Evening Star Newspaper, June 30, 1870, Page 1

ell THE EVENING STAR. PUBLISHED DAILY, Sunday excepted, At The Star Building, S.W. Corner Pennsylvania Av. and lth St, eT Tas EVENING STAB NEWSPAPER COMPANY. Se Say THE STAX fs served by carriers to their mub- seribers im the City and Distriet at Tew Oxxts PER ‘were or FoutY-rotr CExts FER MONTH. Copies at the counter, Two CznTs. PRict vor MAILINe :—Three Months, $1.50; | Bix Months, $3.00; One Year, 95.00. No papers are sentf rom the office longer than paid for. THE WEEKLY STAR—published om Friday morning—§1.50 a year, AMUSEMENTS. B*t. “¥ OLYMPIC, i | ¥ BALTIMOBE, JEFFERSON, IDAY AFTERNOON. 330 P. mw. ne TRIP BON AL GBOU NDS. Wasus TON SCHURTZSN FESTIVAL. ° ANNUAL GRAND sot UXTZEN FEST! ent 4 etzen Park Jnt- a a scale heretofore ne named sttnds will be disposed cf to the bishest bidder, at ARB on TUBSBAY. Jniy ch. at $ pm ‘Bars, two Contec Bere ¥ Stands. two Cigar Stands, one C#rriag Yard. mw» Carcusal ard Si sarber Shop, and the Bestaurant. Term: id Cash: toe the balance two proesisory facturily en- able su y EAN s ively. will cy a tea. 5 Be receite r particutars will be annoanced on the day oft THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. R= FOR THE ¢ TESTs at THE GRAND ARMY RBIvovac ON THURSPAY, JUNE 307TH. AND FRIDAY. JULY Der. AT SEVENTH STREET PARK All gentlemen, not profesional. will be admit: in the centerte in cymnefiics, jumping, targ-t ind in tire foot races, uulese ox: ct. 1 OF prizes mere than one prise in the sam: 3. AR competitors w: nts of the Commit awarded each day. 4 king. in all contests except t ig. which will be distrit ng of the second day tly ed on the tent jaders will decide in ail cases who is the cherapicnship im any exercis= and will be awarded accoreing to th-ir de- hree best shots in one circle of four inches Hentiile the su cesscul marksman to the admitted in the ry not heavier ac allets to a pound. * erie medals are exhibited in Mr. Met bet: 10th streets, on <p. m. Germania Park, anti Jnne 3th. each for gymnastics, Jane i dis. tributed to the champions 1. On the first evening, viz.. Addi- jooting and bowling will be an hibited om the cronnd THE COMMITTER. “hron. and Rep.} W4*8)5GTON cITY GARDEN, NEW YORK AVENUE. Betwees asp 2p STKEETs. A Kespectable and Pleasant This GARDEN is now open ( the proprietor from Germany) on t Dean plan. fer the recreation and amus-men! respectable parties. who may be assured ‘that thy will be protected from any annoy a ‘amilies and children may re- ty. Th be trumental music. (the favorite German garden The American pabi are cordially in tion for their heal Guan ARMY BEVOCAC AN SPORTS OF THE CAMP! TO TAKE PLACE THURSDAY AND u oN FRIDAY, JUNE 30 AND JULY 4. AT THE MANIA SHOOTING PARK, Northern Terminus of the Seventh Street Horse Ratl- way, all Committee of the ‘and Army of the Department ‘of the Potomac, has the ann uncing to the comrades and friends the public generally, that & perfected for hokling a P REUNION on the dates and at the place above mentioned, when there will be chert ered each afternoon by distinguished Liew tht ornoon ‘his an irsary their names to be hereafter announced through the Press. he amusements of the festival will consist in Dancioa tu the Pavillon, and there will oe Foot- races, Gymnastic Exerc and Leaping for Gold Prize Medals, Carrousel Riding and Swings for the Hittle folks, Balloon Ascensi eworks and Dis- solving Views at night. and many Cam and Sports, to be announced ov the grounds. DONCHE’S BRASS AND ND, has STRING BA. oPtwenty five performers, has been tor the two days’ entertainment, and a portion of them will dise lightful music on brass instrameute din the Park. while the string and cx all the pop- eight musicians will render Blar dance music, both ¢ay and night, for the merry dances in the large Pavilion. PROGRAMME At? P.M. each day the Park will be opensd, to be ‘Shnqunced by the firing of the cannon and music by rae . At 40 clock the Dancing Pavilion will be opered. Ata. J for iful Gold Prize Med: ‘xerc ises for a beantifal Gold » be followed with Bag Maces and rts. FETT ne an te. is time the Music and Dancing and all the pended ames nus Sand will nut be he close of the tpeech. rounds wil be briltantiy illuminated at dark and the dancing will ber. sumed imm-diately efter the Pavilion ie itluminated, and wili contioue vaghout the evening. ‘The Park will be closed at 12 o'clock midnight. After dark each evening the Djssolving Views will ‘and there wilt alco be amacniacent icp. Ficewoeks snd beantitally fitumiaat ad os ri up. Man empie decal of pelle Be on dnty in the otic may rely upon the pre hroughout this testi- val. No improper conduct whatever will be permit- ted, and persons making themselves obvoxious will at cace be removed. ‘The committee in charge of the arrasg+ment is determin ne oceur to mer the of the occasion, or that will re- feet disc: jit upon the organization. Admission to the Park. (cach person )........23 cents. Children.(under twelve years of age). LOcenta, Admission to the Dancing Pavilion, (each person.) 6 cents extra. All persons. not ‘ssionalists. will be permitied —_ ot elias eo meaaed eee b romping, re will be no fee ¢ my Sho enter these ‘after the entrance fee of ere will be no ex! for the Carrousel » Swinging or Dissotw lews, but it is ex- geet that — Dut the Li folks will use the Frousel, which will be under the charge of = —<— man, who will see befalls e children. No children will be admitted to the Park unless panied by their jians. » Will have Arrangements to add to the gaecpents Target Shooting with fund Bowling 1 ons have been extended to the Presid: Vice Prenident, the Gabinct: said to ethers @uished gentlemen to honor the occasion by their —— The Rasbtegten Chere Society and the Saenger- Leen invited, and it ie he Saieeer ange aee a their choice. perf in vocal music. “Teereins email Park on the WAtionar THEATRE. ‘THIS EVENING AND EVERY EVENING THIS ‘BK. AND SarcRDAY MATINEE, PE. UPE. iz get children. and night performance as usual ANALOSTAN ISLAND! The und |, having refitted ores this lovely Iai and PLEASUK ere and fer > reception of ni ae pee & nal? 3 a C fleations for pie-nles TIES. of the Sede at HENUT A EATSER'S, 49 Oreos set 5 . &. KAISER & HERMAN: RICHTER. sation) ia" as Exhipit ~_{o" and Sale —y . 456 TtH 2. RITE Bs r ns, 1s ‘TYEXTH STREET. between D and B streets, vice On Fee — 3" Hail, 90, Lar —— "window Shades, ture Picture ails. cin the oF TE , SrE, er REET pnd Tassels, Bings, jmneand Namber, pj25-17" | V2. 35—N2. 5.398. miratgl * rs Che dwn, nor the gas and oil get up beyond it, out- side of the tube. ‘The drilling of an oil-well was formerly a labor of months. Now with the improved and heavier tools a well can be drilled and ‘tested’ in from twenty to thirty days. In the early times of the oil excitement, when flowing wells Were struck an explosion followed, the tools’ were thrown out to a great height and a volume ‘of gas and oil spouted up to a height of fifty or more feet with aroar like the scape pipe of a steamer, and covering whole acres with its greasy flood. But the flowing wells are things of the past, and the operator is now content if the oil comes after patient pumping. But few wells hold out their largest flow for more than two or three months. Sometimes the decrease is not from the diminution of oil, but because of the clogging up of the oil veins by paraftine, a thick greasy substance of a dirty brown color This paraffine obstruction is now removed by pouring in quantities of benzine. When a well has failed to yield oil without apparent cause, the explosion of a torpedo at the bottom frequently revives the flow by fracturing the rock and clearing away any obstructions from the oil vein. In many instances wells yielding five barrels or less of oil per day have been increased by the application of the torpedo to seventy-five and one hundred barrels. The torpedo is now being brought into very extensive and successfal use to resuscitate old played out and abandoned wells. A Largeish Grease Spot. The richest oil region thus far developed is in Venango county, Pennsylvania, but the wide region of petroleum oilso far traced on the North American continent extends from the south- east portion of the Ohio valley to the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, and from the Alleghanies to west of the Missouri river. Over this vast district it appears in scattered localities, but it has been found in productive fields in a broad area, embracing a part of Canada West trom Lake Huron to Lake Ontario, portions of West- ern New York, Western Pennsylvania, the southeastern half of Uhio, all of Northwestern Virginia, and the eastern portion of Kentucky. It is stated that the geographical center of this grand Petrolia is at Marietta, Ohio, and that the superticial extent of it is not less than 100,000 square miles. Incidentally I may add that petroleum is found in Asia, Africa, Nurth- ern Italy, India, the West India Islands, Soath America, &c.; but I don’t propose to do any blowing in Tug Sta r—with composition costing 60 cents a thousand—for the ile of any other countries than the land of the free and the home of the brave. Other peoples may have struck ile, but they don’t know how to work it, and it is evident from our exports that the rest of the world has to depend upon us for the great lubricating and illuminating fluid. ‘The first shipments abroad were made in Octo- ber, 1861. The exports for that year were about @ million gallons, and that quantity completely flooded the European markets, so little was the important uses to which petroleum could be ap- plied then known. In five months of this year, (1870,) from January Ist to June ist, we have exported no less than forty million gallons, and the remaining seven months of the year will, with the steady increase in the amount export- ed, bring it up to one hundred millions of gal- lons exported from the United States for the year 1870! ‘The supposition that the oil supply is falling off is quite incorrect. Individual wells tail of in production, but the deficit is made up and more by new wells and by the enlargement of the oil-producing area. Thus the five months’ exports of this year exceeds the exports for the same period last year over five million gallons, while the home consumption has increaseu 1 like ratio. That the demand keeps pace with the increasea ™ sown by steady prices at which it is maintained as compared with the fluctuating prices of its early develop- ment, as for instance in July, 1861, when it sold as low as ten cents per barrel! The Mysterious Grease. Petroleum, or rock oil seems to be a law unto itself, defying all efforts to trace its origin, or to account for its eccentric modes of development. 1 find that scarcely any two of the men who have bad the largest experience in the oil busi- ness agree as to the source from which this oil is derived, and most of them simply rest on the “dont know” theory. Of course, the natural supposition is that the oil comes from coal by some process of distillation in nature’s labora- tory, but the facts tell rather more against than for this theory. ‘The oil is never found in coal beds, nor have the subterraneous reservoirs of oil apparently any connection with coal beds, nor even with coal slates, and some of the first, geologists assert that the apparent connection of the oil: region with the coal basins of Western Pennsylvania and Ohio is a geological deception. For one thing the petroleum differs so much in character in different localities as to make it difficult to settle mpon any conclusion. The petroleuin of TRIP THROUGH THE OIL REGIONS “Mongehale”—The Allegheny — Salt and Chemical Works—Oil City— Titusville—The Mysterious Grease— ‘Tle” Phenomena—Famous Welis— Petrol eum Playing Out? [Bdetorial Correspondence of The Star.) Ear, Peny., June 17. The American disposition to make short cuts across lots shows itself i the way we razee the many-syllabeled musical Indian and Spanish names we have “annexed” with the territory to which they belonged. Thus San Francisco was speedily cut down to “Frisco,” and the Monon- gahela is known im Smoky City as the ““Monge- hale.” We left the *‘Mongebale” and the Pitts- burg smokebank yesterday morning, ard our cosy special train was headed up the valley of the Allegheny river on the way to the Oil Regions. The Allegheny is navigable tor oil boats eight months of the year all the way up to Oil Creek one hundred and thirty miles distant, and a large proportion of the oil brought down to Pittsburg, the great petroleum market of the world, is taken in bulk in barges, or oblong boxes into which the oil is poured. There is much waste, necessarily, and the rapid Alle- gheny has ite turbulent waters literally smoothed dewn with oil. Formerly these barges were made of the slightest materials, intended to last only one trip, but now they are constructed of suificient strength to bear long service, and they are towed back again for use from all points down the Ubio and Mississippi rivers; from as far down as New Orleans,even. Notwithstanding the immense quantities of petroleum taken down by water, the Allegheny Valley railroad is kept busy in its transportation, and one is never out of sight of freight trains loaded with those tall, slender blue-colored barrels peculiar to the petroleum trade. Almost immediately upon leaving Pittsburg we shot in amongst the salt-wells of the Alle- gheny Valley, and at Natrona we made some stop to inspect the extensive chemical works there. It seems tome that few outside ot Penn- sylvania are aware of the fact that chemical works of this importance are located here. The annual product is some four million pounds of caustic soda, five millions of sal soda, about the same of bi-carbonate of soda, seven million pounds of porous alum, thirty thousand carboys of sulphuric acid, and large quantities of mu- riatic and nitric acid, concentrated lye, aqua- fortis, ammonia, benzine, crystalized alum, &e., &c. The works, which cover some twenty- five acres, are owned by a Pennsylvania com- pany. EVENING STAR. Washington News and Gossip. Secretary Roneson returned here last evc- ning from Princeton, N. J., and was at the Navy Department to-day. How. Wm. Swats, present Representative in Congress from the fifth fowa ¢i-trie’, has been nominated for re-election by acclamation. Tue Rervsrtcan Convention of the first district in Maine nominated John Lyuc: for Congress on the first ballot—117 to 76. INTERNAL REVENUE—The receipts to-day from this source were $758,147.38; for the month of Jane, $25,465,756.82, and for the fiscal year ending this date, $193,792,374.58. GENERAL PACSARD, Lith Congressional dis- trict, Indiana, (Vice President Colfax’s old dis- trict,) was yesterday nominated for re-election on the first ballot—1 to 2. Tue Fonpine Bitt.—The House was engaged this afternoon upon the funding bill, consider- ing it by sections under the five-minutes’ speech rule. Brevet Ma$or GeweraL WAGER SwAyNE bas been placed on the retired list of army offi- cers, on account of wounds received and long and faithful service. Ma. P. P. WARRING was to-day ‘eppointed railway post office clerk on the cars between Washington and New York. vice J. W. Armi- tage, resigned. Cox. Rorert M, Doueias, Private Secretary to the President, left here yesterday for North Carolina to take part in the political campaign in that State, of which he is a resident. CONFIRMATION OF THE New POLice JcpeR. The Senate in Executive session to-day con- firmed the nomination of Wm. B. Snell, of Maine, to be Judge of the Police Court for the District of Columbia. Tae ScvatTe Resects Taz San Dowinco ‘Treaty.—The Senate went into executive ses- sion to-day at one o’clock, and proceeded to the consideration of the San Domingo treaty. Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, spoke against the ratitica- tion of the treaty; after which votes were taken on several amendments to the treaty, which ‘were proposed by the President; and about a quarter past two o’cleck the vote was taken upon the ratification of the treaty, and resulted: —Yeas 28, nays 28; so the treaty was rejected— @ two-thirds vote being necessary for its ratifi- cation. “Striking Ile.”* The earliest production of oil for use as an iMuminator was from petroleum taken from jet wells a short distance from Pittsburg, in the Alleghany river, but it was not procured in any great quantities in that neighborhood, and it is not until the traveler has ascended the Alle- ghany to Parker’s Landing, in Clarion county, 82 miles from Pittsburg, that the oil derricks begin to figure prominent’y in the landscape. Our train was stopped at some of the first wells met to give the passengers an opportunity to examine them, but soon they grew so frequent, covering valley land and hill sides, and even surmounting mountainous crests, that they ceased to attract individual attention until we approached the district of the leviathan wells where ‘ile has been struck”’ to some purpose. For, be it remembered, not one in a hundred of these wells, every one of which cost at least from $3,000 to $6,000, and many much more, is a success. And, as has been the yield trom te oO werd, and nt as is the branch trade created by the off fever, it is esti: that the entire yield thus far would not pay the interest on the money spent in boring tor ot!. At Oil City our special train was changed from the track of the Alleghany Valley railroad to the Oil Creek and Alleghany River railroad, which we followed to Corry. The route up Oil Creek took us through the most interesting por- tion of the oil regions, and a stop was made at the famous Story Farm, where the Columbia Oil Company, one of the most successful in the “region,” have made their immense dividends. ur active friend, David A. Stewart, head of the Pittsburg Locomotive Works, and who made his “first million” at the Columbia wells,was on hand here with a band of music comprising twenty performers, and who, by the way, are employes of the company on the Story Farm. But a concern that turns out 400 barrels of vil a day all the 365 days of the year can well aftord to have a brass band of its own. The wells of the Columbia Company are scattered over some five hundred acres of ground embraced in the Story Farm, which they purchased in 1361, and it is a noticeable fact that the best wells are on the crown of s high and steep hill. Up this hill we climbed, to the music of Stewart’s band, to see how oil wells are bored. The Columbia Company work their ground more systematic- ally than most of the oil-borers. They locate ApMIRaL C. H. Poor, commanding North Atlantic Fleet, has been directed to send the U. 8. steamer Tuscarora to New Orleans, to convey three f which have been re- pairing there, to Key West, after which they will doubtless be brought toa Northern station. Family Revw1ox—The Boston Transcript says the Clapp family will have a meeting on the 24th of August at Northampton, Mass. A M. Clapp, of Washington, Congressional Prin- ter w'l preside, and the Rev. Dr. Ch New York, will deliver an historical addr CouxTING THE CURRENCY.—Messrs. Johnsen, Prentiss and Guthrie, the committee engaged in examining the affairs of the Bureau of En- graving and Printing at the Treasury Depart- met, for several days past, conclu the labor of counting the — yesterday afternoon, d found it correct. To-day they were en- Bused tm counting the NAVAL Promotions.—The Senate has con- firmed the following promotions in the Navy: Commodore 0. L. Glisson, to be Rear Admiral; Captain Wm. Reynolds, to be Commodore; Commander S. son, to be Captain; Lieut. Lull, to be Commander; Commander FE. P. Lievt. ©. C. Schulze, to be Lieutenant Com- mander. To n® Promorep.—Captain William E. Le Rey, Commander Thomas Pattison, Lieutenant Commanders Robert F. Bradford and Charles 8. Norton, and Lieutenant Thomas F. Wade have been ordered to Washington, D. C., for exami- Promotion. Captain William H. Macomb has been detached from the command of the Plymouth and ordered to this city for examination for promotion. Tue Singivc Frxp—Om June§ 30, 1369, the sinking fund annonmeced to $8,091,000. ‘To this has been added, by purchase, during the pres- fiscal poar, $28,151,900 in Donds, which will wl added to the purchases fand, ($86,586,200,) alll purchased within t berg toned neo gives a total in the of Treasurer Spinner of $123,429,100. EXxcUTIVE SESSION OF THE SENATE.—The An hour was then treaty, Mr. Morrill, of Canada yields on distillation a pungent oi! de- it, @ speech pi toit, | their wells at least 300 feet apart, and have two | rived from fish called acroline, hence the hich he had not concluded gf five o'clock’ or three new wells constantly in drilling to sup- ply the place of failing wells. The operations at the Story Farm, with all the best modern appli- ances for boring, worked by steam power, af- fords as great a contrast to the rude system practiced by the early berers, as does modern quartz mining with expensive machinery compared to the early mode of pan-wash- ing on the first discovery of gold in Cali- fornia. In fact, oil-boring, like gold-mining, has passed beyond the speculative stage, and is now pursued on a steady business like basis. Improved methods of drilling have been at- tained, and the expense of operating the wells has been materially reduced. And many of the old, abandoned wells have been cleaned out, theory that the petroleum of that quarter is preduced by the decomposition of vast numbers of marine animals. Some of the learned writers argue that petroleum comes from the carbonic acid gas with which the at- mosphere was charged in,the Pre-Adamitic period. This is very likely, but as the gas in question was not favorable to human life it un- fortunately happens that there was no scieutitic man Or newspaper reporter on the spot to tell us how the thing was done. It is maintained with equal ability that the petroleum was gen- erated solely from “gelatinous sea-organ- isms, animal and vegetable; and there is a yet more profound theory that the mysteri- ous grease has its origin in forests of the evening. of the most earnest friends of the treaty, seeirg it cannot receive the requisite two-thirds vote will make an effort to annex San Domingo by joint resolution, as in the case of Texas, — would require merely a majority of each use, TAx ON PASSENGERS.—The manner in which it is proposed by Congress to reach such cases as the requirement by the State of Maryland of receipts trom passengers branch of the Baltimore and bie railroad, is shown by the bill to punish the collection of illegal taxes on , which was introduced im the House on Monday, end reterred to the Judiciary Committee, . it un'awful for any officer or agent of " steamship company, ms or Sy clare mee coma and are successfully worked. “ an permous exogenous trees belo to of any State, to pay to the government of ead | ‘The mode of boring, as witnessed by us, is as | tus ceemones pe greseaiobe ade pret She pee or to — —_ = officer thereof, any | follows:—First, a tall pyramidal frame work, | mineralizing bituminously instead of to lig- = a the Lal arr omp 7 peed for styled a derrick, is placed over the site of the nite,” &c., &e.,——but I torbear. I foresee that well, fourteen to sixteen feet square at the base and rising to about fifty-six feet for wells of the depth of 800 to 900 feet. Within this derrick is Tue STAx readers won't stand much more ot this sort of thing with the thermometer in the nineties. Let us rest on the comfortable ‘don't know” theory of the Venangoites, Oil Citizens and Titusvillains, Sufficient to say that the grease is here in unlimited quantities, and as an extensively used illuminator serves to throw @ good deal of light on everything but its own history. “Iie” Phenomena, Volumes could be written of interest concern- ing the‘marvelous and unaccountable features Of the ofl floy; and almost every ‘‘farm” hae its special “of the freaks of the mysterious fluid. The oil comes trom some of the wells in @ steady stream; from others it is emitted in regular strokes, as a pulse beats, and in other long intervals like the eruptions from a vo!cano. The site ot the former Burning Well is point. ed out. This well, on the John Buchanan Farm, was struck at a depth of 300 feet, when @ jet of gas, water, and oil rushed up to a height of fifty feet in the air, roaring lix steam boiler. The workmen not being pre- pared to deal with sach an enormous flow of oil, undertook to dig ® circular trench around the well to catch the greasy tiood, but the gas mingled with the air and spread to a vast dis- tance, finally reaching the engine house of the ‘next well, when the gas took tire with a tremen- dous explosion, and the oil, running in all direc- tion ever the ground, also took fire. All the houses in the vicinity were shaken as if by an earthquake, and in thirty minutes of the time the well was struck the whole valley was a sea of fire. Eighteen persons were caught in the flames and burned to death. The fire continued to burn several days, and was only extinguished by dumping earth upon it. This well gave 20,000 barrels of oil and then ceased flowing as suddenly as it commenced. ‘The famous Sherman well was bored unsuc- upon it, and the process is continued. After the pipe is driven the work of drilling is com- menced, the tools being alternately lifted and dropped by the action of the working beam. It is requisite that the tools should be turned each time they are dropped to make the hole ronnd and smooth. After each operation by the drill- ing tools, the sediment or battered rock is sucked up by @ sand-pump, which is lowered, and filled by a churning process by the driller, and is then drawn up and emptied. After the well is drilled it is tubed with two-inch wronght iron pipe, which is put down usually to near the bottom of the well. At the time the casing is put in, the “ seed- bag” is placed upon the tubing, at the proper depth to eut off veins of water from the oil veins further down. The oil, we maysay, is generally found in what is called the third sand- rock, and the seed-bag is placed usually at the first sand-rock, averaging from 150 to 350 feet. ‘The seed-bag is fastened about the tubing with a strong cord, and is filled with flax-seed, which swells in a few hours, filling the cavity about the tubing effectually, #0 that water cannot pass police to protect property and preserve order time of peace. 200+ Vierms ov SUN-STROKE.—A new hospital has Jost been opened in New York expressly for of sw the accom! vion ambulance corps, to provide means of transpor- tation for the sick from any part of the city. — A New Danes Ipga—The Darien expedi- tion bas again failed, and the surveys have been abandoned for the season. The only fact es- tablished is that the Isthmus cannot be passed except by tunneling, and the question resolves itse’ into a consideration of the feasibility of a tunneled canal. see. #7 The way New York mothers get up fash- onable babiee is to rouge the cheeks of the little things and sew blond curls inside their caps. ‘Then they jook “#weet.”” My WASHINGTON, D. C., THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1870. cessfully until it had nearly “busted” the lessee, and he sold a considerable portion of his interest for eighty dollars and a shot-gun. The $30 was exhausted, and the discouraged borers were about to abandon the hole in disgust, when the drill penetrated a crevice that yielded at once from 1,000 to 1,200 barrels per day, and their for- tunes were made. ‘The great Noble well, started under similar Unfavorable auspices, is -aid to have yielded its owners 83,000,009. The Cherry Kun Farm, of fifty acres, from which so many enormous fortunes have been drawn in the shape of oil, was sold for $500 by its owner—a man named Smith—who had bored unsuccessfully for a considerable time. A remarkable feature of some of the wells running to a great depth is that the tempera- ture of the oilas it comes to the surface is but slightly above the freezing point. Mr. Johns, in his “Petrolia,” states that he has himself seen pellets of ice discharged from the conducting pipe of a well in midsummer. According to the igneous theory of the geologis’s, oil brought from & depth of 600 feet ought to be ten degrees warmer than on the surface of the earth; and thus the facts mentioned would seem to be in opposition te the doctrine that the interior of the earth ison the boil. Mr. Johns supposes, however, that the ice discharge noted by him may have proceeded from the rapid condensa tion, or evaporation of the gas as it came in con- tact with the atmosphere. ‘The oil at Oil City, and for the most part in this oil region, is of a dark green color, while that at Pleasantville is nearly black. ‘The oil is now found mainly in what is called the third sand-rock, and it is a comfortable theory of the oil region that sand-rocks equally as abundant in petroleum will eventually be found below the present oil-bearing strata. This theory is sustained by the fact that in the early discoveries of the oil it was not suspected that it existed below the first sand-rock, a hundred or two feet below the surface, while the third sand-rock, from which it is now obtained, is from 60 to 900 below. Surface indications of oil are very deceptive. On the Newell Farm, a tract abounding in such indications, over $70,000 have been expended in boring, without any re- turn. ‘The Ham. McClintock Farm is the point on Ol] Creek where the Senecas and other tribes of the Six Nations had their yearly festival and collected oi] for medicinal purposes and as a costmetic or paint for adorning their persons. Montcalm, the French commander, gives a de- scriptions of one of these festivals, which wa- concluded with tire-works on a grand scale, by setting fire to the oil on the surface of the creek lighting up the heavens for miles around. The Steele (or Widow McClintock) Farm is noted, through the remarkable history of its late proprietor, J. W. Steele. This farm was among the first localities where oil was struck, and in 1863 several very rich wells were discovered, one of which, the Van Slyke well, yielded at the rate of twenty-five hundred bar- rels per day for a considerable period. In the next year the owner, the widow McClintock, was burned to death while kindling a fire with oil, and all her property, including the farm. the income of which was two thousand dollars per day, went by her will to her adopted son John W. Steele, a young man of twenty. In her safe was found $175,000 in money, which also went to young Steele, and he seemed to think he had come in possession of 2 sort of inexhaustable Fortunatus parse. His wild career ef dissipation in New York and elsewhere was duly chronicled at the time, and also the fact, that Hon. John Morrissey “went through” him to the amount of one hundred ‘monthe Steele had squandered two millions’ dollars on wine, women, faro, fast horses, start- ing newspapers and other short-hand processes for getting rid of money. He speedily reaches his bottom dollar, and for a bare existence wa: obliged to take the position of door keeper for Skiff and Gaylord’s Minstrels, a company he had organized in his flush days. He is now dead and his career adds another to the long list ot instances of money lightly got, departing a< lightly—those instances so consoling to the poor devils who don’t get any! The Tarr Farm affords another illustration o' fluctuations in values here. A third of thi- farm of 198 acres was purchased by some partic: in Rochester, New York, for $20,000, bat the: got discouraged, and sold back at the sam price. Afterwards a number of valuable weil were discovered, and Mr. Tarr was offered tw million dollars for the farm, which he deciinea The wells gave out subsequently, and in March 1865, were not producing a barrel of oil. Th torpedo process was then tried upon them wit such good effect as to cause them to produce 1 (r+ barrels per day. The Noble and Delameter well, on the Farre. farm, commenced flowing in January, 1863, ai the rate of 3,000 barrels per day, and ceased the 28th day of February, 1365. This well was the most productive one ever struck, and the valae of its product has been estimated at tive mil- lions of dollars! The Smith farm, of 57 acres, one of the beet tracts for oil production of its size in the oil re- gion, was purchased in 1858 by Wm. Smith for « yoke of oxen. Smith sold it in 1862 for $1,000 after an ineffectual attempt to strikeile. It has since been valued at several million of dollars. As showing the way in which speculation raged in the early period of the Oil Fever i: may be mentioned that a lease on the Holmden farm was speculated on until the bonus paid amounted to $24,000, and the well on the same is yet to be drilled! An Ex Wasttestonine im the Oo” At Oil City, a city of the shed order of archi tecture, but which expects to be something, and which has already considerable wealth, I met ar old Washington friend, Mr. Walter R. Johns well known to the newspaper craft in our city and who now publishes an excellent paper # Oil City, called the Register, His book, entitle “Petrolia,” giving ahistory of the Pennsylvani. oil region, (published in handsome style by th Appletons,) is, I tind, held here ag the mos’ valuable and complete work of the kind that ha yet appeared. I have found it of the greates service in giving readily an intelligent idea o this interesting region. How Oil Goes to Market. At the Miller Farm we stopped to soc the modern system of oil tankage on a large scalr Oil is sent to New York, Philadelphia, &c., b railroad, without change of cars, in large iro tanks, mounted upon platform cars, the oll be ing pumped from receiving tanks, which ar: fed by pipes running all through the oil di- trict, and which take the oil direct from the wells. There are now four Outlets by rail from the oil region, so important hag the interest grown to be. FROM THE OIL REGIONS TO EBRIR, THE HOMEWARD TRIP. Erie to Baltimore—What Men Think of the Hailroad—A Railroad Deesn’t Need Any Money. Bavtrwore, June 18. 1 must hurry over the incidents of sé remain- ing portion of our trip—the lightning tide on the down grade to Lake Erie; the gotgeous sunset on the lake that struck our vivacious party sentimentaily dumb for at #t thirty seconds; the hospitable fare at the Reed House, the yachting and ex upon Lake Erie; the inspection of Erie's particular lion, her natural gas-wor}s, (nature having kindiy provided a flow of satural gas under the eutire city, needing onlyto be tapped to provide light and fuel to eyeTy household;) the homowar! gtart; the interesting trip over the Pennsylvauia Star, TWO CENTS. and Erie railroad; the dinner upon brook trout, venison, and the creamiest of cream at Kane, the highest point im the mountains crossed on the homeward trip; the sinuous ride for half a day through the beautiful valleys of Penn- Sylvania to that charming nest amongst the mountains—Renovo—with its superb new hotel; the pause at pleasant Lock Haven, with its um- ber-colored cottages embowered in trees; the supper at Williamsport’s mighty railroad hotel, the Herdic House, which, though depleted by the wonk of feeding many thousands of Knight Templars, was yet ready with an abundant spread for our party; the dreaded, but inevita- ble, signs of the dissolution of our party—the pleasantest party, certainly, ever brought to- gether; the leave-taking between those going to Philadelphia and those going to Baltimore; the beneficent crowning feat of the gorgeous hos- pitalities of our hosts of the Pennsylvania rail- roads in bringing to Williamsport, all the way from Altoona, a train of superb Pullman sleep- ers, spick and span new, expressly for our night tide to Baltimore; the parting banquet in Bal- timore, with itsjreminisconces of the most de- lightful trip in history—or all this | must make & mere dot-and-go record. Our party, composed mainly of experienced railroad men, were never tired of expressing their admiration of the Pennsylvania railroad, and the railroad system dominated by it, This road has long had the name of being “the best road, and the best managed road in the world,” but probably the verdict was never before ren- dered by a body of men so competent to give an opinien. This excursion trip given by the Pennsylvania railroad men, had its origin, I believe, in the desire to return courtesies received by some of them from southern railroad men, and the man- ner in which it was designed and carried out served to show what the cool-headed practical business men of the north can do in the way of princely nospitalities. Withont being invidious where so many ex- erted themselves to make our trip pleasant Thomas T. Firth and Mr. Samuel T. De Ford, the excursionists feel that a special word of ap- preciation is due. Mr. De Ford, who attends to S. Treasury. the money. 8.N. —+202- “THE TELEGRAPH QUESTION.” To the Editor of The Star > Sit: the pretence of epposition to monopoly con- tained in the memorialof the Florida Telegraph Company, published in your columns yesterday, I ask you to publish the following charter of the Florida Telegraph Company. document will show the public how much the professions of that would-be monopoly are worth. Very respectfully, &c., Bs, counsel for I. O. Telegraph Comnany A Butt to be entitled “An act to alter and amend an act to incorporate the Florida Tele- [ anes Company, and declar: thereof. ‘he people or State of Florida, represent- pr in Senate and Assembly, do enact as fol- WS: Sec. 1. That sections 1, 2,3, and 4 of this act shall stand and be taken and construed as sec- \seendctnt bed ge ed an ees os oat w incorporate the Florida Telegraph Company, passed at this session of the General Amembiy, which said act is as follows: “An act to incor- porate the Florida Tel people of the State of , contained in —. charter, given or authorized in this State or by authority thereof, and not conflicting with any vested rights, is hereby vested and conferred on ‘See. 3. Thai all general laws, authorize the formation of telegrap! are : i ; Ff i i i | i i i Ee i Hf Pi i [ 4 : i : E i 4 i i | | 3 8 z i li if eke | | Z g, i ghee a tel iy FT il i i i i ag if i i Hl il ef i i 5; I wish to say that to two gentlemen, Major | the interests of the Pennsylvania roads #0 faith- fully in Baltimore, was our invaluable “guide, philosopher and friend” from the time we left Baltimore until we returned. Major Firth was largely instrumental in originating the trip and he seemed to feel a personal responsibility in making it go off to the satisfaction of every gnest For twenty-two years he has held the important trust of Treasurer of the Pennsylvania railroad, a trust greater than that of Secretary of the U. In those twenty-two years his road has grown up financially from a point where he had to strain every nerve to meet pe- cuniary exigencies, to the time when its credit is equal to that of the Bank of England; and the other day a loan of a quarter of a million of dol- lars at 5 per cent. was pressed upon him, and declined because the company had no use for As a complete and sufficient answer to A perusal of this - | TELEGRAMS TO THE STAR. This Afternoon’s Dispatches. ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS. Arrest of of the R ome Treasary Rob- Telographed Beclusie-ly to The Bvening Sar. New York, June 30.—U.S. detective Whitely to-day arrested Charles L. Merriam on suspicion | Of being concerned in the robbery of #20,000 | from the U.S. asbort time Seven | ‘homant Gear of tha soon bills were found in his pomession. ee FROM EUROPE TO-DAY. Loxpon, June 30.—A Lene gh = heid in thie city last evening, participated y the oppo- "ANE commercial treaty. Joshua Fielden, a conservative member of the House ot Commons for York, the chair. He delivered a violent Against the treaty. He, bimself, was a manufac- turer and merchant of |, denouncing (he treaty as the cause of the industrial prostration, and calling the ministers to account for denying an investigation of the subject. The meeting was af and harmonious. juced uropean account. Viscount Amberly made another speech at ewcastic last evening, elaborating his ideas on the educational bill Clark, celebrated physician, is was 82 years old. uncle of William Edward Foster, and patriarch of the Quakers, died yes- terday. The Provincial Correspondence thinks an im- tant tee of European hes been feet in Giarenion. death of the Earl of Disturbances in Naprip, June 30.—Slight disturbances oc- curred at ona yesterday, but they were soon quelled. Four persons were wounded. Recruits for nfallibility. Rome, June 30.—The Supporters of the infal- ibility dogma count on Cardinals Cullen and Bonnechore as their latest recruits. Marine Disasters. BreEwey, June 30.—The steamship Deutsch lan, which arrived to-day, having spoke the American ship Joseph Clark, ver, which sailed from Bristol ay | ship bad experienced heavy weather, an her rudder broken. She required no assistan. On the 20th of June, in longitude 8. the Deutac lan passed @ quantity of wrecked stuff, incl ing & number of tallow casks, marked quin” - The Ministry im- pecret one. —_——o—— Ba of the Tennessee — rning # egy Telegraphed Exclusively to the Evening Star. Wirutrctox, N. C., June 30.—On Tuesday evening the steamer ‘Tennesse ieft for New York, with ‘ge freight and over 50 paseengers. At 1 o'clock Wednesday morni ire was di im_pressed cotton stow: forward in hold. Every effort was made to stay the of the flames of water into the hold, but without success. the was bi passen” rev- enue cutter, Wm. H. |, Was to start last night to the relief of the Tennessee. The pas- hourt, in this city. sengers are macty expected ty. 1 CHARLESTON, S. C., June 30.—The steamer City Point has left here to go to the assistance of the Tennessee. The Tennessee is valued at $25,000, and is one of the fine new steamers re- cently added to the New York line. The com- pany will put another steamship on the line at once. a Crimes and Casualties at Albany. Baclusively to The Evening Siar. ALnaNy, June 30.—Barton Elder yesterday shot his wife and then killed himself near Ham- ilton, N. ¥. The wife may recover. The as- sault on his wife was exceedingly brutal, the hie BARS te caid to Lave boon che ee ate Jeu superi: gel jared yesterda ‘con- ent, was y injured y struction train on the Black River and . rence Railroad, being thro near C Robert rine, & plasterer, fell fi scaffolding here y and was killed. — —— ee From the Hab— Wife ™ jarder—Chinese Boeror, June 30.—Eugene Bradley is under body of his wifo, who was found deed aed noite bruised last night in their “ds AS 9 moet of citizens workmen ie yesterday speeches were made Sree eilntions passed against the introductio ofthe Ihinese labor into this country. —s se teat Another Death From Explosion of a Telegraphed Exclusively ( the Evening Star. WHEELING, June 30.—Sarah Beeler was 80 badly burned by the explosion of a lamp that she died in a few hours. She attempted to fill it while burning.