Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-18
SPIRIT OIL GUSHERS.
Some Old Time Wells That We're
Located by Spiritualists.
OPENING UP OF PLEASANTVILLE.
The UDcanny Way in Which That Prolific
Pool Was Found.
A FORTUNE TAKEN OUT OF THIS FIELD

all they want to about spirit influence,
said William B. Gordon, now with tn,
Manhattan Elevated Railroad Com
pany, ''but L know of my own persona
knowledge that one of the best pools in tn,
Pennsylvania oil regions was discovered
and opened up by spiritualist.
''If he didn't get his information from the
spirits, there was no lack of evidence that
he did. Every one acquainted with the
facts at the time believed implicitly that
this man was aided by the spirits. 1 be-
lieved it myself at the time, and although l
have seen considerable since to shake my
faith in this spirit business, yet L am not
prepared to say that there was any fraud
practiced on this occasion"
A Curious Incident.
Ii was over our coffee that 1 asked Mr.
Gordon to relate this incident, as it p1 omised
20 be of interest TO DISPATCH readers
''The well L refer TO-" said Mr.. Gordon,
'iwas on the Porter farm, and it opened up
the Pleasantville field in Venango county.
The Pleasantville pool, as oil people remem-
Der. came in after PithOle, and was quite as
prolific without the excitement was pros
and drilled few wells that were not entire
ly failures.
at was in 1868 There was
gentleman in the oil country at that
time. Mr. james, who had some fame as
spirituaIist, and was in demand to locate
wells by spirit influence A good many
people who didn't believe in spiritualism
thought it might do no harm, though it did
no good, to call in the aid of the spirits in
hunting a lucky spot to drill, and so Mr..
James had some business in his line. James
was a man of some means, and his chief
business was to find rich spot for himself,
rather than for other people. He kept
riding around near Pleasantville and Oil
Creek in a mysterious way.
81 used to meet him quite frequently.
He was a talkative sort of chap, and several
times told me that he was following the ad-
vice of his spirit guide and expected soon to
be placed in possession of valuable informa-
ton concerning the whereabouts of rich
pool. Of course 1 took him to be q mild
kind of crank, and vet he was the most sem
sible appearing crank that l had ever seen."
The Spirit Begins to Work.
''One day I was riding along south of
Pleasantville and was Mortified to see nv
old acquaintance, James, over in a field,
living on the ground, apparently in convul-
a
road with a stranger in 1t. The stranger
was watching James aud did not
seem to be at all alarmed. / asked him in
the name of heaven what the matter was,
and he said that James had found his oil
pool He was a Spiritualist, too, and he
went on very coolly to say that he and Mr.
James had been driving along the road and
all at once the spirit began to manifest it.
self in Mr.. James, and he was forced by
some unseen power out of the buggy, over
the fence and to the spot where he then
was.
''The friend had no doubt that the pre-
else spot where Mr.. James was apparently
enjoying himself in fit was a place where
oil could be found in large quantities.
James came around to himself in the course
of half an hour--although 1 confess that at
one stage in the proceedings he seemed to
me to be dead-and confirmed this view of
it. He said that he had been entirely under
the control of the spirits, and they had
taken this violent way to hint to him where
oil could be found. For his own part, he
felt satisfied that the spirits were right, as
they always were, and that great oil pool
was under our feet"
Big Strike Is Made.
''On this identical spot" continued Mr..
Gordon, "a well was drilled that was known
as the 'Harmonical No. l. 1t was, think,
drilled by Mr.. James and some friends. In
February or March, 1868, it was completed,
and after being agitated little, began to |
flow and produced for long time pumping |
and flowing, upwards of $50 barrels day.
''Great excitement followed this prolific |
strike, and the rich PleaSantville develop |
ment was the result. This 'Harmonical No. |
L was the first well drilled in all that sec
tion. 1t was to my knowledge the pioneer
venture in what afterward became so well |
known as the Pleasantville field. l don't |
know how many million barrels of oil this |
field has produced, but certainly as many as
5000, 900 barrels, if not more. And it is |
still producing some oil, see, and is likely |
to keep it up for some time to come.
al don't know whether the spirits had |
anything to do with it or not. They may |
not have had James may have been play |
ing part, but if SO he did it well When |
l walked over to where he was lying in the |
field, he had every appearance Of being |
under some strange influence. think, he |
was perfectly unconscious of everything |
that was going on about him. He |
was living face down on the |
ground, and was as rigid as if he had |
been dead a week. His eyes were set and |
had a most unearthly stare. / would have |
pronounced him dead had it not been forthe
warmth in his body. With his splendid |
facilities for getting advance information, |
Mr.. James ought to have made great deal |
of money out of Pleasantville, but as I re-
member it, he didn't make much. He made
money elsewhere on the creek, and / think /
lost considerable of it prospecting in Clarion |
county.
He Drills Another Spirit Well.
zone of the deep holes in the oil country
is a so-called spirit well, drilled by James
on the Clarion river. This well was located
under much the same circumstances as the
well at Pleasantville, bus the result was
very different going to show that even the
spirits sometimes get left in the oil busiaess.
The last heard from the well, which was
several years ago, 1t was nearly 1000 feet
deep and was still drilling There was little
or no oil found in it, and believe it never
amounted to anything.
sit cost Mr.. James a great deal of money.
however, as he had much bad luck in pro.
longed and expensive fishing jobs With it
all he was always hopeful and ready to 90
his last dollar on the spirits. My informa-
ton is that he did, too"
Other Spiritualists in OIL
Titusville is Q stronghold of Spiritualists
in the oil region. Several of the wealthy
and prominent citizens are among the mum.
Der. The most conspicuous of these, in
connection with oil, is Jonathan Watson,
whose active career is pretty well known.
Mr. Watson was one of the pioneer oper-
ators on Oil Greek and became very wealthy
as an oil producer. He always asserted
that he owed his success as a producer to
the guidance he received from the spirits.
Mr.. Watson also drilled very deep well-I
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