Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-03
DRIFT OF THE DRILL.
1t Appears to be in Every Direction
as Well as Toward the Center.
PERSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE
Wildcatters Determined That Surplus snail
Not be Exhausted.
ALLEGHENY COUNTY WILL BE RIDDLED


The way oil smellers are lodging around
these days in Allegheny county is calcu-
lated to make san evil and gum-cheWing
generation unbutton Its eyes, accustomed
though it may be to expect some fresh ma
terial developments deduced from sclentlhc
generalization every morning.
What these gentry would do if these roads
we're passable, or even jack-assable, is hard
to conjecture. Buckle says that Spain and
Scotland were once the most religious
nations in the world and had the worst
roads, rather appearing to argue inferential-
ly that intense piety and bad roads went to-
gether. If there be anything in the argu-
ment, the rural districts of Allegheny coun-
ty ought be the most pious in tine State, for
there certainly cannot be equally bad roads
anywhere else, and certainly in most of the
sections where the highways are the worst,
the people are rigidly orthodox. We're con-
gregations on Sundays, before, between and
after sermons, to exercise themselves In
bettering the highways it could be easily
shown to be work of necessity and human
j
other animal out of a pit.
We're it not for the piping of petroleum
its discovery in this county would be the
cause for improving the highways, for it
could never be hauled in the mud sloughs
after freezing began.
The petroleum prospectors carom from
place to place like billiard balls, and the
petroleum deposit is either serpentine in its
Windings or in pools. A territory con-
demned one month may be the center of
speculative excitement the next. The entire
line of the Montour Run Railway is now
being invested, from Imperial to the mouth
of the run at the foot of Neville Island, and
some very devious work is being DONE In
some sections scarce any two farmers get the
same contract, and some who have leased,
released and re-released several times with
out bonus stand stifly on their pins and
demand it-"no giYee, no takee."
A NEW FIELD ON TAP.
Last week much territory was picked up
by lessons in the vicinity of Guys mill; or
rather Wettengail's, now. A we'll will be
bored on the WettengaiI farm soon, and
this will doubtless have some effect on the
determination whether or no the territory is
connected with the Ewing's mill section
development.
For reasons best known to the company
interested, the territory west of the Moore
farm, In Robinson township, was condemned
last summer, so far as gas was concerned, it
being stated that the Moore farm well was
failure. It appears, however, that the well
is not much of failure after all, and that
Coraopolis is getting much of its supply of
gas from it. Charles Robb states that Moore
is getting $3.50 year rent for it, and that it
is above the average in pressure.
Developments are extending both east and
west in that section, and well will shortly
be bored in Grafton. The owner of a small
piece of ground gets bonus of $500 and
$50 per month additional until operations
are begun. This state of affairs is making
some people turn up their noses at garden
farming, which has hitherto been deemed
profitable in that section. The forests in
the vicinity of the Depp farm, on Montour
run, are being demanded to make rig tim
Der. 1t is a pity that they should be de-
stroyed, but Jim Watson secures some COM
fort from the fact that the resultant brush
heaps make good rabbit, or rather hare.
farms.
The wells in the Stowe and Robinson
township field are holding up quite we'll
Mr.. Jamison says the Arbuckle No. is
still making well up to 200 barrels day,
and No. 2 is expected to come in day or
two, and it is believed it will be as good as
No. 1. There will be a number finished
this week and next between here and Shan
nopin, but not enough to either confirm or
condemn the territory.
Hukill's No. 2, on the j. c. Morris farm,
Mt. Morris field, is in first pay streak, and
Core No. 3 and c. Wise No. 1 are still
pounding in the sand, but without results
as yet.
ON A FASHIONABLE DRIVE.
The we'll on the Wilt farm, Horseshoe
Bend, Perrysville road, is showing for a
larger one than expected. It is thought it
will be a 5O-barrel affair, and should it
prove so, there will be good lumber mar
ket in that section before Yule-tide.
The Shamokin field isn't making much
noise, being an old one, but it is turning out
big wells at intervals and there is enough
doing generally to prevent any likelihood of
the surplus being wiped out this year,
though it is likely that from this time on
Pennsylvania oil Will bring a remunerative
price. Present prices are stimulant to
action and where three or dozen wells can
be pumped by one or two engines, so that
one attendant can operate them, they are set
to work, though the output of each may be
but barrel or two. The aggregate of this
work is considerable and there is likely to
be enough of it for some years to come to
repress the energies of shale oil distillers.
1t will not surprise many people who have
been keeping note of the run of events to
hear of fresh developments up the Allegheny
river, between its mouth and the Kiskemi-
netas and even up that Congressionally i'm
proved stream, should the aspirations of
Somerset county borers be rewarded
Theories have been knocked into cooked
hat, and no one knows for certain that
belt might not run to Johnstown and up
Stony creek.
People have been sitting down on West
Virginia development from time to time,
but who is geologist enough to say that it
may Eot produce enough to support the de-
cline in Pennsylvania fields. The strata
dip deeply in that direction, but there is no
reason to doubt that in time it will be found
as feasible to drill q mile deep as it is now
to go half q milel
Duff City has been been quiet for day
or two, but the drill is at work vigorously,
and q gusher may be heard from at any
time, as the mud is not over the top of the
telegraph poles.