The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-11-13
LOOGOOTEE'S OIL BOOM
REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT OF A
NEW FIELD IN MARTIN COUNTY.
Uphill Work Making the First Strike
sistcnce WOn-Leach's Opinion.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.

years the village of Locgootee has quietly
nestled in the western slope OF billy Martin
county with nothing of consequence to at
tract the attention of the outside world.
In all that time it has grown TO population
Of about 100. 1t has supported good
schools, churches, mercantile establishments
and live stock and lumber shipping indus
tries. Its business men have been conser-
yative, modest and discreet. When they
undertake thing there is no clashing or
discord. 1t never fails to go. They back
their judgment with their purses and rise
to any emergency that disappointment may
require them to meet. Martin county, ex-
cept the river and creek bottoms. is not
regarded as a productive farming country
and it is only by the very hardest labor
that many of it's farmers have been enabled
TO secure the necessaries OF life. Within
the last few years a number of excellent
coal mines have been opened. 1t set the
people thinking. If the opportunity for in
vestment and enterprise is so meager on
top of the ground it might be developed
below the surface. When the large flow Of
gas was found in the Jumbo well at Peters
burg, two and one-half years ago, Loogoo-
tee citizens became interested. They called
public meetings and talked the matter on
the street corners. Thy proffered their
money and united influence to make an in
vestigation, and in June. 1897, the Loogootee
Prospecting Company was organized. Ex-
Representative A. w. Porter was president:
Henry Wood was secretary, and William
Houghton was treasurer. The business of
the institution was intrusted TO the follow
ing directors: John Huebner, w. c. Van
10y, John Larkin, j. G. Trueblood, Charles
Patterson and Joseph George The capital
stock WAS 5000 and issued in shares of $40
each. The PEOPLE bought them. In Sep
gun just south of town. After going 600
feet the grill was lost and it took six
found April ], 1898, and the town took a
holiday. Down went the drillers to depth
of loo feet and they were rewarded by
The stockholders. undismayed, emptied
their purses into the treasury. Another at
tempt, was made at a point, one-quarter of
depth of 535 feet, in the strata OF Medley
grit" gas was found, and the town at
once assumed new life. The rock pressure
was 100 pounds and the volume of gas
| 2S5 900 cubic feet every twenty-four hours.
Ample funds We're quickly supplied and the
| derrick moved further northeast. Another
fOund-l9f pounds pressure and daily out
put Of 414,OOO cubic feet of gas. The. flow
| Increasing. Stock in the prospecting COM
| pany was worth its face and investors
| were ready with the money. The town
| trustees aided the enterprise by subscrib-
| ing fifty shares and in a few more days
| we'll No. was being drilled. On Oct 2,
last, the startling find was made at a depth
| of $50 feet. 1t has a rock pressure of 1875
| pounds and low of 350,610 cubic feet Of
gas daily, and. besides, has surface flow
| of sixteen barrels of the finest crude oil
| produced liz the State.
| The news of the discovery was given. to
| the outside world and Loogootee found a
| place on the map. The agents Of the great
4 before
! a week had passed two dozen of them were
| besieging the land owners for leases. The
| acre for miles around Loogootee has been
leased. In most instances the proSpector
| agrees to give one-eighth Of the oil. and in
some cases one-sixth. A few. farmers have
] realized good premiums for choice tracts in
| the direct line of the wells The Medley
Company. of Lima. O.. has the bulk of the
| covering about $500 acres. The home COM
pany is second and has twenty-nine tracts,
and concessions have also been secured by
| Kerr, Crosser q Vancleve, the Standard Oil
| Company. the Manhattan Oil Company, the
| Company, most of them with headquarters
| at Lima, o. They now are busily engaged
shipping in their machinery to
/ before another week has passed several
drills will be at work. The home company is
deptS of T Te hSVe
| large tank 10 receive the output of the oil
| well and have let a contract to the Ohio
| Pipe Line Company to lay pipe lines to the
| railroad so the oil may be shipped to the
| refineries. The work of piping the town for
| the utilization of the gas from wells Nos.
| and No. 3 is about completed, and plumb
| ers are at work getting many of the resi-
denceS in readiness to burn it this winter.
| The scale of prices has just been adopted.
| 1t ranges from 10 cents per light, per month,
| to s. per month for furnaces for residences
| and churches. Cooking stoves are 81 a
| month. each.
| Business of every kind is on boom. Real
| estate has more than doubled In value, aCidi-
| tons are being made to the town and a
| big building rush is expected as soon as ma
| terial can be arranged for. Everybody is
| happy and enthusiastic. They have a right
| to be. 1t has taken two years uphill work
under a load OF disbursements to accom-
| plish the deserved reward. Factories desir-
| ing a change of location are investigating
| the new field and several Of them are ex-
| pected to come One of the most important
| Of these Is large concern that proposes to
| manufacture vitrified brick and sewer pipe
| from the immense beds of shale that under
| lie this vicinity. State Geologist Blatchiey
| pronounces this shale to be of an extra
good quality.
| Stock in the LOogootee Prospecting Com
| pai,y Is selling at 200 per cent above par,
| and is very hard to purchase at that price.
| Some farmers in the immediate neighbor-
| hood of the wells have been offered $500 per
| acre for their farms, which. prior to the
| discovery, would have been dear at $35 per
| acre.
\ A