Prince Dusty: A Story of the Oil Regions

by Kirk Munroe

Still the work was pushed steadily forward. The graceful derrick was run rapidly up to a height of sixty feet, and a strong iron pulley wheel was suspended from its crown. On the derrick floor, at one side, the great bull wheels, about the shaft of which the drill rope was to be wound, were placed in position. On the opposite side was set the solid samson post that was to support the equally solid walking beam. The former was a section of the squared trunk of an oak tree, let deep into the ground; while the walking beam was a long and very strong oaken timber, nicely balanced so that it would work readily up and down. To the end of the walking beam, that reached into the middle of the derrick, were to be attached the heavy drills; while the other end was connected with the ten-horse-power engine that stood in a rough shed but a short distance from the derrick.

Still beyond this, in the open air, was a rusty boiler, with a pipe discharging into its open furnace door. This pipe led from a small tank that was filled by the jet of natural gas, discovered by Arthur and his father; and natural gas was to be the only fuel used in drilling and operating the Dale-Dustin well.

At length, after a month of hard work and vexatious delays, the “rig-builders” finished their labors, and the well drillers came in their place. To Arthur’s great joy, they were headed by his “dear giant,” Brace Barlow, who, having heard that his little friend was interested in a new oil well, applied for and obtained the contract for drilling it. “And Arthur, lad,” he said, after the first warmth of their greeting was over, “if this well proves a ‘duster,’ it won’t be because it isn’t drilled fair enough, or deep enough. I’ll keep the temper screw turning, and the drill going, till we strike something to stop it, if it’s only an order to quit, or the bottom of the appropriation.”

Brace Barlow brought with him a delightful surprise for Arthur in the person of his Cousin Cynthia, who, upon Miss Hatty’s invitation, came to make a visit at Dustin farm. The two children enjoyed each other so thoroughly that it was a pleasure to see them together. Arthur had so much to tell and Cynthia so much to hear concerning his wonderful journey to Dalecourt, and they had so many plans to make for the future, that the days were not half long enough for them. In the evenings, when the day’s work was done, Arthur generally sat with Brace Barlow, listening to his tales of adventure in the oil region, or relating incidents of the recent journey, in which Brace was fully as much interested as Cynthia.

Thus the boy discovered how the mysterious five-dollar bill came to be in his precious book, and Brace learned of what service it had been to them.

Day after day the powerful drills worked steadily downward through hard and soft rock, sometimes descending only six or eight feet in twenty-four hours, but generally cutting through twenty or thirty feet of material in a day. The first and second sandstones or “sands” were passed, and at length the drill was down a thousand feet. At this depth it had not yet reached the third, or oil-bearing, sandstone. Occasional puffs of gas came up through the casing of iron pipe that was driven down as fast as a hole was cut to receive it; but there was no sign of oil.

The work had now been prosecuted for two months, and with the passage of time, and the rapid melting away of the few remaining dollars of his fortune, Colonel Dale’s face grew more furrowed and careworn, and, though he still tried to maintain a brave front, it was evident that anxiety was telling heavily upon him.

As the opening of a new district has a very decided effect on the oil market, all brokers who deal in oil or oil stocks are, of course, anxious to secure the earliest information concerning the prospects of the first well sunk in it. If this proves to be a dryhole, and the district is accordingly believed to be barren, the price of oil remains firm, with a tendency to go up. If, on the other hand, the new well happens to be a “gusher,” the price of oil immediately drops. In either case those who receive the earliest reliable information are able to make their purchases or sales of oil accordingly and reap large profits.

In order to obtain this information some of the leading brokers and oil companies employ a class of men called “scouts,” whose duty it is to find out all about new wells, especially those drilled in districts hitherto unworked, and to report upon their progress and prospects. These scouts are always bright young fellows, thoroughly posted in all details of the oil business; and it is almost impossible to keep the condition of any well a secret from them, even though the owners undertake to do so.

Now Colonel Dale had determined to reap, for Arthur’s sake, whatever benefits were to be gained from an early knowledge of the prospects of the Dale-Dustin well. For this purpose he had engaged the services of a broker in Oil City, whom he had undertaken to furnish with the very earliest information regarding it. As the drill neared the depth at which it was expected to enter the oil-bearing rock, a number of scouts began to appear on the scene of operations and to visit the well every day. On the approach of the critical hour that was to decide the fate of the experiment, these visitors were politely but firmly requested to keep off the premises, while the derricks and tanks were boarded up, so that they might not be able to witness the inside operations from a distance. The drillers were bound to secrecy regarding the progress of their work, and a guard was stationed about the well, with orders not to allow any stranger to approach the derrick. Thus the Dale-Dustin well became a “mystery,” and the scouts were put to their wits’ end to discover its condition.