The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-04-07
.D0HENY JOINS
IN RUSH FOR
GOLD FIELDS
Keeps on Finds Silver, and
Then Finally Discovers
Oil in Los Angeles
BRINGS BRANCHING OUT

To the southwest.
, Copyright. 1924, NEA Service, IncD
BY f.. l.. DOHENY
Came word of the discovery of
golN,in the Black Hills, and | rushed
in-only to be disappointed again,
for Black Hills was stil1 part OF In
dian Territory, not open to prospect
ing.
went on into Colorado; then to
Pueblo. But without any luck. Part
of the time ! went with a party of
prospectors. among whom were Ed
Wright Wild Mac and Tom Walsh,
fath,r-in-law of Edward b. Mclean,
editor of the Washington Post and
Cincinnati Enquirer.
But left them and went on alone
to the head of Cave Creek, where |
found some gold which | mined in
primitive Mexican way-and made
my> first money from mineral.
MAT was in 1876. The next year
made little more from an opera
ton at Great Exglc Gulch, near Brad
shaw. sBut it wasn't a great deal.
didn't seem to have much luck with
gold.
SO driftcd, on ana discovered the
district now known us Sierra County,
N. NJ. 1t was wild place, where
those who went in were supposed
never to come out alive. But | came
out with silver that | found at North
Percha, and then got $500 for ieas-
ing the Silver Nugget mine.
In 1882 | helped found Kingston,
which ! discovered two years before.
There taught school for spell and
then went back to prospecting.
Second Silver Money
}. NV second silver money came from
selling two claims ] held, to jeff
Reynolds for $1,000. Next came the
returns from selling Miners Dream
to a man from Morristown.
These returns spurred me on. l
wanted to make more strikes. When
/ couldn't find them in one place, |
went elsewhere. ! guess | worked
in almost every mining camp Ill the
southwest.
I made many friends. l met Char
les A. Garfield, with whom | later
was to make my first oil strike.
met "Al' Fall and we became friends.
And we have been friends--close
friends-for these past As years.
When we were in trouble we helped
each other It's the mark Of friend
ship--so often overlooked by those
whu seek only to criticise and scan
daliZc.
In all these years l have never
known Fall to. do a dishonorable act.
Nae, ,,l, all tip,ac--wnrp on
the highest plane--as must be where
friendship is real.
But while l made many friends in
the old days / didn't make much
money. Once fell down mine
shaft and broke both legs. l was
laid up for long time. l began to
study law by myself. l recalled how
used to dream of growing up to be
lawyer, while | was at school in
Fond du Lac.
BY the time that my bones were
knit, | had mastered enough law to
pass the examination for admittance
to the bar. | practiced for year
or more but the urge to go prospect
ing again was too great. So ! went
u back and kept at it-without much
more luck than before.
Finally ! decided to change the
scene of operation /and went to Los
Angeles.
There my luck changed.
One day in Los Angeles l saw a
teamstcr drive by with a load of
black substance that looked like the
silver ore | used to get at Silver
iunnal tho hr1kY-
beam and examined the product more
closely. ! asked the driver what it
was. He said "Breer."
"Brea" is Il Spanish term for pitch
A an emulation of oil. Reasoning
n from cause to effect-the whole Sc
c,et' of Il "nose for oil decided
that there must be oil where this
"breer" came from. Fer this sub
stance is to oil in the ground what
resin is to the sap of tree.
/ knew this from the experience
had gained from digging for other
mineral; and from books on oil that
b l had been reading recently. So
IA went out to Westlake Park, where
~ the driver said he found the stuff
s and looked around. 1t looked like oil
g all right, but land in that part OF
e town was expensive. So l traced its
81 stratum and found a similar surface
81 about mile away.
Il Then ! went to Charlie Garfield
with whom | had prospected before
and asked him for his views. l was
on the point of going to Phoenix tc
open IL law office, and didn't want tc
lose any more time on idle prospect
ing. But the urge was too great. We
decided to go to it again.
Pa We bought the corner lot from q
grocer, whom we paid on the install
ment plan, and set to work-diggine
III for oil, just as we had dug for golC
" and silver.
N The place was in swamp area anC
E we were not disturbed by idle on.
III lockers. At $50 feet we found some
E oil: at 225 feet we struck a gusher.
E Nearly every event which marked
lA an epoch in my life occurred on Nov
IA 4th or 9Th.
E NV son was born on Nov. 5lh.
~ I discovered Kingston, N. NJ, or
IA Nov. 4th, 1880.
ri And i made the discovery of my
Il first oil on Nov. 5th, 1892!
1t augured we'll. In 10 months we
made $1,415,O0O in the Los Angelo!
field.
We went into other areas-Fuller
ton. KeGn River Valley. Others went
too. rae great oil scramble was on
In 1896 l became involved in poll
tics for the first and only time. /