The fires, the failures, the floods, which during the past year have afflicted the oil regions, would have resulted in the entire ruin of any other section of the country possessing less recuperative powers than this. So long as our territory produces oil, so long will people flock hither, and those already here go on with their enterprises, though disasters of all kinds follow upon each other in rapid succession. The business men of oildom are not easily discouraged. They know that the production of petroleum is one of the greatest sources of wealth which the country at present possesses, and they feel assured too that there is yet in the bowels of the earth a vast and inexhaustible supply of the precious fluid. Then why get discouraged at accidents and disasters?

There is no section of the oil field that has not suffered most severely by fire, by water, and worse than all by the machinations of scheming villains, and yet no locality, unless it has proved utterly worthless as producing territory, has been abandoned. The reason of this is, men know that oil is still to be procured in abundance, and that it will bring money when obtained—wherewith losses the most heavy can be easily repaired.

Besides, even in those localities where derricks stand thickest, there are miles of undeveloped territory all around, which only require capital and energy to yield profusely. Especially is this true of Pithole, which is surrounded by undeveloped land, notwithstanding the immense number of wells which have been sunk in its immediate vicinity. Surely the recuperative powers of the oil region are great enough to stand almost any shock, financial or otherwise.