WHERE IGNORANCE IS BLISS.

The first building at Triangle bore in bold letters and bad spelling a sign labeled "Tryangle Hotel."

"A Black Justice of the Peace" ran the off-color legend, painted by an artist not up in punctuation, on the weather-beaten sign of 'Squire Black, at Shippenville.

An honest Dutchman near Turkey City declined to lease his farm at onefourth royalty, insisting upon one-eighth as the very lowest he would accept. He did not discover that one-eighth was not twice one-fourth until he received his first instalment of oil, when he fired off the simple expletive, "Kreutzmillionendonnerwetter!"'

A farmer rather shy on grammar, who represented Butler county in the Legislature at the outset of developments around Petrolia, "brought down the house" and a unanimous appropriation by his maiden speech: "Feller citizens, if we'uns up to Butler county wuz yu'uns down to Harrisburg we'uns would give yu'uns what we'uns is after !"

General Reed, of Erie, the largest vessel-owner on the lakes, represented his district in Congress and desired a second term. The Democrats nominated Judge Thompson and Clarion county was the pivot upon which the election turned. The contest waxed furious. Near its close the two candidates brought up at a big meeting in the wilds of Clarion to debate. Lumbermen and furnacemen were out in force. Reed led off and on the homestretch told the people how he loved them and their county. He had built the fastest craft on the lakes and named the vessel Clarion. As the craft sailed from Buffalo to Erie, and from Cleveland to Detroit, and from Saginaw to Mackinaw, to Oconomowoc and Manitowoc, Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Chicago, in every port she folded her white wings and told of the county that honored him with a seat in Congress. The people were untutored in nautical affairs and listened with rapt attention. As the General closed his speech the enthusiasm was unbounded. Things looked blue for Judge Thompson. After a few moments required to get the audience out of the seventh heaven of rapture, he stepped to the front of the platform, leaned over it, motioned to the crowd to come up close and said: "Citizens of Clarion, what General Reed has told you is true. He has built a brig and a grand one. But where do you suppose he painted the proud name of Clarion?" Turning to General Reed, he said, "Stand up here, sir, and tell these honest people where you had the painter put the name of Clarion. You never thought the truth would reach back here. I shall tell these people the truth and I challenge you to deny one word of it. Yes, fellow-citizens, he painted the proud name of Clarion under the stern of the brig-under her stern, gentlemen!" The indignation of the people found vent in groans and curses. General Reed sat stunned and speechless. No excuses would be accepted and the vote of proud Clarion made Judge Thompson a Congressman.

XI.

FROM THE WELL TO THE LAMP.

TRANSPORTING CRUDE-OIL BY WAGONS AND BOATS-UNFATHOMABLE MUD AND SWEARING TEAMSTERS-POND FRESHETS-ESTABLISHMENT OF PIPE-LINESNATIONAL-TRANSIT COMPANY AND SOME OF ITS OFFICERS-SPECULATION IN CERTIFICATES-EXCHANGES AT PROMINENT POINTS-THE PRODUCT THAT

ILLUMINES THE WORLD AT VARIOUS STAGES OF PROGRESS.

"My kingdom for a horse to haul my oil."-Richard III. Revised.

"We'll all dip oil, and we'll all dip oil,

We'll dip, díp, dip, and we'll all dip oil."-Pond-Freshet Song. "Lines of truth run through the world of thought as pipe-lines to the sea "-Mrs. C. A. Babcock. "These be piping times."-Popular Saw.

Seneca predicted another hemisphere, but Columbus presented it."-Collins. "Nature begets Merit and Fortune brings it into play."-La Rochefoucauld. "The wise and active conquer difficulties by daring to attempt them."-Rowe. "Perfection is attained by slow degrees."-Voltaire.

One little bull on oil was I,

Rought a lot when the stuff was high,
Sold when low and it pump'd me dry,

One little bull on oil."-Oil-City Blizzard.

"It is just as dangerous to speculate in kerosene as to kindle the fire with it."-Boston Herald.

T

HE tribulations of early operators did not cease with drilling and tubing their wells. Oil might flow or be pumped readily, but it could neither transport nor sell itself. Crude in the tank was not always money in the purse without a good deal of engineering. The Irishman's contrary pig, which he headed for Cork to drive to Dublin, was much less trouble to raise than to get to market. The first wells on Oil Creek were so close to the water that the stuff could be loaded directly into canoes or dug-outs and floated to the mouth of the stream. This arrangement, despite its apparent convenience, had serious drawbacks. The creek was too low in dry weather for navigation, except possibly by the Mississippi craft that slipped along easily on the morning dew. To overcome this difficulty recourse was had to artificial methods when the production increased sufficiently to introduce flat-boats, which dispensed with barrels and freighted the oil in bulk. The system of pond-freshets was adopted. A dam at the saw-mill near the Drake well stored the fluid until the time agreed upon to

J. N WHEELER.

open the gates and let the imprisoned waters escape. Rev. A. L. Dubbs was appointed superintendent and shippers were assessed for the use of the water stored in the pond. Usually two-hundred to eight-hundred boats-boats of all shapes and sizes, from square-keeled barges, divided into compartments by cross-partitions, to slim-pointed guipers-were pulled up the stream by horses. once or twice a week to be filled at the wells and await the rushing waters. Expert rivermen, accustomed to dodging snags and rocks in inland streams, managed the fleet. These skilled pilots assumed the responsibility of delivering the oil to the larger boats at Oil City, for conveyance to Pittsburg, at onehundred to two-hundred dollars per trip.

At the appointed moment the flood-gates were opened and the water rushed forth, increasing the depth of the creek two or three feet. The boatmen stood by their lines, to cast loose when the current was precisely right. Sound judgment was required. The loaded boat, if let go too soon, ran the risk of grounding in the first shallow-place, to be battered into kindling-wood by those coming after. Such accidents occurred frequently, resulting in a general jam and loss

POND FRESHET AT OIL CITY, MOUTH OF OIL CREEK.

of vessels and cargoes. The scene was more exciting than a three-ringed circus. Property and life were imperiled, boats were ground to fragments, thousands of barrels of oil were spilled and the tangle seemed inextricable. Men, women and children lined the banks of the stream for miles, intently watching the spectacle. Persons of all nationalities, kindreds and conditions vociferated in their diversified jargon, producing a confusion of tongues that outbabeled Babel three to one. Men of wealth and refinement, bespattered and besmeared with crude-their trousers tucked into boots reaching above the knee, and most likely wearing at the same time a nobby necktie-might be seen boarding the boats with the agility of a cat and the courage of warriors, shouting, managing, directing and leading in the perilous work of safe exit. Sunday creeds were forgotten and the third commandment, constantly snapped in twain, gave emphasis to the crashing hulks and barrels. A pillar of the Presbyterian church,

seeing his barge unmanned, ran screaming at the top of his voice: "Where in sheol is Parker?" This so amused his good brethren that they used it as a by-word for months.

The cry of "Pond Freshet" would bring the entire population of Oil City to witness the arrival of the boats. Sometimes the tidal wave would force them on a sand-bar in the Allegheny, smashing and crushing them like egg-shells. Oil from overturned or demolished boats belonged to whoever chose to dip it up. More than one solid citizen got his start on fortune's road by dipping oil in this way. If the voyage ended safely the oil was transferred from the guipersfifty barrels each-and small boats to larger ones for shipment to Pittsburg. William Phillips, joint-owner of the biggest well on Oil Creek, was the first man to take a cargo of crude in bulk to the Smoky City. The pond-freshet was a great institution in its day, with romantic features that would enrapture an artist and tickle lovers of sensation to the fifth rib. One night the lantern of a careless workman set fire to the oil in one of the boats. Others caught and were cut loose to drift down the river, floating up against a pier and burning the bridge at Franklin. Running the "rapids" on the St. Lawrence river or the "Long Sault" on the Ottawa was not half so thrilling and hair-raising as a fleet of oil-boats in a crush at the mouth of Oil Creek.

The fleet of creek and river-boats engaged in this novel traffic numbered two-thousand craft. The "guiper," scow-shaped and holding twenty-five to fifty barrels, was the smallest. The "French Creekers" held ten to twelvehundred barrels and were arranged to carry oil in bulk or barrels. At first the crude was run into open boats, which a slight motion of the water would sometimes capsize and spill the cargo into the stream. When prices ruled low oil was shipped in bulk; when high, shippers used barrels to lessen the danger of loss. Thousands of empty barrels, lashed together like logs in a raft, were floated from Olean. The rate from the more distant wells to Oil City was onedollar a barrel. From Oil City to Pittsburg it varied from twenty-five cents to three dollars, according to the weather, the stage of water or the activity of the demand. Each pond-freshet cost two or three-hundred dollars, paid to the mill-owners for storing the water and the use of their dams. Twice a weekWednesday and Saturday—was the average at the busy season. The flood of petroleum from flowing-wells in 1862 exceeded the facilities for storing, transporting, refining and burning the oil, which dropped to ten cents a barrel during the summer. Thousands of barrels ran into Oil Creek. Pittsburg was the chief market for crude, which was transferred at Oil City to the larger boats. The steamer-fleet of tow-boats-it exceeded twenty-brought the empties back to Oil City. The "Echo," Captain Ezekiel Gordon; the " Allegheny Belle No. 4," Captain John Hanna; the "Leclaire," Captain Kelly; the "Ida Rees," Captain Rees, and the "Venango" were favorite passenger-steamers. The trip from Pittsburg-one-hundred-and-thirty-three miles-generally required thirty to thirty-six hours. Mattresses on the cabin-floor served as beds for thirty or forty male passengers, who did not undress and rose early that the tables might be set for breakfast. The same tables were utilized between meals and in the evening for poker-games. The busiest man on the boat was the bar-tender and the clerk was the most important. He carried letters and money for leading oil-shippers. It was not uncommon for Alfred Russell, of the "Echo," John Thompson, of the "Belle No. 4," and Ruse Russ, of the "Venango," to walk into Hanna's or Abrams's warehouse-office with large packages of money for John J. Fisher, William Lecky, John Mawhinney, William Thompson and