HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER

The Great Oil Strike

The Wicomico Oil and Gas Company was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1913 and issued $300,000 in preferred and common stock. They had plans to sink 10 wells on a leased acre of land between Pittsville and Parsonsburg, Md.

     

The first well was to be driven on the land of George Meade Maddox. The next one was to be built one quarter of a mile from Parsonsburg on the land of S. P. Parsons.

     

Drilling was in the hands of  Flint and Strother of Clarksburg, West Virginia.  The oil proved to be elusive but natural gas was found and piped into houses at Parsonsburg. The story is that one Sunday the people returned from church to find their kitchens flooded. Water was coming through the gas pipes.

     

Thus ended the venture of several local investors whose dreams of becoming “oil barons” are only now remembered by a couple of worthless stock certificates and two photographs turned into post cards. The photographs were taken by W.T. Watson, 125 Main St., Salisbury, MD. The stock certificates were a grim reminder to my grandfather, Albert L. Disharoon, that what seemed to be too good to be true, probably was. He swore off stocks for the rest of his life. 

      

You can also note from one of the postcards that a piece of machinery was from F. A. Grier & Sons, a well known Salisbury firm.

          

These are examples showing two very different hobbies. I have collected Salisbury memorabilia for a long time and can find things from Salisbury that help me lift the history of Salisbury to another level. I have many other post cards and these are collectible because they picture scenes around Salisburythat are available nowhere else. Stock certificates are collectible to me if they are from a Salisburycompany or are signed by or are made out to someone from Salisbury. Sometimes these are the only record of the company’s existence.