Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-06-25
Beaumont, Tex, May %, 1901.

came over here from Houston,-,
"a miles this morning, on purpose to
verify, If possible, the wonderful re-
putation of this place as the location
of the greatest oil-feld the world has
ever seen. A full days work, indus
triously put in by looking over the
ground in person and by gathering up
such information as can be had from
fairly disinterested sources, has sat
isfied me that the accounts we have
had at the north of Beaumont as the
center of a situation which in some
very important respects is likely to
work revolution in the industrial
and economic world, are not greatly
exaggerated.
From hum-drum town Of some TO-.
900 people, I should think, six months
or SO ago, this place the county seat
of Jefferom county has become the
center of an output of oil which al
ready, from only it's 10 or IL wells
so far in operation, exceeds by at least
one half the one hundred and thirty.
eight million barrels yearly product OF
the rest Of the world. When one stops
to consider that, by comparison with
the oil-bearing field in this neighbor-
hood, the available territory has barely
been touched, these figures and the
possibilities to be deduced from them
are so vast that, like astronomical
distance, they almost cease to convey
an impression to the mind.
When Captain Lucas began talking
about Beaumont as an oil-field, he was
regarded as lunatic. The lay of the
land, the geological outlook, the dis
tance of the locality from oil-bearing
territory, We're all SO unpromising,
that,-considered as business PROPOSE
tion, it is doubtful If a capitalist, in
Texas or elsewhere, would have back
ed his project with dollar; and it is
even less likely, as 1 believe, that j.
M. Guffey ever gave a second thought
to the money he put into it, as an
investment from which he even hoped
for returns, until he was more than
anyone else surprised to get a tele-
gram last December, announcing that
the great Lucas we'll had struck oil
in quantities so immense that people
were still incredulous.
Sincc that time perhaps a dozen wells
have been completed, all within q
shor- radius of the first one, and will
such uniform results as to the magnl
tude Of outflow that here on the
ground one seems to be in an atmos
phere of romance in regard to thii
particular product of natures bounty
In regard to oil-production, and thu
amazing consequences sure to flow
from it, the widest fight of fancy Il
i am safe in saying, quite within
the bounds of what is reasonably
certain soon to be the region of soberes
reality.
Today the Haywood No. 2 well wa
drilled in, and in volume of spoutin,
1t exceeds any of the previous marvel
of the place. The bore is eight inches
the largest of any hitherto attempte'
here, and for the few minutes the wei
was allowed to spout before bein
capped off, it shot a solid column o
oil that diameter, l should think a
least 150 feet into the air. The driller
had been in the oilbearing strata 70
day or two, but until the overlyin
column of water in the casing wiz
bailed out-so great is the pressur
exerted in such circumstances, n
spouting was possible; when, how
ever, the water was removed tn
pent-up reservoirs of nature foun
their outlet with force that wa
something awe-inspiring.
knowledge of what was coming ha
enabled the manipulators to max
- every preparation to shut off the on
flow as soon as its enormous volum
had been shown, and curiosity in ths
line gratified, and so all unnecessar
waste of oil was avoided,-a negle,
of which precaution when the Lucf
we'll was drilled in, resulted in heav
loss of material and much expense
devising a practicable Gaping to pr
vent it. am told by experts hel