236 ANNUAL REPORT 
Was not uncommon to have horses mire in the deeper places, and have to 
be pulled out by another team. 
The demand for men and teams was of course very heavy, and ex- 
orbitant rates were charged. Forty dollars a day were frequently paid, 
and one operator reported having given twenty dollars to have an ordinary 
boiler dragged 60 feet. The two railroads greatly increased their siding 
to accommodate the cars loaded with boilers, rig timbers, engines, ma- 
chinery, etc. It was not uncommon to have supplies remain on the cars 
10 days before they could be unloaded, so great was the rush. 
As the number of wells increased the danger of fires became so great 
that nearly every policy in town was revoked, but later several companies 
took risks on what were regarded choice locations, charging as high as 
$100 per month, where from $5 to $6 per year had been charged before. 
Several large fires occurred and when the danger was at its height, a num- 
ber of public-spirited citizens began the construction of a system of water 
works, which however, was not completed until the greatest danger was 
past. The cost of the plant was about $30,000. 
It is hardly necessary to state that the general conditions then exist- 
ing were very disastrous to the college. In 8 weeks time the attendance 
dropped from 300 to about 25, and all departments of the school except 
two were moved to New Philadelphia, 24 miles distant. After about 4 
months, however, these were taken back to Scio. 
The time of greatest excitement was during the first 3 or 4 months 
of 1899, when there were 75 strings of tools at work. After that a de- 
cline set in, and this was almost as rapid as the growth of the boom. 
The village, however, did not drop back to quite its former condition, 
the population in r901 being between 1,200 and 1,300. An immense 
amount of money was left in the community, and the wells will be an im- 
portant source of revenue for a number of years. 
Of the early companies in the field, one of the most active was the 
Allegheny. After having drilled 26 wells in and around Scio, the com- 
pany sold a part of its property to the United States Oil Company for 
$455,000, an exorbitant price, and later sold the remainder to the Con- 
solidated Oil Company for an unknown sum. The most extensive oper- 
ators in the field were the E. H. Jennings Brothers and Company, of Pitts- 
burgh, who have had about 140 wells, nearly all of which are still pro- 
ducing (1901). While nearly all the land holders leased their property 
for a royalty of one-eighth the oil, occasionally a farmer operated his 
territory himself. This was true of the Hogue Brothers who drilled 47 
wells on 160 acres, and all are still producing. The Pennsylvania and 
Wheeling and Lake Erie tracks run side by side through the south side of 
the field, and in the height of the excitement the right of way of these 
companies was leased and wells drilled on it about every 400 feet. The 
principal operators in the pool have been the following: 
