Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-08-24
a THRILLING EXPERIENCE.
An Oil Mans Sudden Rise and How It was
cOmpIiShed,

An Oil Mans Sudden Rise and How liz WAS
Accomplished.
A large mum Der of promir ent oil men
from the various fields OF Ohio, Indiana,
Pennsylvania and West Virginia, were
telling their experiences in the oil fields,
says ST. Mary's co. correspondent
The one that mostly attracted atten-
ton was a thrilling one by Joe English,
a well-znown contractor His story
was as follows:
Il was about twenty years old when
the oil excitement broke out in our
country, and was leading the unevent-
full life of farmers son. We lived on
farm of one hundred and forty acres,
within two miles of prosperous town
of Pennsylvania and there was little
excitement for any of us until some
of the oil men from Oil City came
down and built d rig on the Davis farm,
about quarter of mile from our
place. The greasy fluid was struck in
paying quantities. | believe we drilled
four wells, and all are good producers
No. acted strangely. The day it came
in it filled two two hundred and fifty
barrel tanks in four hours, and we lost
considerable oil because of lack of
tanxage. The well settled down, how
ever, to about three hundred barrels
day, and kept flowing at that rate for
about five days, when it petered out al
together. Just twelve days after that
well quit flowing | had the strangest
experience that ever fell to the lot of
man.
Zone day I was walking about the
farm when some delayed figure-work
occurred to me, and l resolved to do it
| then and there. The abandonded we'll
was near by. Knowing would be Sc
cure from intrusion there, | walked in
to the derrick. An empty candy box,
{ which | placed over the casing-head,
| furnished "a good seat. Producing pencil
and paper, | proceeded in my own way
to,solve the problem of petroleum pro-
| duction. In just about two minutes
the well began squirting salt water at a
| furious rate and with such tremendous
force that l was hurled high into the
air, box and ALL There is no use try
ing to describe my feelings. I was too
thoroughly frightened to have any. All
I know, a man of a hundred and sew
enty-fve pounds was lifted violently
| heavenward.
''The column of water evidently
struck the box exactly in the center,
for we went up as straight as plumb
line. What is more, | never changed
my seat, and in the very nature of
things it was impossible to do So The
squirting water was of sufficient volume
to entirely fill the box and send
pretty heavy aqueous wall on every
side into the bargain. The box
was not large, and, of course,
my feet would naturally hang over
under ordinary circumstances, but iH
this case the water threw my legs up
ward This put me in peculiarly I'M
comfortable, yet singularly safe, posi-
ton. l sat there, head and legs inclined.
SO that l resembled the letter V, and
was firmly held in that position by the
outpouring current.
81 must have gone up fully forty-fve
feet but the initial force carried me
higher than it could hold me, and I set
tied back about fifteen feet, all the
while maintaining the same position.
When reached that point where the at
traction of gravity exactly counters the
force of water I stopped. The point was
fully thirty feet from the ground. 1t was
impossible for me to fall to either side
and equally impossible to fall straight
down, for the spraying water played
into that box with terrific force. The
only movement I felt was the alterna-
tive rising and falling of the box occa
stoned by the contention between the
attraction of gravity and prOpulsive
force of gas and water. The only pain
I experienced was in my legs, which
soon became numb from the constant
pounding of the water
1.-THE roar and the squirting water
soon attracted the attention of the folks
at the house, and after them came the
neigkbors, oil operators and others,
until there was a crowd of several
hundred people standing around with
in safe distance of the descending
water. I couldn't see much of them,
. and, of course, couldn't hear word
they said. Gradually the pain seemed
to grow less, and the next knew was
in bed, and in dreamy way saw the
folks standing around
''They told me how my final rescue
came about. The we'll ceased flowing
gradually, and finally petered out alto.
gether. AS the column of water drop
ped the box with it's now insenate bur
den, came down with it and rested ex-
actly over the mouth of the well whence
it started. [ fell over on the derrick
floor and was picked up ard carried out
and then into the house. Pittsburgh