THE RISE AND FALL OF AN OIL CITY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1063, 3 February 1883, Page 1

THE RISE AND FALL OF AN OIL CITY.

The Philadelphia Times calls attention to the curious history of the average oil region city, taking Pitholo, in Venango County, as an illustration, ‘ Twenty years ago,’ it says, ‘ the site of Pi thole was covered with wheat fields, and to-day waving coni and wheat and wild flowers cover the spot. But between that day ami this there arose and fell one of the most remarkable cities the world has ever seen. Iwenty thousand people gathered there in a single year, and when the great oilwells failed to pour out a torrent of wealth, the gaudy theatres closed, the mammoth hotels became tenant loss, and the churches lost their worshippers. Banks, newspapers, stores, and offices ceased io exist, almost as suddenly as they were called into being, the life and light of that famous city went out foiever. To day there is one voter in Pitholo, and the town may be said to be solid for Beaver, for the lone voter is Postmaster, Justice ot the Peace, and chid man of the place. It may also be said that there is but other man in the neighborhood and he does not vole. There arc dozens of villages in the old oil country that exist only in the memories of men who saw their birth

<unl death. Jbe new wells in Warren County are strangely like the wells of Pitlmle, and the rush to the near town of Garfield bears an almost fateful resemblance to the craze which was the

guiding spirit of the wonderful city in Venango. The ultimate results may not be the same, but if not, then the rule and the law of nil petroleum cities will be broken for the first time.