The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-07-15

hNhfN AAa WAANAAA va hANNAAAN 49, VII
there had beea seven hundred wells sunk.
Richie and Writ Counties, in Virginia,
have also been found 10 produce good
oil, The first attempt Of the kind in
New York was made about a year and a
half ago, in Allegheny County, near a
famous pool which had always been
known as the Oil Spring but before the
iron pipe could be driven down 20 the
rock, the oil, mingled with water, rushed
up like a fountain. The jets ofgas which
accompany the Petroleum are often very
profuse and very continued, andin Cha
tauque County they have been secured
and made use of TO light the town Of Free
donia, and the lighthouse in Portland
Harbor on Lake Erie. The Canada oil
district has surpassed all others in the
immense amounts ithas produced, a. well
as in the quality OF its products. Its
greater weight gives IL a higher value
than that of other districts, as the heavy
oils are more valuable for distillation.
The wells are situated in low, swampy
land, about thirty miles southeast OF
Port Sarnia on the ST. Clair river, and
not more than fifty miles from Detroit.
Ii is said that there is already more
American than British moneys invested
there, and more Michigan mSn than Ca
nadians, at work. In some of the lOoali-
ties the surface is found to be covered
with = stratum Of hardened asphaltum
two feet in thickness; In others, the
ground is submerged 10 the depth Of sew
eral inches with the surplus oil from the
great wells. The roads, the wharvcs,
the depots, the warehouses every where
within reach Of the great oil regions Of
Canada or P~cnnsylavnia have been
blocked up, and dlled 10 nlluess, with
the vast amounts Of oil waiting for trans
%portation; the wells on Oil Greek alone
are estimated 20 yield nine hundred
thousand barrels : year; the Enfiski Hen
wells are still more productive; the Ohio
and New York wells yield less, yet still
large amounts. The extento Of this mighty
ocean of oil may be better understood,
when we remember that the entire pro-
duct Of our whale fishery ia one OF it4
most prolific years, was not guile four
hundred and thirty thousand barrels of
sperm and whale oil together.
The source Of these vast supplies Of
oil has been much discussed. and there are
still some pionts in their history which
remain obscure, We trace their remote
origin to the great forests Of antiquity,
whose shrubs were trees, and whose trees
were giants; we know their greatness by
the casts of the mighty trunks, and the
silhouettcs Of their hugo leaves, which
we find id our coal mines. Submerged
and subjected TO certain strange agencies,
the vast, rank forest turned slowly into
coal. Such a change involves q separa-
ton Of carbon and hydrogen, sometimes
as gas, sometimes as oil, or as both
combined. Gravity would force the fluid
10 seek the lowest level it could hnd,
through every crack ard i~issure, which
accounts for its being found not only be-
low but often remote from tho coal de-
posits, Under other circumstances, tho
pressure Of water from beneath, or tie
volatile nature of the gas which accom-
panios the oil, force il up, into the high
est at ainable level, thus bringing itsof-
ten into strata above tho coal measures.
just how, or when, or why, these wonder
full transitions took place may never DO
definitely known; for in the vast cruuiblo
beneath our feet, where fierce fires are
always raging, each change ia directed
by the hand Of an Almighty chemist, with
faultless wisdom, aud in ways often past
finding out
IL may be safely predicted that the
Petroleum will have an immense effect
upon the arts anu industry of the world;
already in its infancy, it has been hppli-
ed TO vausous purposes with great sue
cess. II furnishes a gas far more brill
liant than that produced from the coal;
machinery oils of several kinds are OBJ
tanned from IL; wax, for making candles,
and the bases Of many brilliant dyos,
are taken from the process of distilla-
ton. II is being daily experimental
with more aud more, and a thousand new
uses are prophesied for il. Spectators and
commissioned merchants, hoOpers and
coopers, railroad companies, and cart
men, have had a tlourisihg time Of il. In
deed, IL has been said tho entire popula-
ton Of Pennsylavnia is blissful, with tho
exception of one farmer who lost his
feather crop, because his geese was
swimming in Oil Creek, and camo out
tarred and feathered.
People who do not live in an oil dis
trict, and have no occasion 10 either buy
or sell Petroleum, stand aside and take
various vie VS. Of the matter. One Of our
witty countrymen is afraid that the
world will soon stop revolving for want
Of something 10 lubrioate its axis. The
Philosophers among as, cay that we have
assembled another round Ia the Ladder of
Progress. Practical men fix their minds
upon exports and tariffs, tAres, and nett
incomes. Some pious souls, as good as
saints but not so cheerful, have terrified
themselves by the idea that the immense
influx Of iuilammable oil into the world,
is TO facilitate lie burning; that Il Il ia
tact merely a measure preparatory 20 the
arrival Of the great and notable day,
when the elements shall melt with ferveni
heat, and the earth, and all the things
that are therein shall be burned up
Even II lheir theory were correct Their,
would be no terror in il, for when tho
appointed time comes, the world might
as well burn quickly as 10 DO long about
il. II il is necessary for the satisfaction
Of certain minds 10 ihtofp0t the recent
events spiritually, let them be taken in q
more benoGcont and hopeful Specification
Every one whose duty or inclination la.
led them much among the poor, know
that the worst horror Of winter 10 then
alter the bitter cold, is lie terrible dark
ness. Work begins before light Anc
ends long after. The weary nights thaI
stretch lar down into the morning, and
begin midway in the afternoon, leave onls
anarrow strip Of sunlight between her,
the hungry mouths are scarcely filed,
there 10 no money 10 expend for oil VI
candies, aud many a working man and
boy could tell them, that for months ia
the winter Its always DARK Al home
Let our conscientious bot melancholy