The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-02-20
DISCOVERY OF PETROLEUM.
The Men That Paid for It Were Not the
Ones 7 hat Got Rich.

hundreds to the lucky section OF that
state in quest of easily made fortunes,
and, while the few struck IL bonanza,
many left there well equipped for
cross-c0untry expedition to their own,
their native heaths. OF course the oil
could not How on forever, nor could the
small producers continue to make
money when pumps were resorted to,
SO they transferred their rights and
property to corporations opulent enough
to equip scores of wells with the neces-
sary apparatus and then made money
off the sales. Along in the last decade
the Pennsylvania fields were practical
ly deserted as far as further expert
ments were concerned, for the ground,
being punctured With enough holes to
give it a screen-like appearance, were a
miniature of the surface of some
counties produced. The derricks were
sold and their timbers became com
ponent parts of the buildings, the drills
were disposed of as best they could
be, and the operators waited their
chance to invade new territory. FL
nally, the discovery of that dirty, black
oil which escaped from the ground in
northwestern Ohio when it was given
an outlet was announced. From the
deserted fields of Pennsylvania, the
scenes of building up and wrecking of
fortunes, there came q horde of men
into the quiet town of Lima. Not an
acre remained unleased, saving where
the owner figured out that if any bene-
fit was to be derived from his property
he would be the beneficiary. Soon the
rasping of saws and noise of hammers
proclaimed the erection of derriclSs, to
be followed by the putting of steam
which had served to operate the drills.
Oil had been found at a certain depth
and when the drills reached the maxi
, mum, unless oil had been struck before,
they were hauled from the ground, and
I if the oil had not been struck in paying
, qualities the producing sand was
: treated to dose of nitro glycerine
, sufficient to destroy any building in the
? country. SO plentiful was the oil at
first that the efforts were generally
successful, and as soon as the pipe line
companies became prepared to receive
the oil the producers lived in clover de-
spite its cheapness.
AS it was in the old field so it was in
the new, the land was soon leased up
the oil began to require pumps and op-
orators donned their thinking caps
Gas had been found around Findlay and
Bowling Green and was cheaper than
stealing coal or wood. Arguing that
the oil belt must run in the same direc-
tion from Lima some men who were
backed by years of varied experience in
the Pennsylvania region did little ex-
ploring, and subsequently opened up
4 what has proven the most productive
e field in the world, but it wasn't their
fault the discovery occurred when it
:. did Determining upon a location near
;, the dead little town of New Baltimore,
: they leased few hundred acres and
let the contract for drilling a we'll
: One of the provisions with the con-
d tractor was that when the drill reached
}: a certain depth work was to be sus-
, pended and they were to be informed
: by wire The greatest precaution was
necessary, for if the we'll panned out
t as they hoped, they expected to lease
tens of thousands of acres and control
r the field. If it were failure they
would abandon it. In sinking these
e wildcat wells the greatest secrecy is
= observed, and sometimes armed SEN
tervals to intercept spies, who in turn
v might be concealed in the foliage of
:. high trees on knobs and intently OBJ
a serving the operations by means of
telescopes.
!. Day after day the drill kept sinking
o into the soil. Finally it reached the
!. limit and the contractor shut up shop
and made for the nearest telegraph
,. station to inform the owners that every
q thing was ready for them. He left his
, helpers behind him and had not been
gone long before a plot was concocted.
=, Say, boys" said one who had fol-
~ lowed the business for years, none of
a. us are worth n cent, and we won't be,
either, if we wait for those fellows to
=. drill this well in, so propose that we
. send the drills into the sand ourselves.
y If we strike oil we will have all the
work we want; if we don't we won't be
=, anything out. What do you say?"
All that was needed was a leader and
: the others were only too glad to find
~ one in their companion. The fire was re.
! kindled and the drill was soon forcing
- its way deeper. The sand was finally
y. reached and rumbling noise was
- heard down the casing 1t grew louder
and the rope became slack. Then il
" was crowded out of the mouth Of the
i casing followed by the poles which are
above the drill and at last the drill was
q violently hurled to the top of the der
- rick. The oil shot from the hole like q
> geyser, with force which sent il
~ above the derrick and drove the mer
away. They realized what they haG
% done and left the scene in hurry,
" knowing that should the owners find
them there the dispute would have tc
be settled by revolvcrs and knives. The
well flowed on and the thick oil rar
down the hills like rivulets, forming &
- - lake in dale near by. Thousands Of
barrels We're wasted before twenty -foul
:, hours had elapsed and the news spread
like wild-fire. The tleetest horses in the
" neighboring towns bore the leasers u,
they entered the territory, and arm,
% were leased right and left. When the
owners arrived at the scene they were
:, in a frame of mind which would have
sealed the doom of the driller had ht
- put in an appearance. A fortune il
b their grasp two days before had es
~. capped them, but they did the best they
IL could, plugged the well and anchored
the casing and started other wells oI
G. their square mile lease. They realized
enough to make one man rich as i
.r was but it was divided into so many
parts that it did not last long.