Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1897-08-12
Exit Karns City.

Karns City was incorporated in 1873,
| and named after Dune. Karns, at that
time one of the most active oil produ-
| GERS in this county The oil belt had
| been traced from Venango county,
across the river above Parker and up
Bear creek; and the section of country
composing the southern part of Parker
| township and northern part
of Fairview was found to be
particularly prolific. Petrolia and
Karns City became booming oil towns,
as was also Greece City after the dis
covery of what was called the 'cross
belt"
Crude oil in 1915 was worth 81 bar
rel and it is estimated that a million
and a half dollars worth of oil was sold
| from the ''old McClymonds' farm alone
on part of which Karns City stood
Like Petrolia, Karns City was the
| scene of several destructive fires, one Of
which caused the death of eight per
sons.
The discovery of the cross belt and
the lower sands made the supply of oil
apparently unlimited, and caused the
price to drop gradually from Il to 40
cents barrel That decline ruined
Dune Karns financially, as it did also
some of the wealthiest men in Butler,
who were ''bucking the market at that
time: and it enabled John Rockefeller
and his partners in the refining business
to get the start that has since given
them control of the whole business.
Dune Karns is yet living in Pittsburg.
His life is as much of a romance as that
of any man we know of, and is sketch
ed by John J. McLaurin, in his
Sketches in Crude OIL as follows:
Stephen Duncan Karns, who had a
railroad and town named in his honor
was a picturesque figure in the Arm
strong Butler district. With his two
uncles he operated the first West Vir-
ginia well, at the mouth of Burning
Spring run, in 1850. Ills experience at
his fathers Tarentum salt wells enabled
him TO run an engine, to sharpen tools
and to clean out an old salt well to be
tested for oil. The well pumped 40
barrels a day during the winter of
1901 Fort Sumter was bombarded
several Kanawa operators were killed
and young Karns escaped by night in a
canoe. He enlisted, served three years
led his company at Antietam and Chan
cellorsville, and in 1866 leased one acre
at Parkers Landing from Fullerton Par
ker His first well, starting at one bar
rel day, by months of pumping was
increased to IL barrels and earned him
$40, 600 From the Miles Oil Company
of New York he leased farm and an
abandoned well mile below Parker.
He drilled the well through the sand
and it produced % barrels day. This
settled the question of oil south of Par
kar Dune, as he was usually called
by his friends, leased the Parren farm,
drilled on Bear Creek, secured the IA
nous Stone house farm of 300 acres and
in 1872 enjoyed an income of s., 900 a
day. A mile south Of Petrolia, on the
McClymonds farm, Cooper Bros. were
about to give up their first well as a
hopeless duster. Karns thought the
hole not deep enough, bought the prop
erty. resumed drilling and in two days
the well was flowing 100 barrels. The
McClymonds, Riddle and j. B. Camp
bell farms doubled Dunes big income
for many moons He had the second
well at Greece City, and for a year or
two was the largest producer in the oil
egion. He built a pipe line from
Karns City to Harrisburg to fight the
United lines, held S55, 900 stock in the
Parker bridge, and controlled the Par
ker and Karns City railroad and the Ex-
change bank.
Near Freeport, on the Allegheny riv-
er, 80 miles above Pittsburg, he lassoed
great farm and erected a $50, 900 man
sion Fourteen race horses fed in his
palatial stables. Guests might bathe
in champagne and the generous host
spent money royalty. A good strike or
a point gained meant general Jolllfica-
ton He played billiards skillfully,
handled cards expertly and wagered
heavily on anything that hit his fancy.
He and his wife were in Paris during
the siege. Upon his return from Eu-
rope he built the Fredericksburg and
Orange railroad in Virginia. The glut
of crude from Butler wells dropped the
price in 1874 to 40 cents. Losses of diff
ferent kinds cramped Karns, and the
man worth $1,000 900 in 1928 was
obliged to surrender bis stocks and lands
and wells and begin anew. James +.
Brown secured Glen Harms, the beauti-
full home below Freeport. In 1880
Karns induced E. o. Emerson, the
wealthy Titusville producer, to start a
cattle ranch in Western Colorado. For
six years he superintended the herds on
the immense plains, joining the round
.1n wifi
BOYS roping and branding cattle, and
accommodating a stock of health and
muscle which he thinks will carry him
to the 100-year mark Emerson had
bought from Karns the Riddle farm for
81 900. He deepened one well, suppos-
ed dry, to the fourth sand. 1t flowed
800 and Emerson sold the tract in go
days for 800, 900.
fKarns returned from the West, prac-
iced law a short while in Philadelphia
and for some years has managed Pop
ulist paper in Pittsburg. He ran against
John 'Dalzeii fof Congress, and walked
at the head of the parade whII. General
Coxey's Army of the Commonweai
marched through the Smoky City. He
enjoyed making money more than haE-
ding it, was honorable in his dealings
intensely active. comprehensive IN his
views and positive in his opinions. His
yes or no was given promptly. Dune
is of slender build and Of nervous tenn
permanent easy in his manners, frank IN
his utterances and not scared by spooks
in politics or trade. He had his share
of light and shade, struggle and triumph,
defeat and victory, incident and adven-
ture in his pilgrimage
"Karns's transit from wealth 70 penu-
ry outrivaled the famous Coal Oil
Johnny" Steele. about whom columns
have been written, many of the tales ex-
aggerated and many pure inventions.
Karns was several times a millionaire;
Steele never had million.