The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-01-03 00:00:00

A NEW CHAPTER IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

We have before us two remarkable pamphlets, re-
prints of articles which have attracted great attention
on the other side of the Atlantic. The first • describes
the most wonderful natural phenomenon that has been
brought to light in modern times, and its preseri bearing
on an important commercial enterprise. The second 1'
endeavours to foreshadow the probable futuri of that
enterprise' and its development into the largest and
most important engineerieg undertaking the age is likely
to produce. Both pamphlets are of a nature to demand
notice, and we scarcely know which to consider the more
interesting of the two—that which relates to what are
now accomplished facts, bringing forth rich fruit, or
that which suggests further remits to which those facts
may naturally give birth.
In America, whilst boring for water, a Pennsylvanian
struck upon a huge subterranean reservoir of oil, which
swelled up and flowed so freely that it speedily covered
the ground for a considerable distance. A light
thoughtlessly applied to the liquid caused a conflagra-
tion, which it reqeired the greatest exertions of the
people in the neighbourhood to subdue. But when this
was extinguished, the oil still flowed, and it continued
to bubble forth at the rate of 1,000 gallons per day.
This discovery was the precursor of many others of
similar nature. A large extent of the country was
found to be completely 'saturated with oiLand the earth,
when tapped, yielded it in abundance. Speculators
and capitalists were drawn in numbers to this wonder-
ful region, and soon began to reap a rich harvest.
Stich was the origin of the American,oil trada. wtich
has now assumed gigantie proportions. The total yield
of the oil is estimated to be, at the 1eV50,000 gallons
per day. In 1861, 37,082 barrels of lea re nwe ex-
ported • in the following year, the, umber reached
362,593; and in the first six months &lone of 1863, it
amounted to 568,534. Of this total there wete sent to
England, during the six months, 245,753 barrels. Two
or three years only have elapsed since this oil eras first
heard of as an article of commerce. Now it forms, in
its thoroughly purified state, as in the Comelier, oil, the
favourite illuminating agent in hundreds and thousands
of our homes.
On the discovery of the oil wells and their re-
sources, one great question arose—How were these
r• sources to be conveyed to the cities and ports, and
made available for the markets of the world • No
adequate means of transport we in existence. It
was necessary to send the oil by means of carts over
long end very rough roads, or to lash the musks together
as rafts, and float them down shallow rivers. This
necessarily involved great lose of time and capital. It
considerably enhanced the price of the oil to the pur-
chasers, and, at the same time, narrowed the profits of
the well owners. At this juncture the necessary help
was offered by a remarkable enterprise, or series of
enterprises, now collectively known to the world as the
Atlantic and Great Western Railway.
No sooner is the Atlantio and Great Western Rail-
way in profitable working order, than a still greater ,
enterprise begins to be talked about and pondered over
by reflecting minds. This is no leas than the direct
connection of the Atlantic and PIMA,. Oceans, by a line
right through the continent from 1461 V York to San
Francisco, • distance of three thonsaid eight hundred
miles. Twelve hundredlmiles of the route are already
covered. The possibility of completing the journey is
discussed, calmly and practically, in the second of the
pamphlets we have mentioned, "From New York to
Ran Francisco in six days I" This would indeed be
doing 'something towards annihilating space and time,
as our trans-Atlantic cousins say. But an enterprise of
this gigantic kind could only be carried out efficiently
and successfully as • state undertaking; and the
necessity that the Government attention should be given
to the scheme, together with the enormous advantages
likely to attend it, are forcibly urged in the pamphlet
before us. Truly, this second project sets before the
American mind something worthy to engage the
energies of the country. We trust that, at no distant
day, the proper measures will be taken to carry out the
scheme.

The introduction of commodities thatcommand a large
sale from their distinctive advantages being valued by
the public, frequently attracts a host of imitators. To
endeavour to pass off inferior articles some cloaely copy
the trade-mark' labels, packets, &c., of Messrs. Berm.
man, the well-known original Importers of the Pure
Tea; therefore purchasers should not fail to notice that
the signature—" Horniman and Co , London"—is on
each genuine packet. Their tea, from its reliable good
quality, has for a quarter of a oentury been in great
favour throughout the kingdom, proving that all classes
require good tea, pnd prefer sterling quality to mere
appearance. Meson. Hornimans' agents number about
two thousand tnose in this locality are advertised in
our columns.