Category: History || By M.F. Bowers

Excerpted from "Memoirs of McKeesport," edited by Bruce A. Yount and published in 1960 as part of the city's Old Home Week celebration.

In the summer of 1919, McKeesport experienced its most exciting promotion period when David A. Foster and Samuel Brendel struck a natural gas gusher in Snake Hollow. It was dramatic, glamorous, streaked with happiness on part of a few who cashed in big, sorrow for thousands whose wells came in dry, lawlessness and accidents.

At first wells were drilled for $3,500. In a short time the price shot to $8,000, and on to $25,000. State officials estimated that losses in the pool reached $10.000,000. Others declared the losses went to 26 million dollars, for about one million dollars worth of gas.

Shortly after the big gusher was struck Mr. Foster rushed into The Daily News office with the information, but he did not give all the detail. I got that a goodly number of years later from the driller, John Wally. The gusher paid off handsomely. Stockholders whose shares cost $200 received $3,500 a share for the first month's production.

Gusher noise kept people of the district awake several days and nights. When the well came in the derrick was turned into splinters and a hole big enough to bury several autos was created in the hillside.

. . .

Talk about excitement! Most everybody bought shares, hundreds held leases and more than 1200 wells were drilled. Gas worth thousands of dollars went to waste before the big well could be capped and turned into lines.

Men, women and children waded through mud to tour Snake Hollow and see wells being drilled.

The day the gusher was due in, Foster, Brendel and others gathered nearby. The well had all the earmarks of a "dud" and, finally Foster and his friends left. The gloom could be cut with a knife. Another failure!

Foster and his mates were broke and Wally knew it. An hour or so later Wally and his assistant decided to "give her another jab or two, just for luck." They started up the machinery and a few minutes later gas roared out of the hole to send the derrick skyward and awaken people for a mile around.

Wally rushed to a telephone to call Foster who, at first, thought somebody was playing a cruel joke. But it was true and Foster, Brendel and a few others were rich instead of poor and fifty stock holders were in for about $12,000 per share, which the gusher paid before it went dry.

. . .

It was then that promotions began in a hurry and continued for more than a year. Churches leased land for wells. School boards in townships did likewise. Fabulous sums were offered for leases, even for some a mile or so from the gusher.

I recall that the Fisher well interests refused $50,000 for a Ninth Ward lease on which a well came in a "dud" or "duster." The period was easily the wildest and most exciting in all McKeesport history.

Demand for drilling equipment got beyond supply. High-jacking of heavy timbers and other equipment became common. Big prices were offered to go begging, so some of the more daring waited along a highway for a truck hauling supplies they needed and held up the driver to take his load to their drilling locations. A pretty rough crowd of men came from many parts of the U.S.

Fighting was common and one murder was recorded.

. . .

The sale of stock for several months was the easiest part of a promotion, despite the fact that "times" were not so good. Numerous promotions started at 10 a.m., and closed out before 3 p.m. with from $50,000 up subscribed and paid for.

Many times speculators would crowd an office where stock was to be sold. Those in the rear of the crowd often folded $100 and $50-dollar bills and tossed them over beads of others to their friend back of the counter, saying they would come back for the stock certificates.

A picture in The Daily News of the gusher dividend checks for $3,500 a share had much to do with setting off the excitement. Many forgot about a better bet of selling leases and bought stock in numerous wells, hoping to hit into another gusher.

Brendel's connection with the gusher was a rags to riches story. Shortly before he became connected with Foster, Brendel was fighting to retain a political job --- a small one paying $80 a month. He carried wooden stakes for the city engineer.

Brendel managed to hold his job, and quit the local gas pool a rich man, but be went close to poverty through speculations in other fields in Kansas, and Ohio. It was in the latter state that he picked up some valuable leases and was reported to have sold them to a big oil company for three million dollars. From that point Brendel went places, and at his death some years ago was reputed to be worth more than five million dollars. He was said to have left no will.

. . .

What really broke down the gas excitement was a carefully-guarded story written the night before it was printed.

It developed when one of the Pitts wells was visited. The driller, one of experience in other fields, even in India, was talking to the late J. A. Fulton. He went on to say that the pool was "shot," full of water and was "a dead dog."

Fulton introduced me to the driller and he continued his analysis of the situation and told me to print it all because it was the truth.

The story, locked up over night and "cut to pieces" by a composing room man the next day, created a sensation. It was denied right and left by promoters. G. A. Ashley, state geologist, who came here to agree with the Pitts driller, was severely criticized, but he stood his ground. Angry promoters threatened to run him out of town. After almost two years, the Snake Hollow gas excitement died a natural death.

Mayor George H. Lysle overlooked no bets during the excitement. He collected $25,000 for drilling and sales permits.

Decades later, in 1951, arrival of a portable derrick in the Snake Hollow district caused great excitement. Rumor flew over the city that a gusher like the one in 1919 was expected, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Somebody was drilling a water well.

You are previewing your comment. Be sure to click on 'Post Comment' to store it.