(all rights to this material retained by author)
A Review of the Historic Oil Wells
of the Little Spokane River Valley
&
Regions Around
(part 7)
by
Wally Lee Parker
… a laborious process of reasoning …
… a laborious process of reasoning …
Within
area newspapers and advertisements, Professor Samuel Aughey was the most
referenced expert of the 1901 oil boom.
His influence on regional oil exploration and mining continued to
resonate for years after that first boom had faded away. The eventual outcome of the majority of his
scientific assessments seems to imply that he favored interpreting his findings
in accordance with the wishes of his clients — be they land speculators or
stock promoters. As to whether we should
consider his frequently wrong conclusions as dithering mistakes or as
profitable fraud, that’s not as clear a matter as one might suppose.
The
first question that needs to be asked is whether Professor Aughey was actually
a scientist? Had he been trained in the
scientific method? And did he use the
scientific method to reach his conclusions?
Those are issues that require some sifting.
 |
| Professor Samuel Aughey |
Samuel
Aughey was born in a rural area of Juniata County, Pennsylvania, on February 8th,
1831. Accounts of his youth from several
sources seem to differ only in minor detail.
A. C. Edmunds’ 1871 tome “Pen
Sketches of Nebraskans” stated, “Samuel
Aughey (senior) … was a farmer by
occupation, having been a tiller of the soil from early life to the present
time. Young Samuel (Samuel Aughey
junior) was engaged on his father’s farm
until his majority … His eighteenth and nineteenth winters were devoted to
teaching … in the same old log
schoolhouse in which he had received his rudimentary knowledge of Smith’s Grammar
and Arithmetic, and Olney’s Geography.” While
an article found in Alfred T. Andreas’ “History of the State of Nebraska,”
published in 1882, elaborated that, “Previous
to … (college) … he … attended
Tuscarora Academy six months and also taught school in his native district.”
Tuscarora
Academy — opened in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, in 1839 — was a Presbyterian
Church sponsored secondary school roughly equivalent to today’s high schools —
high schools being a rarity in that era.
Though the institution’s original intent was to prepare young men for
teaching or the ministry, the Academy’s 1854 catalog states that, “Students who design entering college will be
prepared for any state of advancement desired.”
Tuition
for Aughey’s six months at the Academy would have likely run close to $50.00 —
plus various extras such as books, paper, and the cost of illuminating his
private study area.
As
for Aughey’s education before the academy, Andrea’s “History” relates, “During his
youth he was known as a constant reader of all books which he could
borrow, Before he was aware of the
existence of the science of geology he made large collections of fossils and Indian
antiquities from his native valley.
Every hour of release which he could obtain from the labors of the farm
he devoted to reading and laborious study.”
Edmund’s “Pen Sketches of Nebraskans” noted, “At the age of twenty he entered the freshman class in the Pennsylvania
College, at Gettysburg, where he continued until 1856 …” Though the phrase
“he continued until 1856” is not
definitive of graduation in itself, pre-Civil War issues of the “Catalogue of the Officers, Alumni, and
Students of Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa,” do list “Reverend Samuel Aughey Jr.” as a member
of the graduating class of 1856. What “he continued until” may be pointing out
is an extra year beyond the normal 4 year curriculum.
Pennsylvania
College should not be confused with the University of Pennsylvania — which is
not to say less of the small college.
Pennsylvania College was founded by outspoken abolitionist theologian
Samuel S. Schmucker in 1832 as an associate institution to the Lutheran
Theological Seminary established at Gettysburg in 1826. In 1921, some 89 years after its founding,
the school’s name was changed to Gettysburg College, and continues as such
today.
According
to the school’s 1859 catalog, admission into the freshman class required “an examination on Cesar, Virgil, the Greek
Reader, parts I and II, Adams’ Latin Grammar, Sophocles’ Greek Grammar, English
Grammar, Ancient and Modern Geography, Arithmetic and algebra, as far as
through simple equations” — these requirements likely having been the same
when Aughey entered the institution at the beginning of that decade. Meaning this list of requirements is indicative of the depth of Aughey's
education prior to his admission.
Classes
offered during the normal four years of study included Latin and Greek grammar
and literature, higher mathematics, surveying, optics, meteorology, botany,
astronomy, geology, anatomy and physiology, and zoology — along with a
continuing curriculum of religious, philosophical, and political studies.
Of
the student organizations active at the college, the one most likely to have
interested Samuel Aughey was the “Linnaean
Society.” This group was named after
Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, who had developed the still used system of
classifying life forms by attaching Latin based names of at least two parts —
one part indicating the specimen’s genius and one indicating its species. Regarding the club, the school’s catalog
related that “The object of this
association is to promote among its members a love of nature, and an admiration
of the works of God by cultivating the study of the various branches of Natural
Science, and an acquaintance with animated nature by making collections of
specimens in these departments, and also in that of Antiquities, natural and
artificial curiosities, and the like.”
The
school’s catalog went on to list costs.
Annual tuition would run $140.00, which included board, room rent, and
sundries such as heating and classroom lighting. Students were required to provide for
themselves when it came to the furnishing and lighting their private rooms,
washing (clothes?), books, and stationary.
None
of the literature so far discovered suggests how Samuel Aughey paid for his
time at either the Tuscarora Academy or Pennsylvania College.
Documents
indicate that two years after graduation — on the 14th of October,
1858 — Samuel Aughey married Elizabeth Welty, daughter of Daniel and Barbara
Welty. Barbara’s father was a merchant,
and one of the organizers of the English Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania.
As
for immediately after graduation, A. C. Edmunds’ “Pen Sketches” states, “… he
devoted about two months to civil engineering and surveying, and in December,
1856, he took charge of the Greensburg Academy in which he continued for one
year. He then entered the Theological
Seminary at Gettysburg, where he
pursued his theological studies for one year, when he was licensed as a
preacher in the Lutheran Church and received a call to a charge near
Philadelphia.”
Alfred Andreas detailed, “He was elected pastor of the Lutheran church
at Lionville, Chester County, Pennsylvanian, where he remained four years. During this time he continued his scientific
studies and also lectured on geology and related sciences. He at this time became somewhat prominent in
the abolition movement, and publicly and privately denounced humans slavery and
wrote and lectured against the pro-slavery sentient of the times. His pamphlet on “The Renovation of Politics”
produced a division in his church, which finally led to his resignation.”
Regarding
the above noted division within the Lionville church — the actual point of
contention, though not specifically clarified, appears to have been a comment
or comments first made from the pulpit on the 4th of January,
1861. By request, the sermon was
published in booklet format several weeks after first given.
To
place Aughey’s offending words within historical context, the sermon occurred
barely two weeks after South Carolina had succeeded from the Union — when the
likelihood of war was very much on everyone’s mind. Before the end of that January the states of
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana had also voted to leave
the Union. Opinions and emotions were
boiling on both sides of the secessionist and slavery issues.
A
few extractions from Aughey’s sermon may suggest the reason an apparently
influential percentage of his parishioners, as well as others within the larger
community, demanded his resignation.
“Many things, doubtless, have combined to
produce the corruption, and the disunion movements in the Republic, but what is
the foundation of it all is human slavery. … Even in
1774, the first colonial congress condemned slavery, and the slave trade, which
action was confirmed by the southern colonies.
And every southern statesman of the time condemned this dark
institution. But alas, what a change has
come over the times. … Let a man do it
now; in the south he will be tarred and feathered or hung, and in the north he
will be called an amalgamationist (advocating the blending of the races;
especially black and white), an
abolitionist, or whatever term is regarded most hateful and opprobrious (disgraceful/shameful). In
our early history slavery was barely endured — now it is embraced in the south as one of the most prized gifts of
God, and defended by many in the north … You and I are today bound by a congressional enactment to do all in our
power to recapture a man running to gain his freedom. We may refuse, but if so we subject ourselves
to confiscation of our property and imprisonment. … Only
one nation on earth contains professed teachers of religion who pretend to find
divine authority in the Bible for African slavery. That nation is our own. Some men in the north, be beclouded moral
senses, or in the interest of party and prejudice, and vast numbers in the
south, directly under the lash of slavery, teach that the scriptures justify
human bondage. But the language, the
precepts, and the principles of the Bible are against them, together with the
convictions and the faith of the civilized and Christian world. … And yet some
men, calling themselves Christians, raise their hands to heaven in holy horror
at the very idea of preaching against and denouncing the Hell ordained
institution. … Vessels bearing the
American flag yearly carry thousands of human beings, torn from their
relatives, home, and country into southern ports and sell the in irremediable
slavery. And yet these would-be pious
souls doubt whether it is wise and patriotic, and safe ministerial and
evangelical, to speak against slavery as a system of iniquity.”
When
assenting to the request to expand the reach of his words through print, Samuel
Aughey wrote, “I am convinced of the
truth and justice of the doctrines maintained in this discourse and believe
that they will coincide with the verdict of posterity.”
Edmunds’
“Pen Sketches” relate that after
Aughey’s resignation he “removed first to
Blairsville, and then to Duncannon, with intervening periods spent in the army
in the service of the Christian Commission.”
In
November, 1861, an organization called the Christian Commission was formed by
the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) as a spiritual and medical support
organization for Union troops in the field.
Since a large number of the alumni of Pennsylvania College and the
Lutheran Theological Seminary returned to Gettysburg during the early summer of
1863 in anticipation of an incursion into Pennsylvania by Lee’s Virginia army,
it’s possible that Samuel Aughey was among the estimated 200 members of the
Christian Commission on hand for the battle of Gettysburg, where they
reportedly took to the field rendering comfort and medical aid to the wounded
even during the thick of the fighting.
As
reported in the August 20, 1864 issue of Harper’s
Weekly, “There is no feature
connected with the war which so well illustrates the peculiarity of Republican
institutions as the work performed by the Christian and Sanitary
Commissions. These are supported not by
the government, but by the people. As
our government is of the people so is this war the people’s war. And the people have taken it upon themselves
to take care of the soldiers. This is a
peculiarity which distinguishes the North from the South in the conduct of the
war. It is on this account that the
losses from sickness, and especially from wounds, have been so few in our army
as compared with that of the rebels ...
This service likewise has its
sacrifices and its martyrs. Thousands of
Christian men and women are giving up the pleasures of home, and it often
happens that they give their lives also.”
After
the war the Christian Commission was disbanded.
The
Reverend W. H. Bruce Carney’s 1918 book,
History of the Alleghany
Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Pennsylvania, Volume I, in a biographical
sketch accredited to Elizabeth and Helen Aughey, Professor Aughey’s wife and
daughter, stated, “In the winter of 1864 (Samuel
Aughey) removed to Dakota City, Nebraska,
as pastor of the Lutheran Church. While
here he also organized a congregation and built the church at Ponca, twenty
miles distance. A serious failure in
health necessitated cessation of pulpit work.”
Though
no details of the nature of the above mentioned “serious failure in health” are evident, the account for the period
after as recorded in Alfred Andreas’ “History
of the State of Nebraska” suggests that Aughey’s health was not as
diminished as the above account implies — since the “History” also noted that “for
the first three years (of his stay in Nebraska) he was … also engaged in scientific work. Since 1867 he has been engaged exclusively in
scientific work, was also engaged in making geological, mineralogical botanical
and conchological collections in Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska, for scientific
institutions, principally for Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian institute. (He)
was also engaged in making geological surveys in Nebraska and Dakota
Territory. … He became connected with (Nebraska) State University in September, 1871, having
been appointed in June of that year …”
The
biography published in A. C. Edmunds’ “Pen
Sketches of Nebraskans,” recorded, “It
is a pleasure to announce the unanimous election of Samuel Aughey to the
Professorship of Natural Science in the University of Nebraska. Mr. Aughey is a dear friend. We are glad to see his talent
appreciated. Nature is all poetry to
him. He studies her with enthusiasm and
has the faulty to take in her great and holy meaning by a sort of
intuition. We have rarely ever met a
young or even an old man who has such a love for the Natural Sciences, or such
intimate and rational acquaintance with them.
And such are the men to teach.”
Aughey’s
June, 1871, appointment made him one of a faculty of five lecturing to the
seventy students attending that first year.
A
speech Professor Aughey gave for the University’s February 15th,
1881, “Charter Day” celebration was
later published under the title “The
Ideas and the Men That Created the University of Nebraska.” In outlining the school’s founding, the
professor said, “The (Nebraska) legislature that met in January, 1869,
passed an act on the 15th of February … to establish a State
University.” He went on to say that
the school’s construction was to be financed through the sale of land grants
provided by the federal government specifically for the purpose of building an
“Agricultural College and University”
within the state.
As
Aughey explained, “When the bill
establishing a University became law … the population was barely 100,000. Even the few high schools that existed could
barely prepare students for the freshman class, and very few students anywhere
were in such a stage of preparation. The
state, too, was mainly settled by persons of comparatively small means, seeking
homes for themselves and families.
Little of the prairie had yet been brought under agricultural
subjection. The state was rich
prospectively, put really poor practically.”
The
Professor recollected, “I shall never
forget my first interview with (the school’s) Chancellor Benton. He wished me
to select a room which would answer the double purpose of a lecture room and
work room, where the experiments should be prepared to illustrate the chemical
lectures; for it had already been decided that though my chair was that of the
natural sciences, I should also fill that of chemistry until the growth of the
university should justify the election of a tutor or a professor for that
department.”
An
article — Pioneers in Economic
Ornithology — written by Mrs. H. J. Taylor and published by the Wilson
Ornithological Society in September of 1931, relates the observations of one of
Samuel Aughey’s first students, Lawrence Bruner — later Professor Lawrence
Bruner – as regards the Professor’s teaching methods. Bruner said Aughey taught the natural
sciences, “as well as botany, German,
chemistry, and geology.” Bruner
indicated that Professor Aughey had not left the ministry with his resignation
from the pulpit in 1867, rather “he (also) continued to preach” while chair of “natural sciences.” He “had
a church” in a nearby town, and would preach as a guest at “nearby congregations” as well.
Bruner’s
quotes in the bird fancier’s magazine suggested Aughey was a hard worker with “a lovable personality,” though it was
noted that while he appeared “sincere”
in his scientific endeavors, he was engaged in so many activities that “scientific exactness could scarcely be
expected.”
Drawn
from the text of his 1881 speech, Aughey’s view of the scientific method seemed
to leave some interpretive slack between experimental deductions and
conclusions. He said, “the scientific spirit is not … mere(ly) (the) study of the sciences … Scientific methods are applicable to all
studies — to literature and
languages, as well as to metaphysics, political economy, natural history, and
physics. The scientific spirit
pre-eminently makes its inductions from facts — facts in nature, in consciousness, in language, in the life of a
people, and the development of an epoch.
It does not depend merely on facts which are tangible to the senses, but
on those also which can be seen only with the mental eye. Leibnitz and Newton, Cuvier, Lyell, and
Agassiz, were types of the former, while Plato, Shakespeare, and Emerson are
representatives of the latter.
Shakespeare saw things intuitively which others reached only by a
laborious process of reasoning.”
Aughey
continued at the university from 1871 until 1883 — when he left under a cloud
of scandal. During that time he engaged
in several fields of study for which he was widely praised. He also published a number of scientific
papers on subjects he found interesting.
Among those subjects were the grasshopper plagues periodically ravaging
the Great Plains — a popular story of the time being that the insects were at
times so numerous that the railroad engines would lose traction on the rails
due to the lubricating effect of the myriad of grasshoppers being crushed beneath the drive wheels.
Aughey’s
findings placed a strong emphasis on natural predation to curb the grasshopper
plagues — as noted his 1880 book, “Sketches
of the Physical Geography and Geology of Nebraska.” In that volume he wrote “It is a law of nature that the undue development of any animal is
checked sooner or later by a like increase of its natural enemies. Were it not for that law, the slowest
breeding species would soon overrun, to the exclusion of all other animals, its
own special habitat.”
After
noting the number of parasites that prey on locust and their eggs, Aughey
states “among vertebrates, no animals
equal the birds as destroyers of insects, and especially of locust. The numbers of locust which birds consume is
simply incalculable. Many species in
locust years live entirely on them and most do so partially. Often each bird of a species captures several
hundred during each day. In fact, after
many years’ study of this subject, and after dissecting more or less of several
hundred species, I have been forced to the convention that even the
gramnivorous (feeding on grass) birds
cannot be excluded from the list of locust enemies … Many calling themselves cultivated regard it sport to maim and kill
innocent birds. Such a course destroys
the harmony of nature, and one of the consequences is the devastations (brought
about by) insects.”
Aughey’s
defense of birds brought him into high regard by preservationist groups such as
the Wilson Ornithological Society — though again his scientific accuracy was
sometimes questioned.
Aughey
also became an unabashed promoter for the settlement of the new State of
Nebraska — as were a number of others.
Though his enthusiasm may have been largely civic in nature, the manner
in which he phrased his scientific writings and public words leaves open the
possibility of a somewhat less than altruistic motivation.
Before
large scale settlement could occur, Nebraska and the other territories in the
rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains needed to counter the historic assumption
that the area was, as far as precipitation was concerned, marginal at best for
traditional agriculture. Early explorers
had defined the area as desert. And
compared to the amounts of rainfall farmers further to the east were reliably
accustomed to, that definition was not without merit. Since settlement was dependent on
agriculture, and agriculture was dependent on water, development of the western
Great Plains required a reversal of public opinion as to the suitability of the
dry regions for any form of agriculture beyond cattle grazing.
During
and after the Civil War the federal government was encouraging the railroads to
push tracks across the continent as a means of cementing the two more populated parts of the country —
the east and west coastal areas — together. As
incentive, large block of land along the routes were being deeded to the
railroad companies. The railroads and
their agents would sell those lands to settlers to defray construction cost,
and then sustain profitability by transporting any agricultural products
produced by the settlers to market. They
would also profit by providing transport services to the towns likely to sprout
up along the railroad tracks, and by bringing the settlers manufactured goods
such as those provided by up-and-coming catalog retailers — Aaron Montgomery
Ward being one.
While
land speculators — often assisted by corrupt or indifferent government
officials — used various questionable or outright illegal methods to gain
control of lands originally intended for free settlement through the Homestead
Act, the railroads collaterally pursued their own best interest by instigating
a massive promotional and highly deceptive advertising campaign specifically
intended to induce potential setters from the eastern United States and Europe
to buy railroad lands — though much of that land, like the land being opened to
homesteading, was unsuitable for farming as then practiced.
To
counter the land’s questionable suitability, Professor Aughey and associates
provided a heavy dose of intuitive science.
As to what extent the professor’s “scientific”
opinions regarding Nebraska’s agricultural potential may have been an act of
deliberate collusion with the dubious promotional efforts then ongoing is
difficult to document — at least difficult to document from Aughey’s personal
perspective. In 1931 Mrs. Helen Fulmer,
Aughey’s daughter, sent a letter to the author of “Pioneers in Ornithology,” Mrs. H. J. Taylor, in which Fulmer stated
that her “father’s library and records”
related to his time in Nebraska “were all
lost.” That resource being
unavailable, we need to draw from various published materials and surmise as to
what those words might tell us regarding Aughey’s motives. What the writings most certainly indicate is that
throughout the 1870s and ‘80s Professor Aughey was the public face and foremost
advocate of a dubious scientific hypothesis regarding the mechanics of
precipitation — a hypothesis that may have been specifically designed to offer
hope to persons contemplating farming the dry lands within the Rocky Mountain’s
rain shadow. And that eventually the
lack of due consideration brought on by accepting Aughey’s uniquely
advantageous theory resulted in a flood of misery, heartache, and financial
ruin for tens of thousands of the professor’s fellow citizens.
… to be
continued ...
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