All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

The Age of Oil 287 had staked off claims not to work themselves, but to sell out at a profit to others who, arriving late, were yet eager to try their luck. Prices rose rapidly, and a few square feet of land changed hands time after time, always for a higher figure, until tremendous prices were asked and received. But it was not long before the fever-ridden fortune seekers discovered that Nature distributes her oil in as eccentric a manner as she plants her gold. A well sunk at one place, for instance, was brought into pro- ductivity and gave a high yield, to the intense satis- faction of its owner. But a well sunk a few feet to one side steadfastly refused to show anything else but water. The feverishly toiling owner, having sunk the whole of his worldly wealth in buying a claim at a ridiculous figure and installing his plant, became gaunt, haggard, and worried as he saw that fortune resolutely declined to reward his speculation and effort. At last, intensely disgusted with his lot, and bitten hard by grim experience, he abandoned his quest, sold his tools for what they would fetch, and shook the dust of the oil-bearing country from his feet for ever—broken in health, mind, and pocket. Dame Fortune plays many strange tricks, but prob- ably none is so extraordinary as that associated with what might be termed the coming of the age of oil. In view of the success which he had achieved, and the stupendous revolution which petroleum has wrought upon our complex social and industrial life, one would imagine that Colonel Drake must have amassed a tremendous fortune and have become a millionaire among millionaires. But he did not. As a matter of fact, the evening of his days was harassed by ill-