Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-30

WOTIn a II. lHSIS arc leiL AAiS
for sale at thousands that will be
worth for oil value alone hundreds
of thousands. l have seen the spot
for we'll selected; the rig built the
drilling started and the we'll come in
flowing at the rate of 5000 barrels
day, or producing in one year
almost $4,000,000 worth of oil at
an investment of probably $4,000
and l have again seen wells started,
drilled and then the derrick torn
down with the answer simply, we
struck salt water" or a dry hole.
The Ponca field, the Usage field,
the Blackwell field are all proved
oil fields. That there is oil there
in enormous quantities is a proven
fact, but just where or in what di-
rection the fields extend is un-
proven. Time alone will tell and
the investment of thousands of dol
lars. Some one will make and 9TH
ers break. Should YOU own land
south of the field and oil goes north
you have simply lost. While should
it go south the oil is yours. There
is land for sale; acres of it. There is
stock for sale, bales of it. There
are dozens of companies being or
ganiZed by businessmen, profess
sional men and Dangers all over the
country who by each investing a
small amount purchase or lease a
block of land and then either hold it
or go ahead and develop it by put
ting down n well. Wildcat compan-
les by the score go out twenty miles
from an oil we'll and start drilling
we'll in the middle of a field and
patiently plug away. If they hit it,
they will be rich; if they don't-try
again.
Let me mention the case of a
small Baptist church in the southern
part of the state. Built by the early
| settlers when land was cheap the
church established burying ground
alongside the church and few
months ago one of the large oil com
panies offered a million dollars for
the right to drill in the cemetery,
and was refused.
There are scores of cases of poor
farmers who scarcely were able to
raise enough crops to, pay the inter-
est on mortgage who through the
finding of oil became millionaires
Rigs are scattered over the country
| like checkers on a board. With
every new we'll the boom takes an
other squirt. An unprecedented ac-
tivity in real estate, both city and
farm property, is on. With oil
| squirting over a derrick the oil men
will take a chance on any thing
that looks like oil land. Eastward,
westward, northward or southwark.
! Where lies the oil? For n thrill
| there is nothing that holds your at
/ tention from day to day like drilling
an oil well, for who knows to-mor-
row you may be millionaire. The
| Mississippi Bubble" the Louisiana
| lottery, the stock market, the roll of
/ h
horse race. Gambling and gambl-
ers. Life itself is a gamble, but
there is not one that can approach
the feeling of suspense that comes
over one when the drill goes nearer
| and nearer to the deep test sand.
In conclusion let me assure any
one who contemplates visiting the
oil fields that the trip is we'll worth
! the money if for curiosity alone. At
! the Ponca fields one will see the
cowboy herding his cattle up to
! the oil derrick. He will see the
| magnificent palace of the million
aire oil man and three miles away
! can see the Indian living in his
teeppee along the banks of the Ar
/ kanSaw river. He can visit an In
dian cemetery, a relif of past days.
and in an adjoining field see the oil
derrick and the drill sinking deep
into the ground. He can see the
largest ranches and farming fields.
modern tractors and farming de-
vices and in an adjoining field see
buffaloes cropping the prairie hay
or daredevil movie actor in some
break-neck stunt. Should he be
lucky and the Indians be celebra ting
he can witness a ghost dance or
scalp dance to the drumming of the
tom tom in the Indian camp. He
will see n canvas-covere prairie
schooner slowly crawling down the
dusty trail and in a minute a Bear
Cat Stutz will flash by: the meeting
of the nineteenth and twentieth
century travelling methods. A gil
gantic tractor will chug down the
road past thousands of grazing cat
tie while cowboys ride the range.
A daintily-dressed pretty girl will
step out of a limousine and enter n
store where the latest New York
styles are on sale while n block
away some man will draw a gun, a
flash and we are back in the DAYS
of lynch law. We pass a prosper
Gus mansion, the home of a rich
farmer. and in few minutes come
to point in the Sante Fe where
two years ago a band of train rob
hers held up a fast train. killed
the express messenger. robbed the
train and got awav. Truly the two
extremes meet. The East and the
West. and who can saw that there
is not n thrill left in the good old
U. S. A.