Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1890-05-23
GABE HARRIS.

tue IldilbId OH ltEt'' 'tnu bt'u iAi i'i
many DAYS and every time a well flowed
..nH a head the petroleum was wasted. 1t
ran orer'tbe tank : brim, Saturated the dry
leaves aud formed pools Oh the hillsides
Ia the dcplessions Lrhiaitrees aud 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 ground we're as crisp and
comhustble as paper. They were scatter
ed hither and thither BY the frequent
breezes blowing strong from the Great
Lakes, aud they found Judgement only
where they fell into waste petroleum and
became soaked. Neverw there condi-
tions more favorable fof a terrible, disas
trous forest FIRE.
Everybody was careful Of fire. Men who
in sullen silence. or with angry denuncia-
ton of the Pipe Line Company, watched
their oil run to waste, forbade smoking in
the woods for fear a 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-meetings
and denounced the action Of the company;
they had even attempted violence. To all
complaints the company seemed inditfer-
ent; to protect their property they had
called upon the sheriff of the county and
his posse, which consisted mainly of men
in their employ.
From all the meetings Gabe Harris had
been absent. In the attack uPon the pump
station be 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 be received was the same
that all applicants were met with:
I'VE have 10 room, but are increasing
our tankage daily, and hope TO relieve you
| soon. However, if you wish to sell youl
oil for immediate shipment, We will run ii
at once'
Immediate shipment oil brought
! twenty cents barrel less than the market
price for crude petroleum, and many oi
the producers, pressed by their creditors ol
needing money to buy the necessities o
life, were forced to accept the company
terms. But Gabe, though his credit va
nearly exhausted, would not thss yield t.
monopoly. Rather than sell his oil to
| immediate shipment, he would let his cred
itors have his property, and support III
| family by working on the streets OF Har
| ford His home he could retain, lor III
| little portable house with its furniture wa
paid for, and he would not have to pal
! ground-rent. as on the leases the surface o
the ground had no value, save where tn
derricks and their ngine houses and tank
were located.
Perhaps he would not have been s.
courageous had his wife not been of tn
opinion that his course was right. He
nature, though afiectionate and gentle, wa
independent and self reliant. Poverty hat
no terrors for her. She had endured it
had suffered many privations in practising
a rigid economy in order to save the wage
Gabe had earned as a driller, so that som
day they might have a lease of their own
They had secured one; on it had put dow
three wells, and were meeting with regu
larity and promptness TIE notes given 70
machinery and tat,bs p:Lua tha '.shn
down" came, and their oil joined that q
other producers on the hill-side-foreye
lost. She was glad Gsbe had not becom
violent and made threats as his neighbor
had done, because she thought much tai
a display of weakness, and she would hav
regretted her marriage had she at las
found herself the wife of Il weak man. Sh
knew she could rely upon his silent deter
mination to win in his conflict with tn
Lines" without an appeal to dynamite
which remedy for THEN abuses was dali
threatened by the producers
Meantime Gahe formed plan. Ii
resolved to run his oil himself, first gaug
ing his tanks in the presence of witnesse
to ascertain the amount they contained
then he would turn the stopcock, and set
donkey-engine to work pumping the petro
leum into the main line. When his tank
were empty, he would demand of til
Lines" storage certificate for tn
amount of the oil run.
on clear warm morning in May h
kissed his wife guod-by for the day, AM
set out on horseback for Hartford to make
final demand on the company to run hi
oil
His lease was at the head of the Kendall
Creek Valley. From the door of bis hous
he could see the Tuna, into which th
rapid Kendall Creek emptied. Scattere'
through the valley were several villages
the nearest to his home being Kendall. Oh
the banks of the creek were a great mum
Der of iron storage tanks, each one painte'
red and having On one side the name o
the owner and its capacity stated in whit
letters. Gabe had often looked at them
and thought, as many another passer hat
done, what big fire they would make
the petroleum in one of them should b'
ignited. But that day as he rode toward
them his thoughts were far from the sub
iect of a confagration in them. Suddenly
his revere was rudely interrupted. Th'
sound of an explosion startled him, ant
looking up, he saw a large Hat object fly
ing in tho air Recognizing it as the roo
of an iron tank, he COVE rein to his horse
and dashed toward the column of smok'
and flame intertwined that he saw rising
near the town Of Kendall.
The petroleum in an ron tank was burn
ing. and he knew with what danger the fir,
threatened Kendall The tanl, was one o
a group on the bank Of the creek, and ii /
should overflow, or another tank be ignitet
and burst with an explosion of gas, thu
burning fluid would surely be borne on th,
stream among the houses that furthe
down lined its banks. From these houses
the town lav in the direction the wind wa
blowing, and the wooden, canyas.l linet
dwellings were as combustible as tinder
If a fire should break out among the houses
on the creek, the town would soon be il
ashes and many families homeless
All of this Gabe comprehended in a mo
ment, and he rode right into the village
shouting to the women whom he saw
standing in their doorways aud gazinl
curously at the blazing petroleum, "Brint