The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1895-12-07
owIl you take 1900 for a aixteenthY'

"wiu you take $1,000 for a sixteenth"
These ale some OF the scraps Of con-
yersation heard on all sides In Wheel
ing now-a-days, Everybody seems TO
be interested In oil as q topic OF con-
VersRtiun, and probably every other
man has Iecuniary interest at stake,
The BarnRtO Katiir diamond mine spec
ulation isn't mi It with the craze seen
here In Wheeling to get into oil,
The question naturally arises, what
has caused this state OF Hifairs2" u ~
question that is easily answered. Last
spring when several Wheeling people
made that rich strike on the FTieden
farm In Monroe county, Ohio, across
the river from Sistersville, compare
lively few Wheeling people and little
capital was invested In the southwest
oil fields. The luck OF Digby, Robin-
SON. Crockard and others who pulled
out that $4,000 ON their investment on
the Frieden, caused many Wheeling
people 10 invest, particularly In that
section; so,that probably MS much mon
ey was invested as when the Eureka
and Belmont fields were In the helghth
OF their prosperity, lS90-9i,
Within the last sixty days however,
Wheeling money has literally poured
into the southwest, more than three
fourths OF H. probably, going to the
new shallow pool at and near Waverly.
In fact, the discovery OF the WRverly
pool Is the prime cause Of the Invest
rnent OF so much Wheeling money In
oil. The fact that forty-tive out OF nifty
wells came In paying producers and
further that the cost OF putting down O
well in that field Is only one-hnlt as
compared with the deep SlstersvIlle
feld, have combined to bring people
into oil who have never before ven-
tured. stnld business men who would
frown down the organization OF an en-.
terprise that had twice the chance Of
success Us q money maker are now
writing out checks ior the farmers OF
Peasants and Wood countles-the for.
tunate owners OF worn out farms-with
q recklessness that shows how deep n
hold the oil craze has on this commune
".
It is claimed that fully one.hnlf the
money put into the oil business In the
Waverly district Is that OF Wheeling
people Take blue print map OF the
Held and about every other farm In
shown TO be leased by Wheeling men.
Readers of the newspapers cannot have
failed to notice the almost innumernble
oil companies that have been formed
hero In the past month. all OF them,
hardly without exception. 10 operate In
the whverly field. Well after well has
come In down there and the dry hole
list Is kept down In the single figure
column. Al this has combined to add
to the excitement,
Practically all he hopeful territory
in and about Waverly Is now taken UP,
extending back as far as Valley Mills,
with the exception OF few tracts here
and there which the owners refused to
lease at the start OF the furore. These
tracts are now being leased at high
prices, bonus being demanded invRri-
ably. For Instance, a Wheeling compa-
ny has leased thlrty-flve acres short
distance from the famous Calf Greek
well. Thirty days ago no bonus would
have been demanded md f25 rental
would have been thought pretty good
transaction from the farmers point OF
view. What q difference to-day! That
farmer secured a 5000 bonus outright
and the rental is $50 u month. And so
II goes.
A conservative estimate Ii that Wheel
ing people have sunk 100000 since the
field opcaed. Probably 100000 Is near
err the truth. Whit IL the profit and loss
account to show ultimately? That Is g
question that Harvey or Horr would
find interesting to answer. You see, It
ali depends. II the bottom should I'M
expectedly drop out Of the field there
would be waiting and gnashinE OF
teeth from Forty-eighth street to Jon-
athan'B ravlne on the other hand,
should the field hold up at the present
pace Wheeling will have been lucky to
hold so large an interest in the shallow
pool at waveriy. which," that Is the