His lot now took a turn for the better. Hardly had he opened the office when a boom hit Pioneer Run. Speculators, promoters, fi nanciers and drillers arrived in large numbers. Lyman Stewart was ready for them. Negotiating leases with the farmers, he began to make money. He started to buy 1/64th interest in wells that were producing, thereby spreading his meager capital over a maximum of chances. Later he was able to increase this to 1/32nd and even tually to 1/8th. Lyman was joined in the oil business by his brother Milton. Milton was not a good mixer and preferred to handle the financial and refining end while Lyman got out into the field. He never seemed to have any trouble com manding the respect of the tough est worker or most foul-mouthed promoter. The Christian character and tes timony of the Stewarts so im pressed an oil producer by the name of Frank W. Andrews that he asked the brothers to join him in his new Claremont Oil Company at Petroleum Center. As one of the eight partners, Lyman Stewart made a substantial fortune from the transaction. A short time later Andrews came to the Stewart brothers with the proposition that they buy a 5/sth 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 producing 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 manufacture and sell agricultural machinery. Stewart felt that he could well afford to under write his portion of the expense of this project since he had an income of around $1,000 a week at the time. The agricultural im plement 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 $1,000- 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 fish ing 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 themselves up in business, he had never re alized any financial profit from the Hardison connection, 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 rail roads. When he returned east with his profits, he stopped off at Titus ville to look over the situation. His brothers had written him about Page 7
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