The Weekly Tallahasseean., 1901-06-20
Has Extended to Several
Florida Counties
MANY OPTIONS BEING TAKEN
Not Vet KnOwH "
final Results.
/. Will be the
WeVer.

all the resulting excitement and
speculation, the oil feY.r has spread
all through the Gulf S States-Louis-
lana, Mississippi and Alabama have
each been affected in turn, and now
our own fair Florida has taken up
the craze, and through its Southern
section is Overrun WITH prOspectOrS.
While different storie3 of the first
discovery have beent going the
rounds of the newspapers, the fol-
lowing seems TO be the most reason
able: 1t seems that gear the resi-
dence Of Mr.. and Mrs. AOgt, in Mar
ion county, is a pOndS Mrs. Vogt
noticed for a long ting that neither
horses, dogs nor cattle would drink
the water. She called Mr.. VOgt's
attention to the fa It, sO:One day when
they were passing by the pond he
got down and put his ann up to his
elbow in the water,a and discovered an
oily substance clinging to the same,
which had the smell : of kerosene.
When the excitement : of the oil
gushers- at Beaumont W ere filling the
newspapers Mr.. and {Lrs. Vogt in
stantly thought of the pond near
them, and an analysis of the water
followed, which showed prevalence
Of oil, and the discovery gradually
found its way into the newspapers.
Since then it is said that pros
pectors have taken options on as
much as 100000 acres of land in
that and adjoining coanties. They
go at once to hunting for oil indica-
tions. All the ponds IN the county
have been visited and f a fish gets
tired of holding its brdhth lets off a
little air, thereby causing a bubble
to rise to the surface md burst, the
pond Is said to show ek kidence of oil
and the land is taken lp on an Op-
ton at once.
All joking apart There really
seems TO be plenty of evidence thai
there is oil in Florida. EAs one Flor.
ida editor expresses Florida i;
such a wonderful State. has so many
possibilities, and has pfOved to be 81
rich in minerals which, a few years
back was thought imt POSSIBLE to b.
found in the State, til ht FlOridian'
have ceased to laugh 1T the repOr
of new discoveries, nG matter how
wonderful they may be.
TO show that there IS every indi
cation of oil we quot@ an eXtrac
from the Tampa correspondent il
the Times-UniOn recently: Person
who are familiar with the bushes
are now giving the matter close at
tentiOn, and have found bodies o
water where oil is so plentiful tha
IcnOugh can be taken from thes
bodies of water to barn brightly
Cloth dipped into tho water ant
wrung out produces enough oil Il
burn, and it is only Il question of
ishOrt while before the source of thi
Toll is located and wells sunk to tai
the source"
These evidences of the existenc
i of oil are not confined, however
to the extreme southern portions o
the State only a week or s
since oil was found in a well at Ap
alachicola. This discovery recalle
to a citizen of Tallahassee the fac
that the water in his yard has fO
years tasted strongly : of kerOsen
and was "undrinkable'f; by the fam
) lily, and the animals on: the premise
also refused to drink it.
So we may find "gashers" righ
here in our midst-whO knows!
From all the above evidences "
must admit the fact that there is o.
in Florida, whether or not in payin
quantities is a question: to be herea1
ter determined. Should that fact b
) established affirmatively, Florida
. =