The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1890-07-02
GABE HARRIS.

'OH neadf the petroleum was wasted
1t ran over the tanks brim, saturated the
dry leaves and formed pools on the hill
sides in the depressions behind trees and
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
were crisp and combustible as paper.
They were scattered hither and thither by
the frequent breezes blowing strong from
the Great Lakes, and they found lodge
ment only where they fell into waste
petroleum and becime soaked. Never
were there conditions more favorable for
terrible, disastrous forest fire.
Everybody was careful of fire. Men
who in sullen silence, or with angry de-
nunciation of the Pipe Line Company,
watched their oil run to waste, forbore
smoking in the woods for fear of spark
from pipe would start the confagration
they all dreaded. Drilling was stopped; /;
fires were drawn from the boilers at
pumping wells.
The producers had held mass meetings
and denounced the action of the com
pany; 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 employ.
From all the meetings Gabe Harris
had 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 super
intendent an estimate of the amount of
petroleum that had run to waste on his
lease the previous day. The reply he re-
ceived was the same that all applicants
were met with:
"We have no room, but are increasing
our taukage daily, and hope to relieve
you soon. However, of you wish to sell
your oil for immediate shipment we will
run it at once"
"Immediate shipment" oil brought
twenty cents barrel less than the mar
ket price for crude petroleum, and many
of the producers, pressed by their cred
itors or needing money to buy the neces-
sites of life, were forced TO accept the
company's terms. But Gabe, though his
credit was nearly exhausted, would not
thus yield to monopoly. Rather than
sell his oil for immediate shipment he
would let his creditors have his property,
and support his family by working 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 der
ricks and their engine-houses and tanks
were located.
Perhaps he would not have been so
courageous had his wife not been of the
opinion that his course was right. Her
nature, though affectionate and gentle,
was independent and self-reliant. Pow
crty had no terrors for her. She had en-
dured it, had suffered many privations in
practising rigid economy in order to
save the wages Gabe had earned as a
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 regularity and
promptness the notes given for machinery
and tanks when the 'shut down" came,
and their oil Joined that of other
81 do llc
She was glad Gabe had not become vio-
lent 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 weak
man. She knew she could rely upon
his silent determination to win in his
conflict with the "Linesn without an ap-
peal to dynamite, which remedy for their
abuses was daily threatened by the pro-
ducers.
Meantime Gabe formed plan. He
resolved to run his oil himself, first
guaging his tanks in the presence of wit
nesses to ascertain the amount they con-
tanned; then he would turn the stopcock,
and set donkey-engine to work pump
ing the petroleum into the main line.
When his tanks were empty, he would
demand of the 'Lines" a storage certif-
icate for the amount of the oil run.
On clear, warm morning in May he
kissed his wife goodby for the day, and
set out on horseback for Hartford to make
final demand on the company to run his
oil.
His lease was at the head of the Ken
dali Creek Valley. From the door of his
house he could see the Tuna, into which
the rapid Kendall Creek emptied. Scat
tered through the valley were several
villages, the nearest to his home being
Kendall. On the bank of the creek
were a great number of iron storage
tanks, each one painted red, and having
on one side the name of its owner and
its capacity stated in white letters, Gabe
had often looked at them, and thought,
as many another passer had done, what a
big fire they wonld make if the petroleum
in one of them should be ignited But
that day as he rode toward them his
thoughts were far from the subject of a
ss0nfagration in them. Suddenly his
revery was rudely interrupted. The sound
of an explosion startled him, and look
ing up, he saw large, fiat object flying
in the air. Recognizing it as the roof OF