STATE GEOLOGIST. 153 
starved and worse clothed children, when one day they got the rock and 
a good showing of oil, which so excited them that the pater familias hal- 
looed over to his wife that they could have meat for dinner that day, and 
I suppose a rare feast was the result. After a while Mr. C. C. Church laid 
a pipe-line to the river at the mouth of Bells run, Newport township, and 
instead of 50 cents per barrel for hauling, the pipe-line rate of 25 
cents was welcomed, but prices also dropped and profits to the producer 
were not so great, even with cheap rates of transportation. The range of 
prices has been from $16 to 50 cents per barrel. Oil men are great on 
names and every well has its name. The Newton well came to be called 
the Old Cow, and then came the Heifer, the Dead Dog, Dolly Varden, 
Grecian Bend, Beech Tree, Willow Wells, School House well, Comet, etc. 
“T doubt if we shall ever see in this county again such a jam of human 
beings and capital on so small a space of territory.” 
The production from these early wells does not appear to have been 
large, for according to Mr. F. W. Minshall’s estimate the total yield of the 
field from 1861-67 was only 50,000 barrels. However, there was great ex- 
pectations, and the usual excitement. Territory that was regarded as pro- 
ductive sold at exhorbitant rates. Here, as elsewhere, it was thought that 
the producing sand was limited to the valley, and not until 1869 were the 
adjacent hills tested. By 1865 the first boom was over, and little work was 
being done. Mr. Minshall’s report of the field at that period is as follows: 
“The Bergen Company, having suspended drilling, was pumping its 
ten barrels per day from the two Newton wells. The oil was bringing a 
good price, selling in the summer of 1865 for $14 per barrel at the wells. 
The company finally decided to divide its Cow Run territory into two-acre 
lots and sub-let them at one-third royalty. The first lease was taken by 
Isaac Perkins in March, 1866; three lots of two acres each were let with the 
understanding that he was to drill to a depth of 600 feet unless a paying 
well should be sooner obtained. The first well was begun soon after the 
lease was taken, but was not completed until the following winter. The 
well head is forty-eight feet below the Pomeroy coal, and 666 feet above 
sea level. In the Cow Run field the shales of the Lower Barren Coal 
Measures gave the driller a great deal of trouble by caving in and filling 
up the drill hole. It was found necessary to case from one to three times 
with sheet iron casing to shut out these caves. The tools were lost several 
times in the Perkins well, but were fished out again, and in November, 
1866, the top of the Second Cow Run sand was struck at a depth of 595 
feet. When the bit had penetrated the sand about five feet the well began 
to flow. It was tubed with a two-inch pipe and a seed-bag, and turned 
into a 250 barrel tank, which it filled in two days. The well continued to 
flow 100 barrels per day for several months, and kept its owners busy 
building tanks to hold the product, the only means of transporting the 
