The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1914-02-14

going. and never give up. Slick was
Of that Kind He went to Cushing
called meeting OF the business men
and laid his proposition before them.
! He told them of the Indications he hac
found in the Tiger well, and that he
believed there was a pool OF oil un-
der the Wheeler farm. He asked
them 10 raise $4,000 for the we'll, and
in return he would give them one
half interest in all his leases.
The business men listened to him
and declined. Now you can 20 10
Gushing any day. and men VINO at
tended tnat meeting will tell you how
they missed being multi millionaires,
and how they might be cruising the
Mediterranean in their own yachts,
instead OF selling wall paper or
drugs, or groceries, if they had only
as much faith as Slick had
In Chicago lived C. B. Shaffer a
man who had made millions in oil in
the Pennsylvania field. Slick had
known him in the old days. He bor-
rowed 500 and went to Chicago and
laid his plan before Shaffer.
Shaffer had the gambling instinct
Of the oil man and he gave Slick the
$4,000 with which to drill the we'll
getting in return for it large inter-
est in oil leases on one thousand
acres of land around the Wheeler
farm
The we'll was finished March 10,
1912, and the oil spouted from it in
a sush that drowned the surrounding
surface in a lake of oil The great
Gushing pool lad been found.
The next step was to cover it up,
to hide the discovery. until more land
could be leased around it. The we'll
was plugged, men worked feverishly
TO shovel dirt over the oil on the sur
face Shaffer came from Chicago ana
with him came J. X Gano ana a
corps Of expert oil leasers Gano
hired every horse and livery rig in
Gushing and placed them in a pasture
with man armed with shotgun 10
guard them and keep them safe from
the army OF oil leasers thaf came
Hooking in as soon as the news Of
the discovery OF oil got out. There
was one motor car in Gushing and
the owner OF ii made d small fortune
charging SIS apiece for hauling pros
oector' 70 the new WE'LL twelve miles
out.
Now there are sixteen wells on
Wheeler's farm and they are prodac
ing $500 barrels of oil a day. which
sells for $l.05 a barrel Wheeler gets
one eighth or little over 5000 a dav.
There were months in the times of
largest production when the wells on
his farm produced 10000 barrels a
day and his income was $3.50 day.
He gets ii in spot cash and he has
hundreds of thousands OF dollars de-
posted in the banks in towns all
through the district He has the in
come OF a millionaire.
Sudden eealth did not turn Wheel
er's head. Ii be had been unsuccess-
ful before he made up for it now in
conservatiyeness and good manage
ment He bought $4,000 house in
saltwater, where there is a fine state
school, and moved his family there so
the five daughters Yet at home might
be well educated. He bought two mo-
tor cars and spent last summer in
colorado. He will go to Florida this
winter and to Europe next wear He
has bought fine farms for each OF his
four ns-in law.
Wheeler does not know how much
he is worth. His farm is assessed
at $4,000 on the county tax books
lie could sell it for million dollars
EIe has received s250,S0O in royalties
already. and the wells on his place
may 90 on producing for fifty or one
hundred years. or even more,
The same strike make Slick a mil
lionaire 1t added d million to the
already large fortune Of Shaf.er. 1t
brought fortunes to scores OF men
c. j. Wrightsman an attorney in
Tulsa. had an interest with Jones and I
Slick in a block of leases. He sold /