]
Having become interested in this oil venture, I made several
excursions to the district and also, in 1864, to an oil field in Ohio
where a great well had been struck which yielded a peculiar quality of
oil well fitted for lubricating purposes. My journey thither with Mr.
Coleman and Mr. David Ritchie was one of the strangest experiences I
ever had. We left the railway line some hundreds of miles from
Pittsburgh and plunged through a sparsely inhabited district to the
waters of Duck Creek to see the monster well. We bought it before
leaving.
It was upon our return that adventures began. The weather had been
fine and the roads quite passable during our journey thither, but rain
had set in during our stay. We started back in our wagon, but before
going far fell into difficulties. The road had become a mass of soft,
tenacious mud and our wagon labored fearfully. The rain fell in
torrents, and it soon became evident that we were in for a night of
it. Mr. Coleman lay at full length on one side of the wagon, and Mr.
Ritchie on the other, and I, being then very thin, weighing not much
more than a hundred pounds, was nicely sandwiched between the two
portly gentlemen. Every now and then the wagon proceeded a few feet
heaving up and down in the most outrageous manner, and finally
sticking fast.
Pages:
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194