The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1895-04-23
DOWN IN "OILDOM."
Tho Absorbing Iutoroat In tho
Greasy Fluid Now
is VERY APPARENT EVERYWHERE.
On tho Trains aud on nil tho Talk Ia
oli-Tho Ohio River Road Right In
it-Captain Johnston Talks About
tho Recent Boom and its Causes.
Tho ErIect Of tho Movement.


spota, from a Sag Correspondent
s-,srrDsy,llR. ". va. Anril oo-Thn,
u,,i. 800 4. ~. A. ~
'ha' tho ID
per cent OF Ohio River railroad passcn.
cora who nre not interested In tho grocso
will mt contradict In th. f,co n tho
.--L.S,..-,s. M. a., ~
thfeo-'ouf'n "no a'e. onio hiVef
road Is worry lucky TO havo tho greatest
oil field In tho country on Ito line; o.hor.
wise tho comnanv would mi. cIo,o Il.
49,. u..-...,.,,. 49,,
peoAa livery yeat WIN u hanuso"o oa'.
ance on tho proper side, rs 1t doea. OIL
conversation pcryades the smoker, and
In ,bo ind;os' car no vol oven bafo,o
-. .~.,--,".. 49,, -
tne oaor Oh .ue po''o'euuh i'aeii miioa
above the oil metropolis heralds the
approach to Slstersviile. On tho ar
rival here every nan In the smoker, aud
IT Is crowded. seems TO rise with n
impulse, and tho car, with tho eScop.
ton OF a solitary "news butcher" Is de-
sorted. sistorsville Ia the Mecca Of the
crowd Tho train Goes on. but 1t 10
"aying light" TO use q ateamhoatnan's
phrase.
One OF tho passengers this afternoon,
who. like most everybody else. vas
bound for Oildom, was Captain William
Johnston. a pioneer 10 tho oil business,
who 10 just returning from two
months recreation trip in Michigan
after thirteen years OF .unremitted &C
tivity In the oil fields. The captain
opened up the once prosperous Bel
mont field and was one OF the frat to
get in on the ground floor at Sisters
willie. Twice ho has sold his interest
here to the Standard.
Captain Johnston talked interestingly
to the 1STELLlGENcEs correspondent OF
the present situation in the world OF
oil. To begin with, he says the recent
lightning.like advance in oil, though
unexpected at the time it came, was nc.
counted a certainty whenever the
Standard would consent to allow it. AS
he said, with the consumption OF oil
exceeding the production in America
by 5000 barrels every day i, was mere.
" a matter OF waiting for the advance"
"What We are looking for now is a
new producing field, ateld that will ill
up the gap existing between consump'
ton and production. Until that field
10 found Gil is bound to be high. look
for another advance in tho near future
unless We strike now producing terri.
tory"
Captain Johnston says tina! he sees
nothing particularly encouraging in ths
recent developments in the new Mar.
shall field, but IL seems possible that in
the neighborhood OF New Martinsville
in Te.zel county oil will be found in
paying quantities. One we'll six miles
back OF that towu is now said to be pro.
ducing TWENTY-FIVE to t%hirty-fve barrels
per day. In the Sis,ersville field proper
many believe that the limi,s have been
reached and future operations will have
to be confined in these limits. Over the
the river in Monroe county, Ohio, the
producing wells are confined to the ter
ritory less than four miles from the
river.
Statewide is q veritable beehive OIL
activity to-day and the field leads in
production all in the United States.
The advance in oil has been the cause o.
renewed activity in every oil field and
this 10 felt here more, perhaps. than
anywhere else. The prospec,or i.
( abroad in the land; every scrap Of land
in the supposed producing area not al.