long lived so inharmoniously that they had gone apart several times,
entered the Catacombs in the spring of 1853. The wife was missing when
the party came out,—it is always the custom to count the number at the
beginning and end of the journey, so as to see that none are lost,—and
the husband asserted that he had seen her only a few seconds before.
Still, she could not be found on that day or the next; but about a
fortnight after, a body answering to her description was discovered in
one of the narrow passages into which excursionists are never taken.
She had evidently been dead some time, and a deep wound on her temple
indicated that she might have perished from violence. Her husband was
not free from suspicion of having murdered her; but as she might have
been so injured by a fall, he was never openly accused of the crime.
The story was generally circulated, and the anti-matrimonial jesters
of the capital insinuated that more than a thousand unhappy husbands
immediately applied for permission to make the subterranean tour
with their wives, in the hope that they might be as fortunate as the
ungrieving widower.
[Sidenote: IMPRISONED FOR THREE HOURS.]
Walking one day on the Boulevards, my companion pointed out to me a
well-dressed man, who had a certain prematurely old look, and whose
hair was perfectly white. I was told he was only thirty-five, and
that, five years before, he had gone into the Catacombs with a young
lady to whom he was engaged, and had hidden himself away from the
sepulchral pilgrims for a few minutes, that he might learn how his
supposed loss would affect his betrothed. He hid himself so very
effectually, that three hours elapsed before he could be found.
He had in that time entirely surrendered all hope of release, and
the physical changes of years had fallen upon him. He has often
described his sensations during those hours, and has represented
them as the most terrible he could conceive of. (I can imagine, yes,
even understand, what they must have been by my own experience.)
The revolution in his mental was as great as the revolution in his
physical nature; and after his distressing sensations, all his
freshness and buoyancy of feeling departed. With a strange morbidity,
he associated the young lady on whom he had wished to try the
sentimental experiment with the agony he had endured, and though she
was as wretched as any woman ought to be when he was missed, he broke
off his engagement, and refused to see her again after that eventful
day. The gentleman may be living still; for, in spite of appearances,
he had an excellent constitution and vigorous health. He was in good
circumstances, and went to dine regularly at the _Café Anglais_,
where he had told his story so often, that he had received the name
of “Catacombes” Beaudinet. Nothing remarkable except that had ever
happened to him, and as he was a Frenchman, and fond of prattle, his
one adventure filled him, and rendered him a bore of the first water.
[Sidenote: A MANIA FOR SUICIDE.]
As is well known, the French not only have a passion for suicide,
but a passion for committing it at certain places, and in certain
ways, that seems to be contagious. Forty years ago, a young
journalist, while exploring the Catacombs in company with many of his
acquaintances, naturally fell to talking on the subject of death, and
expressed his opinion that there was nothing awful in it, or even
unwelcome. Some of his friends rallied him on this position, and
told him he would think very differently if he were conscious that
death was near at hand. He stoutly denied that it would change his
sentiments in the least, and when nobody appeared to believe him, he
suddenly drew a small knife from his pocket, and before any one was
aware of his intention, he thrust it into his heart. His suicide, in
such a place too, filled his friends with horror, and the press, as he
had been a member of the guild, gave detailed accounts of the tragedy,
accompanied by strange theories and analyses of the causes that must
have led to it. For several weeks, the Paris journals were full of
communications on the subject; and they so aroused public attention
and curiosity, that in less than six months nearly twenty men stabbed
themselves to death in the Catacombs—all of them unquestionably the
effect of example.
The Catacombs are the reverse side of the fair picture of Paris. Never
since my journey through them have I been able to forget that they
lie black and yawning under some of the most beautiful quarters of
the capital. When the sunshine is brightest along the Seine, I think
of the darkness below. When the city smiles fairest, I recall the
millions of grinning skeletons underneath. When the music from the
gardens, and the concerts, and the operas sounds sweetest, I fancy
mingling among the strains a mournful dirge for the departed and
forgotten, so confusedly heaped together in the awful dreariness of
the Catacombs.
XXII.
PETROLEUM.
OIL SPRINGS.—THE FIRE FIELD OF THE CASPIAN.—THE FIRE
WORSHIPPERS.—THE RANGOON DISTRICT.—FIRE WELLS OF THE
EAST.—PETROLEUM IN AMERICA.—ITS DISCOVERY AND HISTORY.—OIL
FEVER.—ANECDOTES OF SPECULATION.—FORTUNES WON AND
LOST.—EXTRAVAGANCES OF THE NOUVEAU RICHE.—THE STORY OF JOHN.—HOW
TO GET UP A PARTY.
In various parts of the world there are springs, or natural sources,
of inflammable oil. Some of these have been known for thousands
of years, but most of them are of recent discovery. The oil which
flows from these springs is generally known as “petroleum,” the word
being of Latin origin, and signifying rock oil. The most productive
oil springs are of artificial origin, and are made by boring into
the earth, or rock, in certain localities. The most famous natural
deposit of this substance, or anything akin to it, on the surface of
the earth, is in the Island of Trinidad, in the West Indies, where it
forms a lake of asphaltum and petroleum, which is called Tar Lake.
This material is a very good substitute for pitch, and is extensively
used for coating vessels, and preserving their timber.
A gentleman who has visited this lake says that it is about a mile
from the sea-shore, and the distance around it is about a mile and
a half. Near the shore the tar is solid, and appears as if it had
cooled, when the liquid was boiling, in large bubbles. As one goes
from the shore to the middle of the lake, the temperature increases,
the matter becomes softer, and in the centre it boils steadily. At a
distance, when first seen, it resembles a lake of water; but when one
approaches it, it appears like glass. A strong odor of sulphur arises
from it, and can be detected at a distance of eight or ten miles.
There is a bed of coal under the lake. It is of bituminous character,
and makes a thick smoke when burning.
[Sidenote: THE SACRED FIRE WELLS.]
The largest supplies of petroleum are obtained in America. Throughout
Europe and Asia there are many petroleum wells. One of the most
celebrated localities where they are found is the eastern shore of
the Caspian Sea. At Baku, on the shores of the Caspian, there are
many springs of naphtha and petroleum, and a great many streams of
inflammable gases. The abundance of these wells caused the region to
be called The Field of Fire; and in the ancient times Baku was known
as the Sacred City of the Fire Worshippers. The annual value of this
production is about half a million of dollars. About fifteen miles
from Baku there is a jet of inflammable gas rising from the rock, and
known as the Perpetual Fire. A temple has been built over it, and the
fire has been burning for hundreds of years. Pilgrims come from all
parts of Asia to visit this sacred well. The place is in charge of a
large priesthood, who are supported by the gifts of the devotees.
Another region, quite as wonderful as that of Baku, is the Rangoon
district, in India; and a considerable portion of India has been,
for thousands of years, supplied by it with rock oil. One authority
says, that the number of wells in that district is nearly six hundred,
yielding half a million hogsheads of oil annually. Most of the Rangoon
wells are artificial, and are sunk in beds of sandy clay, resting on
the sandstone, but the wells rarely exceed a hundred feet in depth.
Some parts of Africa are known to contain petroleum springs, and there
are many of these springs throughout China and various other regions
of the East; Australia and New Zealand claim their share, and it is
probable that every country on the globe could, by means of proper
borings, be made to yield petroleum.
[Sidenote: SENECA OIL AS A MEDICINE.]
As before stated, America is the great petroleum-producing country
of the world. Rock oil is found in various parts of the American
continent, from Hudson’s Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The most prolific oil region in
America is in Western Pennsylvania, and millions of dollars’ worth
of petroleum have been obtained there. Thousands of men have made
fortunes in petroleum, and a great many have made fortunes in it the
wrong way. The early settlers of that region were well aware of the
existence of petroleum, having obtained their knowledge of it from
the Indians. The Indians used to collect the oil on the shore of
Seneca Lake, and it was sold as a medicine, in small quantities, under
the name of Seneca Oil. A stream in Alleghany County, New York, was
named Oil Creek, on account of the petroleum floating on its surface,
and the same name was given to another stream in Venango County,
Pennsylvania. On the old maps of that region several localities were
marked as affording oil, but it is only within the past thirty years
that the oil product has been of any importance.
The substance, as before stated, was used as a medicine, and the
inhabitants collected it by spreading blankets on the surface of the
stream, and then wringing out the oil which they absorbed. There are
indications that the oils were collected long ago, as several deep
and very old pits have been discovered. Some people attribute the
construction of these pits to the early French settlers, some to the
Indians, and some to the predecessors of the Indians. A history of
Pennsylvania, published thirty years ago, says that the Indians used
the oil to mix with paint in dressing themselves, and refers to an old
letter, written by the commander of Fort Duquesne to General Montcalm,
describing an assembly of Indians at night on the banks of the creek;
and in the midst of their ceremonies they set fire to the oil on the
surface of the water. As the flames burst out, the Indians gave wild
shouts, which recalled to the writer many of the ceremonies of the
ancient fire worshippers at Baku.
[Sidenote: BORING FOR SALT WATER.]
The early settlers did not collect great quantities of oil, probably
not more than twenty-five or thirty barrels a year. In 1845 operations
were being conducted for obtaining salt at a place above Pittsburg,
on the Alleghany River. Several springs of petroleum were struck, but
the value of the material was not known. In Ohio, over fifty years
ago, borings were made for salt water. An account, descriptive of the
work, said, “They have sunk two wells, which are now more than four
hundred feet deep. One of them affords very strong and pure water, but
not in great quantity. The other discharges such vast quantities of
petroleum, or, as it is vulgarly called, Seneca oil, and besides is
subject to such tremendous explosions of gas, as to force out all the
water, and afford nothing but gas for several days. We make but little
or no salt.”
This story of the ignorance of the value of petroleum and the
disappointment of the salt-makers at finding springs of petroleum
instead of salt water, reminds one of the account of the Irishman who
complained of his trouble in shooting ducks: “I was not able to fire a
shot,” said he. “Every time I got sight of a duck another one swam in
between him and me, and I could not kill anything.”
[Illustration: PUMPING WELL ON OIL CREEK, VENANGO COUNTY,
PENNSYLVANIA.]
The first movement for utilizing this vast oil product was made, in
1854, by two New Yorkers, who organized a company, and secured the
right to a certain spring on Oil Creek; but they made no progress
until three years later, when Messrs. Bowditch and Drake, of New
Haven, undertook to search for oil. In the winter of 1858 and ‘9,
Colonel E. S. Drake completed arrangements for boring into the rock
below the bed of the creek. On the 26th of August, 1859, oil was
found at a depth of seventy-one feet. The drills sank into a cavity
in the rock, and the oil rose to the surface. By means of a pump,
four hundred gallons were obtained per day, and a larger pump being
introduced, the supply reached one thousand gallons daily. This was
the beginning of the borings for oil in that region. Every spot where
oil was found, or was likely to be found, was carefully examined,
and a great many wells were put down. Up and down the banks of Oil
Creek derricks were erected and wells were sunk, and in a year or two
the banks of the stream looked as if their natural product had been
derricks rather than trees. The ground was perforated like a sieve,
and if the holes had been a few feet, instead of a few inches, in
diameter, it would have been dangerous walking round there for fear
of tumbling through. The original depth of seventy-one feet was found
insufficient, and the borings were frequently conducted to a depth of
several hundred feet. I believe one well was sunk over two thousand
feet, and a great many wells exceeded a thousand. Many of them never
produced oil, and the man who had risked his money to bore these wells
saw it vanish without affording anything in return.
[Sidenote: FORTUNES WON AND LOST.]
A great many stories are told of fortunes made and lost in boring for
oil. In some cases men just narrowly missed success, and in others
they obtained their success by accident. A story is told of some men
who had secured a locality and sunk their drills to a depth of nearly
a thousand feet. All their money was gone, and they knew not where to
obtain more. There were no indications of oil, their machinery was
mortgaged, and the sheriff stood by to secure it. They were about to
abandon work; it was near the close of the day, and they had no credit
and no means to continue work on the following morning. One of the men
proposed to quit about four o’clock in the afternoon. “No,” said the
other; “let us die game, and put the machine through till sunset.”
He tore away a piece of the timber supporting the derrick, and threw
it into the furnace to give additional speed to the engine. Just as
the sun was beginning to dip behind the western hills, the drill
suddenly sunk several feet. It was withdrawn from the rock, and a
column of oil mixed with salt water followed it. They had “struck
oil,” and were saved.
In another instance a company was formed, and had drilled a dozen
wells, but without success. Their capital was nearly gone, and they
were working on a well which, if unsuccessful, would prove their
ruin. Just as they had expended almost their last dollar, and were
within twenty-four hours of suspending, they found oil in abundant
quantities, and were saved from ruin.
There are many instances of men searching for oil, boring their wells
to a considerable depth, and abandoning them in consequence of the
exhaustion of their money, and the discouraging prospects. After
abandoning their work, others took possession of the places, and in a
few days, sometimes in a few hours, opened wells of great value.
In the oil regions I was once told a story of two men who had been at
work a long time, but could get no oil. Their money was exhausted, and
they became discouraged. When they had expended their last dollar,
and mortgaged everything, they stepped aside and made way for their
creditors. As they surrendered their machinery, one of them said,—
“Let us clear out of this place, and go to work by the day until we
can get enough to try it again.”
“Hold on,” said the other; “let us sit down and see these fellows
work. We will stay a little while, and see if they get along as fast
as we did.”
So the two men remained, mainly for the reason they did not know what
else to do.
[Sidenote: A LUCKY STROKE.]
The new comers drilled away at the well, which was already several
hundred feet deep, and in half an hour after they began working they
found oil. When the tools were withdrawn, the well began flowing a
hundred or more barrels per day. Imagine the disgust of the former
owners!
It was the same in the oil regions with regard to disappointments
that it has been in California and other countries containing mineral
treasures. A case like the one just described is almost an exact
parallel of a case in California, where two men, working a week or
more on a claim where they hardly made money enough to pay their
expenses, abandoned it in disgust. Two others stepped in, and on the
very day they took possession, found a lump of gold worth several
thousands of dollars. In another instance some Americans abandoned a
claim, which was immediately occupied by half a dozen Chinese. The
Chinese found a rich deposit of gold within six inches of where one of
the Americans had abandoned the use of his pick and shovel.
[Sidenote: SALTING A WELL.]
Petroleum wells can be “salted” or “baited,” just as gold or other
mines can be salted, and in the early days of the oil fever, the
baiting of petroleum wells was by no means an uncommon thing.
Sometimes it would be done by one of the owners of a well in order to
defraud other owners. For instance, Smith and Brown have entered into
partnership to put down a well. They join their money together, buy
the necessary drills and machinery, and go to work. The well is down
one or two hundred feet. Smith gets tired of it. He knows that Brown
has more money, and so thinks that he will sell out. While Brown is
asleep, Smith gets a barrel or so of petroleum, and pours it into the
well. Next morning, when they go to work, the condition of the hole is
tested as usual, and of course there are indications of petroleum. If
a barrel has been poured into the hole it is filled for quite a long
distance. Smith has taken care to be away at the time, and appears
in perfect ignorance. If Brown is honest he will tell Smith, on his
reappearance, of the rich supply they have found; but the chances are
two to one that Brown will say nothing, except to suggest carelessly
that the well is not very promising, and ask Smith what he will give
for his share. Smith says, with equal carelessness, “I don’t want to
buy, but I will sell my interest for three thousand dollars.”
Perhaps he puts it at a higher figure. He knows the length of Brown’s
purse, and goes for its contents. The result is, that Brown secretly
chuckles over his speculation, and buys the well.
Smith goes on his way rejoicing, and Brown, still more rejoicing,
stays where he is. He knows that a few inches more of depth to the
well will yield abundant oil, and he works away very earnestly; but
somehow he keeps on drilling for a long time, and at last awakens to
the consciousness that he has been sold.
A great many petroleum wells have been salted and sold in this way,
but it sometimes happens that the would-be swindler gets the worst of
his bargain. I knew one case, in 1863, where a man baited a well in
the above way, and sold it. He laughed that evening over his sharp
trick; but he laughed less the next morning, when he passed the well
and saw that the tools had been withdrawn, and the well was flowing
at the rate of three hundred barrels a day. A few hours after the
purchasers entered upon their work, they struck oil and were happy.
[Sidenote: A NEAT SWINDLE.]
A trick that has been practised in the oil regions to some extent is
to convert a well which has no oil in it into a genuine flowing well.
I have known this to be done by conducting a pipe underground from
a tank at a genuine well a few hundred yards away. The pipe opens
into the baited well, and it can readily be seen that with a good
“head” on the pipe the well will be a perfect flowing well, to all
intents and purposes. Men are engaged in barrelling the substance,
and a visitor can see with his own eyes the amount of the yield. If
he wants to buy a well, nobody has any great desire to sell, and he
may have difficulty in buying the whole thing outright; but he can get
an interest in it for a comparatively low figure. Sometimes he may
buy one man’s interest, and then another man’s, and he thinks he has
struck a very fine bargain. But during the night, after his purchase,
the oil ceases flowing, and he finds that his property is worthless.
Another swindle of the same sort is to have a tank filled with oil,
and a pipe run through one of its supporting posts, and under ground
into the well. The pumping machinery is kept at work, and it may be
pumping, say, at the rate of one hundred barrels a day. But all the
time that the pump is working, the oil is running into the well, and
it may run in and be pumped out again and again. The operation is a
simple one, and well calculated to deceive.
[Sidenote: FRAUDULENT OIL COMPANIES.]
A great many petroleum companies were organized at one time, which
had no existence beyond the paper one that they had in New York and
other cities. Some of these companies gave most brilliant promises. I
remember one which printed a flaming prospectus, and announced that
there was room on its territory for three thousand first-class wells.
No one could doubt the truth of this assertion, but its territory
happened to be on the top of a mountain, where three hundred thousand
wells might have been sunk without finding a drop of oil. The
projectors of this concern sold a great deal of stock, but I believe
they never declared a dividend of a single dollar, or even took the
trouble to sink a well. Their money was made by defrauding their
patrons rather than by doing any work in an honest way. Millions of
dollars were sunk in oil speculations whose investors never obtained
any return whatever. The public heard of the wells that yielded
enormously, but they never heard of the thousands of wells that never
amounted to anything.
So great was the rage for oil speculation during the height of the
fever, that a well would be sunk where there was the least chance
or prospect of obtaining oil. Suppose a man found a spring of pure
water; he might pour a gallon or so of oil on the surface, and then
carelessly, and with apparent innocence, lead a stranger to the
vicinity. The stranger soon smells the oil, examines the water, and
buys the spring at a high price.
One day a farmer broke a kerosene lamp in his cellar. A few hours
later he admitted a stranger who wanted to buy some potatoes.
The stranger discovered the oil, forgot about the potatoes, and
immediately opened negotiations for buying the house and the land on
which it stood. He paid about three times as much as they were worth,
and the farmer went away happy.
A man, who thought crude petroleum a good remedy for freckles, one day
bathed his face in that article, and lay down to sleep. As he tells
the story, he was waked in half an hour by a New York speculator who
was trying to sink a shaft into his ear.
[Sidenote: THE SPRING THAT FLOWED WHISKEY.]
A story is told in California of a man owning a farm which he wanted
to sell. He had heard of the petroleum dodge, and thought he would try
the same plan in another way. So one day, when a lot of speculators
from San Francisco were at his house, he poured a gallon of whiskey
into a small spring, and then led the speculators in that direction.
The farmer spoke of the spring, said that he made no use of it, as he
had an abundance of water near his house. He had never observed the
spring except to remark its peculiar color. He roused the curiosity
of the strangers so that one of them tasted the water, winked at his
neighbor, and stepped aside. Before night the farmer had sold his
place at a high price, and the speculators had organized a company for
supplying the California market with an excellent article of whiskey
cocktail. But somehow their enterprise never succeeded.