The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1896-02-15
A SON OF CECIL.
Writes of his Impressions of the Penn
Sylvania Oil Fields.

Dear Sir:-Thinking that letter from
this part Of your adjosning state, might be
interesting to some of your readers, I have
Of your popular paper, something about the
peculiar country in which am now To-
Gated.
refer to the oil region Of Allegheny
County, Pa, a region Astounding in mineral
wealth, land in which gas, coal, and oil
have We'd with each other in filling full to
OVERLOOKING the pockets of the fortunate
possessors of the soil.
Four or five years ago this region was eX
cited to the highest pitch by the discovery
Of oil, and soon the towns of Mcdonald and
Oakdale were beseiged by hordes of "Oil
People,, class of people composed of CAPT
talists, drillers, etc, who follow up the oil
fields, to lease the land and to develop the
resources of the place. Following these
came a class wholly undesirable, an I'M
necessary evil in the form of saloon Reep-
ers, keepers of pool rooms, and such nui-
sances, who gave the good people of the
community, who are mostly staunch pro-
hibitionists, no end of trouble. Since this
section has Il prohibitory law speak easies"
became numerous, but were suppressed by
the citizens, who organized themselves in
to vigilance committed and put down the
evil.
Among the more stately residences of the
natives" we see many little One-story
houses, the homes of the strangers, who eX~
pect to remain but two or three years, and
who lease a lot and erect thereon their own
diminutive dwellings These little houses
consist of Il tiny paIlor, Il still smaller bed
room, and a kitchen which also, serves as
dining-room. Many of them have but two
rooms, the parlor serving as a bedroom by
night, and in these two rooms family OF
six or seven persons live in apparent COM
fort. Truly, zone half the world does not
know how the other half lives. y
This oil field is situated on the p. c. <
St. l.. K. r., familarly known as the Pan
Handle: it being about ten miles west of
Pittsburg, and covers an area nearly ten
miles square. The country Is very billy
and from many of the higher points, mag
nifcent stretches of hill and dale, thickly
dotted DER with oil derricks are spread out
before the eye of the beholder.
Fortunes have been realized in n month
by individuals, fortunate enough to strike
I 10
four or five years ago, were in very moder
ate circumstances, and who are now living
in luxury.
The most productive we'll ever drilled
in the United States is less than mile
from here, and its lucky owner is now
living in the East End, Pittsburg, and has
no more care for the morrow than the spar
rows that chirp in the woodbne; he was a
rich man in week from the day oil was
struck, and the shock of his sudden good
fortune nearly unbalanced his reason, but
his mental equilibrium seems to be fully
restored, and he is as sane, at least, as he
ever was.
The sinking of an oil well is very un-
certain business: some of them are four
thousand feet in depth, and it often takes q
month or more to reach the oil. The cost
varies from two to four thousand dollars,
and if the oil fails to appear the loss is
total, and the OPERATOR far from being dis
couraged, at once begins operations in
another quarter.
More or less gas il obtained from all
wells, but some produce nothing else, and
are drilled for the sole purpose of obtain
ing that important article. Most of them
produce salt water, and that knowledge
half century ago when salt was brought
over the mountains, at great cost, on pack
mules would have made the fortune of
any enterprising fellow.
One of the unpleasant features of the
place, at least to a stranger, is the odor of
petroleum that everywhere pervades the
atmosphere, bnt one soon becomes accus-
toned to that and after while fails to
notice it. some have even told me that they
enjoy it.
The hills and valleys are covered by a
perfect network of pipes--Gas pipes and oil
pipes and great oil tanks, holding thou
sands of barrels are scattered everywhere.
At night the hills are lit up by innumerable
flaming torches, which vivid imagination
can easily turn into signal fires surrounded
by groups OF vcnseful savages, in war paint
and feathers.
One of the delights of living in this
country is the natural gas fires, the most
convenient fire found in the Universe.
Such comfort it is to know that when you
get up in the morning your fires are all
ready for you, and you have only to open
valve little wider to have as strong a
blaze as you desire. No quarreling with
your wife as to who shall light the fires on
cold winter mornings. Truly great OBJ
stacle to the enjoyment of domestic harmony
is removed.
But occasionally the scene changes, and
you know they are repairing the line,
and your chances are good for cold comfort
the balance Of the day. Unless you are