The Portland daily press., 1862-12-19
Friday Morning, December 10, 1862.
lFrom the Preliminary Report the Eighth Census.
Petroleum Oil.


resources of the country, and valuable addi-
tion to its exports, have been made by the dis
covery within the last two or three years. that
certain indications, known to the aboriginal
and early European inhabitants of the western
country, of natural reservoirs of inflammable
oil existing upon the headwaters of the Alle-
ghany river in New York and Pennsylvania,
were but the clue to apparently inexhaustible
supplies of native oil, accessible at no great
depth throughout an extended belt of country,
embracing the btuminous coal areas of sew
era states.
Petroleum, rock, or mineral OIL natural
product of the decomposition of organic mat
ter emitted from the soil in various formations,
particularly those of rock salt, was known and
employed to some extent by the ancients, hav-
ing been mentioned by the father of history
twenty-three hundred years ago, and by
Greek and Roman writers of later date. In
its more fluid form, as found on the shores of
the Caspian Sea, near the Irawaddy of Burmah,
In Italy, and some parts of our country, it has
borne the name of nahptha, while the more SOL
i'd elements of the same substance predomina-
ted in the articles known as asphaltum and BIZ
tumen, found abundantly in the Great Pitch
Lake of the island of Trinidad. near the Dead
Sea in Judea, and elsewhere, Petroleum is
nearly identical in properties with the artif-
cial oils, which have been long derived from
the destructive distillation OF different miner
ais, as camel oil and brown coal, or Ignite, BIZ
luminous shales, sands, clays, peat, &c, which
have been the subject of numerous patents in
Europe and America, and within the last eight
years have been manufactured to considera-
BILE extent in the United States and the neigh
boring provinces, until the native petroleum
springs opened a source of cheaper supply.
As product Of our own country this re-
markable substance was brought to the notice
of the white population, as early as the mid
L. 1f tfaI I.cta lx4 41,..E I,.ls
who found it upon Oil creek branch of the
Allegheny, in Venango county, Pennsylvania,
and near the head OF the Genesee river, in
New York, whence it received the name of
Seneca oir' and "Genesee OIL 1t was used
by the natives in their religious ceremonies, and
as medicament for wounds, &C. For the last
named purpose il has been long collected and
sold at a high price. A perennial flow of oil
has been known to exist on Oil creek, above
referred to, for century, For the last forty
years, the spring has been closed in a vat, or
structure of wood and stones, which was daily
SKINNED by the proprietor and made the
source of considerable revenue. We have
seen extensive diggings in this region made by
the French more than century since, while
that nation held the valley of the Mississippi,
which were evidently made with view TO as
certain the basis or source of what, no doubt,
impressed the French officers as most inter-
esting and curious development of the bounty
of nature. Petroleum, doubtless, formed an
article Of considerable traffic between the In
dians and traders of that region; as we have
seen, In some old account books of the last
century, "gallons" and "kegs'' of Seneca oil
credited TO the Indians.
Its existence in any vast amount appears to
have been unknown until 1915. when spring
was ''struck," while boring for salt, near Tar
entum, thirty-five miles above Pittsburg, on
the Allegheny. Experiments having proved
its constituents TO be nearly the same as those
of the artificial carbon oil, a company was or
ganized in New York to attempt its purifca-
ton by the same process applied to the latter.
BIT little was effected, however, and in 1857
Messrs. Bowditch and Drake of New Haven.
commenced operations at Ttusyille, on Oil
creek, where traces of early explorations were
found, and in August, 1852 fountain was
reached by boring, at the depth of seventy-one
feet, which yielded 400 gallons daily Before
the close of the year 1850, the number of wells
and borings was estimated to be about two
thousand, of which sevcnty-four of the larger
ones were producing daily, by the aid OF
pumps. an aggregate of eleven hundred and
sixty-fve barrels of crude oil, worth, at twenty
cents gallon about ten thousand dollars.
Wells were soon after sunk to the depth of
five or six hundred feet, and the flow of petro-
leum became so profnse that no less than 81
600 barrels were obtained in day from a sin
gle well, the less productive ones yielding from
fifteen to twenty barrels per diem. In several
Instances extraordinary means were found
necessary to check and control the fiow which
is now regulated in such wells according to the
state of the market, bv strong tubing and stop
cocks. The quantity sent to market by the
Sunbury and Erie railroad from the Pennsyl-
vania oil region, which has thus far been the
principal source, increased from 325 barrels in
1859 to 1892 barrels in 1861. The whole
quantity shipped in the aforementioned year
was nearly 100000 barrels. Since August
1861, the product has rapidly increased. The
present capacity of the wells is estimated at
250,O00 TO 100000 barrels per week. SO i'm
portant, however, have the operations in this
article become that railroad, we understand
has been chartered i'm Pennsylvania exclusive
ly for the transportation of the oil to market
From a recent number of the "Register,"
newspaper published at Oil City, Pennsylva
mia, We copy the following statement respect
ing the product of petroleum in that vicinity
we learn that the number of wells now flow
ing is seventy-fve, the number of wells that
} formerly flowed and pumped is sixty-two; the
number OF wells sunk and commenced is three
hundred and ifty-eight: total. four hundred
and ninety-five The amount of oil shipped il
set down at 100000 barrels amount on hanC
10 date, 92,450 barrels; present amount O
daily flow, 5,717 barrels. The average valu,
of the oil, at 81 per barrel, is 81 .O92OOO; aver
age cost Of wells, at $1,000 each, is 1895 900
machinery, building, &c, from $500 to $70