Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-03-25
THE OIL REGION OF VIRGINIA.

oAL hEohON
A correspondent writing to the Richmond
Roane county, Va, thus describes his visit tc
that "Oil region :"
My road lay, for the most part, through q
rough and uninhsbited country, and Just be.
fore reaching the "wells," along very high
| ridge from which view of the country fol
| many miles around was obtained, away in the
| west, saw the rising town. Cabin after cabin
| ranged along the hillside. so new that you
imagined they were as yet unoccupied. / was
forcibly reminded of the ideas had conceiv ed
| in regard to some newly discovered "diggins''
| in California. Presently we began to descend
the ridge and wind around its base, when all
| at once the solitude of my long journey across
| the mountains was exchanged for the hustle
| and hum Of city life. 1 had always spoken to
| every man, woman and child 1 met in the
| road, but now did not think of it. There
| were squads Of men standing in the muddy
| roads, while ox-carts, loaded with timber, were
struggling along the deep ravines, and re-
cently-felled trees and split boards lay on
every side. Ihad never seen anything like it
before; and as got nearer the village saw,
not far off, derrick after derrick, with men
busily engaged at the base and upon the top
| of them, boring for the precious Gil My ex-
citement quickened rapidly. 1 fastened for
ward, my horse throwing the muddy water
from heels to head, until I found myself in the
midst of the "wells," and soon at the door of a
hotel, half finished, with no steps to the front
door, so that it was necessary to enter the
back way-the house being on q steep hill.
side, there was no difficulty
L never saw such "mess,r to use vulgar
expression, before-saddles and saddle-bsgs,
bags OF beans, dried apples, peaches and pota.
tees, and barrels of -four, all piled up together
In the passage and in the dining-room, amid
mud and dirt. L looked for a stable, but it
had not been built-a shed for the present suf-
need: The bar-roOm, as usual, was crowded
but must not trespass upon your readers but
give you, in as few words as possible, des-
cription OF the "wells;" and, first, as to how
they are dug After the rock is reached, few
feet below the surface, the machinery for dig
ging is prepared-a scaffold, about thirty-fv
feet high, eight or ten feet square at the BASE
and about four or five feet at the top, made of
four poles, united by scantling, is erected; at
the top of this is "block," through which a
rope Is passed, by which the long "sinker." 4"
made OF iron, pointed with steel, is lifted and
let fall. After the well has been dug to con-
slaerable depth, rods are screwed on thus
lengthenlng the shaft; and, in order to lift it,
long pole Is used, called "scoop," (often
5O feet) one end of which is fastened to the
ground, and the other is attached to the top of
the rod, by which it is lifted from the bottom
Ihese rods are not more than two inches in
diameter. The well is, therefore, very small
NOT more than three or four inches in diam
eter. Ii you have seen poles used in raising
water from wells, you will readily understand
what mean. The men 1.-TWO or three of them)
at the TOP OF the scafold swing upon the end
OF the pole to which the sinker is attached,
thus thrusting it down, and "poking'' the
bottom, followed by metallic click" and
again letting 60 the pole, the sinker is again
raised, and so they continue, occasionally pull.
ing up tne apparatus to pump up the water
and debris.
The cost of boring is about 81. IS per foot for
the nrst hundred feet, and 50 for all beyond
within space Of half mile there are about
100 wells" either already dug or in process
OF digging They begin on the Little kanaw-
ha, 200 yards or more below the mouth of
. Burning Spring Rum" and continue I'D the
run to its source. There are only six or eight
wells that are yielding oil. All who have
gone deep enough have been rewarded with
success; not single we'll has been abandoned
Perhaps four -ffths of the wells have been very
recently begun, The progress made is from
one foot to ten or fifteen per day. Some wells
have been in process of digging for three or
four weeks, but have not gotten more than I2O
feet The average depth is from lis to I45
feet Some persons have gone 200 feet with
out finding oil, but are not discouraged Some
dig on the hill-sides, but most of them in the
bottom. l visited every well that was yield
ing oil. That of Llewellyn & Co. was Weld
ing very rapidly; often it produces one barrel
per minute. Think of it L saw them filling
seven barrels at the same time A friend
timed them, and they filled ii barrels in Is
minutes. e., $40 in quarter of an hour
This Is making money after a fashion 1 never
saw before. The oil sells readily at % cents
per gallon, or $40 per barrel. The expense of
getting 1t is mere nothing after you once
reach it. Sometimes it runs spontaneously
at other times it is pumped up. The fat-boats
(of which L saw upwards of 10O) take it to Par
kersburg in "a hours. Day before yesterday
1000 or 5000 barrels left the -" wells for that
destination.
The we'll of Lewellyn Co. is much the most
productive. There are several others that
yield 80 and 40 barrels per day. Many of the
wells are not worked for want of barrels Bar
rels bring 50 apiece. The timber here is SUI.
perb, and very abundant. There is small
cooper's establishment here, but no steam
used. The oil is peculiar. / saw some when
out here two years ago, at Roane Court House
exuding from marsh, which was black and
viscid, somewhat like tar. but this is fluid, and
OF bottle-green color, sometimes yellow like
molasses. 1t specific gravity is about 40 de-
grees, water being 80 degrees 1t is as liquid
as the fluid which you burn in Richmond,
and is used here in fluid lamps, and, I under
stand, does not smoke. 1t can, as you know,
be refined and made perfectly limpid. learn
this is done at little expense at several places
on the Ohio, and also in New York, where
much of it is shipped.
The Parkersburg (Va) Gazette, noticing the
oil discoveries treated Of in this correspond
ent's letter, says that two barrel factories are
being built in that town, capable of turning
out 400 barrels per day, and that at Burning
Springs factory is being erected to manufac,
ture 1000 per day.
SMELLISs OUT THE SMALL Pox.-In Philadel-