FINDING "ILE" IN SUMMERLAND

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 10325, 5 June 1895, Page 2

FINDING "ILE" IN SUMMERLAND

Almost everybody in the civilised world has heard of Summerland, the newUtopia that Spiritualists undertook to found in America some five or six years since, where they were to enjoy their ocoult belief in peace, undisturbed by the ridicule or unbelief of unsyrapathising scoptics. An account of the outcome of thn experiment has never been written ; of the disappointment and homesickness of the gentle strangers who went to this coast with happy expectations, only to fiud that tho town lots for which they had paid decent village prices resolved themsolves into the steep hillside of a barley field of doubtful value, which jilmoat anyone would count dear at a 100 dols an acre. Homes were built and tents were pitched on the steep slope, There was nothing else to do, tor moat of tho emigrants had vory nearly consumed their small competences in their investment and the cost of the trauscontinoutal journey. They tried to oonsolo themselves with the undoubted beauty of the location of the colony, lyiug midway between Monoecito and Carpentaria, • some eight miles from Santa Barbara, vested with an incomparable climate, and looking down upon the beautiful Pacific and the tranquil islands that bounded the horizon's edgo. Disgusted and discouraged, one or two of tho Suu-merland litigants moved away, and others were preparing to go, when a new and thrilling discovery was made that literally threw oil ou troubled waters and Lids fair to make tha little settlement one of the most thriving in the State. In the early days of tho colony the accidental discovery was made that the whole of tho village was underlaid with a stratum of natural gas, und die hopes excited by this knowledge as well as the immediate utilisation of the gas for purposo3 of fuel and lightiug, did much to assuage the first murmurings of the discontented and 'to fortify the settlers to patience. As time wont on and no flow was found of sufficient importance to justify the founding of manufactories or piping to surrounding towns, and the fact that little Summerland found her fuel underground became a matter of as little moment as the fact that Santa Barbara finds her fuel by denuding hor hills of their beauty. STRUCK OIL. Suddenly a report was circulated that beneath the black adobe soil that covers the most of Summerland oil had been found. A man named Smith Colo, digging for water, had struck a considerable How of oil, which, when accurately measured, proved to be about five barrels a day. Other Summerland people went to digging wells, hoping that they, too, would chance upon like happy discoveries, und a desultory experiment or bo was made by some for the purpose of speculation. But although a trace of oil was found here and there, no one else found the fluid in paying quantities, and the matter was allowed to drop almost out of sight-, as the discovery of natural gas had done. This indifference was not unnatural, in viow of the fact that in a canyon back of Carpentaria, some eight years ago, a flow of oil was struck in paying quantities, and a company was at once organised to develop the " oil field," into which several prominent Santa Barbara men put considerable capital, with tho result that after somo years of oxpensivo exploration anel experiment the company suspended operations after having expended a sum many times over tha profit derived from the original well, tho flow from which was soon exhausted. This canyon lies but three or four miles back of Summerland, and .it seemed extremely probable that the flow in Mr Cole's well was an accidental " strike " of the same character. Meanwhile H. L. Williams, one of Uie founders of the Summerland colony, had been silently considering tho situation and making observations of his own. All along the beach in the vicinity of Summerland films of oil are sscn on the obb tide, and in some spots the sand is cuiiously pulled up by a gas, which forces its way trom far underground, which will burn if a match is applied to it. Instead of sinking a shall upon the high bluff upon which the town stands, Mr Williairs decided to see what could bo found along the ocean beach, whore the indications were most favourable. Accordingly he sank fivo wells hlong tho sands, a little aboTe the reach of the tide. This work was pursued in tho most primitive way, without any boring machinery or any of the improved appliances generally used in sucli cases, shovels and spades being tho tools and the motivo power the sturdy musclos of tho Summerlandmen. At a depth of from GO to 70 foot ho found oil. In two of tho wells the flow was inconsiderablo. In two thu oil welled at a rate of about 25 barrels a day, according to his crude facilities for measurement. The fifth proved to be a fifty-barrel well, and quite recently oil was found in a sixth s haft, the flow in this cast swelling the totul to about 125 barrels a day. 'When the news of Mr first important discovery was noised about, the oil-boring fever began to fire tho veins of Summerland people, and even to agitate tho citizens of Sauta Barbara, who are gonerally understood to have reached a state of nirvana, whero nothing mundane can disturb their composure.

The committee of tho Poultry etc Society met on Tuesday night, when the special prizes were balloted for in connection with the forthcoming show. The total value of the special prize list in £99, which in proportion to population, ia tho best over issued in the colony. Included in the list arc two cups, three gold medals, three silvor medals, and cash prizes from £2 2s down-to ss. Such a prize list should olicit large entries. Somo controversy has arison in tho theatric.il world as to what ought to bo done with Mr Oacar Wilde's plays in oxisting circumstances. •' The Importance of Being Earnest," which was having a very successful run at tho St. James's, in spite of its trivial character, is still boil)!; pluyed, although the naiuo of the author lias l>cuu struck out of tho pl.ij bills. Some of tho critics consider that au uii-,iti-.fi:toi'y at.tGC of things, -jtid arc calling lor it's complcto withdrawal ; but tho aiiawer of the n.anagcr H lh.it suoli a courao would throw :t number of people out of work, and that .is the public continues to take an intoiijsl in the play itself of a purely normal kind- tiic uudiuu'cs Fk-imj^ much wlrit I hoy k-no been in the past— tliorc is no uuod i» consider the pcrs uiality ot the author. However, in t tie ca--o uf' one or two plajs •■)[ Wildi\ wliiih li;.'l Lecn boon ccnti.ictod ioi— ,tn>l otw ot v l:ir;li, 1 bvlievu, vas M-iittou— tho coiur.wts lmvo been Repudiated oft kind, and it is pretty certain that no court of law would ever make them good.