Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-01
THE NEW OIL CENTER.
DriIlers, Producers and Magnates
Drifting to Pittsburg.
ROOMS TAKEN ON FOURTH AVENUE.
The City is Very Convenient to all Parts
Of the Oil Regions,
BIG INCREASE TO THE POPULATION

Within the past two or three years Pitts
burg has been gradually forging ahead as
the center of the oil fields of Western Penn
sylvania. The producers, the oil companies
and the drillers have come to look upon this
city as headquarters, and when an oil man
cannot be found on Fourth avenue he is
supposed to be away on a pleasure e1-
eursion.
In the early days Pithole with its saloons,
its concert halls, its wealth, adventurers,
and all the vices of ancient Babylon, was
the candle around which all the petroleum
moths first gathered, aud since that time the
oil centers have been changing every few
years. Very few of the men who partici-
pated in the first excitement can now be
found in the van of the vast army of people
who are seeking wealth by means of the
drill or in speculation. The crude at that
time was transported in barrels by wagons
from the wells to the railroads or to the AL
legheny river, down which they were hoated
upon immense RATS. It was then
worth So and So barrel, and
thousands made fortunes within a few
months following the day when Colonel
Drake brought the first petroleum to her
surface with his primitive drill. Thousands
also lost the wealth which they had thus
suddenly accumulated, and to-day men can
be seen on the streets of Pittsburg who were
then worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A MOVING METROPOLIS.
As the oil territory was gradually deveI-
oped, the metropolis Of the oil country, like
,,o1o o1l lxy
from place to place. From Pithole it
drifted to Petroleum Center, Oil City, and
thence to Butler, Greece City, and subse-
quently to half dozen mushroom towns
which sprang up in night and vanished
with the first rays of the morning sun.
In 1874 the Bradford field was opened up.
and, from a quiet village known to the RATS
men and lumbermen as Littleton, it sud-
denly developed into city of IL, 900 inhab-
itants. The territory around it held out
longer than any, of the other fields, and
Bradford became a solid and substantial
city, instead of disappearing as the others
had done. Richburg and Allentown, n.
Y, and then Garfield and Farnsworth
claimed the attention of the oil world in the
order named. When the bottom fell out of
Cherry Grove, which, by the way, was To-
Gated in the midst of hemlock forest miles
away from the nearest railroad station,
pipe lines were laid, and railroads to the
new olyOpolis were being surveyed.
THE BOTTOM DROPPED.
The forest for three months teemed with
humanity. When the bottom dropped the
unterriied driller sought new fields and it
was not long before the Washington field
was heralded as the land of oil. There was
an exodus from the upper fields which was
Washington's gain, and it was not long be-
fore every oil company, operator, or oil well
supply firm of any prominence was not rep
resented in the new territory.
From Washington they have branched
out, and the West Virginia, Shannopin,
AOokstown and Allegheny county develop
ments have been the result. The Maksburg
pool was anxiously watched by operators,
who hoped that Its staying qualities, and
area would place it on an equal with the
other frst-class fields, but the men who had
invested their capital in the new territory
".olded their tents like the Arabs and as |
silently stole away"
With the development of the new fields |
above, below, and indeed, ali around Pitts |
burg, this city gradually became the center |
of the oil fields, and to-day it is safe to assert
that there are almost as many people in Pitts |
burg who are interested in the oil business /
as in any city of what is known as the oil |
country.
COMING TO PITTsBURG.
Operators have opened their Offices here,
oil companies have made this their head |
quarters, and machine shops and supply |
companies which have followed the oil |
fields have established themselves in Pitts
burg.
C. W. Pratt of the firm of Bayne, Wilson
& Pratt, when speaking yesterday, of the
influx of oil men said sit is astonishing
to see the way this city is filling up with |
people who are interested in the oil bust
ness, one way or another. There are thou
sands of them here, and Pittsburg people do
not realize the amount of capital which has
been brought here within the
last two or three years. Why Fourth ave-
nue. is gradually being given up to them.
With a few exceptions all the offices on
Fourth avenue, between Smithfeld and
Wood streets, are now occupied by oil men.
l know, personally, hundreds of men who
have come to Pittsburg from the oil country
within the last year, and each of them has
family which will add to the population of
the city. Pittsburg is the real GEN.
ter of oildom. From it men who
are interested in the upper or lower
fields can take train from this city to their
wells almost any hour in the day and be
home for supper. 1t is so convenient here
that men who have been living in Titusville,
Oil City or Bradford, find that thev can
save money and be more at home if they are
interested in the lower country by living in
Pittsburg. All of these men are interested
in pittshuro's welfare -