The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-11-27
A Vein of Humor in 1t.

| l.
granted that it would stay.
| A. year ago. the. Interstate Oil and
Gas company, a corporation made up
of Indiana and South, Dakota capital
ISIS, began operations near Princeton
to find gas Their drillers found as
phalt, too, but paid no attention to
| it. They were after gas-simply that
and nothing more.
One day Henry E. Agar, the mer-
chant, got to thinking that there might
be a dollar or two in asphalt, SO he
called several of his financially fortu-
nate friends into conference and they
decided to go after the asphalt and get
rlcher. so, the story goes Agar de-
cided to perfect the organiza ion and
invited his friends to his dining-rOom.
/ what more propitious place than a
| dln1ng-room can be imagined for the
Organization Of a good thing.
Out of that meeting by the cup
board grew the Hoosier Prospecting
company, made up exclusively of
local capital, and it began operations
early in this year. The drillers went
after asphalt. and-struck oil.
Word was passed thru the busy
Presbyterian Princeton and nobody
was surprised. 1t was oil; that was
all there was to it. The Hoosier' COM
pany went down with another we'll
and another. Now they have three
Nv ellis THAT are moving. .
Hf@ Suddenly Strangers Came.
Suddenly a good many strangers
1 began registering at Princeton hotels.
! They began whispering around about
Oil leases, and in the course Of week
or two 1T became the fashion for
farmers living in the vicinity sof
Princeton to talk of having leased
their farms to oil companies. Still
I-thpra
went on in it's busy, prosperous way
and paid no attention to oil-that is,
the people did not get excited about it
l. zone morning last summer, how
ever, Princeton actually noticed thai
there Was something doing in the OF
fields around the town. 1t became g
confirmed rumor that the Standard
Oil company's men We're in town anc
were gobbling up leases. 1t was Their
that Princeton capital began lookirs
With some interest toward oil. L
rockefeller thought there was OF
here perhaps there might be.
Now Princeton has oil companies
galore. Local and foreign capital be,
| gan organizing for the work in this
field. Five oil wells have been pu
down here and not a dry hole ha
Fbeen reported as yet. 1t is predicted
that before the first of 1904 there viii
|
penter that can lift a hammer am
saw has a job to build derrick
Thousands Of dollars are being pu
into oil here now, and every train
brings new rig that must be Sc
up Immediately. The wells are show
ing a steady flow and the average i
about thirty-five barrels day. N
gushers are expected. It has bee
discovered by the biologists that tn
i nj co, e.
producing sand has a depth of 10
feet. Apparently it is a level bee
and pools are not looked for There
fore no gushers. The oil is a hig
grade lubricant, with paraffin base
Parker Switch and Parker City.
l. The field extends over a nine-nil
area, oil having been found at Eas
Mt. Carmel, nine miles west Of here
A We'll with a good flow has bee
opened at Parker Switch, five mile
from Princeton. The Parker Switc
OIL field promises well. 1t is Singh
lar coincidence that the best norther
Indiana oil field surrounds Parke
A City While in the southern part of tn
state the field centers at Parke
Switch.
4 The last oil company to be organ
4 lied here is the Puritan. In it is b:
4 vid j. Mackey, once one of the be
A known railroad men and financiers
the country. Associated with him al
4 David and Harry Huston, the Pari
Ill, capitalists. Harry Kurtz Of tn
city is also a prime mover in the ne
corporation. 1t is capitalized
d $250,000 and has 1000 acres lease
on which to operate.
\ The Standard Oil company has Ia
8 900 acres Of oil land under lease. TT
Z1egler OH company Of Muncie h
5000 acres leased; the Farmers G
company of this city has 5000 acre
the indianapolis Gas association LIS,
acres; the Rodgers Oil company
= Mt. Carmel, Ill.,, 1000 acres; the Rig
i Oil company Of Terre Haute and N
4 Carmel 1000 acres; the Lafayette, L
4 gansport and Wabash Valley G
81 Company 1000 acres; the Rando1,
II Oil company, 5000 acres; Patoka {
q company Of Patoka, Ind, 5000 acre
Owensville Oil company Of Owensvil
81 Ind, 5000 acres; Interstate Gas al
81 Oil company, 1000 acres; Poseyvi
s. Oil company, 1000 acres; Indiana al
a Ohio Oil company, 1900 acres a.
q buying more. Albert Trip Of India
4 apolis has a number of good leas
= near Princeton John G. kelch of N
q Carmel, ILL.,, is organizing a compa
= to operate in this (Gibson) coun
A Franklin county (Pennsylvani
q company is also preparing to opera
a here.
4 Notification of a Prophecy.
8 The discovery of. Oil in this regi
Il is the verifieation of prophecy ma
81 by E. T.. Cox, former state geologi
\ thirty years ago. Mr.. Cox predict
: then in his reports that Gibson coun
would one day be a great oil and &C
a field. Both coal and oil have be
discovered in paying quantities 4
= coal is of q high grade and one Of t