Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1905-08-24
additional Locals.
The Lone Star State.

of New England; france could be put
into it and there would still be strip
80 miles wide enclroling the Gallo re-
public. Thirtysix hours by rail are re
quired to pass from one end to the other
FATHER than from New York to Chi
cago. 1t is big State, inhabited by
people who do things in big, lively,
hustling way. Texans are chock full OF
State pride; proud of its history, proud
of its size, of its varied agricultural
products, its manufactures. It's fine cit
les, its soil and climate. They believe
in their State. in its future and in them
selves. and they are ustling right along
to make that future great.
Dallas is fine city of between 10000
and $4,000 people. 1t hasau astonish.
ing number OF big new business build
ings, it has beautiful churches, an i'm
posing City Hall, hundreds OF costly
private residences each surrounded by
spacious lawns, an up'to-date street
car system with transfers to all lines,
and the Inter. Urban lines between this
city and Fort Worth 80 miles away is
ono of the best in the United States.
The cars are of enormous size, strongly
built, fitted with large windows and
make the trip with Is stops in an hour
and twenty minutes. This inter-urban
line is An evidence of the business push
and enterprise Of the two cities. Dali
las, with not more than $4,000 people
and Fort Worth with $4,000, way of
in what some are pleased to call the
wilds of the Southwest, have put this
line into operation and are running it
at big profit, while Baltimore and
Washington with five times the popula-
ton have been for Is years talking OF an
inter urbal line but never been able to
get beyond talk. There is apparently
plenty of money in these Texas cities,
everybody seems to be prospecting and
busy, money seems to come freely and
is freely spent, calamity ho~lers and
pessimists are noticeable by their alb
sence. business opportunities abound
for the man who has capital and energy.
The discovery of oil fields at Beaumont
and Humble couple years ago drew thou
sands to those regions and wonderfully slim
ulated the development of the country. AT
Beaumont, then a town of about 5000, there
was wild excitement. For three months the
main street was as lively as Broadway in
New York, and often SO crowded that it was
impossible to move except by inches. Men
were selling and buying lots on the curb
stone and fortunes were made and lost in a
day. Lots were sold and resold SO fast that
the deeds could not be made out quickly
enough. Occasionally too, when the last
buyer went to inspect his purchase he found
there was no such lot, the first seller being
a straw" man, who sold bogus lot and
skipped out. People went wild with excite
ment Those who kept their heads made
fortunes. Lots were sold at S. 900 for Bed
Of an acre. When a man struck oil ii spout
ed out with laundering sound $50 feet in
The air, first an immense volume of gas and
then O steady stream of oil that would as
cend rs to 100 feet before it began to spread.
Of course the wells were capped soon as pos
siblc but often would flow for several days
before this could be done. Once capped,
hey were exhibited to prospective buyers as
occasion required, that is, the cap was taken
of and the oil allowed to squirt so the buyer
could estimate the value Of the well by the
volume of OIL One man made nearly half
million dollars by digging bitches and catch.
ng this waite oil, running it into huge
earthen tank. Not every one who sunk
well struck oil. There were many failures.
Today there are hundreds Of deserted der
ricks and only about Is or 20 wells still be-
ing pumped,
For three months Beaumont was Babel.
Men slept IL and Is in room, lying on the
floor. Hundreds tramped the streets with
no place to rest. Every hotel and boarding
house in town was packed. Private resi-.
icnces had to keep open house. For three
months the town was filled with escaping
gas and with the smell of oil. Then some
hing dropped. The supply began to abate,
he boundaries of the oil field became clearly
the crowd melted away and today
Beaumont is town of $4,000 people with
OTIS of money and energy and mile away,
IN the oil field stand hundreds of derricks-
graveyard Of blasted hopes. Almost de-
serted, with only 10 or Is wells going, the
oil field is but shadow of its former great.
less
But as the oil fl Id declined, rice culture
began and Beaumont will now profit thro'
he cultivation of this cereal. Hitherto, the
jarolnas haye furnished the bulk of the rice
in this country, but Texas is des-
lined to become formidable rival.
Euroute from New Orleans to Houston
travelling, by the way, In cars drawn by en-
zines which burn oil instead of coal and thus
10 away with cinders and dirty, one passes
. continuous procession OF cane, corn and
ice fields, with big crop OF kinky headed,
ut pickaninnes at every town. Lots CT cot
on too as we get into Texas Texas Is the
banner cotton state of the union. There Is
10 waste, the entire plant being Of use. After
he cotton has been picket the seeds are
gathered From them the oil is extracted !
much of 1t we get on our tables as olive oil
pint of real olive oil mixed with barrel of |
,Ottonsecd oil. twenty-five years tgo the
iced was thrown away. Laws were passed |
o prevent planters from dumping it into the
by the carload. Today one firm
n Dallas alone ships $4,000 barrels OF oil to