Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-06-06
GABE HARRIS

IN tine depresslOns Dehlnu Jhe Jrees anu
stumps
The spring had been early by the last
week of April the snow was all gone from
the recesses Of the deep forest. There had
been but little rain, and the warm sun had
dried the rotting timber in the woods The
leaves strewing the woods were crisp and
combustible as paper. They were scatter
ed hither and thither by the frequent
breezes blowing from the Great Lakes, and
they found lodgment only where they fell
into waste petroleum and became soaked
Never were there conditions more favOra
BILE for a terrible, disastrous forest fire.
Everybody was careful of fire. Men
who in sullen silence, or with angry deDun
citation Of the Pipe Line company watched
their oil run TO waste, forbore smoking in
the woods for fear spark from pipe would
start the conhagration they all dreaded.
Drilling was stopped fires we're drawn
from the boilers at pumping wells.
The producers had held mass-meetiDgs
and denounced the action of the company
they had even attempted violence. To all
complaints the company seemed Indifferent;
to protect their property they had called
upon the sheriff Of the county and his posse,
which consisted mainly Of men in their en-
ploy.
been absent In the attack upon the pump
station he had taken no part but every
day he had gone to the Office of the Lines"
and asked to have his oil "run." Having
made the request and received an answer,
he handed the superintendent an estimate
of the amount of petroleum that had run
to waste on his lease the previous day. The
reply he received was the same that all ap
picants we're met with
I'VE have no room, but are increasing
our tankage daily, and hope to relieve you
soon. However, if you wish to sell your
oil for immediate shipment, we will run it
at once. q"
Immediate shipment oil brought TWEEN
/ ty cents barrel less than the market price
for crude petroleum, and many of the pro-
ducers, pressed by their creditors, or need
| ing money to buy the necessities of life,
were forced to accept the company terms.
| But Gabe though his credit was nearly ex
hausted, would not thus yield to monopoly.
Rather than sell his oil for immediate ship
ment he would let his creditors have his
property, and support his family by work
ing on the streets of Hartford. His home
he could retain, for the little portable house
with its furniture was paid for, and he
would not have to pay grOund-rent, as on
the leases the surface of the ground had no
value, save where the derricks and their
engine-houses and tanks were located
Perhaps he would not have been so cour
ageous had his wife not been of the opin-
ion that his course was right. Her nature,
though affectionate and gentle, was indie
pendent and self. reliant. Poverty had no
terrors for her She had endured it, had
suffered many privations in practicing a
rigid economy in order TO save the wages
Gabe had earned as driller, so that some
day they might have lease of their own.
They had secured one on it had put down
three wells, and were meeting with regu-
larity and promptness the notes given for
machinery and tanks when the shut
down came, and their oil Joined that of
other producers on the hill side-forever
lost. She was glad Gabe had not become
violent and made threats as his neighbors
had done, because she thought much talk a
display of weakness, and she would have
regretted her marriage had she at last
found herself the wife of a weak man.
She knew she could rely upon his silent de-
termination to win in his conflict with the
Lines" without an appeal to dynamite
which remedy for their abuses was daily
threatened by the producers.
Meantime Gabe formed plan. He re-
solved to run his oil himself, first gauging
his tanks in the presence of witnesses to as
certain the amount they contained theI
he would turn the stopcock, and set don
key engine to work pumping the petroleum
into the main line. When his tanks wer,
empty, he would demand of the Lines"
storage certificate for the amount of tn
, oil run.
On a clear warm morning in May h
kissed his wife good-by for the day, an'
r set out on horseback for Hartford to max
a final demand on the company to run hi
OIL
h His lease was at the head of the Kendall
, creek valley. From the door of his hous
r he could see the Tuna, into which the rapi
Kendall creek emptied Scattered throug
n the valley were several villages, the near
est to his home being Kendall. On tn
a banks of the creek were great number q
e iron storage tanks, each one painted red
and having on one side the name of tn
owner and its capacity stated in white let
ters Gabe had often looked at them, an
q thought as many another passer had done
q what big fire they would make if the pc
a troleum in one of them should be ignited
v But that day as he rode toward them hi
i thoughts were far from the subject of
r confagration in them. Suddenly his rev
r ery was rudely interrupted. The sound @
a an explosion startled him, and looking VI
= he saw large fiat object flying in the all
a Recognizing it as the roof of an iron tanl
q he gave rein to his horse, aud dashed tOwar
r the column of smoke aud flame intertwine
!. that he saw rising near the town of KeI
IS dali
a. The petroleum in an iron tank was burr
ing, and he knew with what danger tn
Is fire threatened Kendall. The tank va
a. Lag,l 81 he. Al
a. and if it should overflow, or another tan
> be ignited and burst with an explosion
l. gas, the burning fluid would surely
q borne on the stream among the houses tn
% further down lined its banks. From the
n houses the town lay in the direction Il
,e wind was blowing, and the wooden, cauva
} lined dwellings were as combustible as I'll
der If fire should break out among Il
houses on the creek the town would soC
be in ashes and many families homeless.
d All of this Gabe comprehended in a m
6 ment, and he rode right into the villag
shouting TO the women whom he saw STAN
ing in their doorways and gazing curiou
le ly at the blazing petroleum, Bring all tl
ID shovels and picks you can find.
,e Looking back over his shoulder, he sa
O. fire running up the side of the hill, d
blazing leaves blown by the wind appa
ID emily in hot racs TO spread the confiagr
es ton, TO carry destruction far and wide.
We a glance he saw the direction OF the Il
D. was toward his own home and lease-tOwa
e. his wife and children, whom he had Il
but half hour before,
~ At the telegraph station of the Lime
u he drew rein, and yelled TO the operate
10 Tell Hartford we want men with picks a
a. shovels, and we want them quick. Wi
n, the railroad company for special TRAN
he The operator, who had already report
an iron tank on fire, promptly sent Cab
message. Before il reached Hartford, Ga
70 was on his way at full speed OF his hor
wv He rode 10 within a hundred yards OF
rs' burning tank, and hitched his horse seeul
IN ly to a tree ON the windward side Of the fl
'r- Then snatching a shovel from one won
as and pickaxe from another, he ran u
x bend of the creek, and began the constr'
OF ton of a dam.
lic Two old men and some boys came TO h
he him, while the women brought picks a
el' shovels, and laid them on the bank Of
ne creek, in readiness for use by husbands a
lee brothers, who 10 a man were attending
mass meeting of the producers in Harfo
The blazing oil heated the tank,
flames roaring and struggling TO maint
a a perpendicular against the wind, growi
,ou in force and blowing steadily.
N" lla Gabe was working with wonderful en-
IN, gy, making a sluice for the escape of
pod water. at the same time directing his