The age-herald., 1898-08-31
SENATOR MILLS GETTING RICH

Austin, Tex, August 3O.-Lieutenant Gov ernor George T. Jester, who for the past several days has been serving as acting governor during the temporary absence from the state of Governor Culberson, is of the opinion that the oil fields of Corsicana are destined to equal the oil fields of Penn syivania and Indiana in point of produc- tion. He states that the fields are being constantly developed and that oil in paying quantity is struck in nine wells out of ten The total production of the wells in and around Corsicana is now about 25Oo bar rels daily. New wells are coming in all most daily, and the limits of the fields are constantly being extended. The cost of each well. including pipes, derrick and tank, is about $1,OC0 Nearly all of the wells are located on leased ground. The crude oil is sold in the storage tanks at 50 cents per barrel. It is the general belief that the purchaser of the product is the Standard Oil company, although the busi- ness is transacted in the name of another company. The company which has the monopoly of the business of buying the crude oil is now erecting an oil refinery at Corscana, the cost of which is over S1OO,- 900.
 The fact is not generally known that United States Senator Roger @. Mills is rapidly becoming oil magnate through the development of the Corsicana oil fields. Senator Mills owns a large tract of land near the town of Corsicana, but he had never been able to make any money out of it. Soon after the first discovery of oil in that locality Senator Mills entered into a contract with capitalist of the town by which the latter was to furnish the money with which to put down a certain number of experimental wells on Senator Mills land. The two men were to share equally in the profits from the sale of the oil should any be struck. The first well proved to be one of the best producers in the district, and about thirty more have been put down since then, all of which have good outputs. Every barrel of oil represents so much cash the moment 1t enters the storage tank, and 1t is said that Senator Mills daily profit is in the neighborhood of s10O. Many people in Texas were at a loss to understand why it was that Senator Mills drew down from the race for reelection to the senate when his chances for success were so favorable. But it is now under stood that he found the counting of the proceeds from the sale of his oil a much more pleasant vocation than that of serv- ing the people of Texas in the United States Senate Twenty-Five thousand dol lars per annum income from oil wells is much better than $5 ,000 per annum as sen ator. Additional wells are constantly be- ing drilled on Senator Mills tract of land, and it will not be surprising if his daily in come does not increase to $2O0 by the first of the year, or before his present term as United States senator expires. The people of Texas can hardly realize that Senator Mills has become an oil magnate, and Is now transacting business direct with that great monopoly, the Standard Oil company "a trust which he and every other good democrat in the state has been fighting bitterly whenever the opportunity present. ed itself. Money makes strange bed-fel- lows.