USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Pioneer sketches : scenes and incidents of former days > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
1
CHAPTER XCHII.
COOPED BY A LION.
N MY second trip to Africa as agent of 2011 the Hamberg Animal House, one night encamped on a stream in the Transvaal there arose a storm of such severity that most of our live stock broke away and ran off in terror. As soon as daylight came we started out to recover the ani- mals. Two horses which I was after led me a long chase, and as I passed over some broken ground close to a great mass of rock, my horse stumbled and threw me over his head. I wasn't hurt much by the fall, but the horse acted in a manner unaccountable to me. He ran off at the top of his speed, never heeding my calls, and my riffe was strapped to the saddle and my revolvers in the holsters. For a minute I was lost in astonishment at his conduct, but soon the mystery was explained in a way to startle me. About five rods off, standing by a bush, was one of the largest lions I ever saw. He stood facing me, and was switching his tail right and left.
In the mass of rock ten feet to my right was an open- ing and I jumped for it and squeezed in just as the lion came up. Luckily for me, at least on this occasion, I was thin in flesh, weighing less than 120 pounds. The hole was very irregular and ran back about eight feet, and was high enough for me to stand up in. It was also lucky that the lion was a big fellow, for he worked his hardest to get at me, and gave up only after 15 minutes' trial. His head was
348
PIONEER SKETCHES.
too big for the opening, and when he reached for me with his paws he fell short by three or four feet. When I first realized that I was safe, I regarded the situation as a good joke on the lion, but later on I had reason to change my views.
The lion had been asleep under the bush when I came galloping up. His near presence was what scared my horse into running off as he did, and the beast had been somewhat confused over the row and had delayed rushing upon me until I had gained shelter. When he found me beyond his reach he got very mad and growled and roared and bit at the rocks, and I shouted and kicked at him to keep the fun going. After ten or fifteen minutes' useless work the lion backed away and laid down in front of my prison, and then I began to realize the situation.
It was a hot morning and I was already thirsty, while I had been in such a hurry to leave camp that I had eaten nothing. The rocks were still dripping with the rain of the previous night, and I could thus take the edge off my thirst. I also had matches and cigars, and was not so badly off for a brief siege.
I fully expected his majesty to retire within an hour or two, as he lay full in the sun, and it is the custom of all the feline tribe to sleep by day and to retire to a shady and secluded spot. I judged my distance from camp to be about six miles, and if any of our boys should come that way, the lion would be pretty sure to make a sneak. Up to noon I was momentarily expecting their approach. It then occurred to me that no one would know exactly which way I went or how far I had galloped, and they might search for a whole day and not come within miles of me.
349
PIONEER SKETCHES
By high noon the lion was panting with the heat, but would not move, although there was shade only 20 feet away.
I could not stretch out at full length, but I got a com- fortable position and fell asleep soon after noon, and did not open my eyes again until just at sundown. I could not see that the lion had moved an inch, but he lay with his head on his paws as if he had also taken a long nap. My people had no doubt searched for me, but they had not come in the right direction, and I might as well prepare to spend the night in the cave. I was very hungry and thirsty by this time. I licked the damp rocks all around me to cool my tongue, but had not a morsel to stay my stomach. With a loose stone I broke off pieces from the rocks and flung them out at the lion, but he only growled and showed his teeth in reply. I then made as if I would crawl out but he had his head at the opening in an instant, and his eyes were so full of fire, they were almost like lanterns. While the situation was unpleasant it might be worse, and as my sleep had been broken for several nights I turned in as soon as darkness came down, and was soon oblivious of all things earthly. Some time in the night I was aroused by the lion roaring and making a great fuss, and I made out that another male was in the neighborhood and challenging him to fight. It was none of my affair, however, and after listening awhile I dropped asleep, and did not awaken again until daylight. The first thing I saw, as I looked out, was my lion. He had not moved a rod and had lost none of his determination to make a meal of my poor flesh. I was hopeful up to noon, but heard nothing. All the long afternoon I felt sure help would come, but the sun went down and I was still a prisoner and the lion had not moved. He must be thirsty and hungry,
350
PIONEER SKETCHES.
and his remaining where he was showed that he possessed a dogged obstinacy unknown in many others of his kind. The nearest water was about four miles away. As dark- ness came I determined to add to the brute's sufferings, and I therefore worked my body as near the opening as I dared to, and kicked at him, until he was worked into a state of fury. This added to his thirst, and when he finally quieted down he walked about uneasily. Had he trotted off in the direction of the river I should not have dared leave my retreat (as the route to camp was a dangerous one by night) but he did not go.
About 9 o'clock in the evening I heard another lion roar close by, and he was instantly answered by my jailer. I had made the old fellow mad all the way through, and he was now anxious to fight. The other must have been in the same frame of mind, for it was not ten minutes before he advanced to the attack, and although I could see nothing, I could catch the sound of a most tremendous struggle. I believe the fight lasted a full half hour, and two or three times the combatants rolled against the mass of rock. They finally drew away, the sounds became fainter, and I went to sleep hoping for release in the morn- ing. When morning came my jailer was not visible. After taking due precautions against surprise I crept out, to find the coast actually clear, and I made a bee line for camp, and reached it without adventure.
The men had just got news that a lion had been cap- tured in a pit about two miles away. I went with them after breakfast to get him out, and from certain marks on the body I recognized the animal as the one who had besieged me. We had no more trouble in getting him out
351
PIONEER SKETCHES.
than as if he had been a dog, but the mystery was explained as we lifted him out. He was half dead with the injuries received in the fight with the other lion. His right eye was destroyed, his jaw fractured, the end of his tongue bitten off, his left hind leg broken and he had been bitten and clawed in fifty different places. We did not believe he would ever get well and therefore killed him for the value of his hide. - Sun.
CHAPTER XCIV.
LOVING WORDS.
OVING words will cost but little Journeying up the hill of life, But they make the weak and weary Stronger, braver, for the strife. Do you count them only trifles ? What to earth are sun and rain ? Never was a kind word wasted, Never one was said in vain.
When the cares of life are many, And its burdens heavy grow For the ones who walk beside you- If you love them, tell them so. What you count of little value Has an almost magic power, And beneath their cheering sunshine Hearts will blossom like a flower. So as up life's hill we journey Let us scatter all the way Kindly words, to serve as sunshine In the dark and cloudy day. Grudge no loving word, my brother, As along through life you go; To the ones who journey with you- If you love them, tell them so.
CHAPTER XCV.
PITTSBURG.
ITTSBURG was settled in 1770 by Win. Pitt and others. It is beautifully situated on the Ohio, at the conflux of the Allegheny, Monongahela and the Youghiogheny, announcing from the start, to the reader, that its site bears no lack of rivers bearing Indian names, fraught with historie and picturesque seenes.
Lo, the poor Indian, well knew by this great conflux of streams, its lofty hills, its forests and beautiful valleys, that it would afford a paradise for him. Up the Allegheny he found his Indian God, his Patterson and Montgomery Falls and Pegg's Chute, his Clarion, wonderful Bear Creek, Red Bank and the Ox Bow.
It is along these mountains that we can behold grandeur not to be seen elsewhere. Its overhanging trees and rocks, its rich minerals, its outcropping veins of bituminous coal and limestone. But what has all this to do with Pittsburg ? Much. Its sagacious founder no doubt knew this: that the iron manufacturer had all the material at hand with which to operate, and so did Pitts- burg become, and was for years, the greatest ordnance and heavy goods manufacturing city in America. And we have noticed that as a large city she has, through past de- cades, apparently suffered less from panics than many other cities.
Pittsburg is one of the oldest and wealthiest cities in our country. Its inhabitants savor somewhat of the Quaker and German elements, and the majority have come to stay. Its present population is about 315,000, having made great progress during the last decade.
23
CHAPTER XCVI.
BUTLER.
B UTLER is the county seat of Butler County, Pa. Like Franklin and other inland towns, it has enjoyed a slow but steady growth. Its people are of a staunch order, generally mean what they say, and pay for what they get. It contains several churches, schools, hotels, stores and manufactories. Its people can congratulate themselves that they have at hand a plenty of the black diamond va- riety of fuel for domestic, mechanical and commercial pur- poses for generations to come.
Butler County has, perhaps, more bituminous coal than any other county in Western Pennsylvania. The Shenango Railroad, recently constructed, which taps Butler's vast coal fields, will prove a valuable factor to its wealth and re- sources by opening a much more extensive market for her hidden treasures. A good portion of the county abounds with good farming lands; its farmers are well-to-do and generally out of debt. Her oil production has been, and is still, of considerable value altogether. I predict a prosper- ous future for Butler, and that it will become one of the wealthiest counties of Western Pennsylvania.
CHAPTER XCVII.
COLONEL DRAKE,
THE DISCOVERER OF PETROLEUM OIL.
OLONEL DRAKE drilled the first oil well in Oildom, on Watson's Flats, on Oil Creek, just below Titusville, by hand power, using a spring pole as the motive power. He came from York State, and went to work drilling for Seneca oil in 1858 under adverse circumstances-poor in pocket, but with the firm conviction he would discover petroleum oil in the rock below.
He was called by some wiseacres a erazy fanatic, but undaunted, he kept on drilling. Without money or credit he persevered, and at the depth of 69 feet he struck the pent-up treasure. Then it was, as in all other cases, "How do you do, Colonel Drake. Allow me to congratulate you, Mr. Drake, on your good fortune," etc.
This man, for the discovery of one of the most useful commodities in our land, should long be remembered as a benefactor to the people, at least of this generation.
Mr. Drake died comparatively a poor man, and dur- ing his later years some noble-hearted oil men raised for him a purse to smooth his pathway down the close of his life's journey.
356
PIONEER SKETCHES.
Colonel Drake's great discovery bestired the people. Leasing and purchasing land set in briskly. Analytical tests by experts were made, and this petroleum oil was found to contain component ingredients susceptible of great value, hence Oil Creek, from Titusville to Oil City, was soon alive, and many a rabbit and rattlesnake were driven from their seeluse by the constant tramp of the oil seekers. Millions of dollars were soon expended in the erection of oil rigs, buildings and refineries, and drilling. Millions of dollars' worth of oil have been produced, and millions have been made in refining and shipment, and $100,000,000 is said to have been made by one man-Rockafeller, of the Standard Oil Company-in the business.
Well, this latter deal seems to cap the climax. How- ever, "truth is sometimes stranger than fiction."
Let us not forget to honor Colonel Drake, the pioneer driller and the discoverer of petroleum oil.
TO OIL DRILLERS:
To drill an oil well should you undertake,
Breathe a kind thought to the memory of Col. Drake.
CHAPTER XCVIII.
FRANKLIN.
RANKLIN is situated at the junction of French Creek and on the north side of the Allegheny River, and is the county seat of Venango County, Pa. It is one of the oldest cities in Western Pennsyl- vania, and there are no fears of the town getting away. From every point of the compass the mountainous hills look frowningly down upon the place. The valley at this point is about one mile wide and about three miles long. The scenery is picturesque and beautiful. Much might be writ- ten about this town, which was first settled by the French. A fort was erected and called Fort Macault. The road that General Washington traveled over in revolutionary days from Philadelphia, Pittsburg and northward, ran through this place, as did many an Indian trail.
Franklin contains about 1,300 inhabitants, and is noted for its fine wide streets, its durable stone sidewalks and its staid people, its mammoth hills, its beautiful Venango and Allegheny Rivers, abounding in fish, its long-winded oil wells of twenty years' production, and finally its situation between the lofty hills, that a cyclone would have to swoop down like a hen hawk to reach its inhabitants.
Two great oil refineries are located here, one of which, the Eclipse, is rightly named. As far as the writer has ever seen, this mammoth refinery eclipses everything of the
358
PIONEER SKETCHES.
kind on earth. Barnum ought to buy it. But the Stand- ard Oil Company, the owner, is not in the market, but pro- poses to eclipse it.
The Evans well, on the flats of French Creek, was the second oil well drilled in oildom, that of Colonel Drake's, at Titusville, being the first, in 1858, and from that date on- ward for fifteen years, through the palmy days of oildom, never was there before, and perhaps there never will be again such a vast operation and such a speculation through all hands, in oil lands, as there was in Venango County from 1858 to 1870. The countryman and the expert, the oil smeller and the speculator, the gambler and the capital- ist, the laborer and the dude, all met in one common plane, besmattered in mud, grease, rain, snow or sunshine, to buy, sell or lease, to put up a derrick or to pump, or swindle yon out of an oil well.
More fortunes were made and lost in Venango County Pa., between 1860 and 1870, than in any other spot of the same area on the American Continent.
Losses by fire were immense, oil tanks being struck by lightning and set on fire by other causes, exploding the large tanks. The oil running along the ground and into the river followed by the lapping flame, and on its course down the river would burn everything it touched-
Then onward down the stream- The grandest blaze and nightly scene That I ever beheld.
However, the trade became a legitimate business, and many good men were engaged in it.
For some time oil sold at very remunerative prices- one to five dollars per barrel, which paid the producer well. At one time it reached a fabulous price. In August, 1863, Jacob Shirk, dealer and shipper at Oil City, paid $14.00 per barrel to finish loading my boat for Kittanning-the Valley Railroad then terminating at that place.
CHAPTER XCIX.
OIL CITY.
IL CITY is situated seven miles above Franklin, in Venango County. Pa., on the Allegheny River and at the mouth of Oil Creek. It is noted as the hub of the oil region and for its rapid growth from a wild country vacuum to a city of 10,000 inhabitants. Cottage Hill and South Oil City. with many fine residences, are pleas- ant portions of the city.
The mountains on the north side of the town, tunneled by the Lake Shore Railroad, with a race course on its top, overlooking the city from its dizzy height, affords a grand and picturesque view.
Immense transactions were carried on in all things per- taining to the oil business from 1860 to 1870, and gave to the huckster and the farmer the best market in the country for his products.
The writer has measured up coal aboard of his boat at fifty cents per bushel to the Oil Creek sealper, put from 200 to 500 bushels aboard of his giper, and with his horses hitched to the bow he would drive up Oil Creek four miles to Cherry Run, and there sell his cargo of coal at from $1 to $1.25 per bushel at the oil wells.
360
PIONEER SKETCHES.
Then, you see, the oil business was at fever height, The oil producer would hustle with all his might, To pump from the ground the oil, if it didn't flow From a God-forsaken spot where nothing would grow.
Away back to the time of the earliest settler of Oil Creek, or of Venango and Crawford Counties, 1795 up to 1810, the Seneca Indians were accustomed to gather oil from different springs and places in Oil Creek, which was then and subsequently sold as Seneca Oil in one-ounce phials at 25 cents, as a great medicine and liniment for the cure of frost bites, burns, scalds, rheumatism, etc. Quite a difference then, was it not, in the price of 25 cents per ounce and 25 cents per barrel in 1862 for the same Seneca?
This is only one of the many wonderful things devel- oped on Oil Creek, its tributaries and in other fields in the vicinity, for the pioneer land owner, who originally bought at from 25 cents to one, two and three dollars per acre, some of whom, for years, lived principally by hunting, fish- ing, log cutting, lumbering in a small way, and running out of Oil Creek down the Allegheny, as it were, to eke out a subsistence.
Many of these heroic, hardy pioneers struggled hard for a life's subsistence on the same lands which in after years yielded them a princely fortune in the space of one week, one month, or one year's time. The developments were from a 50 to a 3,000-barrel oil well, which made these fellows so rich and greasy that they slid right out of that country and bought lands and places to suit their mind's eye.
The oil business had assumed great proportions, thous- ands of oil derricks and buildings already dotting the val- leys, the hillsides and the hilltops throughout the Oil Creek region, A vast amount of oil was stored in wooden and
361
PIONEER SKETCHES.
iron tanks. Refineries were built, and also machine shops for the manufacture of drilling tools, boilers, engines, etc. The hillsides and the valleys were lit at night by the gas from the oil wells. The gas was also utilized for fuel in drilling and pumping oil wells.
Many boats were used on Oil Creek, and in times of a sudden rise of water in this mountainous stream, boats would break away from their moorings and be hurled down the stream. Soon great numbers would become gorged, and the fire that followed and the great destruction of pro- perty was a terrible sight to behold, and will be long re- membered by the old timers on Oil Creek.
Scenes and incidents might be written of this oleagi- nous region to fill a volume. Rouseville four miles up the creek had become a prominent place; also Petroleum Centre eight miles above Oil City. At these points a large amount of oil was produced.
Oil operations had now extended down the Allegheny River to Serubb Grass, Parker's Landing, Bear Creek and other places contiguous thereto, also up the Allegheny, Tidioute and other places and on to Bradford. A good proportion of that land acreage, in this great oil field, was rough and untillable and apparently was of little value. But it has been demonstrated time and again, that the oil produced from one acre and less, of this rough, unearthly land would buy 10,000 aeres of good, arable farming lands. In taking a retrospective view of this wonderful oil region, its rugged, rocky, mountainous hills, its native drawbacks, its original, secluded locality, we cannot gain- say that were we its masterpiece, that we would have bettered it.
362
PIONEER SKETCHES.
Oil City is still the centre of the oil business, op- eration's at its oil exchange, daily quotations go out to New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Cleveland, and to all the principal cities, and become one of the great factors in commerce. And during all its ups and downs, through panic times, Oil City continued to become more solid and city like, and to-day she can boast of many fine residences and business blocks and good hotels, churches, and a very fine oil exchange.
CHAPTER C.
THE STEELE FARM.
BOUT THREE MILES above Oil City, on Oil Creek, is situated the Steele Farm, which became famous as an oil producing farm. Upwards of two mill- ions of dollars were realized as royalty of the oil production of this farm.
John Steele (or "Coal Oil Johnny, as he was called) came in possession of this vast sum of money, and he proceeded at once to show the people-
That he could light his cigar with a ten-dollar bill,
This he often would do to gratify his will;
In eities with fine rigs he'd drive out on a bum,
Sometimes he would buy out the whole rig before he got home
Thus this fast young man recklessly slung out his greenbacks, and in so doing he soon brought around him a horde of suekers and leeches who spurred him onward, down, down, in his wild and lavish career, and he soon suc- cumbed, like a field of grain before the reaper's sickle.
Of this oil prince other things we might tell, How he bought out a Philadelphia hotel,
As he went in to have a rousing time,
To brush off the dust and take a shine.
He called up freely the wine and refreshments, and when the landlord was loth to furnish more until the bill was settled the young greaser inquired, "What will you
364
PIONEER SKETCHES.
take for your hotel and get right out?" "Fifty thousand dollars," the landlord replied.
A bargain was struck and this young blood run hotel that day. In the course of a few months he became an oil teamster and continued in this occupation for some years. One day he received a letter from a banker stating that there was in the bank the sum of $20,000 to the credit of the account of John Steele, (having previously been depos- ited by him.) This money was used more economically than his former twenty thousands. I understand that he is now living in Minnesota engaged as a telegraph lineman and his son as an operator.
CHAPTER CI.
THE BENNEHOFF FARM.
BRIEF mention of John Bennehoff may be of interest to some. The famous Bennehoff Farm was situated about one mile from Petroleum Centre. This farm was principally located on the highlands, much above the level of Oil Creek and Bennchoff Run. His dwell- ing was located in quite a secluded spot, a considerable distance from any other habitation.
As the oil-smeller and the oil-driller moved back from the valleys this farm was leased, and operations commenced in earnest. The whale's back was struck, and the derricks and the flowing oil wells soon dotted the Bennchoff Farm, and he became the millionaire instead of the staid old Ger- man farmer.
Mr. Bennehoff conceived the idea of being his own banker, and from time to time he placed his greenbacks in a simply-constructed iron safe in his dwelling house. Jim Saeger, of Saegertown, Pa., being aware of this private banking house, took it into his head to call at Mr. Benne- hoff's some fine evening and carry off those greenbacks. He stood six feet two, straight as arrow, with raven hair and eyes like a hawk, and he proceeded to prepare for the business. A German neighbor of Saeger, by the name of Loui Weldy, was sent to interview the German hired man of Bennehoff, who gave the information that Mr. Bennehoff,
366
PIONEER SKETCHES.
wife and two daughters, Joseph Bennehoff and the hired man comprised the family, and that Joseph attended church certain evenings, and would leave the house before 7 o'clock.
Saeger then secured the services of a couple of sharp desperadoes from Philadelphia, promising them, it was said, in case of a successful haul, $25,000 each; also Weldy and one Miller, of Saegertown, $8,000 and $5,000.
The expedition being planned Saeger, with a span of horses and sleigh, one wintry evening started with his gang from Saegertown across the country fourteen miles for the Bennchoff Farm.
On arriving within two miles of their destination he drove his team into a thicket, and the party proceeded on foot to the Bennehoff house. Knocking on the door, he and two of his dare-devils went in while the others kept watch outside. Their revolvers demanded silence, and Mr. Bennehoff and wife were bound and gagged, as also was the hired man and the girls.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.