Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-08-11

UeQJI-A SOlIlpi OllOlIolNO O4e'l4CS
at Big Subject.
The history of oil development with
in the territory extending from Little
Washington and Mcdonald, on the
east and northeast of Wheeling, to Sis
tersville on the south and Monroe and
Washington counties, on the southwest,
during the past ten years, affords a
rich field for study and contemplation,
investigation and analysis, by the unbi
ased student who is not interested in
oil production personally, has no terri
tory under lease who is not a specu-
lator upon the market, and who can,
therefore, pass judgment upon things
as he finds them, without prejudice or
bias. To such a dispassionate Observ-
er, who has followed the general trend
of the oil development throughout the
region of country indicated a few
things must be plain which are posi-
bly, not apparent to one who confines
his attention to a particular tract Of
land, or even TO particular field,
while many-nO doubt vast majority
of the individuals who are at present
dabbling in oil know little or nothing
about the conditions governing devel-
opment or production, and have but
the most superficial, and often
AN ENTIRELY ERRONEOUS.
conception of both the natural condi-
tions dominating any given field, or Of
the Oil producing territory as whole,
upon the one hand, or the details of lo4
eating, drilling and bringing in a well,
on the other. AS a rule. and this is
particularly true of many Wheeling
people interested in oil, the stockhold-
er in an Oil Company is a small capt.
talist, a business man in the dry goods,
grocery or drug line, professional
gentleman with an eye for good thing,
or a representative Of any other ele-
ment of the population. His knowl-
edge of oil is limited, very often, to tho
fact that there is lot of grease in the
Sistersville field, that some of his
friends have struck It rich" on the
Ohio side or that Jones, or Brobson or
WriggleS made a lot Of money at Nc
Donald or Little Washington. He
has an interest of One-tenth in fifteen
feet square on the Widow wilkins
farm in Podunk county, and he
can't see why he and his associates
should not strike a gusher when Rob
inson and his crowd got fifty barrel
producer only two miles away. He
probably realizes, in a general sort of
way, that
THE OIL BUSINESS
is uncertain, but this comes, as often az
not, from his having dropped "a hum
dred" in a certain buster. or having
embarked in some particular wild cat
venture, but outside of these very gen.
eral generalities, the average oil oper-
ator in a small way Is tolerably uncer-
tain and misty about the whole bus!-
ness.
To be sure, there arg lots Of shrewd
men in oil, and not few OF them are
away up in the business. They are
the gentlemen who every once in
while unload "a good ching" upon
somebody else, and keep moving
around, making a venture here and
there, tapping a good well about once
in so often, picking up leases in new
localities, etc. A good many of these
folks have been in oil for years, have
made the subject a deep study, and can
be relied upon 10 keep
IN THE FRONT RANK
of the ceaseless advance upon untried
territory, leaving somebody else to
hold the bag which contains the old
leases and long productive but as a
rule steadily decreasing wells. If by
any chance you should find one or
number of these folks back in the main
body of operators and stockholders,
it is a pretty safe bet that they have
something good beyond the general
run, or are awaiting a big transfer of
property at a six figure price. OF course
there are exceptions to all rules. but
the Introductory propositions here laid
down are undoubtedly mainly correct.
But the idea intended 10 be impressed
upon the reader at the outset was that
in the cases Of the great majority Of
those interested in oil, there is a
marked absence of brOad-gauge infor-
nation upon the subject Of what may
be. with propriety, called the upper
Ohio field: and supplemental to that,
is a hope 10 cover the whole oil
producing territory in Southwestern
Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia
and Eastern Ohio in a comprehensive
manner. and deduce therefrom the pro-
position. which appears to be warrant
ed by the operations Of the past few
years. that the territory as whole is
ONE VAST OIL FIELD
which has so far only been developed
in spots. but which is destined, within
the next three or four years, TO be-
come the greatest oil-producing region
on the face of the globe. And Wheel
ing will be its centre, deriving the
greatest benefit from the vast and re-
munerative operations which appear 70
be foreshadowed. That this result was
a certainty was well apparent, so long
ago as four or five years. to a few long
headed and well-informed people who
were familiar with the geological and
other conditions. and their wisdom and
Judgment has, so far been demonstrat-
ed in a very satisfactory manner, with
the conditions improving along the