The times., 1899-03-05

that started off at forty barrels day.
and by the end of December the boom had
set IN. The shareholders of the original
well invested sl.400 and sold out last month
for 500. 900. Snyder has several thousand
acres under lease and will make a big
fortune out Of the boom. Last spring he
was considered chump. Today he is the
most sought after man in the county.
Some big bonus money has been paid
for leases. Farmer Snyder. who owns
260-acre piece that butts up against the
town. pocketed $25 900 and will receive
one-eighth Of all the oil produced by his
farm. Oil derricks are sprDging up all
over it, but he is tired Of farming and does
not complain. He will hardly live long
enough TO spend all the money that the
boom will bring him unless he tries TO mi-
tate Coal Oil Johnny Steele. of Oil Creek
fame. Dozens of farmers have received
sums OF cash from the lease hunters and
welcome the boom in the belief that it
will make them rich
Only one other town in the United States
resembles SciO in one respect. That is Los
Angeles, Cal. where back yards and front
yards are filled with oil derricks and stor-
age tanks. Scio sits right over the heart
OF the petroleum lake and every one of
the fftyo wells drilled inside the town
limits Is paying producer. In one instance
tain both tank and derrick the house was
torn down to make room for the derrick
and the tank was set in the cellar Two
wells are being drilled within forty feet of
the Scio Academy building The Methodist
cemetery. in the center OF the village is
surrounded by oil derricks, and two of
them are Set up against cemetery fence and
tower high above the gravestoneS. The
new cemetery on the hill above Scio is
right on the belt and the trustees decided
that ten acres was too large a cemetery
so they have leased seven acres for oil
purposes, receiving $500 bonus and a quar-
ter royalty They refused $l.500 bonus
and eighth royalty. The editor of the
paper owns fat-iron shaped lot on which
his Office is built. There is room for an oil
derrick beside the office and one is built
there.
\ Wonderful Transformation.
Before the boom set in Scio was a sleepy
college town OF / 100 population. Now it
has $500 and is growing every day The
college was established here because it was
a no-license community. But that fact Is
likely to be omitted from the next annual
catalogue Already there are six speak
easies and a number of poker joints, and
when the rabbie that drifts in with the oil
tlIS 10 All mere tle Olu-liIneTS say lndl
dance houses will flourish. The college au-
thOrities are trying hard to stem the tide,
but a boom oil town without any wicked
ness would not be boom oil town, and
Scio bids fair to become lively.
Scio has wretched hotel accommodations
and every night hundreds OF men sleep in
barns. box cars, under boilers in open
fields. or on the floors Of hastily built
boarding houses. The first night the writ
er spent in Scio he shared the bed of col
lege student, after spending hour
searching for lodgings. The student said
that he had had different roommate
every night for a month. That night nine
men slept under boiler in the field across
the road from where the writer stayed.
The night trains out of Scio on the Pan
handle and Wheeling and Lake Erie carry
hundreds of men to the towns up and
down the line where hotel accommodations
can be had. Two brick hotels, three stor-
les high. are to be built as soon as posi-
BILE The men who are grading for one
OF them live in tent pitched in vacant
lot. The farmers for several miles about
have all the boarders they can accommO-
date and every private house in the village
that has a spare room for rent has doZ
| en- applicants every day. The postmaster
| is overwhelmed with work and at mail
| time a crowd is lined up on the walk in
| front Of the postofiice. A liveryman is
| working twenty-five horses and could US se
| twenty-five more If he had stable ROOM
| Rents have quadrupled within six weeks.
1t is a common sight to see $1,000
| residence with an oil derrick in the gar
| den and a storage tank under the caves
OF the coal shed. There are no gardens