The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1895-09-26
thousand barrels. 1t costs ordi- |
narily, in the northern oil fields,
about two thousand dollars to put

tOOUsdUu DuTTelS. LII COSJS OTui-
narily, in the northern oil fields,
about two thousand dollars to put |
down well ready to flow, while in !
the southern fields, in West Virgin |,
ia, aud The southern counties ~
Pennsylvouin, each well costs from !
three Thousand TO seven thousand
dollars. The difference in cost is at
tributable TO q caving rock or quick
sard, in tho southern folds, rlIuii,
ing immediate casing when the drill
reaches the oil strata, While the pro
duct is neither vrp1'nr nor bnttcr
than that of northern Pennsylyhuia.
For the mouth of July Just past,
522 new wells were drilled in this
state, while there were in the same
time 1866 rigs and drilling wells in
"a state Of prospective formation :;
for the month of June, 81 new wells
were completed and 1906 rigs and
drilling wells were in the prospective
condition. All wells are not pro-
ductive of oil aud the failures are
called "dry holes. The shooting
of new well in u good district is
watched with great interest as its
yield may seriously affect the mar
ket. Large wells. with II thousand
barrels day, early in the operative
stage, take the bottom out of the
market and holders OF oil go mad III
their frantic efforts to unload their
thousands of barrels when a giant
well comes in. Fortunes have been
made and lost in the twipkling of an
eye, as u mans golden opportunity
many times hangs upon the narrow
and hazardous margin OF receiving
quick telegraphic returns, when a
new well is exploited. The stock
speculator, equipped with all the
readiness which skill, experience
and wealth can suggest, sends his
trusty lieutenants into the oil
fields to keep unremitting and vigi
liant watch of every move made by
the prospectors, and in the old days,
when wells were shot, flowing vol
ume that could not be confined, men
went mad in their efforts to rush to
the nearest telegraph station, to
herald the news first TO tae oil cen
tres. When large broker sold the
market, upon field advices, oil and
prices and fortunes would collapse
with the ease of breaking an egg
shell and many evc ting incidents
| fill the life of the oil hunter and the
"wild cater, of the past, who
wrecked his all in persistent and ag.
gressive ende ivor to find wealth in
the bowels OF the earth. The most
notable instance OF "wildcatting
which meant simply planting your
well wherever your whims would
command, is that, perhaps of the
famous Phillips Brothers, who be-
came beggars and outcasts in
searching for oil For many years
they roa ned about the oil country,
sinking their shafts two and three
thousand #. beneath the surface of
the earth, every vain and luckless
attempt IN aning an expenditure of
two or three thousand dollars. until
their moIev. faith, and credit were
shattered to nothing. They dug
sixty wells that were dry holes and
the n xt WIS a b)nanza, which
yielded them fortune at a single
bound. One day they were beggars
uGa5le to borrow q penny;
the next, they were millionaires
receiving the p aises Of their fell
lows. Their sixty-first well flowed
three thousand barrels per day for
thirty days and wild eating was
over with them. Perseverance con-
quers all things.
An other quite striking incident ia
the oil history is that of Mr., Samuel
Armstrong u neighbor of the Phil
lips Brothers, as related to me by
Mr.. G )odw.n, M. Armstrong had
nothing in the world except his one
wild cat well. When it was shot, it
flowed the enormous yield of six
hundred ba rels per hour. the first
few hours, and then settled down to
the rate Of nine thousand barrels
for every twenty-four hours, until
its fortunate owner was multi.
millionaire. These are isolated
cases, but they are wonderful ex-
amples of how wealth are gained in
the oil industry. The days of forty.
nine are past and so are the wild
cat" days in the Pennsylvania oil
fields, but men with q tireless ac-
tivity will go on enriching the world,
by laying hold OF Natures inexhaust-
able stores. The past may have
been prosperous but the future Ii
the age in which we must live.
w. X. Nj.