The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1902-11-13
Bowers GuslIer.

anxious TO CianSC lnclT lol. liz tc-
elected that in such Whirlpool of hu
manlty the individual had little chance,
and so he decided to get out OF 1t as
soon rs possible.
Owing TO thc fact that he knew moth
ing whatever Of The country he imag-
incd it was a fine place TO be. He
dreamed of the independence of the
farmer and of the profits TO be made
in cultlvating the soil, when it was
done in a thoroughly scientific manner.
lie bought all sorts of books and
finally came to regard himself as an
authority on cattle raising and up-to-
date farming. Then he concluded to
put his theories into execution.
The few hundred dollars he had
saved would avail him little in civil
lIcd communities, 80 he decided to be
Il pioneer. lie thought with satisfac-
ii0u Of how he would hcw a home out
o! the tr;ckIcss Wilderness; how he
would stand upon his own soil, undis-
putcd monarch of all he surveyed. lie
became more and more naughty TO the
aalcsgirls, and less and less obsequiOus
to his employer. His days rs floor
walker were numbered.
And SO, a flaming advertisement Of
The glorics of the great Southwest
came into his possession one day. He
read il, rr-rcad it, hcsiLatcd, and was
lost. He invested ~ 600 in land at
30 cents an acre, and that left him
abou! i 900 for improvements.
There was one regret Nellie Lee.
Tie loved Nellie, and Nellie loved him.
"I'll be brave dear, and wait for
you,' she said, 81 might only prove
IN impeachment now; | will stay and
come when you send for me-"
At last he arrived. Never to his
dyin" day will he forget the sinking,
hCau.siCk feeling that came over him
when he went out to view his property.
II was fifteen miles from railroad and
consisted Of arid prairie, mostly sand.
\" water, no trccs--noLhing. Into
thus he had put his savings of fifteen
years! lie could not sell it-thcrc
were countless miles of The same sort
OF land all around him for sale at less
than halI what he paid for his.
Tie r"uIG not stink back, beaten, so
he set TO work to make the best of it,.
lie built board shanty and invested
IN two mnics and some plows. The
mlld winter he employed in breaking
mp thr soil, and when spring came he
had 100 acres planted.
Somehow, the crop did not do so
well. Just as the fields were getting
green drouth came along. Day by
day he saw his corn wlthcr; day by
day he scanned the brassy sky IN hope
OF rain. None came ami ut the end OF
eight weeks TT biistclmg heat his corn
was good fodder, cured on the stalk.
One day he saw Il buggy approach
ing. 1t finally halted ut his door. /
did not take the two strangers long tt
state their business.
'Nlr. Bower, we think there's oil OF
your land. We want to put down ,
well here. We will give you one thlr,
OF the oil or lis equivalent in cash
win you take the trade 2''
lie did, and u few weeks Thereafter
Il stately derrick reared its head on tn,
hill, and rusty little d.nky ungin,
coughcd and whcczcd and sent the p,p,
down deeper and deeper. Day by da,
Bower dreamed OF retrieving himscl
against his failure and his hopes RAJ
high. Small pockets of oil were found
Just enough TO keep them all on tn
ragged edge Of expectation. 1t bcga,
to get more and more difficult to sen,
the pipe down.
AT last they stopped They broush
out some cans OF stun which at frs
Bower thought was molassca, but the,
did not tell him what il was. TbcI
duo Il hole and buried H.
The we'll was n "dustcr.o The,
gave it up and began to remove tn.
pipe. The pipe stuck. "Ihke me-
thought Bower, ''got attached to thi,
confoundcd soil, and can't lcavc.'
The derrick WAS dismantlcd and tn,
drilling machinery hauled away. In
few weeks all there was left Of the cf
Tort to find oil was a hole in the grount
900 or more feet deep, nicely plpct
with cight-inch casing at the top.
AS the drillcrs were going away on,
of them said:
"Alr. Bower, we buried ten gallons
OF nitro-glyccrjne over there, where
you sec that stake. It's IN cans, ant
you know il IS The most powerful OK
pIosive known. A tcaspoonful would
"'oSh Jo"i oil"IbJ anu MAKE Dig
hole in the ground. IT'S too dangerous
to haul about, 30 we will leave it here
the cans arc sealed up and l DONE
know how you will get rid Of the stuff.
1t is very sensitive to jarring and n
slight shock may set IL olr.''
In addition to the other disadvan-
lagcs OF the place he now had a nitro
giyccrinc mine on 1T. lie caught him.
sell walking about on tiptoe to avoid
yarring IT. He dreamed of il at night ::
ne feared it by day.
In sheer desperation Bower went 10
where the nilro.glyccrlnc was buried.
and began to try to dig it out. Uc
used an old case knife aud his hands.
was afraid to use pick and shovel
At last he had tho cans uncovered
Now he was in worse quandary than
ever as to what TO do with it. Under
the ground il was bad enough. but m
top-well, the situation was horrible
Night came and with it the glorious
Southern harvest moon. lie sal guard.
ing his cans and wondering what he
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