 1878 the legislature OF
Pennsylvania granted pension Of $1,000
year to Mr. Drake and wife during the life
of either In 1870 he located in Bethlehem,
Penn, where, on the 9th of November, 1881,
he died.
Many columns like this would be required
to trace the development Of the new industry,
to relate how the Seneca oil for rheuma-
tism" became the great illumination, how
lamps were invented to suit it, and how
kindly the people took to it until, III
three or four years, 'star candles" became OBJ
solete and tallow one was exhibited as
specimen of the eight of other days" Equally
interesting is the development of the tools
for boring and pumping, shooting wells"
and other parts of the business. 1t has also
its amusing features; there are scouts"
OH the lookout to discover the condition or
prospects of new well, guards to prevent
intrusion, and explorers and spectators de-
tectives, for the manipulators of the stock
market often have vital interest in knowing
all about new well or a newly developing
district.
"Wildcatters" are those who take the risk
of sinking wells in unknown territory, and
when they do ''strike oil, it is often of the
utmost importance to the scouts" to learn
the exact character of the new well. 1t was
in 1882 that the most memorable contest be-
tween these two classes took place Cherry
Grove was a primeval wilderness in Warren
,ourtv and fine politicians at the county seat
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07

i ties of southern
Arabia, and after
them the Phoni-
c i ans, Persians,
Jews and Asiatic
Greeks. As early
as the times of Sol
ONION and the lat
er Hebrew proph-
cts, the products of
the region were cell
ebrated, but dur
ing the so called
=" Dark Ages" it
was a land of mys-
terry to the people
of Europe-a land
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07
LIGHT FROM THE ROCKS.
"THE ROCKS POURED NE OUT Rlv-
ERS OF OlL."-JOB.

Thousands of Barrels Per Day-Startling
Facts In the Production. Sale AID Trans
port of Oil-Anc!ent Methods - Il. L.
Drake the First to "strike Oil" by Boring
"a great gusher-l 900 barrels Of oil per
day"
Such Is the report on the new oil well just
opened near Pittsburg, within five miles
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07
NEW STATE CAPITALS.
WHERE LAWS FOR THE RECENTLYAD'
MlTTeD STATES WILL BE MADE.
Helena Temporarily Chosen by Montana
bismarck Selected by North and Pierre
by South Dakota, and Olympia Settled
Upon by Washington.

Americans must soon get used to hearing o.
four more state capitals. They must expec,
during the session their daily news from the
legislatures at Pierre and Bismarck, the great
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07

Can get coed paper good tpye-sctng or clean press
WORT on lob work at op that knows nothing on
these things and which employs cheap help and sp-
prentices only.
The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-12-07
THE FREE TRADER

so,icits your patronage solely on the merits q
its work. and It's Reasonable Charges W
work guaranteed to be right.
The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-09-21

having made myself as presentable a.:
possible, to the HillstOnes, and was
shown into an empty drawing room
empty save for the vulgar parrot, who
eyed me most Inadvertently. And then
Alice came in, her face flushing and
paling. | hurried to her and tried to
take her hand, especially as l heard
the approaching cackle of the old lady
But Alice changed to u statue of ice.
''Do not ask me for an answer, Mr..
Philton," she said, Il detest deceit"
Just then in came her mother, not at
all digniiied, but most vituperative at
being, as she vulgarly called it, ''made
fool Of" Then it came out in a sort
of duet that by persuasion of Mr..
Ruggle (ah, that execrable namely they
had visited Mrs. Dynley and heard the
story of her parrots purchase by the
cousin Jim and the vendors address,
which unluckily for me was at the
bottom OF my cage, thus showing my
bird and Iwere hollow shams.
Strong in my knowledge of having
squared" the bird fancier, indig-
nantly denied the fact and repeated the
story of my f20, when Mrs. H. vio-
lently pulled the bell, and Yates
ushered in the wretch from Bethnal
Green himself, to whom the old lady
turned for his story.
'l'm honest man, am" said this
ruffian, land thought there was little
szaafoot agin my alb customer, Mr..
Dynley, who's a good customer" And
then the sordid villain told the whole
story, including my attempt to bride
him.
AS l left the house that low, vulgar
beast of bird crooned out, III warm
yer!"-Belgravia.
The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-09-21
THE FARMERS BOY.

Oh tell me not of city beaux,
Who strut about with dyed mustaches,
Who owe the tailor for the clothes
In which they cut their extra dashes.
The city fop neer will choose
To tread with me the path of life, sir.
And should he wsb, I'd e'er refuse;
I'd scorn to be dandy's wife, sir.
The farmer boy with rudy face,
Whose hand is brown with toll and tan, sir,
Whose brow is wet with honest sweat
Is my ideal of man, sir.
He knows his place, and feels disgrace
Is not attached to honest labor,
He is o blessing to his race,
A goodly man, kindly neighbor.
Meier sing to me of city boys
Who walk the streets so very grandly,
Polite whene'er they meet the rich,
And bow and smile so very blandly.
The lowly poor they never see,
And needy one whenever meeting
They coldly pass, It's not genteel
To have heart with kindness beating
Then oh the farmers boy for mel -
He holds communion sweet with nature;
He roams the fields with joyous glee,
All blithe Of limb and tall OF stature.
For him the fairest blossoms bloom,
Upon the air their fragrance breathing;
For him shall maidens gather flowers, -
Around his brow their garlapds wreathing.
For him the brook goes laughing by, -
The ripping rill and murmuring river;
For him the stars bedeck the sky,
Their glory shining DER him ever.
For him the feathered songsters send
Their joyous mhsic on the brecZes;
Their notes harmonious ever blend,
To form lay his heart that pleases.
Then oh for me the farmers boy,
The one in every truth most wealthy
The man whose heart is light with Joy.
Whose ruddy face bespeaks him healthy.
The farmers boy whose wealth of mind
Shows that he learns just what he can, sir,
Whose heart is ever true and kind
Hes my ideal of a man, sir.
Ohio Farmer.