History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections, Part 53

Author: Bradsby, Henry C
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : S.B. Nelson & co.
Number of Pages: 1032

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The entire coal output of the county is about 400,000 tons annually. In addition to the yield at Coal Bluff and Fontanet, the three other principal mines are in Nevins township, on the line of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. These are J. P. Foley's, John Triplett's and Woodruff & Trunkey & Bros.', of Chi- cago, mines. These eight mines are the principal ones from which are raised the shipping commercial coals of the county. There are fifteen or sixteen other mines in the county that are worked to supply the local trade. There are employed in the three mines last mentioned, something over 300 men. The entire miners' force at work in the county is in round numbers 1,000 men. This would leave, after the eight principal mines in Nevins township, about 250 men employed in the small mines in different parts of the county.

Strip coal banks were recently opened in Lost Creek township by Samuel Cheek, and also by Winfield S. Burgan.

Oil and Gas .- Boring deep into the bowels of the earth in this

tal y . John Surtain Phil?

Blackford Condit

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locality was begun in 1865. This was the effort of Chauncey Rose to obtain soft water for the Terre Haute House. The sections of this well are given in the chapter on " geology." As this was the beginning of the subject of oil and gas in Vigo county, it may be well enough to give a brief account of it. In going down they struck oil and it came freely to the surface, and there was no mis- taking its presence by the smell. The Pennsylvania oil speculation was then at fever heat and Terre Hauteans were now wild with ex- citement. Mr. Rose was east, and when telegraphed answered: "Go on digging down, it is water and not oil wanted." The oil had ceased to flow in a short time. When the drill was sent deeper into the rock it struck a copious flow of sulphur water, and Mr. Rose now determined to utilize this, and he put up at the corner of Cherry and Eighth streets a bath-house, to which the water was piped. The old bath-house has been used as bottling works. These waters sprang into great popularity at once. A man was suffocated in the bath-tub by the gas and this destroyed the popularity of the water. Mr. Rose had built drinking fountains and people had begun to come for the water from a distance. The well was plugged.

Another company was formed to sink another well, Robert Cox, president; this was seeking oil. This was sunk in the old canal bed on Tenth street. They struck oil, the same strata of the Terre Haute House well, but the flow was weak, about only three barrels a day.

A pump was put in, the water and oil came together, and was collected in a large wooden tank. After standing long enough for the fluids to separate, the water was drawn from the bottom, and at regular intervals the free crude oil was removed from the tank. The odor of the oil was very disagreeable, and at that time was con- sidered a greater objection than now. About 700 barrels of the crude oil were collected and a quantity sent to Cleveland to be subjected to the crude refining process then known. The refin- ing companies found much trouble in deordorizing the product, and as the price of oil was very low, the expense would be too great to make the well a paying investment. No one thought of the oil as being a superior lubricator, and the remaining three or four hundred barrels were allowed to stand untouched for some time. Mr. Jo-

sephus Collett was at that time president of the Evansville, Terre Haute & Chicago Railroad, and he determined to make a test of the oil as a lubricator. He purchased the remaining supply at a price of $1 per barrel, and put it to a practical test on the locomotives of the road. The oil proved to be of great value as a lubricator, and gave the greatest satisfaction. The entire supply was exhausted, and there would have been demand for more had not Mr. Rose complied

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with the requests of citizens and plugged the well to free the neighborhood of the very disagreeable ordor. And thus a very promising enterprise was permitted to die.

The next well was the one now known as the Conant well. There were twelve stockholders in this company, the total stock being $18,000, the shares being divided equally. Among the stockholders were Mr. Rose, Mr. Minshall, Mr. Deming, Mr. McKeen, Mr. Tuell and Mr. Hulman. The object was to find either oil or salt water. The site chosen was on the river bank, and drilling was done on a more liberal scale. No oil was found, but a copious stream of sul- phur water was struck, which was and is still utilized at the bath- houses. This well was sunk in 1868, and the volume of water still issuing is prodigious. This well was drilled with poles operated by a steam engine. The water was filled with gas, and when ignited would blaze up with a bright flame several feet high, The original company made no definite use of the water, and it was piped down to the river bank. The small boys in the neighborhood learned that the gas was inflammable, and in spite of all efforts would keep it burning. Finally an iron pipe was buried and the water was carried into the river underground. The well was very expensive, costing $15,000. The company finally sold out to a Mr. Delano, whose intention was to utilize the water as a power in the manu- facture of wooden buckets. He built a water wheel and made an attempt at manufacturing, but the experiment was unsuccessful and the project abandoned. Mr. Delano owned the well up to the time of his death, his widow finally selling to the bath company. The history of the well since that time is well known. Among the facts which will be recalled in this connection is that the volume of gas in the water was amply sufficient for all heating purposes around the bath-house until a few years ago, and that there is still enough to make a small flame on confining it for a minute or two. The won- derful curative properties of the water are familiar to all.

The history of the next well on the river bank, nearly a mile from the new oil well, the one commenced in February, 1886, and abandoned after a useless search for natural gas about eighteen months later, at a depth of over 2,400 feet being reached, is of too recent occurrence to be unfamiliar. There were, however, many things in connection with the drilling of more than temporary in- terest and importance. The well was put down by a company inde- pendent of the gas company, although most of the stock was held by gas company stockholders. Mr. Diall, the invincible superin- tendent of the enterprise, was quite confident of success, but in face of failure still held to his hopes with the success now so fully established at the new well, of whose company he is president. The

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cost of the river well was heavy because of many accidents. A spray gas from the water at this well is now carried to the boilers of the city gas works and furnishes ample fuel power.

Wells outside the city limits were several in number also. About 1867 or 1870 the county commissioners sank a well to tlie depth of about 1,800 feet at the poor-farm. What the object was is still a little indefinite, as the well resulted in no practical bene- fit. The drilling was the subject of much agitation at that time, people claiming that the commissioners stepped too far in using county funds for the purpose of experimenting.

The West Terre Haute gas well, which was commenced some time after the last river well here, was drilled about 1,400 feet and abandoned. The members of the company are now discussing the feasibility of opening it and going deeper in the search of oil or gas. They stopped in the shale that overlies the rock that should be penetrated, and this mistake is now realized, as the shale lies above the sandstone in which the oil is found. The shale at the last river well was found at a much greater depth than at West Terre Haute. Indeed, the last river well bears no comparison with any others. The record of the first river or artesian bath well not hav- ing been kept, this statement does not apply to it. In all the bor- ings there were found strong characteristics of a subterranean river, and the projecting rocks show an abrupt decline toward the bed of the present Wabash, which accounts for the greater depth the hole was found at the last river well than at the present oil well, or at the West Terre Haute well.

In 1889 a new excitement about oil and gas broke out in Terre Haute, and everybody became oil and gas experts, and right and left companies were formed and well-boring commenced. Fifteen or sixteen wells were sunk. Early in May the well sunk on the old canal bank was reported a "presser." It was reported that they had to stop the flow, and the oil around the well was gathered in a dry well. A high board fence was built around the lot, and people went in the morning and again in the evening, to sniff the oil odors and then dream of " Coal Oil Johnny " and millions and billions of dol- lars. This is the Diall well, near the river and a short distance below the Conant well. Preparations to erect immense tanks (3,000 barrels capacity ), and 10,000 feet of piping was purchased. Experts and chemical analysts had their coats off, and set up at night withi samples of the precious fluid. Supt. Diall began negotiations with the Pennsylvania tank line company for cars. Three carloads of barrels came on one train from St. Louis and Effingham. Reports went flying around the streets of the sale of stocks at fabulous figures. Seven companies were formed in a few days. The Diall well " is under surveillance," says a paper of that day. " Twenty

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companies are forming " rapidly, says the same paper. The Union Oil Company was the first to file papers for record. An option on the Cruft farm was secured. The following item tells:

" Another company of thirty well-known gentlemen is to meet to-day and organize with $6,000 stock. The propositions for sites are rumored as to various localities reaching as far east as beyond the fair grounds. The fact that the well came in nearly a week ago, with a capacity of not less than 1,400 barrels of oil of a qual- ity which visitors from Lima and Pennsylvania pronounce to be better than found at these favored localities, continues its pressure with all expectations of "keeping up the lick " has given a remark- able boom to the city. For a day or two there was a fear that the well might be a 'pocket' well, and that it would not continue its output, but nearly a week having elapsed, conservative Terre Haute decided to take advantage of all the advantage there is in the find at the Diall well.

" Property owners are becoming wary, and are inclined to hold their land at advanced prices. To this may be attributed the lack of large real estate exchanges. There is an immense amount of talk, however, and things will come to a head in the very near future."

These days of excitement soon passed away. The result is, there are three wells now being worked, and the yield is about 200 barrels a day. One of these wells was dug in the spring of 1890, and promised the best flow of any, but in shooting it there was some misfortune that reduced it to about the average flow of the older wells. This is Guarantee No. 3. The Guarantee company is now sinking another well. Thus the Terre Haute wells are about sup- plying the home demand. The most of the oil will be used for the manufacture of fuel gas and as fuel generally.

There is gas escaping from all the deep borings about Terre Haute. At Diall's well the spray gives off sufficient gas to conduct it by pipes to the boiler, and it is utilized as fuel. There is, it is now well established, coal, oil and gas in commercial qualities, un- der the entire city and in almost every part of Vigo county.

Artesian or Medicinal Water .- The waters found in the deep borings, are but a part of the underground wealth of Terre Haute. We have now three fine, large bath-houses, whose fame is becom- ing spread abroad and the sick are beginning to come from distant quarters, bathe and be healed. These waters are advertising them- selves by their almost magical cures. These remarkable waters rush up with great powers, the old, or Conant well being about 2,000 feet, and the Diall well 2,900 feet, and the Bronson well about 2,300 feet deep. Sick people who have tried the hot springs in vain, have come here and been cured. The particulars of the dis- · covery and qualities of these artesian waters are given elsewhere.

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

CHAPTER XXIX.

SCHOOLS.

A RTICLE VIII, Section 1, of the constitution of Indiana de- clares that:

" Knowledge and learning generally diffused throughout a com- munity, being essential to the preservation of a free government, it shall be the duty of the general assembly to encourage, by all suitable means, moral, intellectual, scientific and agricultural im- provement, and to provide by law for a general and uniform system of common schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally open to all."

I know of no Territory or State that manifested an equally pro- found and intelligent interest in the subject of education as has Indiana, commencing with her first territorial existence in 1800. While the congress of the United States, under the controlling in- fluence of Jefferson, had been wise and far-seeing on this subject, yet it is a fact that in the organization of new Territories and States that body was more or less influenced by the men who ap- proached congress in the interests of the new municipality-men who were identified with it. And according to whom these men were, and the suggestions that they would urge, would be many of the provisions in the enabling acts, especially on the subject of schools.

In the territorial formation, Indiana, in addition the general provisions of the ordinance of 1797, had reserved for her one town- ship of land, exclusively for the purpose of aiding in founding a State university.

When the Territory had reached the second stage of territorial advancement she at once began to make further provisions, looking toward aiding and promoting the cause.

The act of congress of April 19, 1816, "to enable the people of Indi- ana Territory to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union," submitted to the peo- ple certain propositions "for their free acceptance or rejection." No. 4 of these propositions was as follows: "That one entire township, which shall be designated by the President of the United States, in addition to the one heretofore reserved for that

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purpose, shall be reserved for the use of a seminary of learning, and vested in the legislature of the said State, to be applied solely to the use of such seminary by the said legislature."

Thus we find the legislature of the young State invested with the rich heritage of 72,080 acres of those broad rich lands of Indiana, for the sole purpose of advancing the schools, and aiding in establishing a "seminary of learning."

Practically the munificent grant was without restrictions, and the legislatures deemed it good policy to sell as soon as the land came into market, and apply the proceeds for the designated pur- pose. They were doing the best they knew. They could not know the future. It is therefore, as we can now know, a pity that the grant was not accompanied with a perpetual inhibition to sell or tax, but with power to make leases, renewable upon agreed terms of say every fifty years. In that case the school would have to-day still been the owner of the land, and receiving annually from it an in- come of perhaps millions of dollars, and this without levying the amount of one cent of taxes on the people.

Congress did suggest that the lands should not be sold immedi- ately. This indicates that the inception of the idea advanced above of not selling at all, would have needed but little more than a strong suggestion by some member to have been made a fundamental part of the compact.

Such a proviso would have been eminently wise, and a great permanent good. It would have conserved the public welfare for all time. Indeed, it would have been a practical demonstration of how the wise and good government may permanently protect the public weal by purely democratic institutions.

One of the greatest problems that has confronted the philoso- phers of the science of economics, has been what and how to dispose of the problem of the "increment of wealth " that is added, espe- cially to real estate, by the industry and forethought of the public. From this puzzle, under the old forms of government, has come the land question that in the near future, from present indications, will overshadow many of the present questions of political economy. This increment attaches to all property nearly where the public furnishes the demand for it.

A man in London buys a tract of land or a town lot in our new country for a merely nominal sum. The people rush into the locality, and their presence, and the improvements of their own prop- erty in a few years may make the absent owner of the real estate vastly wealthy. Here is a case of acquired wealth where others earned it, at least where others contributed the largest part. Upon this fundamental idea some of the colossal fortunes have come to

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families and have grown through generations; and as the waste places of the earth will some day be heavily populated, this prob- lem will continue to grow, and will, year by year, become more difficult of any equitable adjustment, if there be, indeed, any hope of a solution at all. It can be easily seen that this political prob- lem may reach a point when it will simply resolve itself into a question of the universal conditions of master and slave-the wealth unchangeably in the hands of the shrewd, strong and favored, while the masses are left to poverty and toil. Statesmen have looked back- ward for precedents, and to the present prosperity of their neighbors in all past times, and the future has been trusted to take care of itself. They were totally incapable of anticipating the future results that must inevitably come of their present acts. Immediate success, real or apparent, satisfied their largest ambitions as well as the crown of their loftiest conceptions. They formed their gov- ernment the best they could, and imagined nothing could be more just and fair than to leave everything for their children in the shape of "a free for all hurdle race."

And we, their children's children, are born to those conditions and their arrangements of government-taught chiefly to regard the work of our wise fathers as sacred, and never to be changed. The question of land titles was not connected in their, or much in our minds, with these greater collateral questions, such as the in- crement of wealth to real estate, and hence they could not conceive that there were long future results to arise here, any more than in the question of the ownership of a horse or a pig. They knew the land was a permanent thing, and theoretically understood that from it comes all life, everything we have. And they looked upon the land speculator as one of the fair and proper means to aid in settling and developing new countries. If his shrewdness, fore- sight or luck led him to investments that gave him fortune, they were as much rejoiced at this as at any other successes in life.

In this way government institutions were formed, and men were taught to be enthusiastic patriots, and the memory of great statesmen perpetuated in the hearts of a grateful posterity. And the man who dared to suggest innovation anywhere along the line of this order of things came to be looked upon with suspicion. Any science that may have come in government affairs only arose slowly after the long experiments of all governments, and as .these tended to demonstrate any of the mistakes of the fathers, they were in that ratio the more bitterly resisted.

The old idea was that the land belonged to the king-that was the source and commencement to title. In our country the source of title is the government, to be sold or given away exactly the same

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as the individual can any of his possessions. On its face this was fair enough; all had the equal right to buy; no questions were asked of any purchaser. Why should there arise any future ques- . tions on the subject ?

In our very thinly populated country this problem is only be- ginning to make its appearance. The cloud is not so large as a man's hand yet, but we live at a tremendous pace in this hemi- sphere. To-morrow is heavily freighted. The land question may come; who knows? If it does it will not be settled by carping at the doings of our ancestors, any more than by poohing at the sug- gestion that there is to be such a question, or that most sordid and meanest of philosophy which is happy always in the "after me the flood " complacency.

It is the wise adjustment of society affairs-the permanent good of all, that must be the chief end of all organized governments. Otherwise there will arise the supremest of all questions possible- the unspeakable anarchy.

In the case in hand: Suppose congress as it had the power had provided that the grand domain, reserved for schools in Indiana, had been fixed as the location of the permanent seat of State govern- ment, and the fee never to be sold. This would have now been the entire realty of that splendid city of Indianapolis.

To jump at the conclusion that this would have been the ruin of the city-that it would have driven away capital or enterprise, and retarded its development to its present greatness, would be very in- considerate. Here would have been a great city without taxes to pay, where no vexatious questions of title could arise. Here all men in the State would have shared in " the increment of wealth," and this title could not be taken from them. Here would have been an abundant revenue for all the schools of the State. It is not in place here to extend the consideration of this important subject. It is not propounded in advocacy of any one's theories on the land question, but simply to suggest the fact that our theory of land title is not, as many suppose, the only possible arrangement that could be made, and is therefore a perfect one. Suppose the most of our gov- ernment institutions had been based upon some plan similar to this -really co-operative, and as permanent as the very foundations of government, would not this have been a happy anticipation as well as solution of those matters that may soon arise to vex the world ?

If our government had left postal affairs to private enterprise and ownership instead of, as it did, largely through the wisdom of the great Ben Franklin, made it one of the most beneficent and just of all our public or private institutions, those who would now advo- cate a change to something as we have it, would have been laughed to

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scorn for their pains, told with a boundless show of virtue that the idea was preposterous-would have repelled capital, etc. Then, too, when matters have gone on until there are immeasurable vested rights involved, there comes such difficulties that the average states- man realizes that the only safe thing he can do is to relegate the question to posterity.

The State constitution framed on the formation of the new State of Indiana met in the most liberal way this wise measure of congress in behalf of education. In article IX of that instrument the subject of " learning and its diffusion " among the people is con- sidered in the light of its being the first essential to the preservation of a free government. They believed that spreading the opportuni- ties and advantages of education abroad to the various parts of the country were the chief conducive things in promoting a healthy civilization. To this end they believed it their imperative duty to provide by law for the improvement of such lands as are or here- after might be granted by the United States to this State for the use of schools, and also to apply any funds which might be raised from such lands, or "from any other quarter," to the accomplish- ment of the grand object for which they are intended; " but no lands granted for the use of schools or seminaries of learning shall be sold by authority of this State prior to the year 1820." They also further wisely provided that the money raised by such sale of lands should be a fund, and so remain for the exclusive support of seminaries and public schools. They proceeded to require of the State legislature that it should, from time to time, pass such laws as shall be calculated to encourage intellectual, scientific and agricult- ural improvement, by allowing " rewards and immunities for the promotion of art, science, commerce, agriculture, manufactures and natural history."

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History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections, Part 53

Author: Bradsby, Henry C Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago : S.B. Nelson & co. Number of Pages: 1032

Author: Bradsby, Henry C
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : S.B. Nelson & co.
Number of Pages: 1032