CHAPTER XXV. GAS AND OIL FIELD-GEOLOGY AND PHENOMENA OF THE WOOD COUNTY FIELD-WELL DRILLING -VARIOUS RESULTS-PROF. ORTON ON PETROLEUM, ETC.-HISTORY OF THE INDUSTRY DISCOVERY OF GAS-OIL WELLS-COMPANIES AND SYNDICATES-PEN SKETCH OF THE OIL BUSINESS IN WOOD COUNTY, BY JAMES O. TROUT'. THE story of the gas and oil reservoirs of Wood county, though opened only about ten years ago, is interesting to the economist as well as to the geologist of today. Why Nature closed in these reservoirs and kept them hidden from the oil operator for so many years, and why she continues to keep the chemist in ignorance of her oil manufacturing methods, are questions as new now as they were in 1885. Then the men of Bowling Green drilled deep into the earth to find light and heat. In 1886, the men of North Baltimore drilled deeper in search of oil. Each reaped rewards for their searches subterranean they know they got more gas and oil than were expected, and continue to receive these presents from mother earth; but, here, knowledge ends. The enterprise of the oil man and the work of the driller tell us that oil may exist in the Trenton rock of Ohio, as it does in the sands of Pennsylvania, but whence it comes, the location of the laboratory, the substances from which it is expressed or distilled, its share in gas making, the period required for renewing the reservoirs, and many other points men desire to know, are left untold surrendered to the speculators or guessers. In this chapter what is known of Wood county gas and oil is related, and references are made to the great wells of the county. Throughout this field, the Trenton limestone is found, generally at the depth of 1,150 feet or about 440 below tide level. In 1886, in the North Baltimore well, No. I, it was ascertained to be 360 feet; at Bairdstown, 315; in the Simon's well, at Bairdstown, 301 feet, and in the Bloomdale, No. 1,360 feet below that level. The ob served rock pressure in the Godsend well of Bloom township was 465 pounds to the square inch, and the calculated pressure, 473 pounds, while the specific gravity of the oil on entering the tank, was 42°, proving superior to that found in the upper fields, such as Findlay and Lima. The dead or unproductive line, as determined in 1886, was 500 feet below tide level, but there have been some exceptions to this general rule. It would not be an oil field unless the exceptions balanced or outstripped the general rule. Some of the phenomena of the field are hereafter described. In the mechanical and scientific work of converting the crude into commercial oil almost everything has been accomplished. In addition to what the Standard had done, in November, 1888, the Bradner refinery forwarded the first carload of oil refined under the Yargan process, and, within the last six years, further advances have been made toward rendering this oil very nearly equal to any on the market. The 2,293 feet test well, on the Hager farm in Webster township, two miles east of Sugar Ridge, was drilled 735 feet, through the Trenton rock, to the salt water of the ocean. Three miles north of the Hager, a Chicago syndicate drilled a test well, finding only seven feet of Trenton rock resting on black limestone shale, hundreds of feet in thickness. In each case the god of commerce was not propitious, but the god of science was. Against such failures may be opposed the Ducat well, in Liberty township, the Foltz farm well, near Cygnet, the Denver well, on the Chase farm, and many others, where the drillers' hopes were based on uncertainty, or the great gasser which is said to have produced hundreds of tons of gas every twenty-four hours where the drillers sought for oil. Again, almost on the west line of the county, the oil basin proved that the drill may only locate it, and confirmed the law of uncertainty which rules. The report, speaking of the development of that field, says: During the year 1894 there were 3,001 wells completed in Ohio, it being the banner year of the field. The largest well completed during that period was that of the Kirkbride Bros., on the Jones farm, in Madison township, Sandusky county. The daily output was said to have been 20,000 barrels, but it never produced it. The well yielded 310 barrels 202 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. of oil an hour, which is equivalent to 7,440 barrels in a day of 24 hours. It was completed in October, and is said to have produced 500 barrels a day for some months after. The same firm completed a 1,200 barrel producer on the same farm. The territory where the gusher was struck had for years been considered worthless, and the wells caused much excitement. The well drilled by C. S. Wade for S. E. Niece, on the Chase farm in Henry township, a mile and a half west of North Baltimore, known as No. 1, and one drilled 150 feet distant made a race for the oil rock, the second well striking it first, when oil answered the drill at the rate of 2,000 barrels a day, and held up a record of 1,400 barrels for 19 consecutive days. Well No. t then struck oil at twenty-nine feet in the Trenton, and assumed control of the production, but soon after its neighbor enticed the oil away. Then No. 1 was drilled seven feet deeper and torpedoed, when a great body of oil responded and No. 2 slept as a producer for a time. This alternate production was observed for some weeks, until No. 1 settled down at 400, and No. 2 at 300, barrels. The drill, not the geologist, told us that oil and gas underlies large sections of Henry, Liberty, Plain, Middleton, Washington, Perrysburg, Bloom, Portage, Webster, Center, Lake, Troy, Freedom, Montgomery and Perry, townships. What it may yet accomplish in its subterranean research, no man knows. Gushers and gassers, as great as any recorded, may yet answer to it, to reward enterprise and labor. "The questions in regard to petroleum," says Prof. Orton, " have been answered in different ways, but one line of answers commends itself to us on so many grounds that it is generally accepted by all those who have the knowledge that entitles them to form an opinion. An answer that may be named only to be rejected is that petroleum and the gas derived from it are results of chemical action alone. The conditions necessary for their production, it is argued, are the presence of metallic iron, potassium and sodium, at some considerable depth within the earth, and at a white heat, and yet reached by the percolation of water derived from the atmosphere, and, therefore, holding in solution carbonic acid. It is held that chemical combination would result between the substances thus brought together by which certain compounds of the petroliferous series would be formed. It is probably true that some such results would follow under the conditions supposed, but to propose this explanation of the origin of petroleum is, to the last degree, preposterous. Contrary to a commonly received opinion, petroleum is an abundant and very widely distributed substance. It is found, for example, in every stratum of the Ohio scale, without exception; in the shales and limestones, in a disseminated condition, sometimes recognizable only with difficulty, and in the sandstones and conglomerates in larger or smaller accumulations. All the facts point to a local origin of this series. The process must be widespread and everywhere active. "A second answer, and the one to which, as I have stated, all properly qualified students come, is that petroleum is the result of the decomposition of living matter, either vegetable or animal. The arguments in support of this view are convincing and unanswerable. Organic substances, both in nature and under artificial conditions, pass readily into the hydro-carbon series in which petroleum belongs. Vegetable matter, wood and leaves, for example, when decaying, out of the reach of air at the bottom of ponds or lakes, or buried in the earth, give rise, as every one knows, to fire damp, or light carbureted hydrogen. Also organic substances, when subjected in closed vessels to high temperature, generate gaseous and liquid products closely allied to petroleum in its derivatives. Fish oil can be made to pass, by very slight modifications, induced by heat, into petroleum proper. The manufacture of coal gas is one of the most familiar illustrations of the possibilities in this line. Seeing that the materials for this production are so abundant in nature, and that the processes for generating at least some member of the series, are so readily brought into play, there is no necessity whatever for abandoning these explanations and inventing a far-fetched and unverifiable theory to account for the origin of gas and oil. But while all geologists accept this view of the derivation of petroleum and gas from organic substances, they entertain different notions, to some extent, upon the important question whether the change is effected by chemical decomposition at ordinary temperature, or at high temperature, arising from the invasion of sedimentary beds by dikes of molten matter from the interior of the earth, or from the mechanical strain to which strata have been subjected while being bent into mountains." History.-The Drake well of Pennsylvania, drilled in 1859, must be considered the beginning of the petroleum industry, as it is known to-day. Nevins & McKeown were the first to drill expressly for oil in Pennsylvania; Colonel Drake was the first to drill for it successfully. A few years later, farmers examined every creek and well for WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 203 signs of the black grease, and, from the Susquehanna to the Maumee, echoes of oil discoveries were heard. In April, 1861, J. L. Russell brought to Perrysburg, from Rocky Ford, in Bloom township, samples of petroleum. He reported to the editor of the Journal that an eastern company was drilling in that vicinity. Similar reports were brought in from Middleton township; but the whole business resulted in failure, as the Pennsylvanians could not find the oil sands with which they were familiar, and had no idea of the Trenton being an oil reservoir. Excitement was not altogether quieted, for a preacher named Miller, residing where Hatton village now is, mortgaged his farm in 1862 or 1863, and moved to Pennsylvania to invest in oil lands. Early in 1865 new ventures were made, leases recorded, and some work accomplished with the drill; but the workers did not yet comprehend the value of the Trenton, and surrendered their ideas to circumstances. The lease of the N. . of the N. W. 1/4 of the east part of Sec. 30, T. 3, R. 11, was made January 16, 1865, to Andrew Klingensmith. by David Wiley. That of the undivided one-half of the S. W. 1/4 of the S. E. 4 of the N. E. 1/4 of Sec. 19, T. 3, R. 11, was made January 16, 1865, by Samuel Bartlett to Klingensmith, and, on the same date, the S. E. ½ of the N. E. 1/4, Sec. 30, T. 3, R. 11, was leased by the same from John M. Wiley. Reason Whitacre states that a well was drilled on this lease, and a little gas found. Wiley placed an old gun barrel in the hole, from which gas flowed for a few years. One of the first oil leases recorded in this county was that from Julian Bartlett to Andrew Klingensmith, on January 18, 1865. The territory leased was in Sec. 19, T. 3, R. 11, known as eighteen acres set off as a dowry to the grantor, except the house, garden and orchard thereon. On this tract, Klingensmith was empowered to explore, mine, dig, drill, or bore, for oil, salt water and minerals until January 18, 1945, the word minerals " meaning coal, iron, lead and every mineral of value, as an article of use or trade. Mrs. Julian Bartlett required of the grantee exact account of the products of mines or wells, but what her share of the profits or royalty was to be is not specifically given. The record shows, however, that she bound Klingensmith to be diligent in his work, the penalty for negligence or unnecessary delays being the cancellation of the lease. Before the close of January, 1865, Klingensmith assigned these leases to Michael Carver, and, for almost twenty years, the enterprise of the oil men slept, so far as the Ohio field was concerned. The lease from B. L. Peters to Wm. H. Ijams & Co. concerned the N. 1/2 of the N. W. 1/4 of N. E. 1/4, Sec. 35, T. 3, R. 10, and the E. ½ of N. E. 1/4, same section, was made January 25, 1865. Jacob Blasser leased, on January 25, 1865, to W. H. Ijams & Co., the S. 1/2 of W. of N. E. 1/4, Sec. 35, T. 3, R. 10, and the W. 1/2 of the S. E. J in the same township. The lease made by Henry Carrel to Parley Carlin and W. H. Ijams, January 28, 1865, concerning the S. E. 1/4 of the S. W. 1/4, Sec. 35, T. 3, R. 10; the S. E. 1/4 of the S. E. 1/4 of Sec. 34; the W. ½ of the S. W. 1/4, Sec. 35; and the N. E. 1/4 of the S. W. 1/4, Sec. 35, provided that the lessees should mine and excavate for petroleum, coal, rock or carbon oil or other valuable mineral or volatile substance, giving to the first party one-eighth of minerals found. The Perrysburg Petroleum Company was organized October 3, 1865, with the following members: W. V. Way, F. R Miller, Jonathan Perrin, John A. Shannon, A. G. Williams, Asher Cook, Edwin Tuller, George N. Parsons, J. W. Ross and E. D. Peck. The object of the company was 1, to bore and dig for oil, salt and other vegetable, medicinal and mineral fluids in the earth, and for refining and purifying the same." In later years, another company was organized to develop the gas field, references to which are made in the chapter on Perrysburg village. In the eastern part of the county a few of the more enterprising men of Freeport thought they would brave the cynics of the village by drilling for oil, and, with Austin Beck as president, J. B. Lockhart, Richard Angus, Louis Riley, David Phister and Younker, directors, and Henry Carey, driller, did explore the earth down 150 feet. Carey having gone so deep without finding oil, his partners considered further work useless and withdrew. An editorial notice of oil development, in Wood county, appears in the Perrysburg Journal of June 7, 1865, in the following words: "The oil fever in this vicinity seems to be reviving, and is again in its ascendant. We are reliably informed that the lands at the mouth of Grassy creek have been leased to parties from Pennsylvania, who propose boring for oil." In July following, N. L. Besanson, of Portage, while sinking a well for his steam sawmill at Milton center, discovered oil at seventy feet. This oil burned readily, and had all the characteristics of petroleum. In October, the journal warned its readers against the oil fever, in this manner: 204 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. "To every poor man we say, stand from under this humbug, it will soon fall and, illustrate the old adage of fools and their money are soon parted. A word to the wise is sufficient. " Hall, Worman & Co. then had 400 acres in Troy, and a large acreage round Perrysburg; but the idea of clines and anti-clines, of oil channels and gas reservoirs, was not possessed by the master drillers. Below Waterville, on Ballou's farm, wells were drilled and a show of oil found. In July, 1875, some persons discovered, in the northwestern sections of Bloom township, quantities of crude petroleum floating on the waters of a spring, and, reporting this, a number of the farmers agreed to "bore" l00 feet until the "oil spring would be struck." The result of their strong resolutions was zero; for a full decade elapsed before the true oil men drilled to the true sand. The Bradner Natural Gas Co. was incorporated later, and drilled a well on the stave factory lot. A show of oil was found, but, like other early ventures in the field, the enterprise fell through. Messrs. Edmonds, Wise, Bort, et al. formed the B. &. O. Refining Co., and to them the factory lot and equipment of the Bradner Gas Co. were donated; but the enterprise of the partners did not meet with success. Gas was discovered at a depth of 242 feet, while the well at the infirmary was being drilled, in August, 1884. Enough gas was supplied for one stove, and continues down to the present time. The drillers were Andrew Byers and M. O. Ladd. Before sunrise one morning they heard the water bubbling in the well, and ran to inform Edwin Farmer of the fact. When daylight arrived, Farmer visited the well and declared it was gas, and shortly after they succeeded in lighting it and pumping from it one barrel of oil. In December, 1884, the Bowling Green Natural Gas Company was formally organized, and on January 5, 1885, organized with S. Case, J. O. Troup, R. W. McMahan, W. M. Tuller, G. C. Phelps, Earl W. Merry and C. W. Evers, directors. The last named was chosen president, with S. Case, secretary. Martin and Brownyear, who completed the Findlay well, were present, and a week or two afterward contracted for drilling, on a lot west side of Summit, and ten rods south of Clough, street, the well to be commenced by February 5. On February 9 a depth of ninety feet was reached, on the night of the moth, 105 feet, and on the 25th, 270 feet. The Sentinel, noticing the gas produced at that depth, declared the smell of it would stop a clock. On Friday, March 6, 1885, the gas reservoir was struck at a depth of 1,130 feet. The well was shot at 1,250 feet on March 21, when a flow of about 400,000 feet was observed. On April 23, the second well was drilled in, and, on May 12, shot at 1, 192 feet, but consumed itself. On July 16, 1885, while Superintendent D. E. Sanger was packing the cap of well No. 1, he struck the cap (then pressed by 375 pounds of gas to the square inch), when splinters of it struck his face, tearing away the flesh and causing his death. The company issued an address to the citizens April 2, 1885, in which reference is made to the first well, then producing about 400,000 feet of gas at 400 pounds pressure, and to the new well at the north end of town, then drilling on a lot of Earl W. Merry. On March 31 gas was brought, through 475 feet of pipe, to the furnace of Hankey's planing mill, and proved its value as fuel. Later it was conducted to C. W. Evers' house, and on April 1 introduced into the mill office, where it proved its value as a heating and lighting quantity. That evening of April 1, 1885, the people of Bowling Green knew that they had entered upon a new era; but did not dream then that extravagance or waste would be punished by want, or that the natural reservoirs would be exhausted. In the North Baltimore field, from Bairdstown to Hoytville and northward, oil men were busy leasing and drilling for oil and gas in June, 1886. On July 26, the well at Bairdstown was drilled-in, and proved a paying one. The Simon well, four miles northeast of North Baltimore, on the Simon heirs farm, eight feet beyond Levi Simon's line, answered the drill of the Parmer Oil Company on July 30, 1886, when a strong flow of gas was struck at a depth of 1,010 feet, or twenty feet in the Trenton. The drill was kept at work some time longer, when the gas, being fired, formed a blaze seventy-five feet in height above the well's mouth. The roar of the escaping gas could be heard five miles away. Prof. Orton measured the well on August 6, 1886, and declared it to be producing 12,451,968 feet a day, or 341,968 feet more than the Findlay or Karg well. The "Godsend," in Perry, was then yielding 2,500,000, the Bairdstown 3,000,000, and the Bloomdale about 3,000,000 cubic feet a day. Think of it, 12,451,968 cubic feet of gas a day, or 275 tons weight of fuel! On August 26, 1885, gas well No. 3, at Bowling Green, was completed, and by October, well No. 4, was finished. By the beginning of February, 1886, there were five gas wells and a sixth drilling, the five in operation yielding about 1,500,000 feet a day. The Weston well reached a depth of 1, J71 feet on March 6, 1886, when a WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 205 supply of oil and gas answered the drill. It was reported that the well yielded from 5o to 8o barrels of oil, and a great quantity of gas, but in a little while it became an artesian well, producing excellent water. The R. W. McMahan well at Portage was completed March 1o, 1886, when the supply was estimated at 2,000,000 cubic feet a day. The Tom Brandeberry was credited with 8,640,000 feet. The pioneer gas well on the Walter DeWitt farm, just north of Mermill, three miles from Bowling Green, was the tenth great gasser of the field. On April 7, 1887, this well was yielding about ten million cubic feet per diem, the gas reservoir being opened by the drill at a depth of 1,130 feet. The ten-million-feet gas well, on the Johnson Campbell farm, three miles northeast of North Baltimore, was completed December 27, 1887. The burning Vandergrift well at Cygnet, on the Tank farm, was under control on December 1, 1887. It was drilled-in on November 24, and promised to be a 4,000-barrel gusher. That evening the gas caught fire from the engine of a north bound passenger train. Three explosions followed, the engineer of the train received some burns, the derrick was quickly reduced to cinders and the flames from the well-mouth made summer in the neighborhood for a week. This well ceased to be a producer of oil at once, became a great gasser and is yet one. The Perrysburg gas well, on the Slats farm, below Waterville bridge, was completed in March, 1888, and before December 7, of that year, the municipality owned eleven gas wells, to which others were added. Oil Wells.-The North Baltimore, or Henry township oil field, was the first to be developed. On December 1, 1886, the drill penetrated the Trenton rock on David Fulton's farm, on Section 14, to a depth below the mouth, of 1, 194 feet. The drillers, and the Vandergrifts, who owned it, never opened a more discouraging hole, and were about abandoning work, when a resolution to go down another hundred or two hundred feet was adopted. When, at last, oil answered the drill, on December 13, the wily owners plugged the hole and let the 1,800-pound drill rest upon the plug, but the oil, like Banquo's ghost, would not down, and thus their only hope of acquiring more land, by making this well a " mystery," was defeated. On December 14 preparations were made for piping the product to Findlay, but, before this could be accomplished, thousands of barrels flowed over the land. The Fulton was recognized as a 600-barrel well, and maintained its production for a considerable time. The Peters well was drilled-in at 1,210 feet, February 9, 1887, and, February 25, that year, Milton Taylor & Co.'s well on the Henning farm, nine hundred feet north of the Fulton well, was completed. On the 26th, when about deciding to abandon the enterprise as a dry hole, the drill penetrated the crust, the rumbling of gas and oil was heard, the fires extinguished, and presently the oil rushed through the pipes into the tanks. Forty barrels poured in in eight minutes, 200 barrels the first hour and 2, 500 barrels the first twelve hours. The owners -A. E. Royce, Jesse Carothers, W. H. Smith, J. H. Sands and W. S. Coon-drilled this hole north of the great Fulton well, and were fully rewarded for their enterprise and perseverance. The Davis well, owned by the Vandergrifts, came in on February 26, and the fame of the field was heralded throughout the country. The Slaughterback, completed April 30, 1887, for Hankey Brothers, proved a 1,000 barrel producer, while Slaughterback No. 3, was drilled-in on June 28, to prove itself the peer of its great predecessor. It was said to have yielded 8,00o barrels the first day, but the official statement credits it with 4, Boo barrels in twenty-two hours without being torpedoed. At the end of sixty days it was producing between 2,000 and 3,000 barrels, and down to October 1, 1887, yielded 100,000 barrels. The Taylor well, completed May 2, 1887, for Biddle & Ramsey, may be called the duplicate of the Slaughterback. The Bealer, drilled-in on May 4, yielded 1,500 barrels a day as a reward for its owners Carothers & Snyder. The Nolan & Kennedy well, on the Eberly farm, drilled-in May 25, flowed 200 barrels, and, before the summer set in, a number of wells were reported as fair producers. The well on the Johnson Campbell farm, two and a half miles from North Baltimore, was yielding 13,000 barrels a month at the close of August, 1887. The well was drilled-in about the middle of August, but its power was not fully manifested until the tenth day, when the force of the gas sprayed the oil over the forest. Pliny Parker's well, on the Abe Fultz farm, was drilled-in August 29, 1887, and shot on August 30 with forty quarts of glycerine. The oil rose forty feet above the derrick for three hours before it was turned into the tanks, when 1, 25o barrels were saved in two hours and fifteen minutes. On September 20, the Parker' well No. 1, on the Fultz farm, caught fire, fatally burning Robert Johnson, the pumper. The Crocker well also caught fire, sending up a blaze to a height of one hundred and fifty feet, and destroying much property. The Campbell well, in Bloom, which opened 206 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. with an extraordinary production, fell to 3.000 barrels a day by January 1, 1888, and continued to decline. Toward the close of 1888, the well on the Solether farm, near Jerry City, was drilled. The Sutherland followed, and a great field was opened. Toward the close of 1887, the pipe lines refused to accept more than one-third of the daily .production of Wood county oil, and, as a result, the gassy wells, which could not be shut in by the casing process, produced thousands of barrels of oil, which, in the absence of tanks, flowed into the streams and thence to the lake. The wells mentioned are only a few of the pioneer greasers of this county. The Franks, drilled in at 1,077 feet for the Vandergrifts, on August 27, 1886, showed oily 100 barrels, but fifty or sixty similar ventures with a like production added to the popularity of the field, and removed the work of drilling from the region of speculation. Many companies were organized in 1887. The Wood County Oil & Gas Co., of which J. R. Hankey, J. H. Sands, L. Black, J. O. Troup, S. Case, W. T. Reese and Dr. William Tuller were incorporators, was one of the leading industrial associations of the time. The field was not wanting in surprises, either. A phenomenon of the field was noticed in August, 1888, when the old Stockwell hole, drilled in August, 1887, was producing 125 barrels of red oil. It was purchased by Laney, who plugged the hole with iron siftings and next day found a clear crude, free from the red substance. The North Baltimore field, in June, 1888, showed the following producers: Conroy, Duke & Myers, 5 wells; Associated Producer's Co., 6; Hazelwood Oil Co., 8; F. H. Rockwell, Miller & Co., 13; Sherman Oil Co., 7; United Gas & Oil Trust, 1o; J. H. Van Wormer & Co, 7; Forest Oil Co., 6; Smith & Ziegler, 14; Hankey, Sands & Co., 8; Syndicate Oil Co., 5, and Wm. Fleming, 8. Progress did not cease here. On May 12, 1889, it was reported that Barnd No. 1, at North Baltimore, struck an ocean of oil which poured out at the rate of 10,000 barrels a day. The showing would certainly favor such a report, but the catch was many thousand barrels below the number stated. It was enough, however, to re-attract attention to the old field, and win back many operators who had left to seek new and less productive pastures. The Ducat well on the N. E. 1/4 Sec. 27, Liberty township, was completed May 20, 1888, for Collins and Potter. Being unprepared for anything extraordinary, they saw a production estimated at 5,000 barrels per diem going to waste, nor was the flow controlled for several days. Early in July, it was said that no less than 10,000 barrels of oil, mostly from the Ducat well, floated on the waters of the Portage. On June 4th or 5th, the oil was fired, and soon a stream of fire four miles long and thirty feet high presented itself to the sightseers. In October, the Pernot Brothers struck a 3,000-barrel producer in Liberty township, south of the Big Ducat, and down to the present time the Liberty fields offers surprises to the lucky or plucky drillers. The seventy-four wells in Liberty township, on July 1, 1888, were producing 20,000 barrels a day. The great Slaughterback well in Henry township, produced 75,000 barrels down to July 1, 1888, when it fell to a small well, having earned about $15, 000. The Amazon Oil Co. leased lands on the McCrory farm, and in April, 1888, finished No. 1 on that farm as a 500-barrel well, which it continued about a year, and is now a five-barrel well. In July, 1888, oil was pumped from Cygnet to South Chicago, a distance of 306 miles, at the rate of little over twenty-six miles a day, or about a mile an hour for a nine-days' trip. Cygnet is 330 feet above the level of South Chicago. The 8-inch line of the National Transit Co. holds 65,000 barrels, so that with the lights of 1880, oil could only make a military march to Lake Michigan. The Standard Oil Co. had 12,000 acres in Bloom, 7,000 in Perry, 3,000 in Portage, and 1,000 acres in Webster and Center at the close of 1888, when their great oil well on the Saylor farm, in Liberty township, came in, which was first reported to be a 6,000-barrel producer. Since that time other great companies have acquired immense tracts, large areas of which are held for future development. Down to August 10, 1888, the Standard Oil Co. had forty-three 35,000-barrel tanks in Wood county, and others building at the rate of two a week. It was then the purpose of the company to locate no less than seventy-five of such tanks between Cygnet and Oil Center on what is known as Tank Farm. " The Delaney well, on the Mercer farm, produced 100,000 barrels during the fourteen months ending December r, 1888, and continued, for some time, a Z00-barrel producer. This well was yielding forty barrels in June, 1895, for its first owners. In 1889 a well drilled in the town of North Baltimore by B. A. Lawrence, started with a production of 400 barrels a day, and led to wholesale drilling until the council prohibited WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 207 further work. The oil men then sought a field for their enterprise on Sections 27 and 28, and were fully rewarded with great producers. The Bradner Oil Co, took the lead in the development of the Freeport field, making leases on a cash royalty of four cents on a barrel. The well on the Fralick farm, Sec. 3, Montgomery township, may be considered the first heavy producer. Drilled late in 1889, it responded as a fifty-barrel hole, and led the way to the drilling of twelve more before May 1, 1890, in Sections 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 15-all of which became known as sixty- and seventy-barrel wells. The rock is found at from 1, 185 to 1,200, and oil at from fifteen to thirty, feet in it, or about 500 feet below sea level, and from fifty to seventy-feet above the dead line. The Paragon Co. drilled on the Risingsun farm for the corporation, to a depth of 1,218 feet, but found neither gas nor oil, though later and more fortunate drillers were successful in that field. The Palmer Oil Company's well in Section 21, Portage township, yielded 250,000 barrels prior to the close of 1890, and was then flowing 150 barrels a day. It was one of the notable wells which made the township famous in oildom. The Brown Oil Co. struck a 7,000-barrel well on the South ?, of the Northwest 1, Section 23, Plain, in 1892, flowed for three or four months, running 250 barrels in twenty-seven minutes at the beginning, and settling down gradually until it became known as a seventy-barrel well in 1895. In July of this year, it was drilled deeper, torpedoed and improved. The developments were not confined to Henry, Bloom and Portage townships very long. In 1889, and particularly in the spring of 1890, the stampede to Freeport was in progress, and, on every side of Montgomery township, and even north of the township line, the country was in the hands of the oil operator and driller. The completion of a well near Freeport, in March, 189o, which flowed 21o barrels in two hours, caused the great stampede, and, before the close of November, no less than 400 wells were completed, and many more commenced within the boundaries of Montgomery. Within the town of Freeport, 120 derricks were raised, and for some time the place was an oil city of considerable importance. Then the production began to fall by degrees, not to be raised again until the busy days of 1895. In the old sections of the oil field, new surprises were appearing, and operators returned to their earlier hunting grounds. The Haskins or " Sucker Rod " field, modern in its development, has shown wonderful staying qualities. The field presents some strange phenomena, its direct line, as if following a river of oil, being not the least remarkable. The Jerry City field came in during 1895 as one of the most progressive in the county. Front and back yards were given up to the driller, and the small boy, in hundreds of instances, could climb from the window of his sleeping room to dizzy derrick heights. The Ohio Oil Co.'s well, on the Reese farm, a mile northwest of the great Kirkbride, was completed May 16, 1895, at sixty-seven feet in oil rock. At fifteen feet it yielded at the rate of fifty barrels a day; but the drillers, re-starting the tools, drilled fifty-two feet below, when the well gave 100 barrels an hour. On the next day it settled down to 5o barrels an hour. Whether it will fall as suddenly as did its predecessors the Hollister, McMurray, Kirkbride, Baker and Delaware, in the Woodville field, has yet to be ascertained. The Corning Oil Co.'s well on the Philip Hartman farm, Sec. 12, Troy township, which flowed 220 barrels in the first half day, the Mountler Bros., 100-barrel well on the Rex farm, in Sec. 36, and their well on the Linker farm, in Sec. 25; the Westerman well on the Kohring farm, in Sec. 35; Plummer's well, in Sec. 25; the wells on Foster and Baker farms, in Secs. 12 and 13, Troy, and the Rock Oil Co's wells, in Sec. 2, Lake, with the ventures in Ross township, show the advance of the field. In the Haskins or Sucker-rod field, the Marschka & Brannigan well No. 12, on the Emerick farm, Sec. 34, Middleton township, a 600-barrel producer, was completed early in June, 1895, while Barnes, Wittmer & Watt's well, No. 7, on Sec. 27, Hoag farm, came in as a 150-barrel well. Later, in June, the Pennell, Pitcher, Camp and Hodge well, on the Shadd farm, 2.500 feet west of Haskins village, struck oil rock at 1, 198,1 feet, oil at 1,223- feet, and further payrock at 1,268 feet. This extension was calculated on the ground that the pay channel passed west of Haskins, under the river and through Waterville. The drilled declared in favor of this calculation, and a great well resulted. Early in June, 1895, Munn's No. 1, on the Eberly farm, Sec. 7, Portage, and Fowler Bros'. No. 2, on the Hibbard farm, Sec. 36, same township, were drilled in and proved paying wells. The North Baltimore field was holding its reputation in June, 1895, when the Carrothers, on the Lewis farm, Sec. 34; the L D. Langmade, No. 5, on the Bushong farm, Sec. 33, 208 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. and Wallace & Coon's No. 6, Henning farm, Sec. 14, Henry township, with the Ohio Oil Company's No. 7, on the Welton farm, Sec. 35, and W. H. Milliken's No. 11, on the McKee farm, Sec. 28, Liberty township, came in as good producers. The year 1895 was a memorable one in oil circles generally, and particularly in those of Wood county. The Sun Oil Company struck two great wells in the Risingsun field, while westward to Haskins large wells were reported weekly. From the report dated December 27, 1895, it is learned that there were 1,786 new wells completed in Wood county, 568 in Hancock, 189 in Allen, 749 in Auglaize, 1.132 in Sandusky, 41 in Lucas, 648 in Mercer, and Ottawa, Hardin, Wyandot, Logan, Van Wert, Henry, Paulding, Williams, Putnam, Defiance, Fulton, Shelby and Darke. Of these numbers there were 200 dry holes in Wood county, 98 in Hancock, 48 in Allen, 104 in Auglaize, 99 in Sandusky, 18 in Lucas, 76 in Mercer, and 187 in the miscellaneous counties. The new production for the year credits Wood county with 39,840 barrels daily; Hancock, 10,778; Allen, 2,512; Auglaize, 12,730; Sandusky, 27,268; Lucas, 715; Mercer, 9,422; miscellaneous counties, 5,010. In the counties named 22,960 wells have been completed (down to December, 1895), at an average cost of $2,000 each, or a total of $45,920,000, to say nothing of the millions of dollars invested in pipe lines, pumping stations and buildings of all sorts. This number of wells is proportioned as follows: Wood, 7,897; Hancock, 3,291; Allen, 1,605; Auglaize, 3,046; Sandusky, 3,752; Lucas, 201; Mercer, 1,834; miscellaneous, 1,334. These wells were completed by years as follows: Prior to 1890, 7,355; in 1890, 2,151; 1892, 1,465; 1893, 1,877; 1894, 3,001; 1895, 5,559. Of the 22,960 wells, 3,560 were worthless for oil, but many of them were good gassers. The extraordinary development of 1895 will compare favorably with the best days of the field. From a point below Haskins to the extremes of the old fields, the driller was at work day and night, and derricks appeared everywhere even as far east as the Krotzer farm in Freedom, and north through Troy and Lake townships into Ross township. The increase in the value of oil must be credited with this extraordinary activity, for, at the price ruling in 1894, there was little prospect for profit, even where a venture to turn out a fair producer. The increased value of Wood county oil gave drilling a fair commercial chance in which a good well on one lease would compensate for the water well or dry hole encountered in the search on another lease. It led many men to enter dangerous territory and win success therein; others it led beyond the boundaries described by the oil man's instinct, to lose money, time and labor which they invested in the prospect. Below are given some extracts from a paper on the subject, prepared by James O. Troup, Esq., of Bowling Green: "Recurring to the oil business, its magnitude in Wood county is shown by the following figures, which, though given in , round numbers,' are substantially correct. There have been drilled in the county for oil and gas 9,000 wells. There are now in operation 5,500 oil wells. The production of the county up to this date (September, 1896) is 50,000,000 barrels. The present daily production is 30,000 barrels. In searching for and producing oil within the county there have been expended $18,000,000. The capital at present invested in the business of producing is from $11,000,000 to $12,000,000. The writers have been unable to ascertain the exact number of employes in the business within the county, but it is in excess of 2, 500, and the average wages paid to them is about $75 per month. The average royalty paid to the land owner is about one-seventh of the gross production. This, at the present rate of production, and the present price of oil, means a monthly payment to landowners of $72,000. Add to this a monthly pay roll of $20,000, and we have from the oil-producing business alone $92,000 paid out monthly, or $1,093,000 annually, and finding its way among the people of the county. Thus far we have said nothing about the business of transporting and marketing the oil. The transportation of crude oil is a distinct and important industry. It is carried on in this field by means of railway tank cars, and by means of pipe lines. We shall speak only of the latter. There are several pipe-line companies in this field, the Buckeye Pipe Line Company doing far the largest business. For that reason, its method of transportation will be briefly described, as an illustration of how the business is carried on. It is not, as is often supposed, a purchaser or dealer in oil, but only a common carrier, storing and transporting oil, and charging a certain price per barrel for storage and pipeage. "It has in this county a central pumping station located on the T. &O. C. railway about 10 miles south of Bowling Green. It has also 25 district stations located at different points in the county, with pipe lines extending from these to the tanks at the various wells in the respective dis- WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 209 tricts, and to storage tanks hereafter described. When a tank is filled and steamed, if steaming be necessary, the owner notifies the company's gauger for the district. If the gauger finds the oil in a condition for marketing, he gauges the tank, and the oil is run into the company's line. When the run is made he again gauges the tank, which is never entirely emptied. By this means he ascertains the exact quantity of oil run into the line, even to the 1,100th part of a barrel, and reports the run at the company's office. The royalty interest is entered upon the company's books to the credit of the land owner, and the remainder, called the ` working interest,' is entered to the credit of the well owner. Either party may sell his oil at once, or hold so long as he is willing to pay storage. Whenever a party desires to sell his oil he sends to the company's office a sale order, and receives in return a check for the market price, less charges for storage and pipeage. The ease, convenience and safety to the owner, of this method of marketing his oil, are obvious. From the district pumping station the oil is pumped to the company's storage tanks, of which it has over 300 in this county. All but six of these are located in the neighborhood of the central pumping station. These tanks are cylindrical in form, made of boiler iron or steel, and have an average capacity of 30,000 barrels. A dyke is thrown up around each tank. The object is to confine the oil in the space between the tank and the duke in case of accident to the tank. '' That portion of the county covered by the oil field is a network of district pipe lines. Those of the Buckeye Pipe Line Company amount to over 500 miles, being more than sufficient to lay a continuous line from Nashville to Detroit. The main pumping station is said to be one of the largest in the world. By means of it the oil is pumped from the storage tanks above mentioned, westward to Chicago, and eastward to the seaboard. The oil flows west through two 5inch lines and one 6-inch line as far as Lima, and thence to Chicago through two 8 inch lines. Those who visited Machinery Hall at the World's Fair, and observed its immense battery of boilers, will be interested to know that the oil used under them for fuel came through these lines. Eastward the oil is forced through two 8-inch lines via Cleveland to Olean, N. Y., and thence, by different lines, to New York city and Philadelphia. On these lines, both east and west, there are relay pumping stations at necessary intervals. The capacity of the western line is 32,000 barrels, and that of the eastern line 35,000 barrels daily. The amount run daily at the present time is about 1 5,000 barrels west, and 30,000 barrels east. As the total is 15,o00 barrels more than the daily production of Wood county, it is necessary to state that the production of Hancock, Sandusky and Wyandot counties is collected into the storage tanks in this county. The rate of the current in these lines depends, of course, upon the amount of oil forced through them and upon the diameter of the line. Ordinarily the speed in the 8-inch line is two miles per hour, increasing in the smaller lines to five miles per hour. The pressure upon the lines is enormous, and varies inversely with the diameter of the line. In the 8-inch line, and at the speed above given, the pressure is about 1,000 pounds to the square inch. The company has its private telegraph stations and telegraph lines throughout the field, and extending from the field to its principal offices both east and west. "The capital invested in the storage and transportation of oil from Wood county is not less than $10,000,000." RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE