Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-08-12
OIL ON The BRAIN
Ohio and West Virginia are Mad
on the Subject.
OTHER PURSUITS ARE INCIDENTAL
People Go Broke and Get Rich Every
Day in That Country on the Petrol.
cum observation-disclosures Well
Bonanza.

Washington, d. c., Aug. 9.-Portions
OF OHIO and West Virginia have gone
OIL mad. In these sections the one
thought and topic of conversation is
oil" Such pursuits as farming, mer.
chandising, legal business, medicine
ETC., are merely incidental The aver.
age citizen has oil ON his mind.
| fell in with doctor" from Mon.
roe county, Ohio, along the Ohio river
day or two since and some facts
| gathered from an hours conversation
will not be without interest to Iowa
people
This doctor said he had been prac
ing medicine in Woodsfield, and
making $500 a month, but he had turn.
ed his practice over to a young man;
he could not afford to give his time
for such pittance; he was in ''oil."
Oil, which when refined becomes
kerosene, is found in certain areas in
southeastern Ohio and in various parts
of West Virginia. 1t is found at depths
| process of putting down well is quite
similar to drilling for an artesian OF
other deep well in Iowa. The opening
| etI VIC lOp Is I'LL IcGl lHClSS Ill uldllle-
ter, and this size is maintained until
the curbing necessitates twelve inch
hole. This decreases in size until when
oil is strhck the hole is usually six
inches in diameter.
Sometimes a spouter is struck, but
more often the presence of oil is de-
tected in the sand and water brought
up in the slush bucket. There is a
certain sand which seems to be i'm
mediately above the oil. When this
sand is struck the driller knows oil is
at hand.
| When the flow is sufficient to justify
or rather when the drill has passed the
oil current then derrick Is erected
above the opening and cylinder head
let down into the bottom and connect
ed in the ordinary manner. Oil is
pumped out precisely as water is rails
ed from deep well in Iowa 1t is
pumped into tank connected by pipe
and from this tank is sold to jobbers
who convey it to the refinery.
AS a general thing company of
men will make a pool of say $4,000
and lease a piece of ground which is
believed to be underlaid with OIL 1t is
a gamble pure and simple. This doc
tor said he knew of case where a
company with $4,000 capital leased
ten acres of land that was literally
surrounded on every hand with paying
wells. They put down twenty-seven
wells; blew in all their cash and did
not get enough oil to lubricate the ma
chinery which operated the drill.
The land is leased from some farmer
who is given a bonus If oil is struck.
also one-tenth of all the oil the we'll
produces If the first well pans out,
others are drilled in the same vicinity,
in fact in some places the derricks are
but few feet apart. The pump is OPP
Grated by peculiar wheel-like affair
which is operated in turn by small
engine. Sometimes half dozen wells
are pumped by one engine
The wells vary in productiveness
from one to $500 barrels per day. Big
wells are said to be short-lived and a
well that produces steadily from 25 to
SO barrels per day is regarded as bo-
nanZa. The crude Oil sells at from
$1.25 TO $1.75 per barrel on the ground.
Thus q well producing ten barrels per
day yields SIS every twenty-four hours
and this is practically all profit. The
company likely has dozen wells and
one man, who is paid $50 per month,
can attend to them all.
People are going broke and become
rich every day. 1t costs in the Ohio
field about $4,000 to drill well. Ev-
erybody that can scrape UP few hun
dred dollars goes in with somebody
else and leases a bit of land and goes
after the seductive oil. If they strike
it, they may be wearing diamonds the
next day, and the day after they are
wearing diamonds they may be wear
ing last years clothes. 1t is all very
uncertain.
The uncertainty, however does not
seem TO deter people from plunging in
TO the maelstrom of speculation A
man may go broke today and tomor-
row he will induce some friend to
stake" him and engages a driller to
puncture the earth again. The chance
OF making big money is so alluring
that people gladly plank down their
hard earned coin and take the chances
or course the chances are rather bet
ter that oil will be struck than that the
well will be a dry" and this keeps
everybody digging
~ 'Dss'itNtAiu vi Company DuyS
the properties as fast as they can be
secured. The Standard is ever buying
and never selling. Sometimes fabul-
Gus prices are paid for wells that have
| good prospects.
There is a system Of guaging the
daily product and estimating the value
of the well. For example if well will
run ten barrels per day it is generally
figured to be worth $1,000 per barrel;
that is q valuation of $1,000 for each
barrel the well will yield daily is con-
sidered fair estimate. Thus a ten
barrel well would sell for $4,000.
OF course the well may peter out
in a week and the company drops $1O,.
900, but experience mas proven that
they are good for several years. Some
times a well will gradually dry up
when it is known there is plenty of oil
in the current. Then the well is blown
out This is accomplished by pulling
out the pump and apparatus and let
ting down from one hundred to TWO
hundred quarts of ntro-glycerin. The
explosive comes in four gallon tin
pals, which nicely fit inside the cas-
ing. They are placed one upon an