The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-04-10
BY VINCENT LYONS
Times Financial Editor

Times Financial Editor
There is a certain segment Of So
ciety which fits from one part Of
the country to another in quest Of
oil. Consequently. Prof. Goulds
discovery Of gas in the Texas Pan
handle stirred them; not that they
we're interested in gas, but because
oil usually is associated in the same
general territory as gas. 1t was on
this premise that this nomadic fra
ternity treked to the scene.
Oil can be pulled out Of the
ground as quickly as one wishes and
stored away in giant tanks. Gas
must wait on markets. The reserve
must be kept in the earth until de-
mand picks up. As a result, one
sees many ghost toWns-raucous,
hell raising communities when oil
was king but now skeletons Of pros
perity since the territory has
petered out.
For instance. Berger, in the north
EIll Pal L VI LEAdios OA4LC A4nA bAAC
largest industrial pay roll in the en-
tire state. Today it is merely a
shadow Of the boom days. Despite
this, the merchants display an urge
TO 20 forward which is eXemplified
by sign in a BARRIERS shop which
reads: IA years a barber and the
razor still sharp"
How $685. Got It's Name
Another interesting bit of South
western lore has to do with the
manner in which the $685. Ranch was
named. The legend is that many
years ago a heated poker game was
in progress and betting between two
parties progressed to the point
where one got cut of cash.
In order to call" he put up his
ranch and lost. The winner raked
in the pot with four skies. Hence
the land, which covers 107, $50 acres,
was given the name of the 6666
Ranch.
Ghost towns are created in oil
fields because Of the alacrity with
which prospectors come running to
participate in the promised riches
Derricks are erected so rapidly that
within a comparatively short time
the section is transformed from a
wilderness into a veritable forest.
Soon the land is sucked dry of oil,
the population moves on and a
quickly improvised city becomes a
ghost town.
With gas the situation is quite
different. The economic factors in
volved in getting the product to
market work against the little fell
low The large gas companies like
to follow the practice of purchasing
an entire section of $40 acres in a
gas producing territory and erect
one we'll to withdraw all the avail
able gas in that area.
Indiana Had Its Flare
This, however, does not mean that
there has been little money lost in
gas. In the latter part of the 18th
century, many HOLSTERS will recall
this state was involved in consider
able activity along these lines as
the result of the discovery of gas
Immediately. the customary fam
fare and wild hopes were nurtured
To attract industry to the section
businesses we're offered free gas If
they would locate there. If you
we're a homeowner you got all the
gas you could use for 81.
Gas was so plentiful, and so cheap,
that IL it got too warm in the house
some people would open the win
dows rather than reduce the volume
of gas used. indianapolis benefited
by being connected with the field
Within a short time the area petered
out.
The dramatic rise and fall of
the production from the McKees-
port gas pool is known in a most
painful way to a great many people
living in the Pittsburgh district
painful because the rapid decline in
the production of that field soon
made worthless the great majority
of securities which had been ped
died far and wide in the early days
of the gas boom.
Discovered in ApriI 1919