St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-02-27
IN THE OIL REGIONS.

There are a few great oil centers
like Bradford and Oil City, Penn,
that have attracted to them other
business enterprises sufficient, cou-
pied with the great refining oil inter
eStS and martS of exchange, to secure
to them permanent existence, and
some attention is here given to the
refinementS of their surroundings :;
but society and organizations are
badly affected by the changing pop
ulation. Derricks, the visible token
of well, loom up seventy feet high
on the hillsides, and in the valleys
around them, like chessrnen on a
great chess-board, and on the top of
the highest hills they stand out
against the sky like great skeletons
of monuments, and one is lost IN
wonder at the immensely of the UNI
dertaking that can haul up those
long steep hillsides the heavy timbers
and engines necessary for the drilling
of a well. The streets are not eX-
empt from these unsightly objects,
the cities having grown around the
wells that were drilled in their infan-
cy. They have philosophically &C
cepted the situation, made no. effort
to remove the distractions, but have
let the public adjust itself to the
abiding necessity, so if one runs
against an oil well in driving about,
it is only necessary to proceed around
the obstruction and find the street
again on the other side.
In Bradford, Pa, directly in front
of the Episcopal church, almost in
terferlng with an approach by car
rage to the front entrance, stands
one of these black, greasy-looking
derricks, pumping its occasional bar
rels of oil, making it too valuable to
remove; dooryards are ornamented
with them, the derricks projecting
the platforms around them are black
and Shiny with the drip from the
flow, the grass for some distance
around killed, and the earth looks
greasy and black, with an occasional
yellow scum in some depression, but
so used are the residents to these
sights that it proves no detriment to
the sale of or value of the property
for residence except with the very
wealthy.
Another curious feature of an oil
town is the network of iron pipes
that lie above the ground, covered
in places, but more often exposed,
running along the sides ofthe streets,
crossing them at intervals, which
with the poorly graded condition,
does not make driving a much to be
desired pleasure.
Here and there a pipe is standing
upright a few feet above ground, and
from many of them, night and day,
flows broad blaze of ignited gas,
giving bright light by night, and
adding to the intensity of the heat of
a summers day. Some of them are
shut off during the daytime, but a
large percentage blaze on regardless
of the suns rays. No sparks ever
come from this blaze, consequently
there is no danger from them if suffi-
cient space is allowed them when the
pipe is set. These lights may be seen
all up and down a hillside, and
through the valley, and at night they
look very pleasing and camp-like.
This is waste gas from oil wells be-
longing to individuals, the gas used
for domestic and manufacturing pur-
poses being supplied by companies.
Not much attention is given to fruit
cultivation or gardening in these re-
gions, but the people depend upon
the railroads to bring their supplies
from the land of more moderate liv-
ing. Here high prices prevail, and a
rather reckless regard for expenses is
the rule Good Housekeeping.