Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-02-28
NeRs.

Rock 0n..-At no time since the first oil
well was bored in Yenango county has there
been more excitement on the subject than at
the present time, or more people going into
the business. The success that has attended
many Of these adventurers of late, particu-
Iarly on the Kenawha, and on the Beaver
and its tributaries, has led to this present
state Of things. But, truly, we know Of no
enterprise which partakes OF the character
Of lottery that promises half as well IS this.
Many fail, to be sure, but the number Of
those who meet with success is encourag-
ingly large.
Men are beginning to form theories, based
upon close observation, upon this subject
but before We shall speak of theories, we
shall state some general facts.
= Tne -grszlt- 1ftum tuUus cUHf fiufd Of which
Pittsburgh is nearly the centre, is in fact a
basin, both toPograP Phically and geolOgieelly.
It is bounded on the east and southeast BY
the Apalachian or Allegheny system of
mountains; on the northeast BY continu-
Gus ridge, which branches off from the Allie
gheny range in the northern part Of Cambria
county, and runs q northwest direction to
within short distance of the shore of Lake
Erie, dividing the waters Of the Allegheny
from those Of the Susquehanna and Gennes-
see. There, within less than twenty miles
Of Lake Erie, the same ridge, or another, as
We may choose 70 call it, continues in q di-
rection southeast, and nearly parallel with
the shore Of the lake, about to the line di-
viding Pennsylvania from Ohio.
81
What is this oil II What is its origin p
Whence does it come are questions that are
exercising the minds Of the curious and the
speculativs. Is there perennial source; or
IS it fixed and limited deposit, which may
soon be exhausted7 These are questions
which occasion some anxiety, but which are
more easily asked thsn answered. Men are
not permitted 70 penetrate very far into the
arcana Of nature; anu we can only base cur
speculations as TO what lies beyond our
reach upon such facts as we have ascer-
tanned.
Bearing in mind the peculiar geological
formation of this basin 70 that adding the
ascertained fact that salt water occupies the
space in the rocks below the reach of the
surface water; and TO this adding the addi-
tional fact, that oil is found in the greatest
abundance around the margin Of the salt
basin, the hypothesis is strong and rational
that the oil-being lighter than the salt wa
ter-is held back by The superior gravity of
the latter, and hence found at certain geo
logical elevations. This, as a general TACT,
is true. E-rts
This theory is further strengthened by
the fact, that the old salt wells on the Cone
maugh river having been exhausted; and
this exhaustion having been oecasioned by
| the action Of other pumps on the lower
/ levels of the Kiskiminetas and Allegheny,
these old wells now yield oil-the oil,
doubtless, having followed the salt water
in its descent, and probably in the same
crevices.
This being admitted, it follows that the
prospect of finding oil is good any place
around the margin of what may be called
1 the salt basin. Many undiscovered causes
may operate to vary these conditions, and
thus render one section prolific in oil, while
another section on the same level is com
] psratively destitute Of it yet this seems to
1 be, nevertheless, the general law.
Now, the question recurs, what Is the
cause, the origin, the source, of oil? 1t is
manifeslly a natural distilatiOn; but is its
/ origin mineral or vegetable? Some think it
has an origin common with our coal-that it
was compressed out Of the immense deposits
/ Of that mineralj but this hypothesis is over
thrown BY the fact, that oil is found in great
\ abundance near the head of the Allegheny,
/ more than forty miles beyond the limits Of
I this coal field, and on higher typographical
l level than where the lowest vein Of coal
crops out.
| Another theory, and more plausible one
| is, that itrises in Tapor from profound depths
where the internal heat Of the earth IS sqtn-
cient to convert it into this condition; thai
| il rises through assures 70 the region OF cold
rocks, there eondenses, and flows down until
it rests, as before remarked, upon the salt
water. Il may be 80.
Mountains, or elevated regions, are, OF
course, more favorable TO the sseent Of such
vapor from the bot depths Of the earth than
anywhere else for there, Of course, the strait
icatiOn is more broken up, and thrown into
position more or less vertical, and very prob
ablv the internal fires there make their near
est approach 70 the general surface Of the
L earth. Volcanic craters are always found
on or near the SUBMITS Of mountains, and
| not mere accunaulations Of lava and scoria.
We may therefore conclude that all noun
tains partake in q greater or less degree d
the same character. 81
If this hypothesis be sound, then these
sprines will prove TO perennial. In Burmah
there are petroleum springs, or wells, from
which hnndFeda Of thousandeot barrels haY'
been taken annually for two hundred years
without showing any signs Of exhaustion
and in one Of the lanes-Lante,
think-thsre Is y eu t1es hH
yielded pstroleu cara ines
facis faFoF the b there i som
inexhanstibls -FsttsOaIgl
] Gazette