The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-12-01
FORTUNE IN OIL WELL.

d6p was poor man ana uedu over
heels in debt, as are most small oil
producers. Today wealth is coming
to him from the bowels Of the earth
sofast that he can scarcely count 1t,
says special dispatch from Frank
lin, Pa, to the New York Wo,ld.
He has struck the biggest oil we'll
that the Pennsylvania fields have had
IN twenty years, and from present in
dlcations he has only to put down the
holes to get other wells that may do
even better.
Rapp's well-''the poor mans
gusher," as it has now come to be
known-is remarkable from the fact
| that it is in section that is notorious
for its wells of small production. It
IS surrounded on all sides by hun
dreds of wells that are making from
quarter barrel to FIVE barrels day.
On the same farm Rapp has twelve
wells whose combined production is
only two barrels. The territory has
been drilled since the early sixties,
and it was believed to have been
drained practically dry. But it is now
the most promising field in the state.
There can be little doubt that Rapp
has tapped an oil belt rather than a
pool.
The gusher is in thick hemlock
forest on the bank Of creek. When
the drill had gone two feet into the
sand there was an immediate flow of
oil and a gas pressure so strong that
the men were compelled to shut the
we'll down and move the boiler back
from the danger zone. Then the
drill was started again, and when it
got three feet farther down there was
recoil of the rope and the fluid be.
gan to squirt out. Then it gushed,
and before the men could realize
what was taking place the oil was
shooting as high as the derrick. The
spray covered the derrick and all the
trees around.
Before Rapp and his astonished
helpers could curb the flow more
than 100 barrels had been lost. No
provision had been made for taking
care of such vast quantity of oil.
The employees of the National Tran
sit company, the pipe line subsidiary
of the Standard, were notified, and
they worked night and day laying
line from the pump station two miles
| distant.
The record of the well for the
first few days indicates that it is good
for seventy-five barrels an hour, or
300 barrels day. At the present
price of Pennsylvania crude this
would net So, 1862 day. Of this
amount the owner of the farm gets
one-eighth as royalty, leaving Rapp
with a daily income of $2,5o4, or
about $Io5 an hour, $1.75 minute,
or nearly 8 cents for every time the
clock ticks.
Nearly all the big oil strikes in
| Pennsylvania have been made by men
who had lots of money. In many
cases they couldn't have drilled
otherwise. After you have bought
your release it costs nearly s., 500 to
complete the we'll. But Rapp is an
exception, and everybody is glad
that he has struck it." The day
after the gusher came in more than a
hundred people called at Rapp's
home to congratulate him.
Rapp came to Venango county
from Petrolia, Butler county, in 1889
and, with his family of half dozen
children, settled down near Kenner-
dell. He looked around for an oil
lease, and the William Witherup
farm was the only one available. He
and another man took it on equal
shares and began putting down wells,
doing most of their own drilling.
The wells were mostly small, and
the production.swas scarcely able to
keep the wolf from the door. They
were both badly in debt, and five
years ago Rapp's partner got DISCUS
ted and sold out to him for a trife.
Rapp was compelled to borrow the
purchase money.
More than fifteen years ago Rapp
observed that even the small produ-
cling wells flowed at times, indicating
heavy pressure of gas, and with
every well that he put down he had
the hope that he would encounter
the source, for it meant good well.
A reporter found Rapp hard at
work at his we'll. When the sugges-
ton was made that he would proba-
bly, take himself and family to Frank
| lin or some other town he answered
| mo, sir. These old hills shall
see me in my wealth just as they
have seen me in my poverty. My
lot so far has been a hard one, and
believe that I am entitled to ease and
comfort the rest of my days, and I in
tend to spend them right here"
Mrs. Rapp, the wife, said that the
wild hills Of Clinton township were
good enough for her too. She was
willing to live in the small home
that has sheltered her and hers for SC
many years, though" she added
ST don't want to work as hard in the
future as I have in the past. I am
nearly worn out."
| Another poor man to whom the
gusher will bring ease and comfort
is Witherup. His royalties from the
well will amount to about SIS ar
hour at the present rate of produc
ton. He and his aged wife of late
years have been compelled to boart
oil men to keep themselves.
TIE little girl had been assiduous
ly instructive in the arts and grace'
of courtesy, and when she told he
mamma how the strange boy at tn
| ~,o~kxx t,od 1>sccod hor che did III will