The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-09-01

acres and was planted by his son Wal
ter, who is sixteen years old. in
planting this field he used no marker,
only a hand planter and four stakes by
which he could see to walk straight.
The rows are 90 rods long and with
out a crook. The corn in this field is
about ten feet high and is considered
among the best in the county. Three
bushels in ears will produce two bush
els shelled corn. In all our travels
this year, we have nowhere found the
corn as good as in Wood County
The corn which is produced so abun.
dainty in Wood County is either manu-
factured at home into pork OF sent to
any convenient X. r. town where it
is readily disposed of at the market
price.
While Wood County has perhaps
neither coal or iron, it has an abun.
dance Of natural gas and oil. We
travelled from Bowling Green, the
county seat, to Welker, distance of
I3 miles through the very heart of the
gas and oil field Of Wood County. At
no time were we out of the sight of
the towering derricks and very often
we could count from one point of OBJ.
servation IS, 50, IS, and even 100
derricks. At Cygnet and Oil Centre,
we saw large tank farms A tank
fam is land occupied by large tanks,
on an average one tank to an acre. A
single tank holds about $4,000 barrels
of oil. 1t is not unusual to find fifty
of these tanks in one field. This oil
is conveyed to remote cities by r. r
but also though underground pipes to
Cleveland, Toledo and Chicago. In
this section is found also an abun-
dance of natural gas. Some wells
produce oil only, Others gas only,
while others produce both oil and gas.
The gas is conducted in pipes to Tiff
fin, Toledo and other neighboring
towns, and is used for fuel.
The smell of natural gas and oil to
man prospecting for either on his
own land is pleasant, but to the man
who is not particularly interested in
either, its odor is like the fumes Of a
ruptured antiquated egg.
A picnic trip to the Maumee river
was arranged by Mr.. Kline and lady
in the interests of their guests from
Pennsylvania. A few of their neigh
bors were invited along. We had a
delightful drive of seven miles to the
river, and on the bank of that cele-
brated stream we pitched our tent and
made our coffee. After dinner, some
strolled along the river gathering beau
tifui shells, Others engaged in boat
riding, and Walter and the writer en-
gagged in fishing. l was anxious to
catch few specimens of the fish that
inhablt this river. The fish seemed to
understand my desire, as l succeeded
in catching only one of a kind. In
this river | observed something that
was amusing. Three men were fishing
with "a seine in the interest Of science (3)
AS they were dragging their seine we
observed a bass occasionally jump
over the net, but as they turned their
net toward the shore, there was agen
eral jumping of the bass over the
seine, and when it, was finally drawn
to shore, it seemed to contain every
kind of fish except the bass-every
bass escaped. Some of the bass
would jump out of the net, and then
make two or three more jumps toward
deep water. They evidently wanted
to be sure that they were out OF the
net. Toward evening we started for
home, and after driving few miles,
we observed that spindle of a wheel
was smoking. thought, now we are
in plight. But Howard, being equal
to the emergency, called to his better
half, "Maggie, is there any butter
left ?" The reply being ''yes,' the
wheel was taken off, and was no,
CREASED but buttered, and we were
soon on our way again.
During our stay IN Wood County
we had the pleasure of visiting Mr.
Abraham White and Mr.. Joseph H
Sands, who formerly came from Col
umbia County, and all of whom We
are happy to report are doing well
We appreciated very much the kind
ness of our Wood County friends, ane
will vouchfor the hospitality of Messrs
Kline, White and Sands to any vlsito
from Columbia County. These gen
tlemen and their estimable wives
know how to make it pleasant to any
Pennsylvania that may come tha
way. A. II.
Orangeville, Pa, Aug. IS.
| l.. iNl.D,.,,p IF htc III,