The age-herald., 1901-05-30
BIRMINGHAM MAN
 DESCRIBES BOOM
 AT BEAUMONT Manager of a Comedy Con-
 pany a Millionaire DUST IS SETTLED BY OIL Crude Petroleum sprinkIed on the Highways and Makes Them AL
 most as Compact as Asphalt.
 J. Asa Rountree Returns.
DUST IS SETTLED BY OIL

q have just come from a marvellous country and have seen the greatest sight of my life" exclaimed J. Asa Rountree, secretary of the Alabama Press Associa- tion, as he greeted a party of reporters last night
 q have just left Beaumont, Texas continued Mir. Rountree, "and for real booms Birmingham has never seen any thing like the excitement around the Texas town"
 Going into details, Mir. Rountree said that up to the time of the discovery of the famous Lucas oil gusher Beaumont had been little country town of probably LEGO inhabitants. The people lived hum drum lives and entertained themselves with neighborhood gossip as is customary in ordinary towns in Alabama.
 When MT. Lucas began boring for oil. II said Mir. Rountree, considerable curiosity was aroused, but not until the black shiny liquid shot out of the we'll did the excitement begin In earnest. In less than week the town was filled with strangers and standing room fin the narrow little streets was at a premium. Lots sold at fabulous prices and office room was not to be had at any price. The town now resembles a street fair. In every little nook and corner there is some kind of an office and huge signs proclaim the vir- tues of the different oil stock companies Everybody Is talking oil and a stock ex- change with oil quotations is doing a thriving business.
 A ShoWman's Luck.
 By the way" said MT. Rountree. Do you remember the little 10-cent show which gave performances here last sum- mer under the name of the Haywood Comedy Company"
 Several of the listeners remembered the company and the press secretary contin- ued:
 Well, that little company was showing In Beaumont when the Lucas gusher was discovered. MT. Haywood, who had little money ahead, bought two acres of ground near the Lucas well. and started to bor- ing for oil, He struck it rich, and now $1,oOo,o00 is offered for the Haywood gush- CT. The show is still running under the same name, but MT. Haywood is not di- rectly connected with the business" MT. Rountree says that the crude pe- troleum when it comes from the wells very much resembles ordinary black mo- lasses. He says 1t runs from the wells .n great streams and has been used to build up the roads.
 Explaining the road experiment, MT. Rountree said:
 ''The oil was sprinkled all over the roads and the dust was forever settled. It's a perfect success in every particular. The roads running out of Beaumont now resemble the asphalt streets of Washing ton, though of course they are not go smooth. The disagreeable odor ceased af- ter the first sprinkling''
 country hotel there was a barber shop which prior to the oil discovery had been paying $25 per month rent. About six weeks ago a company of capitalists went to Beaumont and offered the owner of the barber shop s10.00O for his lease, and upon acceptance of the offer immediately started one of the richest banks in Texas.
 'The town Is utterly unable to handle the people, and special trains are run from Houston and Port Arthur that the speculators may go somewhere to spend the night continued MT. Rountree. Two office buildings have already been started and an immense refinery is being built to convert the crude petroleum into refined oil"