The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-02-07

WY HEN BEN STRAW packed
W. his grip to leave the old
" homestead In Butler county,
Kan, and seek his fortune In
the mines of the Occur d'Alenes, If
some good friend had told him the for
tune he sought was beneath his feet
and that all he had to do was to sink
drill hole some 1000 feet at any old
place on the farm and he would find
it, he would have ignored such advice
as the vagary of a water witch" and
took up his journey to the golden west.
Subsequent events have proved that
such advice would have been well
founded. Mr., Straw has just return
ed from a two months visit to his for
mer home In Kansas, and he found the
old farm which he left and which his
father sold few years afterwards
covered with forest of oil derricks
and the value of the 100 acres Is not
less than two and a half million dol
lars. The farm Is about three miles
from Towanda, in Butler county.
From a sluggish farm village of few
hundred people, Towanda has grown
to busy business center Of three or
four thousand people, and for miles in
every direction derricks dot the land
scape where yesterday the homes of
thrifty farmers, barns and stacks of
hay and grain were the only objects
to obstruct the view No more ''the
ploughman homeward his weary way"
seen s."
at the peep of dawn
Brushing, with hasty steps, the dews
away
To meet the sun upon the upland
lawn.
His portion is now a luxurious home
in Wichita, rs miles away or per-
chance a more pretentious one in Kan
sas City, with no concern but to re-
ceiye his periodical royalty check for
8 per cent Of the oil that gushes from
his land.
A Fortunate Coeur d'Alener.
An example of what this means is
presented in former well known mi
ner Of this district. Disguised with
the struggle for existence on a farm
in Butler county, Charles Davis gave
it up about 13 years ago and came to
the Coeur d'Alenes. He went to work
in the mines on Canyon creek and 1iv
ed in the hope that some misguided
individual would take his eighty acres
burden of paying taxes. Time passed
and finally such an opportunity was
presented. He was offered $1,000 for
the farm and was eager to accept, but
pay taxes and curse the luck that tied
him to the soil. Last fall found Mr.
Davis holding a job at the Morning
mine at Mullan, when he received an
offer of $17 per acre for his land and
a royalty of per cent on all oil TAX
en- from the same. This was the first
news he had of the oil excitement in
Butler county. He went back and clos
ed the deal. Several gushers were
struck on his land and for two months
his income was $4,000 per day.
Eighteen wells are now in operation
on his S0-acre tract The gushing
period has passed and the oil is now
pumped, and he has steady income
of $4,000 per month.
Son Postmaster and Can't Quit.
Mr. Davis is now in Oregon and will
probably visit old friends in this dis
trict before long. His wife and son
live in Towanda. His son, Joel Davis.
was postmaster at Towanda when the
oil boom struck the village and when
good fortune struck him. People came
with a rush. regular stampede such
as is attracted by new mining camp
in the west. From a sleepy, rural set
tlement, Towanda suddenly, almost
over night, became booming metrop
oils, and the fourth class postmaster
was called upon to handle business
equal to that of an office Of the sec
ond class. With his big oil royalty
coming in, Postmaster Davis was no
longer attracted by the salary Of a
fourth class postmaster or that of any
other class. He promptly resigned,
but Uncle Sam does not relieve post
master until his successor has been
found and duly qualified There is no
dearth of democrats in Towanda, but
they appear to be more interested in
oil than they are in a federal Job. So
the postmastership goes begging, and
in the meantime Postmaster Davis
can't let go and give himself over to