The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-21
THREE BARRELS OF OIL
Started Charles Lockhart on Way to
 $19o,ooo,ooo Fortune.

From the New York Herald.
 Allegheny county's board of tax as- sessors proposes to clear the mystery that has hitherto enveloped the estate ol the late Charles Lockhart, which is now said to amount to s180,000, ,000, and to have grown to that size from three barrels of crude petroleum bought in 1852.
 Mir. Lockhart was a man of simple but cultured tastes. While he had q remarkable talent for making money, he was a devotee of art. It is said he was one of the few Pittsburg men of wealth who had not, at some time or another, been imposed upon with a crude copy. His gallery contains the best private collection of paintings in this city. His gallery was never opened to the public, though he enjoyed show ing his pictures to his guests.
 He was an ardent United Presby- terian, and the Sixth United Presby- terian church, near his home, was prac- tieally built and supported by him. He was charitable, but was afraid of ap- bearing ostentatious. It is told of him that when a committee of women waited upon him to secure a contribu- tion to charity Mr Lockhart would per haps put his name down for $50. Then the committee would seek Mrs. Lock- hart to secure her mite.
 Glancing over the list, Mrs. Lock hart would come to the item, Charles Lockhart. $50" ."There is some mis- take here" Mrs. Lockhart would say. 'Mr. Lockhart meant $500, not $50. will correct it." Then she would sub scribe her "mite," probably $250.
 When the list was returned to MT. Lockhart for the two subscriptions he would make no protest, but with a smile draw his check for $750.
 MT. Lockharts great fortune grew from the purchase of three barrels of crude petroleum He was born on farm in Scotland in 1918. His parents were, for the time and place, well-to- do. When years old he went to live with his uncle, merchant at Garlies- town, a Scotch seaport Tn 1856 the Lockharts emigrated to this country. Charles came to Pittsburg, securing employment with the wholesale grocery firm of James McCully & Co. In 1855 he became a member of the firm.
 It was while still clerk, in 1852, that Lockhart made his venture In oil. This was the purchase of three barrels from Isaac Huff, who was part owner in a salt well in Westmoreland county from which the McCully company ob- tained the salt it sold. Disposing of this oil at considerable profit, Lockhart purchased a controlling interest in the salt well. From that time-April 1853 until his death he was an oil pro ducer.
 After the discovery of oil at Oil Creek, in 1859, by Colonel Drake Lock hart sent a representative to investi- gate the field. Phillips, Crew & Go. ! was organized, Lockhart being mem- Der. In March, 1860, oil was struck, and slxty-four barrels were shipped by water to Pittsburg. In May, 1860, MT. Iockhart went to Europe with samples of crude and refined petroleum and opened up the European market for American oil.
 In the same year Lockhart, with oth- CTS. built the first refinery in Pittsburg, and later, with William G. Warden, established a commission house in Phil adelphia and built the Atlantic refinery there. Upon the organization of the Standard oil company, in 1874, all MT. Lockharts oil interests were merged into it, and he became an active factor in this corporation.
 Mir. Lockhart had many other inter- ests. among them iron and glass manu- 1 featuring, timber lands in the south, mining in Colorado and other states, owning and operating two large wheat farms in the Red River valley in Min nesota. He was president of the Pitts burg National Bank of Commerce, and had large interest in the International Navigation company, which controlled the American and Red Star lines of ocean steamships.