they buy a 54th interest in the 112 -acre Tallman farm. Within two years oil from wells on this farm had sold for $800,000. In the six years from 1866 to 1872, Lyman Stewart accumulated close to $300,000 in the bank. In addition, he and his brother Milton were holders of shares in many wells that were produc ing oil. It was at this time, while riding the crest of the wave, that Lyman Stewart and another newly-rich oil man agreed to underwrite a project for the establishment of a company to manu facture and sell agricultural machinery. Stewart felt that he could well afford to underwrite his portion of the expense of this project since he had an income of around $1,000 a week at the time. The agricultural implement business was a complete failure. Lyman Stewart and his friend had to pay off the losses and when they were through he not only was broke, but had lost his home and most of his oil leases. By 1872 he was forced to take a job at a small salary to provide for his family. While Stewart was in the $l,000-a-week bracket he had befriended a number of young men in the oil business, among them James and Harvey Hardison, two brothers from Maine. Eventually these two men had become experts at fishing for lost tools in oil wells. Several times they had come to Lyman Stewart’s home to discuss mechanical problems with him. When the brothers needed money Lyman Stewart dug into his pocket or his bank account. Although he had helped them set T HE SERENE HEART
themselves up in business, he had never realized any finanical profit from the Hardison connec tion, but he had gained what proved to be, in later years, an invaluable friendship. Another Hardison brother had piled up a small fortune cutting ties for new transcontinental railroads. When he returned east with his profits, he stopped off at Titusville to look over the situa tion. His brothers had written him about the k i ndnes s of their friend Lyman Stewart so Wallace Hardison hunted up Stewart to get acquainted. Impressed with the opportunities in the oil business, Wallace Hardison proposed that he and Stewart buy some more properties on a partnership basis. Virtually penniless, Stewart ex plained his embarrassed estate and expressed his regret that he could not join in the enterprise. Hardison brushed the protest aside. "You know oil and I don’t; I have the money and you don’t. We’ll be partners. I’ll put up the money and you put up the experience.” On this basis, with only a handclasp to seal the agreement, began a partnership that was not put in to a formal written agreement until many years later in California when it had grown to such an enormous business that the bankers con sidered a written agreement necessary. For several years Lyman Stewart had been in trigued by reports from California on the poten tial oil fields in the Golden State. He made up his mind to investigate the potentials firsthand. When I. E. Blake, a former Titusville friend, offered him all the land on which he could drill if he would come out West, Stewart proposed to Hardison that they sell out and go to California. Hardison was unwilling to return to the Pacific Coast; however, he agreed to sell out their interest. They realized about $13 5,000 from their oil in vestments. Dividing the money, they parted company, Hardison heading for Kansas and Stewart for California. No sooner had Stewart landed in Los Angeles in the winter of 1882-1883 than he began looking over the prospects of oil development in the area of Southern California. By way of making good his promise, I. E. Blake of the Pacific Coast Oil Company took Stewart to the Newhall area and pointed out the land his company held there under lease. He offered
So still it was today, And no breeze blew To muffle with its strength The quiet, happy sound Of birds, and crisping snow. So would I have my heart, Tranquil and still , That I might always hear The quiet hidden voice, Beneath the worldly wind.
— Nancy M. Bettesworth
The King's Business/February 1958
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