, 1922-02-25


means he could
Used Second Hand Rig
A ~spudding machine that had been
used for some time In the oil fields OF
Oklahoma was at length procured II
was purchased very cheapiy on condi
ton that the drfier who had been
operating It In Oklahoma would con
tinue to operate II IN Texas. The
machine and the drflier vere brought
to Desdemoua and the No. J well OF
the Desdemona Home on company
was suppeded In At q depth OF 700
feet trouble was encountered that
made Il impossible to drill further. so
n new hole was started The dnref
was n man who had not had wide cx
per1ence- He drilled the second well
with n hole constantly fun of wztet
The well was CARED down 1900 feet
and with the hole full Of water there
was no sign OF oil or gas Tho fund
OF the company gave out and n by
one its shareholders became discour
aged and fell away entirely. At length
no one hut cairuth remained
He Ncaer Gave Up Hope
carruth. the courageous" never
gave up hopa- Working by himself at
odd times when no could break ava,
from his shop. he worked on h well
One day he would toll for hours In
his shop. and the next day would find
him out at the we'll working alone
working. working. working
He succeeded in baiiing the wateI
out of the hole. and in h last bale
OF water he found ninbows cf gors
eous color that he knew were cause.
by drops OF OIL Others who saw them
would not believe that they mean
anything, but Carruth was tubilani
and kept on. and on. and on.
Finally, after considerable study. he
became convinced that the drilier had
set the casing n little too deep: tina;
the real now of oil was thus being
shut off. It then became necessary for
him to attempt to raise the casing
In the well A real Job o severa
menta hercriean task for one man
To do this required large jack
| screws, which were not obtained at
Desdemona. So Carruth again hitch
ed UP his old gray mare and drove tf
German. Texas. where he Mt last sue
ceeded in borr.-ng four Of theoe
jacks. He returned and Immediately
set himself to h labortous task OF
raising the casing. he secured two
heavy timbers. ciamped them at right
angles to the top of the casing. n
set n jack under each end He then
started lacking up these ends ono at
a time n little at a time
The work was hard. tho day was hot
He Iabored alone under a blazing Tex
as summer SUM- Carruth was very low
in spirits. He had worked for many
hours and was making little progress.
when at length he sat dow exhausted
by b side of the well. his head in
his hands. his courage and his hope
almost gone
Maybe / am n foo1.- he thought.
us all this work In vain? Am / mere
iy chasing a rainbow Should I give
up these dreams and this ambition
and devote myself entirely to the bar
Der trade. a profession which I de-
test?'
Tho Miracle Happens.
Sitting there in this frame Of mind
he was reused from his lethargy By
a slight noise and glazing up quickly
he noticed that the casing had sud
tdenly risen about six inches OF It's
! own accord He was electrified He
knew what that meant, he knew that
there was but one element In all ma
| ture to cause thai casing to SUDDEN
ly rise, and he knew a that ele-
ment was natural gas There was
gas there then. anyway. There might
be oil!
Securing a long string a bottle was
| lowered in the hole, clear to the bot
tom. When he brought IL up 1t was
fun of clear. green gill Carruth cast
off the dependency. and his enthus-
iasm was increased ten-fold. However,
| had he known it. the hardest part OF
his task still lay ahead
He carried bottles of this precious
green fluid to Desdemona and put
them on display In h barber shop
! He showed them to his friends. n