St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1860-09-27
Stitnti6t.
OIL WELLS, OIL SPRINGS, &C.

The abundance of oil in wells re-
Gently sunk in the vicinity Of the Al
lcghany river, Pennsylvania, illus
trates what job says, that there was
time in the days of his prosperity,
when the rocks poured him forth riv.
ers Of oil
The first wells sunk at Kanhawha
SallnCs, Va, many years ago, pro-
ducCd abundance Of Petroleum mine
raj, or Seneca oil, and it was put up
in barrels. y few years since, an ar
| tca!an well was sunk in the bed of a
river in Alabama, aud oil rose to the
surface and ran out of the top Of the
| well in great abundance, and noatcd
/ on the surface of the water of the riv-
er, and became igntcd, and the sur
face water Of the river was soon COW
cred with a sheet of flame as far as
the oil extended.
In the Island Of Barbados, West
Indies, there is Lake of bitumen,
which produces what is called Bar.
badocs Tar" If this lake could be
transferred to the latitude of Bailins
Bay, in the Acrtic zone, it would soon
be converted into mass of mineral
coal by becoming crystalizcd in the
same manner as water forms ice.
In wilderness tours South, in my
juvenile days, saw an oil spring
lliqujd pctroIcum); it formed little
pond in which leaves and sticks had
fallen, and on the borders of this pool
the petroleum had become crystalizcd,
and lifted with a stick that had be-
come EMBEDDED in the crystaIizcd
petroleum, piece which had become
coal
When Capt. Hartstien's Expedition
returned from the Arctic Zone, | re-
ccIvcd several large pieces Of bituml-
ous coal obtained at Haroc Island.
latitude about TO- North-in this coal
were crystals Of yellow translucent
maptha, which had become sUlidlfcd
by cold. 1t rcsenblcd some spcli-
mems Of gum copal | had seen. In
this climate these crystals and the
coal lose their volatile properties, and
become dry and crumbIe like rotten
pldCh Sudlt.
At the kauhawha Salincs. two salt
wells have been sunk to the depth OfI
sixteen hundred feet, and discharge
with the salt water carburcttcd hydro |
gen gas, which rises to the height Of
seventy feet above the top Of the !
wells. This gas is collected and ,
hurut as fuel iii the salt furnaces for
cvaporatug salt water for the manu-
tacture Of salt The combustion of
the gas produces hard, spongy Cn-
crustatiOn ON the outer surface of the !
bottom Of the kettles exposed to the
fire, in which may be seen what ap-
pears like the roots Of grass and the |
roots Of small plants. Tubes insert
cd in the wells (Artcsian) become
coated on the inner surface with an
formed by the gas and
water, Of quarter inch in thickness,
the outside black like the bark of
some trees, and the inner surface and
white Ike the meat of
cocoannt. The water ard the gas
from the great depth of sixteen hun
in summer as a northern blast in this
latitude in mid-winter These wells
present the converse of the deep well
at Grecncllc, near Paris, and destroy
the foundation Of the theory Of the
French Savans, that the earth in
crcascs in warmth and heat in proper
ton to the increase of depth. The
gas in the kanhawha wells formed
.he petroleum by becoming condensed
With Geld, the petroleum crystalzed
~ cold formed the bituminous coal
ound abundantly in the sandstone
strata that ovcrlie the gas Here the
gas, the petroleum and the coal are
ound in close proximity. This gas
,ould be conducted to the cities on
he seaboard in pipes, to supply light
or the street lamps.
The anthracite coal fields of Penn
'ylvania were produced by mineral or
'ock oil penetrating clay and iron ore,
he iron producing the red ash, and
he clay the white ash clinkcrs when
he coal is burnt.
In my geological researches on the
lorthern shores of Lake Ontario in
S44, found at Ogden's Point an ex-
ensive strata of bituminous fossil
ferrous limestone. On striking a ,
,iece or this stone with hammer, or ;
IL rubbing two pieces Of the stone to- :
sether, it gave out strong smell of
,itumcn. made enquiry of lime
burners as to the quanty of fuel re,
luired to calcine this stone in lime c
,ilhs, for making qnick-lime, and they a
old me that but little fuel was re- S
uired, the bitumen with which the ,
tone is saturated affords fuel nearly 5
for burning it into lime. 1t c
lund fossils SO numerous in this S
tone as to induce me to form an S
pinion that while living they were
verwhelmed by an eruption Of btu I
len, and think the basin in which {
he water of Lake Ontario now re- I
'oses was formed by the burning of t
be bitumen, and the water-spouts so t
frequently seen to rise in that Lake, r