John Diver's Oil Wells

A few weeks ago a reader rquested an article that had appeared on the old blog ( before Google deided that blog was spam and deleted it from the web, and yes we are still mad about that but moving on.....) Anway here is the post again.

 July 23, 1909 The Oil City Derrick (Oil City, Pennsylvania)

The record of the Diver farm is wonderful and has never been equaled in production nor in longevity of the wells. The John Diver farm of 35 acres located a mile south of Bridgeport, operated by the Jennings Producing Company, has produced in the past three years 1,409,009 barrels of oil. There are 15 producing wells on the property, which have a daily output of about 1,000 barrels each, every 24 hours. At one period this small farm had a daily production of 5,000 barrels which was maintained for some time. Approximately this property has made its owners $960,000 and at the present time is making $526 a day and since the farm began producing, each acre has produced $27,600 worth of oil, with the average price of oil during the three years at 09 cents per barrel. Where can another 35 acres be found that has made their $27,600 per acre? In connection with this little farm there is a secret told which is both interesting and ludicrous.

 Mr. Diver bought this farm some eight or ten years ago when oil was never dreamed of and greatly in opposition to Mrs. Diver’s wishes. The Divers had previously bought a home and after years of struggling managed to pay for it. Mr. Diver had his eye upon this 35- acres and as he could purchase it for $800 and get time to pay for it, he thought it a good bargain and resolved to buy it. He told Mrs. Diver of his intentions, to which she demurred and did everything in her power to dissuade him from carrying out his resolution. For a time, Mr. Diver let the matter rest, thinking he would win his better half over to his way of thinking, but upon this point he reckoned wrong, as Mrs. Diver was resolute and would not give her consent.

The more Mr. Diver thought about the deal, the more he was convinced it was a good bargain, and one day, quietly and without Mrs. Diver’s knowledge, he closed the deal. When he told his wife what he had done, a rumpus ensued and for a time domestic infelicity reigned supreme in the Diver household. Time healed up the breach and only a few years elapsed when the oil excitement broke out and Mr. Diver leased his land to the Jennings Producing Company, receiving $200 per acre bonus and a rental of 50 cents per acre until the first well was drilled. Then the rental would cease, as would also Mr. Diver’s income if no oil was found. It is said that when the Jennings Company decided to drill the first well Diver felt very bad and discouraged and didn’t want the well drilled as its completion would end his general income and he would have been better satisfied to receive the small rental money than have his farm tested. Could he have had his parsimonious way about the matter, he never would have received the large fortune he now has.

( There's a lesson here women, but I'm not going to go into it....)