The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-09-02
BOOM WITHOUT SALOON
The Usual Mushroom Construc-
tiOn Is Omitted Here.
Free Gas That Burns Every
where at Night Amazes Him.
Thinks the Standard Corpora
tion Is Not Wholly Wrong.

Holton, Sept IN NJ. Beck gives
his impressions of the Chanute oil
fields. after inspection, in the Recorder
rs follows:
Kansas, following it's time honored
custom, has just presented to the coun-
try a boom town without saloon and
without rowdyism- The town is Cha
mute. As people generally are begin
ming to realize. it is the center of those
oil fields which are revolutionizing the
character of the southeast corner of the
state from agricultural to industrial.
In the field there are plenty of other
such towns. scattered through half n
dozen counties, but Chanute is an ad-
vanced type and will answer for the
rest.
In this town of the saloonless boom
there is at least one other feature that
varies from the popular notion. There
is not of the usual mushroom construc-
1ion in dwellings or business blocks.
and no one seems to have lost his head
I'm building public works beyond sane.
evident needs If 800 dwelling houses
have been put up since winter they are
all occupied today.
Then, while the people, new and old,
may grow excited at midday ovet the
apparently exhaustless wealth that lies
beneath the surface of the ground, they
all become quiet after the sun goes
down. Nearly everyone is abed at half
past 9 and at 10 the Hobbies of the no.
tells are deserted and the stores for the
most part are locked up. Peace reignS,
or rather sleep reigns. and energy is
being laid up for the next days work.
When dozen late corners left a train
at Chanute at $3.50 a. m the other night
and trudged up the main street toward
a hotel, the moon was shining but that
was not enough. The show windows of
every store and shop were Illuminated
with gas, electricity burned on the
street corners and the whole effect was
that of a gala celebration with the pee
pie left out The town hall was radi-
nj ,, f1fr ale x1-fr,
dowS of a church, which in size and
architecture was almost twin of The
Methodist church of Holton, the lights
shone cheerfully ash to prove that while
the material was so strenuously awake
the spiritual slept not.
The effect of the whole was startling
to the chance visitor but it would have
dunn bounded the burglar. AS matter
of fact, night watchmen and policemen
are almost superfluity. Though the
residents were dreaming and the town
was wrapped in serene repose there was
no cheer for the knights of darkness.
Here is a plain fact: Gas lamps cost
10 cents month with unlimited service,
incandescent electricity 10 cents
month let it burn while it may. The
city of Chanute owns both plants. Its
gas service made it profit enough to
pay for installing the electric system,
and the two are filing the municipal
treasury even at the low rates quoted
above.
I visited a farm house five miles out
of town. In the yard was a big pile of
cook stove" wood that would have de-
lighted the soul of a Jackson county
housewife. and over the wood pile vines
had grown Tiotously and undisturbed.
The woman of the farm house was
cooking on gas range and the gas she
was burning was supplied to her free
by contract with the oil people, who
had leased and drilled wells on her
place. Her mOther-in-law who lived in
q house near by confessed she was
0f IN n w
her fuel from a wood pile.
Around the Chanute fields-in the es
tablished trends-tSe percentage of
dry wells according to ]. H. Dennis.
formerly of Topeka, is as low as per
cent That has been his experience. He.
by the way, is associated with H. B.
Kelly, the Topeka capitalist and bond
dealer, in the development of properties
in the district Already they have built
up two highly successful companies,
the Syndicate and the Klondike-
The Syndicate. five miles east of Cha
mute. has u wells drilled They began
drilling six months ago. Eight of the
wells are fair producers and four are
remarkably strong. The company is
selling oil. the production of which
reaches $50 barrels day, and is cou-
pied up with the Standard pipes. None
of the stock of this company is now for
sale, so the case is cited freely as a
type Following the usual system the
company is capitalized highly-S1 600 600
and the shares are of low denomina-
ton, 20 cents each.
Investment in stock at 5 cents a
share says Mr.. Dennis, has now a
guaranteed earning capacity of % per
cent a year."
Another property of this same devel-
opment company is the Klondike loca-
ted in the river trend and occupying
15S acres Several wells have been
drilled in and the process is continuing
The company also holds the Victor pro-
perty of which the secretary is Miss
Emma Kelly who made a name for
herself for energy and daring by alone
invading the Alaskan gold fields three