Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1895-12-27
AN EX-STkUNHON BOOMER
DESCRIBES A BOOM.
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OLA COAL
OIL BOOM IN a WEST VIR-
GINA TOWN.

Correspondence OF the StauntOn NINDICATOH.
S1sTERsv1LLE, W. Va. Dec. 1s.-How true
it is that one half of the world does not know
how the other half lives. Since l have been
in the oil field, of which this place is said to
the centre of the richest in the world, | have
seen so much that is novel and interesting
that if your readers know no more about it
than did week ago, l know they will like
to hear about it.
Everybody knows that the man who
"strikes oil'' and "strikes it big gets rich
faster than in any other known way, and here
they struck it big about four years ago and they
have been striking it ever since and now there
is not an acre of land within ten miles of this
place which has not been taken up and leased
by spectators and Adventures, and drilling,
pumping and piping is going on day and
night, work days and Sundays everywhere,
while the tall derricks rise like pyramids 80
feet high from every conceivable point, the
river bank, the river bottom, the mountain
tops, the hill side. the valley. the front yard.
the back yard, and even the city lot, there
are not less than thirty scattered through this
city and compete with the residences and
business houses for location. Standing on
the railroad track near the station / counted
90 in sight from that point. You can under
stand then how it is that 10 900 barrels of oil
are pumped away from here in day.
THE MONEY THAT'S IN IT.
When you know that the Oil here is worth
81 80 per barrel and last year was $3.50, that
some wells run 1000 barrels a day and that
occasionally they strike 1900 ora 1000 bar
rel one, and that one started with 2640 and
ran at that for 6 OF days before tapering
down to 1000, you can calculate for yourself
where the money is. young man working
in shop here at $75 month, "struck it rich
and in six weeks he was worth $780, 900. He
doesn't work any more, is a prominent citizen
and capitalist, wears big diamonds, $1,000
ones, bank director, and so forth. An old
fellow living in mountain hollow so deep
that neighbor told me the sun did not rise
there till 10 O'Clock and went down at 3, who
scratched the mountain and hill sides and
called it farming. leased his laud to specu-
lator for so much an acre and one-eghth of
| the oil. The lessee struck a good producer
and the old gentleman" as they speak OF him
now, has bought and paid for a nice farm.
moved to town anG gets 81, 900 month royal
ty on his oil.
| Another young fellow who worked as a
hand at drilling, saved up some money and
went in partners" with some men who had
money. They "made HIT. and now, in
about years time, his share has made him
100000. He has quit drilling and walks
around with his thumbs in the arm holes Of
his vest Everybody who had land has made
some money. few OF them large fortunes,
many a competency and the others, whose
land did not yield we'll, only few thousands
or hundreds, for they got the rental any how.
And as a result the poor farmer is on top in
! this section. He has paid off his mortgage, is
out of debt, has some money ahead, holding
On to it too. they say, and getting good prices
| for what lie has to market in this boom
| town.
| THE MONEY THAT ISN'T IN IT.
| Yes, there is another side to the story, for
all booms have two sides, as we of the Valley
of Virginia know to cur cost, and so has an
oil boom. When we'll is started on the top
of the low range of mountains along both
sides of the Ohio where this city is situated,
| it has to go down to the same Oil sand that it
does when started in the river bottom. So
the wells are from 400 to 1900 feet deep. and
| by the time the rig is pnt up, the engine
| is bought and the we'll is drilled, the pros
pector is out from 50, 500 to $1,000, and he has
to pay the rental on the land besides. And it
is not always that he strikes oil either often
it turns out to be dry, "a duster," as it is
called, and often not enough oil to pay for
working, SO it is gambling after all. A
Pennsylvania, who has been all his business
life connected with the Standard Oil Com
pany as a salaried employee, told me that for
10 years he had been investing in Oil ventures
and had never struck it yet. 1t is a common
saying here among oil men that "more money
has been put in the ground than has ever come
out of it, "but it has been God send to u.s.
they say So | would not advise any of your
readers, as exciting and interesting as it is, to
come to SistersvilIe to gamble in oil, though
it would recall the haIcyon days of the boom
when we were all rich for once i'll Our lives.
JUST LIKE OUR BOOM DAYS
How it brings back those times in Virginia
of 1890-91 to look around here, the same eager
crowd of strangers from other States, with a
scattering of Englishmen, Scotchmen and
other foreigners, lot of friendly agents to
meet all trains, shake your hand and show
yOu NHolS W sup, mt llDGtlS lull VI SueSUS,
the landlords the happiest men in town, lit
legroups in the writing room, in the parlor
IN the hall. every where, holding private con-
versation, two or three bright, chippery talk
ers, one quiet wondering listener, getting
took in phatons and buggies at the door.
The party gets in after awhile and away they
20 to see chow beautifully the GO untry lies,'
18TH