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News of Beaumont(Galveston Daily News, January 29, 1901) Beaumont, Tex., Jan. 28--Visitors From Outside Fields Continue to Arrive and Scatter Out Prospecting--Several New Leases--Terms Are Based on The Number of Barrels Produced, Owner Secure by Forfeit--California Oil Men Experienced in The Fuel Product Have Confidence in The Field. This week has begun in a most auspicious manner so far as the oil question is concerned. Yesterday was the first Sabbath which has been observed really as a day of rest and religious worship since the discovery of the big field, and everyone seens to be better for it today. Gradually the other interests in life begin to take hold of the people's attention, and they are getting more and more down to the ordinary cares of living. The theaters interest them, the progress of the city, and an interest in the development of other than the oil business is steadily working its way into the lives of men. The day dawned beautifully this morning, and the numbers of citizens from the colder climates are charmed with the balmy and pleasant climate. There are several arrivals this morning from the North, and some from the oil fields of California; and early this morning they got out and scattered throught the country looking for lands. Several leases on small tracts of land were filed for record today, and an option to purchase a considerable tract near the big well was placed on record, the purchaser agreeing to pay with 30 days or forfeit $500. One lease filed today stipulates that the owner of the land shall have as royalty one-eighth of the oil from all wells which produce less than 100 barrels a day, but that if the well shall produce more than 100 barrels, the land owner shall have a royalty of one-fourth of all the oil over 100 barrels. The lease provides that one well shall be completed by May 1, but in the event that work is not under way at that time, the lessee shall pay the land owner $100 per month until the well is begun. This lease is a little out of the ordinary. Most of the leases already made pay on the average of one-eighth royalty with varying bonus. One lease which is understood to be closed, but not recorded, provides that the land owner shall receive a monthly rental of $100 per month until the first well is begun. Several real estate transactions were filed for record today, but none of very great importance. A deal is on, however, but not made public, which will amount to about $70,000. The land is located near the Lucas well, and is considered valuable oil lands. California men who come from the (oil) fields there where only fuel oil is found, and where it is successfully marketed, seem more confident of this field than are other oil men. They are perhaps more experienced with this kind of proposition, and having made such a success of it in their country, they are ready and capable of appreciating the find. It is not improbable that more business will be transacted this week than during any equal period of time since the Lucas well was struck. Values are repidly adjusting themselves and actual development has begun. There are several drills (oil rigs) at work already in the southern part of the county (Taylor's Bayou), and if oil is found there as it has been here, men realize that it may then be too late to carry out successfully their plans. Beaumont will reap a rich reward from the advertisement received from this find, and should the oil disappear for all time from this instant forward, the town will have received such an impetus from the atltention drawn here that its progress will have been secured. Visitors soon realize that the town offers splendid investment without the oil, and all kinds of investors are seeking a place to get in. Secretary Shepherd of the Chamber of Commerce is receiving all kinds of offers for manufacturing enterprises. Rice mills are now seeking location here, and business of all sorts is on the boom. A most noteworthy incident with the people here is that they seem to be utterly oblivious, or unenviou rather, of the fact that every other place in Texas has discovered oil fields. This feeling is probably born of the fact that the Lucas well is the greatest in the world, and no one has any fears that that incident will be outdone anywhere. (compiled by W.T.Block)
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