Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-07-30

tire production and being known to
, nave been in some cases as high as one
half. 1t is rare at this date that roy
atty greater than one-eighth is given.
During number of years all the world
seemed to drift toward the Mecca of
Cow Run and fabulous prices were paid
Tor interests and leases. Territory was
cut up into miniature patches Of
ground, sometimes hardly large enough
10 contain the appliances necessary for
drilling. ~
II was mere that the oil-bearing rock.
lound at depth of 160 feet, became
known as the Cow Run sand. -Four
nuhdred feet deeper the exSerimenters
iouhd another producing strata, and to
tnis DAY TINS sand also is known as the
Cow hun second sand. 1t is found in
Almost every spot where the drill of the
"lid CATER has punctured the earth, but
is not always productive.
Inc second and deeper DEVELOPMENTS
at Cow Run proved to be equally as
fich as the first. As the production If
the neld mounted into the thousands of
oarrels the question of TRANSPORTATION
Oh the OIL became serious one. In the
beginning the oil was hauled TO the
river by wagon. Finally small steam
efs ana Darges which could be nayi-
saIeu IN the Little Muskigum were
pressed into the service. To-day the
STANDARD Oil company, which the indie
pendent producer fights waking and
sleeping, pushes its great mains to the
wells Wherever they may be found, and
buys without question at market price
every barrel OF oil turned into it's lines.
Inc Cow Run excitement, as it is
called by the natives and the old VET
Grams VINO were drawn into the vortex
ana nave never since been able to get
away from the magic spell OF derrick
ana drill, continued at its height for d
lew years only, when the field became
denned and the fortune hunters turned
their faces to the four points of the
compass and sought for ventures new.
Many of these old shallow wells are
producing oil to-day, though in quanti-
Ties much smaller than in the olden
time. One in particular, which deserves
more than passing notice, is known as
the School House Well" and is indeed
famous throughout the Gil country. In
1869 the little log school house of Law
renee township stood on a tract of one
fourth OF an acre, owned by the town.
ship. On this lot Judge L. W. Cham
berlain and others, of this city, drilled
one of the most valuable wells IN the
field. The well was directly in front
OF the school house door, ANA continued
to flow for about one year. after which
1t was pumped. During the first year It
produced $4,000 worth of oil, one-third
of which went to the township school
board. The old original casing is still
doing service in the well, which IS now
being pumped with a neW-fangled gas
engine, and promises to be a small pro-
Queer for many years to come. This
we'll is 594 feet in depth, and is beyond
doubt a crevice well, a thing which
some oil men deny as an impossibiiiCy
1t is believed that the rock crevice into
which the drill fortunately sank is not
over one foot in width.
During the nearly two-score years
which have elapsed since the strike OF
1.-THE first Cow Run well drilling has
gone on increasingly on all sides of the
little field and many other valuable
pools have been opened up. The per-
sistent ones have gone down deeper
through one strata of oil producing
rock after another until now the
known oil-bearing sands are counted
by dozens. The great game of chance
still holds many of the old timers in
its grasp, but most of them have passed
out of the knowledge of the producer
of to-day. The latter has no less dash
and energy in going after what he con-
siders a good thing, but he is less cas-
lily discouraged than his predecessor
and more perseyering. BY the same
+oJ-C i ;- Of iCl,f &c
and an oil line fight, one of the most
expensive pranks in which he can in
dulge, is not an uncommon fight.
When two rival owners of adjoining
leases which are panning out good.
get it into their heads that the oil
which rightfully belongs to the proper
ty held by each is being drawn off by
the wells of the other, there is hot
time down the line" No sooner has
| one lease owner set his rig on the edge
of his tract than the other comes up
with a similar plant and together, night
and day, the drills go up and down till
the wells are completed. Often the
rigs overlap the dividing line between
the two tracts, but great care is al
ways exercised to get the hole itself on
! the right side. This state of affairs
will sometimes continue for months,
until the entire line is drilled over,
with the result that many thousands of
! dollars are expended uselessly in a
| large number of wells, when a much
smaller number would have been
equally efficacious in extracting the
oil.
| The accompanying photograph shows
a line fight between the Cadmus and
Lockwood Oil Companies on the Hen
/ dershot and Pugh farms about three
miles from the city. The property
| line runs straight between the pairs of
! derricks for about three-quarters of a
mile. The total9 number of wells
| drilled in the fight was thirty-six and
| they cost probably $4,000. All are
| producers. The row of derricks make
! a pretty and interesting scene and the
| spot has been visited by thousands Of
/ people curious to see the UNIQUE fence.