A STENOGRAPHER’S LOVE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3669, 2 November 1912, Page 4

A STENOGRAPHER’S LOVE.

AIA KING OF AN “OIL KING.”

Two years ago Mr. B. H. Hopkins, assistant manager of the Mid-West Oil Comps ii v. was an unemployed stenographer! lie lived at Colorado Springs and as he had a wife and child to provide for his search for work was a very anxious one. He applied for a job at the offi e of the manager of a great financier. '1 he manager did not stand in need of a stenographer, but seeing that the applicant was “wideawake” he gave him a position. The financier was at this time in Paris and. incidentally, going into a proposal to construct a railway at "Wyoming. A discussion arose among those interested in the scheme as to the terminus of the proposed line, and the manager was instructed to send a man to report on the respective merits of the two towns that were being considered. Hopkins was selected for the commission, and shortly after his arrival at the first town he met an old oil-driller who was firmly convinced that there were extensive oilfields in the neighborhood. Hopkins allowed the driller to drive him over the mountains to the other town which he had to inspect, and on the way listened to the old man’s theories. He became convinced that the man was right, and, abandoning his tour of inspection, lie lran-ied back to Colorado Springs and communicated his information to the manager. In three da vs he was on his way to Paris, and on'his arrival there he laid before the financier the possibilities of the Casper oilfields. Within a very few weeks a company with a paid-up capital of £1,200,000 had been formed to work the fields and Hopkins had been appointed to an important position in its management. The company has eighteen active oil wells, with a total capacity of 5000 barrels daily, and the unemployed stenographer is now well on his way to the honors and emoluments of an “oil king.”