Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-03
WORK OF THE DRILL.
An Industry Not Appreciated in This
County by People at Large.
MILLIONS SPENT BORING HOLES,
The Fort Pitt Calls Halt at Forest Grove
for the Present.
A GREAT FACTOR IN OUR PROSPERITY

Comparatively few people in this county
Of mammoth enterprises fully appreciate
how much of its business activity for some
years past is attributable to petroleum de-
velopment. Few even among those who
travel through the territory in the south
west of the county stop to consider the
enormous expenditure Of money there, and
though much of it is lost to operators, it
has given a vast amount OF employment,
not only to drillers but to carpenters, engine
makers, rope makers, etc., beside lifting the
mortgages on hundreds of farms, whose
owners were unable to stem the tide and
compete with Western and Southern pro-
ducers.
In the CHARTERS, Fores, Grove and Cora
opolis districts alone the holes bored reach
more than the enormous aggregate Of 225, 900
feet. 1t would certainly be over 30 miles,
and the cost of drilling alone is over a quar-
ter of a million dollars, and the total cost
iully $3.50, 900. While some operators have
lost money, it is believed that on the whole
the investment has been profitable, the prod
uct of two wells alone, the first Arbuckle
and the A. B. Young, being worth over
$500
HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED.
While it would not be very great task to
ascertain the entire cost of development and
return therefrom in the county, no one ex-
cept census enumerators seems to have paid
much attention to the matter.
The Charters district has been exception
ally good in the matter of uniformity; for,
while there are some blanks, there have
been large number of good wells and a
host of tair producers which do not make
much noise. They are still getting good
wells. The latest are on the May property,
some $50 feet south of the O'Brlen wells. One
is rated at 700 barrels by some and 500 by
others, and the other, which started off at
500, is said to be making over 200 barrels
day yet. The O'Brien wells, Nos. 1 and 2,
are still doing good work, though the tools
seem to be irretrievably lost in the latter,
which hurts her production. The McKee's
Rocks Company we'll is making go barrels
day, and the O'Brien No. 8, 80 barrels, and
the preacher" 100 barrels day.
At Forest Grove there seems to be no
abatement in activity, though 1t Is said the
Fort Pitt Company has called halt in
drilling and will ior time devote its ener-
gies to cleaning out and putting in shape its
present wells, some Is in number. Develop
ment has lately retaken o southeast as well
as southwest direction, rigs having been
built on Moon run.
HAVING HARD LUCK.
The tools have been gotten out of the we'll
on the Nier farm, three-quarters of q mile
south of Forest Grove. Much bad luck has
been met with at this well, and fishing has
been the principal occupation of the drillers
for several weeks past The Bridgewater
Gas Company's we'll, one-half mile east of
Robb station, on the Montour Railway, is
going down at a satisfactory rate at present,
though the contractor was forced to drill a
water we'll over 200 feet deep before be-
ginning active operations.
At Coraopolis but Indifferent success has
been attained. Though several wells have
been gotten none of them is large. Some
people, however, still hold to the belief that
good ones will yet be found. But though
success has been small in getting grease,
the development has given the village such
an impetus as it never felt before, and store
keepers and land owners have raked in
money shekels. Some two years ago when
livery stable was established some people
thought the proprietor crazy, but now he
can scarce supply the demand for rigs, and
boarding housekeepers flourish like willows
planted by sweet waters.