Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1895 — FORTUNES MADE IN A DAY. [ARTICLE]

FORTUNES MADE IN A DAY.

Millions Came and Went in Petroleum’s Early Hays. “There never was a time in the commercial history of the world when so many men were making so much money as were the men who owned the big oil wells on Oil Creek In the year 1864,” says a pioneer operator iu the petroleum field. “Incomes were calculated by the minute, and $1 a minute was a small income. There were men who were making from $5 to $lO a minute, day and night. In those days—and they seem like a dream now or some Arabian night's tale—it was the well owners who made the money. They just sat around and let their wells spout and gathered in the returns as they came. “There had been astounding fluctuations In the oil market ever since the business began in 1859. In that year petroleum brought S2O a barrel. There was no market for it yet, though, and not much was sold. The next year, in spite of the fact that there was very little demand for a product as yet almost unknown to the outside world, the wells then producing put on the market 200,000 barrels of oil. Yet the average price for the product that year was $lO a barrel, although it fell to $3.50 in January, 1861, and tumbled to 50 cents a barrel by April. “In 1861 oil tumbled to 10 cents a barrel, and an empty barrel was worth 15 times as much as the oil it could hold. In less than a year 1,500,000 barrels of oil came from the ground along Oil Creek, and more than half of it ran to waste. Oil was so low in 1862 that very few operators shipped any. There was a good deal of money made in 1863, as the price was about $4 at the wells, and about 3,000,000 barrels were produced, but 1864 was the star year for well owners. The price had gone to $5 a barrel in February, 1864, and before May was over $7. Some heavy wells were struck about that time, but by June 1 oil was Belling at $7.50. By the end of the month it had jumped to $11.50 a barrel. In those thirty days more men were making fortunes every day than I believe ever before in the commercial history of the world. “The most notable year of all for fluctuations in the price of oil was 1865. The average was something like $6 a barrel, while the price frequently weijt up as high as $lO and fell as low as $4. This year saw the end of the gushing days In Oil Creek. All of the big spouting wells were things of the past The highest price oil ever got again was In 1869, when it went to $7 a barrel. Ever since then the price has steadily grown smaller, and since 1878 has ruled below $2.”