Oil Furor In Jackson County.

EARLES

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 9/4/2007 at 17:11:28

Jackson County History, 1942. Iowa Writer's Project, W.P.A.:
"There was an oil furor in Jackson County in 1906. Traces of oil were found on the Sam Earles farm, five and one-half miles northeast of Maquoketa. Expert oil men for the big companies arrived and presumably made an investigation for their principals, but their reports must have been discouraging, as nothing more was heard from them. They seem to have come and gone very quietly. A local concern, the Jackson County Oil & Gas Company, was formed. This was in April, 1907. Capital stock was $50,000.00, shares were sold at one dollar each, and 1,000 acres of land in the vicinity of the original find-if it was a legitimate find-were leased. In a short time the entire project was abandoned. Rumors drifted about the county that the spot where traces of oil had been found had been 'salted', as fake gold mines sometimes were in the West."