Chapter 48

“We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;In feelings, not in figures on a dial.”

“We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;

In feelings, not in figures on a dial.”

A. G. POSTJ. J. YOUNGSON.A. B. YOUNGSON.

A. G. POST

J. J. YOUNGSON.

A. B. YOUNGSON.

Few railroaders are so widely and favorably known as A. B. Youngson. For twenty-three years he was locomotive-engineer on the Atlantic road. Every man, woman and child on the Franklin branch, between Meadville and Oil City, knew and liked the clever, competent man who sat in the cab and never neglected his duty. Seven years ago Mr. Youngson was appointedAssistant Grand Chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, a position his experience and geniality adapt him admirably to fill. His brother, J. J. Youngson, has been connected with the Atlantic road—now called the New York, Philadelphia & Ohio—for thirty years as superintendent of the water-works department of the system. A. G. Post, a veteran ever to be found at his post, is deservedly popular as a conductor. Peter Bowen, the trusty roadmaster, who used to keep the track in apple-pie order, years ago traveled the track “across the divide.” From President Thomas down to the humblest laborer the “Nypano” officials and employés are not excelled in efficiency, courtesy and manliness.

ANDREW CARNEGIE.

DAVID MCCARGO.

Andrew Carnegie, the colossus of the iron-trade, was a stockholder of the Columbia Oil-Company, which operated the Storey farm, on Oil Creek. The money he obtained from this source enabled him to gain control of the Braddock Steel-Works. Starting in life as a telegraph messenger-boy, he soon learned to manipulate the key expertly and was placed in charge of the railroad-office at Atlantic, Ohio. Thomas A. Scott, then superintendent of the Pittsburg Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, engaged him as his clerk and operator. Scott established his headquarters at Altoona and promoted young Carnegie to the chief-clerkship. His shrewdness and fidelity won favor and advancement. He was appointed superintendent of the Pittsburg Division, and in 1864 selected David McCargo as his assistant. McCargo, who had been operator in the Commercial Telegraph office, superintended the Pennsylvania-Railroad telegraph-service. Robert Pitcairn, first an operator at Hollidaysburg, was transferred to Altoona, went thence to Fort Wayne with J. N. DuBarry, afterwards vice-president of the “Pennsy,” and returned about 1870 to succeed Carnegie on the Pittsburg Division. He is now one of the highest officials of the Pennsylvania and lives in Pittsburg. Mr. McCargo became General Superintendent of the Pacific & Atlantic Lines in1868. In 1875 he was appointed General Superintendent of the Allegheny Valley Railroad. This responsible position he has held twenty-two years, greatly to the advantage of the road and the satisfaction of the public. Carnegie invested in oil and sleeping-car stock and enjoyed Col. Scott’s confidence. The railroad-king died and his clever clerk eventually controlled the steel plant ten miles east of Pittsburg. Now Andrew Carnegie bosses the steel-industry, owns the largest steel-plants in the world, manufactures massive armor-plate for war-ships—blow-holes blew holes in its reputation “once upon a time”—and has acquired forty or fifty-millions by the sweat of his workmen’s brows. He has parks and castles in Scotland, spends much of his time and cash abroad, coaches with princes and nobles and lets H. C. Frick fricasee the toilers at Braddock and Homestead. The Homestead riots, precipitated by a ruffianly horde of Pinkerton thugs, aroused a storm of indignation which defeated Benjamin Harrison for the presidency and elected Grover Cleveland on the issue of tariff-reform. Mr. Carnegie writes soul-stirring magazine articles on the duties of capital to labor and has established numerous public-libraries. He is stoutly built and exceedingly healthy. His enormous fortune may yet endow some magnificent charity.

“Oh! it is excellent to have a giant’s strength,But it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.”

“Oh! it is excellent to have a giant’s strength,

But it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.”

You may meet them at Oshkosh or Kalamazoo, in New York or Washington, around Chicago or San Francisco, about New Orleans or Mexico, but not a few men conspicuously successful in finance, manufactures, literature or politics have been mixed up with oil some time in their career. Commodore Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, James Fisk, Thomas A. Scott, John A. Garrett and A. J. Cassatt profited largely from their oil-interests. Mr. Cassatt, superintending the Warren & Franklin Railroad, acquired the knowledge of oil-affairs he turned to account in shaping the transportation-policy of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Besides the colossal gains of the Standard Oil-Company, petroleum won for such men as Captain J. J. Vandergrift, J. T. Jones, J. M. Guffey, John McKeown, John Galey, J. J. Carter, Charles Miller, Frederic Prentice, S. P. McCalmont, William Hasson, George V. Forman, Thomas W. Phillips, John Satterfield, H. L. Taylor, John Pitcairn, Theodore Barnsdall, E. O. Emerson, Dr. Roberts, George K. Anderson, Jonathan Watson, Hunter & Cummings, Greenlee & Forst, the Grandins, the Mitchells, the Fishers, the McKinneys, the Plumers, the Lambertons and a host of others from one to ten-millions apiece. Certainly coal, cotton or iron, or all three combined, can show no such list. Oil augmented the fortunes of Stephen Weld, Oliver Ames and F. Gordon Dexter, the largest in New England. It put big money into the pockets of Andrew Carnegie, William H. Kemble and Dr. Hostetter. To it the great tube-works, employing thousands of men, and multitudes of manufacturing-plants owe their existence and prosperity. Some of the brightest newspaper-writers in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago learned force and directness amid the exciting scenes of Oildom. Several are authors of repute and contributors to magazines. Grover Cleveland, while mayor of Buffalo, imbibed business-wisdom and notions of sturdy independence from his acquaintance with Bradford oil-operators. Governor Curtin was a large stockholder in oil-companies on Cherry Run and Governor Beaver may claim kin with the fraternity as the owner of oil-wells in Forest county. No member of Congress for a generation made a better record than J. H. Osmer, Dr. Egbert, J. C. Sibley, C. W. Stone and Thomas W. Phillips. Galusha A. Grow was presidentof the Reno Oil-Company. Mr. Sibley was tendered the second place on the Democratic ticket at Chicago and could have been nominated for president, instead of William J. Bryan, but for the stupid hostility of a Pennsylvania boss. More capable, influential members than W. S. McMullan, Lewis Emery, J. W. Lee, W. R. Crawford, William H. Andrews, Captain Hasson, Willis J. Hulings, Henry F. James and John L. Mattox never sat in the State Senate or the Legislature. And so it goes in every part of the country, in every profession, in every branch of industry and in every business requiring vigor and enterprise.

Michael Geary, whose death last year was a severe blow to Oil City, forcibly illustrated what energy and industry may accomplish. He was a first-class boiler-maker and machinist, self-reliant, stout-hearted and strong mentally and physically. In 1876 he started the Oil-City Boiler-Works in a small building, Daniel O’Day and B. W. Vandergrift furnishing the money and taking an interest in the business. O’Day and Geary became sole owners in 1882. The plant was enlarged, the tube-mills were added, acres of buildings dotted the flats and a thousand men were employed. Engines, tanks, stills, tubing, casing and boilers of every description were manufactured. The machinery comprised the latest and fullest equipment. The business grew amazingly. Joseph Seep was admitted to partnership and branch-offices were established in New York, Chicago, Pittsburg and at various points in the oil-producing states. The firm led the world as tank-builders, actually constructing one-third the total iron-tankage in the United States. Mr. Geary bought and remodeled the Arlington Hotel, fostered local enterprises and was a most progressive citizen. He died in the vigor of manhood. The splendid industries he reared and the high place he held in public esteem are his enduring monument.

“He had keptThe whiteness of his soul, and thus men o’er him wept.”

“He had kept

The whiteness of his soul, and thus men o’er him wept.”

Since Christmas day of 1873, when they struck their first well at Millerstown, Showalter Brothers have been leading operators in the Butler field. Hon. Joseph B. Showalter, who has managed thefirm’sfirm’saffairs wisely, was born in Fayette County, taught school at sixteen, relinquished teaching for medicine, and was graduated in 1884 from the Baltimore College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1886 he was elected to the legislature and to the state-senate two years later, making an excellent record in both bodies. Butler county nominated him for Congress, but Lawrence and Mercer combined in favor of J. J. Davidson. Dr. Showalter is a substantial citizen, in close touch with the people and worthy of the confidence reposed in him. Hon. M. L. Lockwood, for seven years a resident of Butler, represented Clarion county twice in the legislature and introduced the Free-Pipe Bill. Robert Lockwood, the founder of the family in America, came from England with Winthrop in 1630. Mr. Lockwood began oil-operations on Cherry Run in 1865, opposed the South-Improvement rascality zealously and was a member of the Producers’ Committee that secured the passage by Congress of the Interstate-Commerce Bill. He is largely interested in oil and manages a hundred wells for Tait & Patterson.

JOSEPH B. SHOWALTER.

In the days of oil-shipments by boat and teaming, before the advent ofpipe-lines, Watson, Densmore & Co. handled large quantities of crude in barrels, hauling it from the wells to the nearest railroad-station. Daniel T. Watson, senior member of the firm, was born in Maine in 1806, learned harness-making, conducted a profitable store in New Hampshire and came to Oil Creek with James Densmore early in the sixties. He bought the oil and managed the shipping-business of the firm, which employed scores of teams to haul crude from wells at Shamburg and boat it from wells on the banks of Oil-Creek to the loading-tanks at Miller Farm. When the railroad reached Boyd Farm the firm opened a branch office at Pioneer and shipped east most of the oil produced on Bull, Pioneer and Benninghoff Runs, in the “blue cars” Watson, Densmore & Co. were the first to introduce. Clinton Rouderbush, afterwards well known in the exchanges, represented the firm in New York. Pipe lines ending primitive modes of transportation, Mr. Watson operated largely in the Pleasantville field, in connection with Benson & McKelvy, Lewis Emery and Samuel Q. Brown. He lived two years on the Morrison farm, removed to Minnesota in 1873 and died at Lakeland on July first, 1894. Mr. Watson was prominent in his day and did much to put oil-shipping on a solidbasis.basis.

DANIEL T. WATSON.JOEL DENSMORE.WILLIAM DENSMORE.JAMES DENSMORE.EMMETT DENSMORE.

DANIEL T. WATSON.JOEL DENSMORE.WILLIAM DENSMORE.

JAMES DENSMORE.

EMMETT DENSMORE.

The Densmores lived on Woodcock Creek, twenty miles from Titusville, when the Drake well startled the quiet community. The father and his son Amos visited the well and soon contrived a metal-shoe to fix to a wooden-pipe to cheapen drilling. Emmett Densmore traversed the oil-region to sell the shoes, often walking forty miles a day. Jonathan Watson leased him land on the flats below Titusville, Amos had good credit and the pair put down a dry-hole with a spring-pole. They leased a piece of ground from James Tarr and drilled the Elephant well, so named from the “monster tank”—twenty-five hundred barrels—Amos constructed from pine-planks to hold the great flow of oil. The Elephant yielded hundreds of barrels daily and the other brothers—James, William and Joel—were invited to come into the partnership. Amos was given to invention and he made bulk-boats, the first tanks for storing crude and thefirst wooden-tanks—forty to fifty barrels each—for platform-cars. With Daniel T. Watson they shipped extensively until pipe-lines retired barrels, pond-freshets and bulk-boats permanently. The brothers sank many wells and acquired wealth. Amos, James and Joel have passed over to the better land. Amos and George W. N. Yost, once the largest oil-shipper, perfected the famous Densmore Type-Writer. James bought out the Remington Type-Writer. London is Emmett’s home and he has attained prominence as a physician. His wife, Dr. Helen Densmore, assists in his practice and has written a book in behalf of Mrs. Maybrick, whose imprisonment has aroused so much sympathy. William Densmore owns a big flour-mill and the Central Market at Erie. The Densmores possessed energy, genius and manliness that merited the success which rewarded their efforts in various lines of human activity.

ISAAC REINEMAN.JOHN B. SMITHMAN.T. PRESTON MILLER.

ISAAC REINEMAN.

JOHN B. SMITHMAN.

T. PRESTON MILLER.

These early shipping-times developed many men of exceptional ability and character. T. Preston Miller was long a familiar figure on Oil Creek and at Franklin, as buyer for the Burkes and later for Fisher Brothers. “Pres” was generous, popular and most accommodating in his dealings. The snows of a dozen winters have blown over his grave in the Franklin cemetery. The late Isaac Reineman was another of Oil City’s trustworthy pioneers. He bought oil, operated in the lower districts with William M. Leckey, served three terms as prothonotary and died in January, 1893, from the effects of slipping on the icy porch the night before Christmas. He had charge of Captain Vandergrift’s oil properties in Washington county and, with Charles Ford, held blocks of land in West Virginia. Ford was found dead in bed last year. John B. Smithman, who came to the Creek to buy oil for John Munhall & Co., has been enriched by his operations in Venango county and the northern fields. He built a beautiful home in Oil City and overcame stacks of obstacles to give the town a street railway. He has provided a delightful park four miles down the Allegheny, built a steel bridge across the river and positively refused to be ruled off the track by any opposing element. “People do not kick a corpse.”

JOHN EATON.

Progression is the unchanging watchword of the petroleum-industry. The three-pole derrick of yore has given place to the plank-giant that soars eighty or ninety feet. The spring-pole is a shadowy memory. The first drilling-tools weighed ninety-eight pounds; a modern set weighs two tons. Instead of spending weeks to “kick down” a well a hundred feet, a thousand feet can bebored between Monday morning and Saturday night. Ten-horse portable engines and boilers are well-nigh forgotten. The first iron-pipe for tubing wells, butt-weld ready to burst on the slightest provocation, was manufactured in Massachusetts and sold for one dollar per foot. Now lap-weld tubing of the best material brings a dime a foot. So it is in methods of transportation and refining. Bulk-boats, leaky barrels and long hauls through fathomless mud are superseded by pipe-lines, which pump oil from the wells to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland and Chicago. The rickety stills and dangerous devices of former times have yielded to the splendid refineries that utilize every vestige of crude and furnish two-hundred merchantable commodities. For much of this important advance in tools, appliances and machinery the great Oil-Well Supply-Company is directly responsible. From small beginnings it has grown to dazzling proportions. It is the only concern on earth with the facilities and capacity to manufacture everything needed to drill and operate oil-wells and artesian-wells and equip refineries. Its nine enormous plants at convenient points employ thousands of skilled workmen and acres of the latest machinery. They turn out every conceivable requisite in steel, iron, brass or wood, from engines and complete rigs to the smallest fittings. John Eaton, the founder and president of the company, may fairly claim to be the father of the well-supply trade. His connection with it dates back to 1861 and has continued ever since. He started business for himself in 1867 and the next year took up his abode in the oil-region. In 1869 he and E. H. Cole formed the partnership of Eaton & Cole, which the Eaton, Cole & Burnham Company of New York succeeded. Several rival firms organized the Oil-Well Supply Company, Limited, in 1878, with Mr. Eaton at its head. The present corporation succeeded the Limited Company in 1891. Mr. Eaton’s enterprise and experience are invaluable to the company. All new inventions adapted to wells or refineries are examined carefully and the most valuable purchased. Branch-offices and factories have kept pace with the spread of oil-developments. The Company’s wares find a market in every civilized land. Vice-President Kenton Chickering, first-class clear through, manages the large establishment at Oil City. Pittsburg is now Mr. Eaton’s home. He is genial and courteous always, prompt and sagacious in business, broad in his ideas and true to his convictions, and his Oil-Well Supply-Company is something to be proud of.

GEORGE KOCH.

George Koch, a native of Venango county and relative of the celebrated Dr. Koch of Germany, is a well-known inventor and writer. He began oil-operations in 1865, in 1873 formed a partnership with his brother and Dr. Knight, in 1880 organized the firm of Koch Brothers—William A., J. H. and George Koch—and was nominated three times for the legislature. He took an active part in the Producers’ Council, edited the Fern-CityIlluminatorand published a book of “Stray Thoughts.” He invented a torpedo for oil-wells, improveddrilling-tools and well-appliances, patented a system of “Sectional Iron Tanks,” a “Rubber-Packing,” “Movable Store-Shelving” and other useful devices. Mr. Koch has just rounded the half-century mark, he lives in East Sandy and no man has done more to simplify the methods of sinking and operating wells.

Col. L. H. Fassett is one of the honored veterans of the late war and a veteran operator in heavy oil. For nearly thirty years he has been a leader in the Franklin district, operating successfully and enjoying the esteem of all classes. He has a delightful home, is active in furthering good objects and doesn’t worry a particle when oil happens to drop a peg.

COL. L. H. FASSETT.

Twelve miles south-east of Pittsburg, on the Bedell farm, near West Elizabeth, the Forest Oil-Company is drilling the deepest well on the continent. It is down fifty-five-hundred feet, considerably more than a mile, and will be put to six-thousand at least. Geologists and scientists are much interestedininthe strata and the temperatures at different depths. This is the deepest well ever attempted to be sunk with a cable, the one near Reibuck, Eastern Silesia, having been bored about seven-thousand feet with rotating diamond core-drills. T. S. Kinsey and his two sons, of Wellsburg, drilled a dry-hole forty-five-hundred feet in 1891, on Boggs’ Run, West Virginia, near Wheeling, for a local company. Think how progress has been marching on since Drake’s seventy-foot gopher-hole to render the Forest’s achievement possible! Surely petroleum-life is as full of promise as a bill-collector’s.

Hon. Thomas W. Phillips, the wealthy oil-producer, who declined to serve a third term in Congress, labored zealously to secure legislation that would settle differences between employers and employés by arbitration. He offered to pay a quarter-million dollars to meet the expense of a thorough Congressional inquiry into the condition of labor, with a view to the presentation of an authoritative report and the adoption of measures calculated to prevent strikes and promote friendly relations. When the suspension of drilling in the oil-region deprived thousands of work for some months, Mr. Phillips was especially active in effecting arrangements by which they received the profits upon two-million barrels of crude set apart for their benefit. The Standard Oil-Company, always considerate to labor, heartily furthered the plan, which the rise in oil rendered a signal success. This was the first time in the history of any business that liberal provision was made for workmen thrown out of employment by the stoppage of operations. What a contrast to the grinding and squeezing and shooting of miners and coke-workers by “coal-barons” and “iron-kings!” When you come to size them up the oil-men don’t have to shrink into a hole to avoid close scrutiny. They pay their bills, are just to honest toil, generous to the poor and manly from top to toe. They may not relish rheumatism, but this doesn’t compel them to hate the poor fellow it afflicts. As Tiny Tim observed: “God bless us every one!”

“Ivry gintleman will soon go horseback on his own taykittle” was the inspired exclamation of an Irish baronet upon beholding the initial trip of the first locomotive. Vast improvements in the application of power have been effected since Stephenson’s grand triumph, nowhere more satisfactorily than inthe oil-regions. Producers who remember the primitive methods in vogue along Oil Creek can best appreciate the wonderful progress made during three decades. The tedious process of drilling wet-holes with light tools has gone where the woodbine twineth. Casing has retired the seed-bag permanently, and from the polish-rod to the working-barrel not the smallest detail remains unimproved. Having a portable engine and boiler at each well has given place to the cheaper plan of coupling a host of wells together, two men thus doing the work that once required twenty or thirty. Pipe-lines have superseded greasy barrels and swearing teamsters, and even tank-cars are following the flat-boats of pioneer times to oblivion. In short, labor-saving systems have revolutionized the business so completely that the fathers of the early styles would utterly fail to recognize their offspring in the petroleum-development as conducted now-a-days.

ROUSTABOUTS PREPARING TO CLEAN OUT A RUSSIAN OIL-WELL.

C. L. Wheeler, one of the earliest buyers of crude on Oil Creek in 1860 and first President of the Bradford Oil-Exchange, recently went to his eternal reward. Orion Clemens, brother of Mark Twain and once a writer for the Oil-CityDerrick, died lately. Truly, the boys are “crossing the divide” at a rate it grieves the survivors to note.

The fine illustrations of oil-scenes in Russia are from the collection of photographs gathered by John Eaton, President of the Oil-Well Supply Company, during his visits to the dominions of the Czar. “Long may he wave!”

Crude sixty-five,Well, sakes alive!You seek rich spoil?Don’t bore for oil.’Mid Klondyke snowYou have more showTo score a hitAnd save a bit.

Crude sixty-five,

Well, sakes alive!

You seek rich spoil?

Don’t bore for oil.

’Mid Klondyke snow

You have more show

To score a hit

And save a bit.

Six-thousand wells drilled and ninety-six-thousand barrels of production per day represent oil-operations in Pennsylvania in 1897. To this enormous output Ohio and Indiana added fifty-three-thousand barrels a day and thirty-six-hundred wells.

To the indefatigable zeal and liberality of Rev. Thomas Carroll, for twenty-five years in charge of the parish, Oil City owes the erection of the finest church in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The beautiful edifice fitly crowns the summit of Cottage Hill. Its two lofty spires point heavenward and its altar is a marvel of exquisite taste and finish. An elegant parsonage stands on the adjacent lot,with the parochial school across the street. It is proposed to rebuild the schools, to supply a large hall and a convent and to provide every convenience for the various societies connected with the grand congregation. This idea is rendered possible by the splendid offer of Father Carroll to pay one-half the entire cost himself. The good work he has done for temperance, education, morality and religion cannot be estimated. He is distinguished by his catholic spirit, his broad charity, his unwearied philanthropy and his unswerving devotion to the right. No man has made a deeper, nobler impress upon any community in the oil-regions than the beloved pastor of St. Joseph’s. “Late may he return to Heaven!”

“Each man makes his own stature, builds himself;Virtue alone outbuilds the Pyramids;Her monuments shall last when Egypt’s fall.”

“Each man makes his own stature, builds himself;

Virtue alone outbuilds the Pyramids;

Her monuments shall last when Egypt’s fall.”

A host of changes, some pleasing and more unutterably sad, have the swift seasons brought. The scene of active operations has shifted often. The great Bradford region and the rich fields around Pittsburg and Butler have had their innings. Parker, Petrolia, St. Petersburg, Millerstown and Greece City have followed Plumer, Shaffer, Pioneer, Red-Hot and Oleopolis to the limbo of forsaken things. Petroleum Centre is a memory only. Rouseville is reduced to a skeleton. Not a trace of Antwerp, or Pickwick, or Triangle is left. Enterprise resembles Goldsmith’s “Deserted Village,” or Ossian’s “Balaclutha.” Tip-Top, Modoc, Troutman, Turkey City, St. Joe, Shamburg, Edenburg and Buena Vista have had their rise and fall. Fagundas has vanished. Pleasantville fails to draw an army of adventurous seekers for oleaginous wealth. Tidioute is an echo of the past and scores of minor towns have disappeared completely. For forms and faces once familiar one looks in vain. Where are the plucky operators who for a half-score years made Oil Creek the briskest, gayest, liveliest spot in America? Thousands are browsing in pastures elsewhere, while other thousands have crossed the bridgeless river which flows into the ocean of eternity.

Alas for sentiment! Nero proves to have been a humanitarian, a good man who was merely a bad fiddler. Henry the Eighth turns out to be a model husband, rather unfortunate in the loss of wives, but sweetly indulgent and only a trifle given to fall in love with pretty girls. William Tell had no son and shot no arrow at an apple on young Tell’s head. Now Charlotte Temple is a myth, the creation of an English novelist, with her name cut on a flat tombstone in Trinity Churchyard over a grave which originally bore a metal-plate supposed to commemorate a man! At this rate some historic sharp in the future may demonstrate that the oil-men were a race of green-tinted people governed by King Petroleum. Colonel Drake may be pronounced a figure of the imagination, the Standard a fiction, the South-Improvement Company a nightmare and the Producers’ Association a dream. Then some inquisitive antiquarian may come across a copy of “Sketches in Crude-Oil” stored in a forgotten corner of the Congressional library, and set them all right and keep the world running in the correct groove with regard to the grand industry of the nineteenth century.

“I stood upon Achilles’ tombAnd heard Troy doubted: time will doubt of Rome.”

“I stood upon Achilles’ tomb

And heard Troy doubted: time will doubt of Rome.”

A dry-joke tickles and a dry-hole scrunches. It’s a poor mule won’t work both ways, a poor spouter that can’t keep its owner from going up the spout, a poor boil in the pot that isn’t better than a boil on the neck, a poor chestnut on the tree that doesn’t beat a chestnut at a minstrel show and a poor seed that produces no root or herb or grain or fruit or flower. “Who made you?” theSunday-school teacher asked a ragged urchin. “Made me? Well, God made me a foot long and I growed the rest!” And so the early operators on Oil Creek made the oil-development “a foot long” and it “growed the rest.” The tiny seed is a vigorous plant, the puling babe a lusty giant. Amid lights and shadows, clouds and sunshine, successes and failures, struggles and triumphs, starless nights and radiant days, petroleum has moved ahead steadily. Growth, “creation by law,” is ever going on in the healthy plant, the tree, the animal, the mind, the universe. We must go forward if the acorn is to become an oak, the infant a mature man, the feeble industry a sturdy development. Progress implies more ofinvolution than ofevolution, just as the oak contains much that was not in the acorn, and the oil-business in 1898 possesses elements unknown in 1859. Not to advance is to go backward in religion, in nature and in trade. “An absentee God, sitting idle ever since the first Sabbath, on the outside of the universe, andseeingit go,” is not a correct idea of the All-Wise Being, working actively in every point of space and moment of time. Stagnation means decay in the natural world and death in oil-affairs. The man who sits in the pasture waiting for the cow to come and be milked will never skim off the cream. The man who wants to figure as an oil-operator must bounce the drill and tap the sand and give the stuff a chance to get into the tanks. Still a youngster in years, the petroleum-colt has distanced the old nags. The sucker-rod is the pole that knocks the persimmons. The oil-well is the fountain of universal illumination. The walking-beam is the real balance of trade and of power. The derrick is the badge of enlightenment. Petroleum is the bright star that shines for all mankind and doesn’t propose to be snuffed out or shoved off the grass. Its past is known, its present may be estimated, but what Canute dare fence in its future and say: “Thus far shalt thou come and no farther?”

If there be friendly readers, as they reckon up the score,Who find these random “Sketches” not a burden and a boreToo heavy for digestion and too light for solemn lore—Who find a grain of pleasure has been added to their storeBy some glad reminiscence of the palmy days of yore,Or tender recollection of the old friends gone before—Who find some things to cherish and but little to deplore—Good-bye, our voyage ended, we must anchor on the shore.The last line has been written, all the labor now is o’er,The task has had sweet relish from the surface to the core;The sand-rock is exhausted, for the oil has drain’d each pore,The derrick stands neglected and we cease to tread its floor;My feet are on the threshold and my hands are on the door—The pen falls from my fingers, to be taken up no more.

If there be friendly readers, as they reckon up the score,

Who find these random “Sketches” not a burden and a bore

Too heavy for digestion and too light for solemn lore—

Who find a grain of pleasure has been added to their store

By some glad reminiscence of the palmy days of yore,

Or tender recollection of the old friends gone before—

Who find some things to cherish and but little to deplore—

Good-bye, our voyage ended, we must anchor on the shore.

The last line has been written, all the labor now is o’er,

The task has had sweet relish from the surface to the core;

The sand-rock is exhausted, for the oil has drain’d each pore,

The derrick stands neglected and we cease to tread its floor;

My feet are on the threshold and my hands are on the door—

The pen falls from my fingers, to be taken up no more.

The End

TranscriptionsDedication (p. v)To—my neighbor and friend for many years, a man of large heart and earnest purpose——Hon. Charles Miller——Franklin. Pa.,whose sterling qualities have achieved the highest [success] in life and won the confidence and esteem of his fellows, this Volume is——Respectfully Dedicated.Transcriber’s NoteThe hyphenation of compound words can be variable. Where the hyphen occurs on a line or page break, it is retained or removed based on the most commonly used form.Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. The following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions.21.1427 years, 1 mo[n]th & 14 days.Added.28.24a considerable flow[.]Added.28.29Kanawha boatmen[t] and others.Removed.29.21healing qualitie[s].Restored.31.30When they regained con[s]ciousnessAdded.35.44at a Na[u/n]cy-Hanks quickstepInverted.40.11State-Committe[e]Added.41.2proba[b]ly near what is now Cuba, N. Y.Added.47.45Lovely woman and Banquo’s ghost will not “down![’/”]Replaced.52.4in thrilling narratives[.]Added.53.45over to the court-house.[’/”]Replaced.53.47and the vill[i]age emptied itselfRemoved.54.2No wonder Satan’s imps wailed sadly:[”]Removed.58.35“Law, Jim Sickles![”] I tho’tRemoved.65.2the Highlanders at Lucknow[.]Restored.78.3West and south-west the Octave Oil[-]Company has operatedReplaced.79.18sold the building to C. V. Culver for bank-purposes[.]Restored81.34per foot to fifty cents[.]Added.84.26Will[l]iam RaymondRemoved.91.6Captain Willia[n/m] HassonReplaced.95.25the h[f/i]gher type of passenger-locomotivesReplaced.97.52born at Friendship, N.Y[,,/.,] in 1850.Replaced.102.7one-hundred-and forty[ /-]acresReplaced.103.14were in the thic[h/k]est of the frayReplaced.119.39[“]Wholly unclassable,Added.121.3the days of “the middle passage[’/”]Replaced.129.16[“]Vare vos dose oil-wells now?Added.137.16five-thir[f/t]y-five a barrel[l]Replaced/Removed.147.25touring the country and entertain[in]ing crowdsRemoved.160.5who coolly remarked[;/:]Replaced.160.13where his ancest[e/o]rsReplaced.161.26Possib[l]y Br’er ElliottAdded.168.33the William Porter farm[,/.]Replaced.169.3at eight-hundred-and-fifty[-/ ]feet, the Harmonial Well No. 1Replaced.180.2marks the Chase House[,/.]Replaced.191.15It does upset a man’s cal[c]ulationsAdded.194.29missed opening the Sister[s]ville fieldAdded.205.41velvet-cushions and pneumatic tires[./,]Replaced.213.39Years of wa[i]ting sharpened the appetiteAdded.218.18Two narrow-g[ua/au]ge railroadsTransposed218.20Other narrow-g[ua/au]ges diverged to WarrenTransposed222.50will say that his success is undeserved[.]Added.225.4rides ever taken on a narrow-g[ua/au]ge road resulted.Transposed.241.34at the pit’s mouth free of all charges.[”]Added.248.6The cross-roads collection of five[-/ ]housesReplaced.249.49as he sur[y/v]eyed the latitude and longitudeReplaced.252.46Narrow-g[ua/au]ge railroads were builtTransposed257.25rushed into the store with a p[er/re]scriptionTransposed.264.44slender build and nervous temperam[o/e]nt,Replaced.267.33he visited the o[li/il]-regionTransposed.271.19Operat[e/o]rs were feelingReplaced.275.41are we now?[’/”]Replaced.280.42and next morning stopped al[r/t]ogetherReplaced.288.34scion of the mult[it]udinous Smith-family.Added.309.43“Sam” also ina[u]gurated the customAdded.318.42from the Noble & Del[e/a]mater wellReplaced.337.36“‘You are J. C. Bailey, I believe.’[”]Removed.337.40advertise for you.’[”]Removed338.49an unpleasant pr[o/e]monition of the red-hot hereafterReplaced.349.1discarded the b[o]urgeois skirtAdded.358.32that ever edified a community[,/.]Replaced.362.8“Life of Washington and the Signers of the Declaration of Independence.[”]Added.365.4dissecting a su[s]picious jobAdded.366.8The Shake[s]pearian parodiesAdded.377.51and hy[p]notism.”Added.378.15An[’] we hed formed a pardnershipAdded.380.38Sister[s]ville, the centre of activity in West Virginia,Added.390.36aand medical aid summon[e]d.Added.390.36bHe remained uncon[s]cious two hoursAdded.391.27To ensure co[n/m]parative safetyReplaced.393.5which Nit[r]o-Glycerine in its fluid state resembles closely,Added.414.11under the manag[e]ment of one Board of TrusteesAdded.411.38The cost of transpor[t]ationAdded.412.31to sell at ex[h]orbitant pricesRemoved.416.32connected with the Standard[.]Added.416.34not connected with the Standard[./,] and never ownedReplaced.419.47yielding only malaria and [shakes]sic: snakes?424.6kindly, affable and thoroug[h]ly upright.Added.432.22In this sand at three feet[ ]pressure of gassic: the?439.11Corry and [C/O]il City were calledReplaced.445.30who has managed the firm[’]s affairs wiselyAdded.446.22on a solid basis[.]Added.449.17scientists are much interested [l/i]n the strataReplaced.

Transcriptions

Dedication (p. v)

To—

my neighbor and friend for many years, a man of large heart and earnest purpose

——Hon. Charles Miller——

Franklin. Pa.,

whose sterling qualities have achieved the highest [success] in life and won the confidence and esteem of his fellows, this Volume is

——Respectfully Dedicated.

Transcriber’s Note

The hyphenation of compound words can be variable. Where the hyphen occurs on a line or page break, it is retained or removed based on the most commonly used form.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. The following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions.

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