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THROUGH THE AIR.

skimmed the ground by a few feet and sailed up again and away over the city.

In a few minutes he come droning back and the crowd yelled itself hoarse as he sailed lazily over the grandstand. At the end of the Plaza he wheeled and, putting on full speed, shot upward an hundred feet and then plunged at the baseball bleachers. Straight down he swooped until the women and children almost screamed, then up and away. He rocked up and down the Plaza like a bucking bronco. He went round and round in a circle until they grew dizzy watching him. He plunged and dived and climbed and zigzagged till the crowd went wild. And finally, after an absence of half an hour, he returned from the government experiment station with an armful of gorgeous poppies which he tossed among the occupants of the grandstand. Cheer after cheer greeted his landing. Monsieur Escaige wanted to adopt him. He was the hero of the aviation meet.

But Seth had an idea. He had not forgotten what he came for. That afternoon he held an important consultation with the Junta. He came from the conference with set chin and a hard look in his eyes. But shortly he was again at the Plaza conversing with the various airmen. He turned suddenly to Jack Frederick and said: "Jack, I'll go you for the altitude record tomorrow if the weather is good."

"I'm willing if the Old Man will allow it. Let's go and see him."

The Old Man readily gave his consent. Seth easily obtained the use of one of the bigger machines and the next morning, with tanks full, the two daring young men soared skyward. It was hazy and they were soon lost to sight. Immediately Seth assumed a sudden change of manner. His teeth set hard. His mouth closed to a thin, straight line. His eyes were alight with fire and daring. Slowly, with little pricks of conscience, he drew his big Colt's revolver and examined it. He raised it toward Jack and immedi

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ately lowered it again. He wavered. But a vision of those ragged patriots waiting for guns rose before him and he sternly rebuked himself. This time the big Colt's sent its leaden messenger close to Jack's machine. They were so close together that Seth could see the amazement on Jack's face. He pointed south and waved Jack in that direction. Jack shook his head, pointing upward. Instantly Seth fired again, this time chipping one of the struts near Jack's head. The big Farnam wheeled and started south. Seth followed it for twenty miles. Then he signalled Jack to descend. They came down close to the cabin of an old sheep ranch and Jack leaped out with his fighting blood up.

"What in Sam Hill do you mean, anyway?" he demanded.

"Jack, give me time for a dozen words and then you can thrash me, if you want to."

"Well, go ahead! But you want to be darned quick about it!"

"Jack, I've just got to get guns and cartridges down to those poor fellows who are depending on me. Can't you see, old man, that the only way I could help them was to steal you and your old flying machine ?" Jack

looked at him incredulously, then amazedly, and finally in sheer admiration. Seth continued, "It will take us only two days to make the trip and then you can come back with a big story about being kidnapped via aeroplane. I'll come in about ten miles from town, leave this machine and skip in my little old Kite."

"Well, well, well, well! This certainly beats all the yarns I ever heard or read of. Seth, you take the cake. Shake!"

Entering the old cabin they found the guns and ammunition that had left Tucson late the afternoon before, ostensibly as supplies for the Total Wreck Mine. Every pound of surplus weight was dispensed with. All packing was discarded. Not one needless ounce did they carry. In an hour they had loaded the machines and were ready for the flight.

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S

UCCESS in oil frequently means failure. This paradox applies better to the oil industry than to

any other in the world. Economists are beginning to tell us that the gigantic output of gold from Africa is depreciating the purchasing power of that metal, but there is no roundabout figuring necessary to show that overproduction in petroleum means cheap oil and consequently hard times for the producers. And this cheap oil, resulting from over-production, is the fault, if such it may be called, only in an indirect way of the oil operators. Nature frequently refuses to allow man to say how much oil shall be produced.

One incident, the striking of the Lakeview gusher near Maricopa in Kern County, on the morning of March. 15, 1910, was the direct cause of a

wholesale cut in prices because of the millions upon millions of barrels of oil which this well placed on the market. It was not until the spring of 1912 that the Lakeview passed into history, and there is probably no single event in the annals of oil that caused producers generally more relief than the death of the Lakeview.

But while the Lakeview was the largest of the gushers which California has seen, the well is only one of several score which have been discovered in the State, and which by their prodigious output have at times driven many apparently prosperous producers out of business because of the low prices that resulted. Thus over-abundant production means failure to the industry.

The Lakeview was one of the great

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est wonders ever known in oilfields anywhere. Its output has never been surpassed by a well in the United the United States for a two year period, and its daily flow has been outdone only by a very few giants in Mexico and Russia. The well stands head and shoulders above all others in the United States.

The prolonged work on the Lakeview finally broke the men who formed the original company. The drill had passed through sands which gave evidence of oil, but in the hope of striking a big well, the management continued to go deeper and deeper. At last lack of funds obliged them to quit, and they leased it to the Union Oil Company.

The Union Oil Company itself was ready to give up the job when the strike was made. Twelve hours before, the board of directors had sent out orders that work on the Lakeview was to stop. They had decided to go back to shallower depths, where the drill had passed through oil sands, and

seek better paying production there.

Disobeying orders was responsible for the Lakeview's existence. The superintendent and the other men working about the well had supreme faith in the eventual result of the drilling. When the order to stop work came, they had but one joint of casing left, and they finally decided to go ahead and put that down.

The night gang went to work on the well. About midnight they struck a gas pocket. The torches which were being used were hastily put ont. The gas pressure was strong, and there came a rumbling that lasted fully five minutes. Although only a pocket had been tapped, no more work was done that night for fear of fire. It remained for the day crew to bring in the Lakeview.

An hour after the morning shift went on, there came a low rumble which shook the ground for half a mile around like a quake, and a bailer weighing more than half a ton was shot up from the well and into the crown block, a heavy timber at the top of the derrick. The pressure was SO strong that the great missile was embedded in the crown block and re-. mained there until the derrick began to fall away.

Then, with a deafening roar the gusher spouted oil, rocks and tools high in the air. All hands were put to work, caring for the streams of oil which were flowing in every direction. News of the strike was sent to the headquarters of the Union Oil Company at Los Angeles, and the directors, so far as known, did not reprimand the superintendent for disobeying orders. Rocks carried from the bowels of the earth were hurled as from a catapult, endangering the lives of workmen. Bones of prehistoric monsters, sharks' teeth and other evidences of a by-gone age came up with the oil and gas. The roaring could be plainly heard at the town of Maricopa a mile and a half away.

All the empty reservoirs about the Lakeview were leased by the Union, and nineteen others were hastily con

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The famous Lakeview gusher, the second largest gusher ever tapped in the world, three days after the strike was made. rounding the derrick, which is still standing.

and shooting oil and sand completely

structed. Meanwhile the flow of the giant increased rapidly, and at one time went over 60,000 barrels a day.

On the sixth day an effort was made to put the monster under control. Sheets of boiler iron were fastened together and pulled by an engine over the gusher, which was leaping 300 feet in the air. The instant the great mass of iron was placed over the gusher, flames of fire shot in

Notice the lake of oil surLater the terrific gas pressure tore away this derrick.

every direction caused by the friction of the rocks and sand upon the iron, and the tremendous weight was torn away in a minute's time.

A cover was next made of sixteen by sixteen inch planks, and this was then pulled across the spouter. The streams of oil tore through that covering as though it had been paper. A small lake of oil had already formed about the gusher. The

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