USA > Ohio > Noble County > History of Noble County, Ohio: With Portraits and Biographical Sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 19
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The Caldwell salt-well on Salt Run, above Olive, also produced salt and gas abundantly. But by drain- ing the salt water off from beneath the oil the brine could be used for the manufacture of salt, while the petroleum was principally suffered to go to waste. Like the other well, this one was at times affected by the gas pressure to such an extent that for three or four hours the gas was passing off in a forcible manner with a sound like the roar of escaping steam, at the same time throwing out oil and water. At one time an obstruction in the run caused the stream to be dammed up, and the backwater extended up to the salt works. The surface of the water
being thickly covered with oil, which had been allowed to run into the stream from the well, some boys, not knowing the nature of the stuff, thought it would be fun to set it on fire, and did so at the lower end. In a few minutes the run was a sheet of flame for a half mile, and dense clouds of black smoke rolled up, ob- suring the sky and frightening all who saw it. A considerable quan- tity of oil stored in troughs near the well took fire and were consumed. Fortunately the flames did not ap- proach near enough to ignite the gas from the well, or more serious dam- age might have resulted.
In the Republicun of July 7, 1870, the following reminiscence of one of the old-time salt-wells is related on the authority of John McKee, an aged pioneer :
"Mr. McKee states that he and a few others bored a well for salt water in the vicinity of where Olive Village now stands. Before they had reached the salt water they struck a vein of oil, then known as British oil. After passing through this oil vein a short distance salt water was reached, a pump put in and the manufacture of salt begun. The company had no furnace, but instead they borrowed all the iron kettles on Duck Creek, arranged them in double rows and made salt suffic- ient to supply the inhabitants of this thinly-settled region. The fires un- der the kettles were never allowed to go out, but blazed brightly day and night, some member of the com- pany attending to them during each night. Sufficient salt water was
!
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pumped during the day to supply the watcher at night.
"One night it fell to the lot of Robert Caldwell to 'run the ma- chine.' Everything went well with him until nearly morning, when he found the water nearly exhausted and had to pump more. For this purpose he mounted a platform made of puncheons to reach the spring- pole; this brought him eight or ten feet above the ground and almost directly over the well. In order to have light upon his work, he carried some blazing coals upon a piece of hickory bark. He placed the bark upon the floor, seized the spring-pole and commenced work; but ere his task was half completed a live coal fell through the floor and very near to the well -quite near enough to ignite the gas from the well. Mr. Caldwell said he saw a ball of fire rise upward, while timbers cracked and irons rattled and his hair stood on end. Slowly this ball ascended, being fully as large as a haycock, until it reached the highest branches of a hickory tree standing near, when it exploded, making a noise equal to the loudest thunder. The noise was heard for five miles in every direc- tion.
" Old Mr. Thorla, who owned most of the salt-well, was sleeping at Col- onel Caldwell's, a half-mile distant. HIe heard the report, hastened to the spot and was most agreeably sur- prised to find all well. Robert Cald- well was not hurt, but a worse scared man was never seen on Duck Creek."
George J. Duff, of Pittsburgh, op- erating with David Mckee, was one
of the pioneer oil men in the Duck Creek region. The way Mr. Duff be- came acquainted with this territory is thus explained : A short time af- ter Drake struck oil in Pennsylvania, Fulton Caldwell was in Pittsburgh and in an interview with Mr. Duff found the latter so imbued with the prevailing oil excitement that he could not talk of anything else. " Why," said Mr. Caldwell, " we have had oil in our part of the country for over fifty years. It has never caused any excitement or been worth much to anybody." "You are not in earnest, are you !" On being assured that he was, Mr. Duff requested Mr. Caldwell to send him a sample of the oil. When he reached his home, he sent to the old well at Olive, secured a jug filled with petroleum and for- warded it to Mr. Duff. A few days later found Duff in Noble County, leasing and bargaining for oil terri- tory. Thereafter the excitement spread rapidly.
The first genuine oil well in the Duck Creek region was drilled in the spring of 1860 on the Dennis Gibbs farm (now Mrs. Tilton's). The well was completed in the summer of the same year. The operators were Judge D. S. Gibbs, Dr. Erwin Gibbs and Erwin G. Dudley. Ten days later J. C. Tilton began drilling a well on the Frank Blake farm. In both of these wells oil was found, but not in paying quantities.
The first important oil well on Duck Creek, found by an actual pro- spector, was drilled on the James Dutton farm, about one mile below Macksburg, and completed in the fall
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of 1860-a year after Colonel Drake's strike in Pennsylvania. Oil was found at a depth of sixty-seven feet below the surface. The well yielded over 100 barrels per day for some time. The oil was of 28° gravity and a good lubricator. The well yielded about 18,000 barrels before it was abandoned. This pioneer well was drilled by James Dutton, in part- nership with William Dutton, John Smithson and Alden Warren. The work was done by means of a spring- pole as in the case of all the early wells. Pumping was done by hand, and half a day's pumping filled an eighty-barrel tank.
The success of the Dutton well en- couraged scores of prospectors to try their luck, and it was not long before the valley of the west fork of Duck Creek, from Macksburg to Caldwell, was studded with derricks and the earth perforated with holes. Ilun- dreds of the wells were failures; but oil was worth $8 to $10 per barrel, and the ardent operators were not discouraged by a few unfortunate ventures.
David Mckee, in the fall of 1860, completed and put in operation the " Diamond" well in Jefferson Town- ship below Dexter City. This well was pumped for a time, but the water interfered to such an extent that it was found impracticable to work it.
John Eicher well, which yielded about five barrels daily.
The most celebrated well in the vicinity of Caldwell was the Socum well, two miles south of Caldwell. Oil was struck at a depth of eighty- seven feet. The well is said to have flowed fifty barrels in eighteen min- utes. Its yield was so great that every receptacle at hand was soon filled, and hundreds of barrels of oil flowed into the creek and were wasted. For some time after its completion the well yielded several hundred barrels per day. Other wells put down around it tapped the same vein, let in the surface water, and eventually ruined it. The Socum well was bored and owned by Spears & Wheeler, of this county. The oil was of 35 degrees gravity. Most of the oil was purchased by Gibbs, McKee & Co., who hauled it to Coal- Run, on the Muskingum River, and lost money by the operation.
The war checked the oil excite- ment, and, as it progressed, stopped it completely. But in the fall of 1865 speculation in oil lands was re- vived, and for a time there was the greatest excitement among the own- ers of such lands. Oil men came from New England, New York and Pennsylvania and purchased or leased all the territory that they could. Companies were formed with capital stock ranging from $100,000 to 81,000,000, and plenty of credu- lous Eastern people were found to buy their stock. The lands in Noble County that were supposed to lie in the belt appreciated in value from
In the winter of 1860-1 Andrew Woodford completed the first paying well of any note in Noble County. This was on the Levi Davis farm, and yielded about ten barrels per day. Across the creek from the Woodford well was afterward put down the i twenty to fifty fold. Many who
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owned lands along the creek had fortunes within their grasp ; but when offered $1,000 per acre for land that was not worth $50 for agricultural purposes, they still held on, hoping to realize a still more ex- orbitant price. The golden oppor- tunity passed, and very few farms were sold.
After the collapse of this second oil excitement, there were no import- ant oil operations in the Duck Creek Valley except in the vicinity of Macksburg. That village is situated in Washington County, but the best of the oil territory in its vicinity lies in Noble. There, George Rice and Mr. Decker and his sons were the principal operators. They drilled only for the shallow oil, found in what is called the 500 foot sand, which was found to be quite pro- ductive.
In the fall of 1865 was completed the Eastwood & Parker well, near the southwest corner of Olive Town- ship. This was the first flowing well in the county. It continued to flow for about two weeks, at first yielding at the rate of fifty barrels per day. This was a lighter oil than any pre- viously discovered on Duck Creek. Before tanks could be constructed to receive it the oil was allowed to flow for several days into a hollow in the ground, whence it was dipped up and barreled.
The Eastwood & Parker well was in operation until May, 1869, when another well tapped and destroyed it. Toward the last it yielded about ten barrels per day. The well which caused its suspension was put down
by Aaron Haines, and produced until recently.
Contemporaneous with the East- wood & Parker well, the Duck Creek Valley Oil Company, composed chiefly of Eastern capitalists, ob- tained four paying wells on the farm then owned by J. C. Tilton, near Dexter City. All were in operation for years, and two are still pumped at intervals.
Gouchenour & Gilbert, at South Olive, struck oil at a depth of about 900 feet. The well was pumped for oil, but yielded but little. From 1865 to 1868, the oil production of the county was quite extensive. Then, as at first, and until 1871, oil was hauled to Lowell on the Muskingum River, a distance from twelve to fif- teen miles from the wells. At Lowell it was taken by the Muskingum River boats, carried to Marietta and Parkersburg, and thence shipped to various markets. The cost of get- ting the oil to the river was very great, reaching in some cases the enormous figure of $1 per barrel. This, added to the cost of production and the freight charges by boat and rail, left little margin for profit when oil began to decline in price, as it speedily did, owing to the immense production in the Pennsylvania fields. The shallow wells were so rapidly exhausted that the yield did not pay for working, and one after another they were abandoned. The comple- tion of the C. & M. Railroad to Cald- well in 1871, gave producers an out- let for their oil, and for a time, pro- duction was greatly stimulated in consequence thereof.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF NOBLE COUNTY.
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There is little doubt that many of the first wells failed to produce, ow- ing to the imperfect apparatus then in use, the deficiency of the curbing and the inexperience of the opera- tors.
The oil production in the vicinity of Caldwell was never very great. Most of the wells were small pro- ducers and of shallow depth. In December, 1866, the Upper Duck Creek Petroleum Company, struck oil near the village of Olive, at a depth of 425 feet. Over fifty barrels were taken during the first day. This, according to a local paper, was the first well in the vicinity that had been put down more than 250 feet.
The first well in the vicinity of Dexter City, was put down on the old Robinson Sanford farm. It is still producing.
The greatest production of oil in the Macksburg field is from Noble County wells, though Washington County usually gets credit for it, simply because the oil is stored in that county. Jefferson Township, Noble County, in particular has of late proved a most prolific field.
The chief oil excitement in Jeffer- son Township started in 1883. The first well was drilled on the William Clark farm and proved to be a good one. The second, on the Ohio Coal Company's land, was known as the Lang well. It started at 125 barrels per day and is still producing a small quantity. Five wells on the George Hupp farm now produce about forty barrels per day. They are from 1,600 to 1,800 feet deep. On this farm a showing of oil, with
strong pressure of gas, was found at a depth of 700 feet.
In April, 1877, a well was drilled on the Mitchell farm, near Dexter City, which has proved the most phenomenal gas well in Noble County. In attempting to case the well in the summer of 1886, water was let into it in order to facilitate the drilling. Before the drills could be got in place again the gas pres- sure was so great that the water had frozen into solid ice, as was shown by the result of the drilling, at a depth of 1,450 feet in the earth. The volume of gas discharged from the well is enormous, and its roar can be heard a great distance. The gas has been ignited on several oc- casions, blazing to the top of the derrick. When it first began to dis- charge gas the roar could be heard for two or three miles. It is the in- tention to utilize the gas from this well in Dexter City.
The later history of the oil opera- tions in Noble County and the Macksburg field is thus given by Captain I. C. Phillips, of Caldwell, in a carefully written article, pre- pared for the second edition of Howe's Ilistory of Ohio, and is here inserted by permission of its author:
"In the year 1869 or 1870, George Rice concluded that perhaps geolog- ical conditions existed in the Macks- burg field similar to those in Penn. sylvania, and determined to test the matter with the drill, and was suc cessful in finding a light well in th third sand, at a depth of 1,450 fest The result Mr. Rice kept as a pro- found secret. In the winter of
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.
highest hills for the use of the drill- ers, and soon the ground was a net work of pipes conveying water and oil to their different destinations.
1882-3, the ' wild catters' from the oil fields of Pennsylvania put in an appearance and began operations on Long Run, about three miles south- east of Macksburg, in Jefferson "The wells range in depth from 1,425 in the valleys, to 1,900 feet on the hill-tops. The field has an area of about 4,000 acres, and is oval in shape with its longest axis extend- ing from the northwest to the south- east. The sand varies in thickness from three to twenty feet, and be- sides containing oil has enough gas in the same rock to force the oil to the surface with great energy, through a tube usually two inches in diameter, enclosed in a gum packer, located 50 Township, Noble County. They were successful in finding oil in the third sand, but plugged the well, re- moved the derrick and reported, when questioned by the anxious farmers in the vicinity, that it was a failure, allowed their leases to ex- pire, and to complete the hoax, hired a farmer, under pledge of secrecy, to haul some oil over the hill from Macksburg, and pour it on the ground around the well, telling him that other oil men from Pennsyl- . or 60 feet above the oil producing sand, vania would come, and being de- ' which prevents the water from de- scending to the sand and causes the oil and gas to flow through the tube and discharge into the receiving tank lo- cated near the well. Then it is drawn off into the Standard Oil Company's tanks, erected for storage purposes. These tanks are erected in the valley above Elba, Washington County, and are connected with all the wells in the field except those belonging to George Rice. The receiving tanks number 35 or 40 and have a capacity of 600,000 barrels, and are connected with the refineries located at Park- ersburg, W. Va., by a three inch pipe line. The Macksburg field at its best produced about 3500 barrels of oil daily. The production has fallen to about 1,800 barrels daily, at the present writing, November 1st, 1886. This production is from about 500 wells. ceived by the appearance of the oil at the well, would buy his and his neighbors' lands at a good price, for the purpose of drilling for oil. They then departed and in a short time the supposed 'greenies,' strangers, ignorant of the facts, as the farmers supposed, arrived, and were enabled to lease lands for a small royalty and a light bonus, and made pur- chases outright of lands, at about what they were worth for agricul- tural purposes. After most of the land over a wide extent of country had been secured, drilling began in ! earnest, and there was a general rush to the new field from all quar- ters and the field was rapidly devel- oped and its limit defined. Inside these limits there was scarcely a chance of failure to find oil in the third sand, in paying quantities. Pumping stations were established "George Rice, an independent producer and refiner, erected receiv- to force water to the tops of the
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PHYSICAL FEATURES AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF NOBLE COUNTY.
ing tanks at Macksburg and laid a two-inch pipe line over the hills to Lowell, on the Muskingum River, through which . he forces oil into boats at that place, and floats it to his refinery located at Marietta. The Macksburg field could never boast of such wonderful 'gushers' as were found in the Thorn Creek and Wash- ington fields of Pennsylvania. The best well in the Macksburg field probably did not produce more than 300 barrels the first 24 hours after it was shot and tubed ; the sand is more compact than any of the fields in Pennsylvania, and consequently yields its precious contents more slowly, and the well is not so soon exhausted. Northeast of Macks- burg near the edge of the field sev- eral large gas-wells have been struck in the search for oil, which would have caused great excitement in any other locality, but which here were only referred to as a failure to find oil. One of these wells visited by the writer three months after the gas
was tapped, threw a column of salt water 90 feet high, at intervals of five minutes ; between these inter- vals the column stood about 50 feet high as steadily as a fountain in full play. In time the great salt rock here, 180 feet thick, became nearly exhausted of its water, and the in- tervals became longer, but the gas has not decreased perceptibly, al- though more than two years has elapsed since the well was drilled.
. "In the winter of 1885-6, a small pool was struck two and a half miles northwest of Macksburg in Aurelius Township, Washington County, in the 300 foot sand, which in defiance of old experience was free from water, and had gas enough to force it to the surface. The well started with a yield of 50 barrels per day. The pool was soon drilled out and did not contain more than one hundred acres but was very prof- itable, owing to the low cost of the wells."
CHAPTER XII.
TIIE LEGAL PROFESSION.
FIRST TERM OF COMMON PLEAS COURT IN NOBLE COUNTY - HELD AT OLIVE IN APRIL., 1851 --- THE BUSINESS ACCOMPLISHED- OTHER EARLY TERMS OF COURT - ASSOCIATE JUDGES - COURTS AT SARAHSVILLE AND CALDWELL - NOBLE COUNTY BAR - THE LAWYERS PRIOR TO 1851 - LAWYERS OF LATER YEARS- HON. ISAAC PARRISH - JABEZ BELFORD - EDWARD A. BRATTON AND OTHER SARAHSVILLE LAWYERS - WII .- LIAM PRIESTLY - IRWIN G. DUDLEY - HON. WILLIAM H. FRAZIER - WILLIAM C. OKEY - BIOGRAPHIES AND SKETCHES- BENJAMIN F. SPRIGGS- D. S. SPRIGGS - JAMES S. FOREMAN -JUDGE D. S. GIBBS - HON. J. M. DALZELL - WILLIAM CHAMBERS -JOHN M. AMOS - MCGINNIS & WEEMS -C. M. WATSON - YOUNG LAWYERS.
T HE first courts of the county were held at Olive, while the question as to the future location of the seat of justice was still unset- tled. The earliest existing journal of the court of common pleas opens as follows :
"Minutes of a court of common pleas held at the office of Robert McKee in the town of Olive, in the i court until the next term thereof. County of Noble, in the State of Ohio.
" The State of Ohio, Noble County, 88 :
Be it remembered that on the first day of April, A. D. 1851, William Smith, Gilman Dudley and Patrick Finley, Esquires, produced commis- sions from his excellency, Reuben Wood, governor of Ohio, appointing each of them associate judges of the court of common pleas of Noble County ; also certificates on their several commissions that they and each of them had taken the oath of allegiance and office. Whereupon a court of common pleas was holden for the County of Noble on the 1st
of April 1851, at the office of Rob- ert McKee, in the Town of Olive in the said County of Noble: present, the IIon. William Smith, Gilman Dudley and Patrick Finley, asso- ciate judges of said county.
" Appointment of Clerk .- It is ordered by the court that Isaac Q Morris be appointed clerk of this
Thereupon the said Isaac Q. Morris appeared and gave bond according to law, and gave the necessary oath of office.
"Ordered that the court of com- mon pleas and the supreme court in and for the County of Noble be held at the Methodist meeting house at Olive in Noble County until the per- manent seat of justice of Noble County be fixed according to law.
" Whereupon the court adjourned sine die.
"WILLIAM SMITH,
" Presiding Associate Judge." Thus ended the first term of court. The associate judges above men- tioned were soon relieved of their
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duties, the office being abolished with the adoption of the constitution of 1851-2. At the second term of court in Noble County, which began at Olive on the 19th of June, 1851, Hon. Archibald G. Brown, a judge of the eighth judicial district pre- sided. There were also present the associate judges Smith, Dudley and Finley ; the clerk, Isaac Q. Morris, and the sheriff, Joseph C. Schofield. No grand jury was impaneled at this term. The court of common pleas, prior to the establishment of the probate court in 1852, held juris- diction in probate matters, and during this session a large amount of pro- bate business was transacted. Elec- tions for justices of the peace were ordered in several of the townships of the county. William Reed, Ben- jamin L. Mott and Benjamin 6. Spriggs were appointed school ex- aminers for the term of three years; Jabez Belford's bond as prosecuting attorney was accepted, and "'there- upon appeared in open court,' the said Jabez Belford, and took the requisite oath of office." David Green was appointed administrator of the estate of Clark Green, de- ceased ; James Best, hitherto a sub- ject of Queen Victoria, came for- ward and declared his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States; Luke S. Dilley, of Sarahs- ville, and James McCune, of Olive were appointed county auctioneers ; two appealed cases were now suited, the plaintiffs being non-residents of the county. The report of the com- mission locating the county seat was ordered placed on the minutes of the
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court, and the protests against the action of the commission were filed. These matters, with some probate business occupied the attention of the court during the first day. Court adjourned on Saturday, the 21st of June, after a brief, but busy session. The prosecuting attorney was allowed $25 for his services during the term, and $50 for the next, or November term.
Three cases were disposed of : William S. Burt vs. Levi Rahus - an action of assumpsit to recover $85.90 on a promissory note. The defen- dant confessed judgment, $87.61 and costs.
John Liming vs. Absalom Willey ; action on an appeal from the Morgan County common pleas court, Sep- tember term, 1850; for fraudulence ' in a horse trade. On this case a special jury, the first in Noble County, was impaneled, who found Willey guilty and awarded the plaintiff $13.33- the costs to be recovered of the de- fendant. The jury was composed of Benjamin Tilton, Simeon Blake, Samuel Marquis, Jacob Crow, John Mitchell, William Tracy, William J. Young, David McGarry, John Mc- Garry, Dr. David McGarry, W. F. McIntyre, and Jacob Fogle.
George Willey vs. James Hellyer and Benjamin Lyons. This was also an appealed case from the Morgan County common pleas court. The action was for trespass, in cutting wheat on the plaintiff's land. The defendants were adjudged not guilty.
On the 20th of June at this term of court a certificate of naturalization was granted to John Miller, formerly
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a subject of the government of Hesse Cassel. Several others filed their in tentions to become citizens. A num- ber of tavern licenses were granted at $2 each.
The November term of court, 1851, began at Sarahsville on Monday, the 10th, lasted until Saturday. The presiding judge, IIon. A. G. Brown ! was present only during the first day, the record for the remainder of the week being signed by William Smith, presiding associate judge. At this term the following grand jury was impaneled and sworn : William Par- rish, foreman; Timothy Smith, Henry Enochs, George Gibson, Frederick Spencer, John A. Stevens, James Archer (of Joseph), John Buckley, William Kirkpatrick, David Delong, Elijah Fesler, John Onille, John Morrison, Julius Rueker, Amos Hughes. The grand jury was dis- charged on Tuesday, having returned five indictments-two for illegal voting, two for retailing spirituous liquors, and one for assault and bat- tery.
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