And all this during the year of our Lord, 1900, when the people of the United States were supposed to be independent, and it was not thought that shackles of any kind manacled the liberties of the press!
Well, it may be said to Merrill's credit that he did the best he could under the circumstances, and in a roundabout way made it appear that the Commissioners had not found petroleum oil of any consequence in the test well.
It came, therefore, as a great surprise to those directly affected, when Commissioners Rowland and Graves reported to Judge Ross that they had found unmistakable evidence of the existence of petroleum oil in the hole, thus sustaining the contentions of the oil men that a "discovery" had been made at a depth of 118 feet. Half a thousand wells have been drilled in that vicinity since and not one has found oil under 300 feet, and if the Commissioners would go back to Kern county today and announce that oil could be reached at the depth of 118 feet on any portion of Section 4, Township 29 South, Range 28 East, M. D. M., kind hands would lead them gently away, and with tender emotions safely consign them to some friendly lunatic asylum.
The records of Kern county show that immediately after the report of Commissioners Rowland and Graves had been made to Judge Ross, a deed was placed on file from C. A. Canfield, conveying to the two Commissioners the south half of the northwest quarter of Section 29, Township 28 South. Range 28 East, M. D. M., and containing 80 acres in the proven territory, which, with its improvements, was sold by them in less than eighteen months for an amount aggregating considerably more than $100,000. The consideration named in the original transfer from Canfield to Rowland and Graves was about $20,000.
William H. Crocker and those interested with him in the scripper land became disgusted with the findings of the Commissioners, and disposed of their holdings in the Kern River field to a syndicate composed of Riverside and Los Angeles capitalists, of which Shirley C. Ward, a leading attorney of the latter place, and J. R. Johnston and H. T. Hays, both of Riverside, were the controlling spirits. They continued my employment as general superintendent of their affairs in that district, and prepared for an aggressive legal campaign against the mineral locators.
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