davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

tirely Fictitious; the other. a dark-colored red
wine made from a wild native grape. called
In Maryland a Fox grape. but very different
from what is called by that name in Virginia.
This very fine wine and exactly re-
s-mbling the red burgundy of Chamberlin tone
with that Of which I had very good on the
same table. imported by myself from the place
where made, the company could not dis
tinguish the from the other. l think II
would be well to push the culture Of that grape
without losing our time and effort in search
adapt to our soil and climate.
Maj. John Album died March I. 1896.
and the Rambler found this notice in
the National Intelligencer of Thursday.
March 3. that year:
Departed this life on the 1st instart at IL
o'clock at night. at his residence. the Vine
yard, near Georgetown, d. G., after a short
illness. John Album. Esq. in the seventy-seventh
year of his age. Maj. Album was soldier in
the revolution. major in the Provisional Army
during the administration Of the elder Adams
and afterwards a brigadier general in the
militia Of Pennsylvania of which state lie was
a native.
An intimate knowledge Of the deceased for
the past six and forty years enables the writer
TO declare that in his opinion lie has not left
behind him a more worthy or honest man. A
widow and two amiable daughters remain to
the most kind and affectionate of parents.
The friends and acquaintance of the de-
ceased respectfully invited without further
notice to attend the funeral Of the deceased
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29
Frank G. Carpenter Visits Great Oil Fields of Texas

discovered since that of Beaumont was
exhausted. Some of ii is from northern
Louisiana and some from northerp-a and
eastern Texas. great deal comes
from Kansas and Oklahoma, represent
ing a part of the vast output of what is
known as the midcontinent oil field,
which is now producing several hum
dred thousand barrels every week. The
state of Oklahoma produced one hun
dred and five million barrels last year.
1t led the United States in its output Of
oil.
In addition to the tanks here there
are tank farms at Port Arthur, on the
Mexican gulf. and there are great re-
f1neries at both places where the crude
oil is turned into the many forms in
which it goes to the market. -.
1t seems strange to speak Of tank
farms. but that is what these great
collections of oil storage reservoirs are
called. There are a number of them
down here on the Mexican gulf. They
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

oil strata is supposed to run. Another
well sunk within plain view of the
hill has proven buster" That is. it
has no oil at all. although the drills
were put down underground to a depth
of more than three-fourths Of mile.
The Spindle Top of today is almost
deserted. Its only inhabitants are the
men who are managing the'small pump
ing stations and the "squatters' who
have taken possession of the rattle
trap buildings which sprang up in the
days of the great oil excitement. There
are less than hundred derricks now
standing, and the total output of the
field is not more than 500 barrels every
twenty-four hours.
! went out to Spindle Top with Mr..
Courtney Marshall. the secretary and
treasurer of the Magnolia Reflnir1
Company, which is now producing pc
troleum and its by-products under the
direction of the United States govern
ment. The plant, to which l shall refer
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

thing produced in his fields. orchard
and garden. Money is thus put into
his own pocket. and consumers of food
In cities. by getting a dependable sup
ply at fair prices. are equally bene
fitted. II the cherry crop is big and.
therefore. difficult to sell. can the cher
ries and wait until next year. when
the crop may be short and dear.
FARMERS can establish their own
brands. marked by their own labels.
and. II their product is superior, will
get superior prices. They can pac<
string beans. tomatoes, sweet potatoes,
carrots, parsnips ard all kinds Of fruits
ana vegetables. An outfit with a ca
pacity OF 900 quarts "A day can be pu--
chased for $50. For canning in small
way there need be no expense what
ever for equipment"
The principle of keeping cooked food
in tin and glass is. of course. well
understood. Heat kills the organisms
in the food. and tho sealing OF the
cans and jars ercludes the air. in which
there are always millions of germs
that cause decomposition. But fruits
also are dried. Meat las been dried
Tor wages. Recently the drying of vege-
tables has become a pro missing home
and factory Industry. Working on this
problem OF conservation for three
years. II. c. Gore CT the bureau of
chemistry, DepartH ent Of Agriculture,
has accomplished some surprising re-
suits lie is university man. born
in the city of New York. hut was
reared and educated in the est.
Drying" he said. takes the water
out of fruits and vegetables. Micro
organisms. after the water falls below
a certain point, cease to exist. Women
have dried apples. peaches. cherries
and corn for generations. We eat dried
prunes and raisins. Dried beef has
long been farm and commercial prod
uct. In all of these things. the water
by artificial heat. micro-organisms have
been DESTROYED. and. therefore, preser-
walton is simple.
Insects. however. will lay eggs in
the corn or fruit exposed to the sun In
the course of drying. and that Is the
reason fine netting is used by women
as covering for the 10 ID they are pre-
serving. After corn or :nyth!rs else
has ben u. led it n4ust be kept in tiSh
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

Il
Mail him a check Mrs. Benson said.
drearily.
NO" Oscar replied, 81 am going to
ne2otiate-to gamble. in other words"
Ard the $3.50 will become 3d." the
mother said.
Possibly. but wait and see" Oscar
answered. Those berries were sound
and fresh"
Whereupon he wrote n telegram him :
SELF. Return the berries" he ordered
came an answer. early in the afternoon.
''Winemaker just called" telegraphed
the liar in Chicago. Offers 40 cents a
case"
offer rejected" Oscar answered by
wire. ship berries by express to Delhi
on first train
Late in the afternoon Chicago again
got on the line. "Winemaker raises his
bid to as cents case. the commission
merchant said. increasing his former
lie almost 100 per cent.
offer accepted" Oscar answered, just
as the sun was going down. He had
'gambled," as he told his mother. and
won. The adventure, and such it was
TOR Oscar. led to national results. The
boy began to think in large and vital
terms and to see things that had been
invisible before. AS he looked around
over the rich prairie acres of his ma
tive state ne was All at once conscious
that country boys and girls were going
to villages and cities and never coming
back. IL was an old discovery to Older
men. To Oscar Benson IL was new.
There was cause at the bottom OF
what Oscar Benson believed TO be IRA
tional conditions. He felt that farming
now that he was a joint manager with
his mother. called for skill. intelligence
and courage. 1t was a manly and honor
able occupation. But a commission man
here and there. swindled a farmer. now
and then, and comic newspapers pu,
straws in farmers mouths and hay seed
in their hair. not emitting whiskers or
their chins. Besides. life in the country
by tradition and modern practice. was
hnmdrum.
The awakening of Oscar Benson. as has
been said, began when the Chicago SCAMP
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

later on. is one of the largest in the
United States, and Mr.. Marshall has
been connected with it since its be-
ginning.
Mr.. Marshall came to Beaumont in
1902, when the oil excitement was at
roads they had at that time were of
mud. and the cost of freight from Beau
mont to Spindle Top was almost as
great as the value of the machinery
carried. Hack rates We're $40 pas
senger; hall bedrooms rented for 500
covered with tents. The hill itself was
\ great gambling table. fguratively
speaking, upon which fortune hunters
from the four quarters of the earth
all the surroundings of 4 new mining
camp. 1t had its saloons and dance
halls. Betting was done on the quiet,
and fortunes were made and lost IN d
night. For miles around the land was
bought and divided up into oil claims.
1t jumped from s. to tens of thousands
of dollars an acre, and some of the land
on the hill was sold for as much as
$500 600 an acre. 1t is said that a New
York broker stood up one night in the
Crosby House at Beaumont and offered
100000 cash for any acre in the proven
ground of Spindle Top hill. He was
laughed at, and he had the good sense
to take his money back home.
capt. Lucas tells me tlit one SC. VI
men bought an acre for $4,000 and
bored n well in the center. They then
divided the acre into four quarters, each
represented by a million-dollar com
pany. and these companies sold tnat
81 900, 0cO worth of stock far and wide
over the Union. Capt. Lucas was Of
fered 100000 of the stock of million
dollar company if he would allow them
to use his name as its president. They
said that their property was as good as
., 1tnt he
Capt Lucas looked at it he found 1t to
be utterly worthless and refused
Today a chain of oil tanks hangs
about Spindle Top hill like a necklace
of mighty rubies Each tank is of
steel 1t is painted red and it repre-
sents more value than any collection of
pigeon blood gems ever gotten to-
gether The tanks belong to the great
oil companies and their contents are
valued at millions. The oil in them
does not come from Spindle Top. 1t has
been piped here from the other great
fields of petroleum which have been
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

are used to store the crude oil as II
comes in from the fields and also fog
the gasoline, kerosene. lubricatinE and
other oils which form the products OF
the refineries while awaiting their
shipment in the great tank steamers
and tank cars which carry them TO the
market.
The tanks are connected by pipes
with the rehneries, with the oil. fields
ard with the wharves where the ships
come for their loads. There are thou
sands of miles of such pipes, each about
twenty-four inches in circumference. or
about as big, around as the waist of
YOUR sweetheart. In these the oil is
carried over the country. 1t goeS-from
the wells in the oil fields to storage
tanks nearby, and from there is pumped
from station to station until ii reaches
the refinery. In fact, A pipe line is
much like Il railroad The pipes are
the tracks and the stations the depots,
while the pumping establishments at
each station are the motive power
which sends the oil freight through the
pipes from one station to the other. On
a long line the stations are about fifty
miles apart, each consisting of one. or
more large steel tanks for storing the
oil. 800
The tank farms are collections Of
such storage tanks. They are to be
found at the ports and at or near the
refinerieS. In company with Mr.. Mar
shall I have visited some belonging to
the Magnolia Company, which lie. on
the edge of Spindle Top hill. One farm
consists of seventeen steel tanks and
four great earthen tanks. the whole
having capacity of over 100000 bar
rels. Each of the steel tanks holds
$1,000 barrels. 1t is great cylinder
about thirty feet high and perhaps 100
feet in diameter. 1t has sloping roof
which. like the walls, consists of steel
plates SO riveted together that there
can be no leakage. and it stands In
side a pit of earth large enough to
hold the burning oil and prevent it
from running out over the country in
case the tank should catch fire.
The earthen tanks are about five
times as large as the steel tanks. Each
of them is fourteen feet deep and 300
feet in diameter. 1t is more than a
sixth of a mile around. and 1t has. p
of quarter of a million bar
rels of oil.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29
The Rambler Writes Of Maj John Albums

S@IERCE MILL road where 1t leads
~ west from Connecticut avenue
passes up a short steep grade and
4 pursues its narrow and shady
way to the ancient Georgetown-Freder-
ick road, entering that thoroughfare,
which is now called Wisconsin avenue,
near Tenleytown. Along this part Of its
course 1t skirts the north front of a
tract of land which has a place in
American annals. This tract earned its
title to historic fame as The Vine
yard" Before having that designation
given it the land formed a part of the
large tract laid down in the early Mary
land and District of Columbia land
books as Addition to the Rock of Dun
barton
The Vineyard was the home of John
Album, and 1t was he who gave it that
name. From about the year 1900 till
1896 the name of John Album was as
prominent and we'll known in Washing
ton and Georgetown as the name of any
leading citizen of Washington Is Today.
He was a man of charity and good will
toward his fellowmen, and a man of dis
tinct achievement in the whole course
of action which he mapped out for him
self and which he pursued intently un-
til his death. He was a benefactor of
all Americans, and his berfefactfons are
the enjoyment of all people today. Yet
he is forgotten. Only the Oldest of the
people of Washington will recall his
name. and their memory is due to the
Circumstance that the Vineyard contin-
ued to be a local place-name long after
the death of Maj. Album and his widow,
a woman with gentle face and a kindly
manner who long survived him. passing
to her reward in 1852.
r
The majority of the Washingtonians
will probably think something like
this: What musty memory is this that
the Rambler revives? Who was John
Album" Yet, as the Rambler has
said. this man was prominent in the
District of Columbia and Montgomery
county. Md, far longer than many
leading citizens of today have enjoyed
their prominence, and he is forgotten.
The Rambler is sure that the large
and steadily increasing group of build
ings of the bureau of standards is on
land which John Album titled and
cared for. and the Rambler feels that
the house In which this man and his
family dwelt was somewhere within
the seven-and-a-half-acr plot of
ground occupied by the bureau of
standards. He does not know this
and cannot know it, because no vestige
of the house can be found. and in
quiries as to it's site, though directed
to men with long memories of that
neighborhood. have thus far been
without success. Perhaps there will
yet appear some man who as boy
gleefully pilfered fruit from the vine
yard. remembers the old house and can
put his finger, or his foot. on the spot
where IL stood.
John Album was one of a small group
of pioneers in grape culture in this
country. including Nicholas Longworth
Kentucky and Letter Legeaux and John
Dore at Philadelphia, who did marked
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

he had tried to deepen a well for
Joseph Jefferson. the actor. on Jeffer-
son Island and had struck salt not far
from the surface. He had bored down
2.100 feet through that salt without
finding bottom. and later had gone
down into the rocky salt dome of an
other mound to a depth of 2,740 feet
and had there found salt and sulphur
and some oil.
There were indications of oil at the
surface of the Spindle Top mound. and
before Capt. Lucas drilled there. he
took a lease on 5000 acres from Car
roll & O'Brien, the owners of the
property. This included about three
fourths of the hill. and he leased in
addition about $1,000 acres of the prai-
RE nearby. His first well struck oil at
600 feet. but there was not enough to
pay at that depth. He then tried to
get capitalists to join with him in the
exploration. Several prominent men re-
fused. but he finally interested j. NJ.
Guffey of Pittsburgh. with the under
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29
BY JAMES B. MORROW.

00 7HEN P. c. Benson died he left
MAN. eighty acres Of land planted
T\Y mostly in fruits and vege-
tables. to his family-level,
Iowa land near a little village of Delhi
The management of the farm thereafter
was undertaken by Mrs. Benson and her
son Oscar, a tail, gray-eyed youth.
whose mind worked like a bobbin in a
sewing machine.
One summer morning and afternoon
Oscar Benson superintended the pick
ing and packing of fifty eight crates
of blackberr4es. That evening he ship
ped the berries by express to Chicago.
About 10 o'clock the next day Oscar
Benson received a telegram. Berries
in bad condition. the commission mer-
chant wired. Market glutted. Send
$50 for express charges"
Interpreted by the light of some for
mer experience, the message meant to
Mrs. Benson and Oscar that the black
berries had been sold for a sum that
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

service to their country. Their aim
also was to develop the art and in
dustry of making American wine from
American grapes.
They conscientiously believed that in
developing an American wine industry
and producing as good wine as Amer
leans imported in mighty volume
from France. Spain, Portugal. Italy and
Germany they were performing
patriotic duty. That was their thought.
though, of course, that was long
time ago. They could not see, as SO
many of the men and women of the
present declare they see. dragons.
griffins and other monsters of hideous
mien in every glass of wine. They
saw in the glass and the decanter only
wine. Strange as it may now sound
to ears that are attuned to the storms
of reform that sweep to and fro over
the land. wine held no terrors for them.
But times and manners change. Con-
ceptions of morals undergo revision
with the years.
The Rambler does not know it to be
a fact, but considers it possible that
Maj. John Album, good man that he
was. sometimes bought lottery ticket.
took chance on a horerace. or even
descended so deep in the depths of per-
dition as to take a hand in a poker
game.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

The story of every great oil camp is
OF live human interest. and there is
none more so than Spindle Top. on
which we are standing. The field is so
small that a soldier could stand in the
center, and. with his rife. shoot far
beyond any of the wells that have pro-
duced oil in large quantities.. The oil
came from u reservoir. capped with
strata thousand feet thick. The first
well that penetrated the reservoir was
drilled TO depth less than twice the
height of the Washington Monument.
ard the result was al explosion which
threw up rocks and sections Of four
inch pipe to height of many hundred
feet. With them came the petroleum.
which continued to spout at the rate
OF more than three thousand barrels
per hour. or at from $1,000 TO 100000
barrels per day. No preparations had
been madc to store the oil. but an EN-
bankment was thrown up around n
tract of forty acres. This made a great
pit which held the petroleum until It
caught fire and destroyed the derrick
and the other machinery connected with
the well. The well VS. saved. having
been protected b. sand. and it contin-
u"d to produce for some months there
after.
runs is the story of the discovery of
oil at Spindle Top it was given me
the other day by Capt. A. f. Lucas. the
well known Geologist and mining en-
u. c. Capt. Lucas was the originator
of the dome theory of the coastal plain:
and he might also be called the father
of the great Oil developments of Louis
lana and Texas which have given the
country many million barrels of
petroleum. He was looking for Oil in
this region for some time before he
sunk the well on Spindle Top. He had
studied the geology OF the low hills.
then called islands. which rise here
and there out of the fiat marshy plains
along the northern and eastern coast
of the Gulf Of Mexico. He had found
under these hills beds OF sulphur and SALT
with indications of oil, and had con-
cluded that they might be the sites of
Oil pools or reservoirs far down under
the ground. He concluded that the
domes had been created by subterra-
mean springs which had forced up the
salt. sulphur and other deposits in the
form of solution. or gases. and that
they had fallen back. creating these
curious formations. Seven years be-
fore he drilled his well at Spindle Top
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

Copyright. 1917. by Frank C. Carpenter.)
BEAUMONT. Tex.
IRON the crest of Spindle Top hill.
In the site of the discovery of the
first great oil fields of the south
q west, / write of an industry which
is of vital Importance in our great war
with Germany. Petroleum forms the
very heart Of our national struggle. In
fuel oil it runs our great battleships.
in lubricants it keeps our mighty in
dustrial plants moving. and in gasoline
1t sends the motor cars to the line OF
march with munitions and all sorts of sup
plies. Gasoline engines carry the airplanes
over the camps and the trenches. and
show the gunners just where to shoot.
All of our munitions. guns and armor
plate. well our submarines. and
every machine that has to do with the
war are dependent in one way or an
other on the supply of oil that we get
from the earth.
Spindle Top is an excellent place to
study the oil situation. From right
under our feet have been taken forty
eight million barrels of petroleum. and
this site was the beginning of the great
gulf coast oil region and that of OKLA
homa and Kansas. which have for
long time supplied a great share or the
oil of the world.
Spindle Top is a low mound. a great
inverted saucer. which covers an area
of perhaps 200 acres. The mound is
only about ten feet in height and all
around it the land is low. fiat. marshy
prairie. AS we stand upon the hill we
can see the buildings of Beaumont. Ave
miles away. That was once small
lumber town, but petroleum has made
1t city of $4,000. Those great streams
of black smoke in the distance come
from tank steamers filled with gaso-
line and fuel oil from it's refneries.
They are on their way to the battle
fields of Europe. AS we look about us
we can see the tank farms Of oil COM
panies. with their mighty reservoirs
standing out against the blue sky like
the domes of some half-buried oriental
city. II we had X-ray eyes which could
pierce the earth. to the north. south
and west we should see mighty pipe
lines which are carrying rivers of pc
troleum from the many oil fields Of the
southwest to the great retineries To-
Gated here and at Port Arthur. which
is only a few miles away on the gulf.
The ladder-like towers. eighty feet
high, which surround us stand over oil
wells. This field is almost exhausted.
but they are still pumping out the dregs
of the fluid which once burst forth in
such gigantic fountains that it astound-
ed the world.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

was less than had been the cost of
their transportation from the farm to
Chicago.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

Maj. Album published in Washington
a book which he entitled "A Memoir on
the Cultivation of the Vine in Amer
lea and the Best Mode of Making
Wine" On the title page of that little
Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1917-08-31
WOMEN MAY OMIT OVERALLS
Railroad Authorities Rescind Order
Requiring Car Cleaners to Wear
Cumbersome Garments.

Women employees of the Kansas
City Terminal company won their fight
against overalls when the company
made optional the order that all women
employed in cleaning coaches must
wear them.
Through the Woman's Trade Union
the women took their case before the
city factory inspection department.
Legally, the company is permitted to
designate the clothing its employees
shall wear while at work, L. A. Hal
bert, head of the welfare board, found.
An arbitration committee was appoint
ed. Then the company modified the
rule.
The women protested because there
were so many men working in the
yards who would comment about their
attire. "MOst of the workmen are gen.
tlemen," one of the women remarked,
shut some are not"