OCTOBER 15.
All believed they were located over an inexhaustible, subterranean lake of oil, and Oilville, city of tents and shacks, within a month had acquired the recklessness, the devil-may-care air of a mining camp, or the Pennsylvania oil fields. ∗ ∗ ∗ Then there was a pause in the work, for the experts decided that the new oil which spouted forth in such vast quantities was too heavy and malodorous to serve as an illuminant. Presently, however, it was discovered that this defect was a virtue, for here was a non-explosive petroleum that could be utilized in great quantities as a fuel, and work was hastened with renewed vigor, for now California possessed the monopoly of the one great need, not only of herself, but of all the world.
MRS. FREMONT OLDER,
in The Giants.
OCTOBER 16.
SAN PEDRO.
MORNING.
A smooth, smooth sea of gray, gray glass;
An open sea, where big ships pass