Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1902 — AS AN OUTSIDER SEES IT. [ARTICLE]

AS AN OUTSIDER SEES IT.

An Illinois Editor Tells What He Saw In the Jasper Oil Fields. Homer, 111., Enterprise. In the genial company of our fellow townsmen, H. J. Wiggins and Wm. Mudge, I visited the now famous oil fields of Pulaski and Jasper counties, Indiana. After stopping for a three hours’ visit at the historic battle ground, where Gen. Harrison met and defeated Tecumseh, the great Indian warrior, we boarded a train on the Monon for Medaryville, where we were met by E. T. Mudge, formerly of Homer, and were driven out to his farm, one and a halt miles from the city. Here we enjoyed the luxury of drinking the finest mineral water it has ever been my fortune to taste. The well was discovered while drilling for oil and is 125 feet deep. This water is clear as crystal and cold as ice. It flows at the rate of 25 gallons per minute. One can stand and drink, drink, drink by the pint, by the quart or even by the gallon and feel no inconvenience whatever bat a sense of buoyancy and an indescribable exhilaration comes over your whole being and you get the impression that you could run through a troop or leap over a wall.

W. S. Blatchley, the State geologist of Indiana, has made an analysis of this water, a copy of which I have, and he places it high as a medical agent. An old gentleman who lives near by and who has been afflicted with salt rheum all his life comes to drink this water every day and says he can never drink enough. He also bathes his hands in it and is rapidly getting well —the skin on his hands looks as tender and fresh as a babe’s. A Chicago firm has already proposed to build a sanitarium at the .springs to cost $50,000 at their own expense for an interest in the water. Their offer was refused as the company will have ample funds to erect its own building, which will soon be begun on a grand scale. A oeautiful grove of native trees at the spring affords abundant shade and ere long we shall see a grand edifice here with accommodation and pleasure grounds for thousands of people. I would rather to-day own that spring than any section of land in Champaign county. After leaving the springs we were shown the oil wells, of which this company now has eight, all complete and full of the finest lubricating oil that has ever been discovered. This oil has been thoroughly tested by a large number of manufacturers and railroad people, and proved by them to be superior to any oil ever used by them, ft does not have to be refined or treated in any way. Nature has made it a perfect lubricant. It has a ready market at a very handsome figure. They are sinking wells as fast as two Keystone drills can put them down, averaging from two to four a week. They expect to have one hundred wells completed inside of six months. They have land enough to put in five hundred wells. Last year Chicago alone used five hundred and twentythree thousand barrels of oil. Chicago people are making daily requests for this oil. So are the leading Trunk railways. Many fortunes will be made out of these fields.