Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-05-21
The New staple.

The New Staple.
Our fossils are making the nation rich.
It is surprising how suddenly new dis
coyery is made to take rank as an i'm
portant staple. No other country in the
world has been so ripe for such extraor-
dinary transitions. The Romans knew
that England abounded in tin, but CEN
turies elapsed before it rose to the dignity
of a commercial staple, and it was exactly
so with her iron. North America seems
to be in all respects an exceptional region.
Coal and iron rose here, within single
lifetime, into national Importance, The
gold of California became gigantic staple
within twelvemonth. The last of these
extraordinary eccentricities is Petroleum.
Four years have been sufficient to elevate
it from the worthless condition of float
ing pellicle on the surface of an obscure
creek to the rank of prime staple, Of
which the world cannot get enough.
There is nothing in the history of indus
trial development to equal the progress it
has made. When the country first heard
that an advpnturer in Western Pennsyl-
vania had dug well from which gushed
out thousand gallons of. oil daily, the
multitudes refused to believe. Many OF
those who did believe were sure the flow
would quickly fall oft was impossible
such luck should last. 1t not only did
last but has been matched by hundreds of
others.
In this country, development is in pro-
portion to the crowd that can be collected.
As in the gold mines, so in the oil region.
The latter was already within days ride
of dense population, who, amazed at
the discovery almost at their own door,
hocked IN to see, to be satisfied, and to
bore wells, Outsiders, a thousand miles
away, became similarly affected. Pres
emily Oil City was founded, and popula-
ton flowed in as rapidly as the oil flowed
out. Thousands took to boring; 1t
was, in fact, a community of borers.
The rush was in a small way equal to
California itself. Withina single year Pc
troleum became an important staple. Its
hiding place in the cayerns beneath us has
been penetrated, only to prove that the
supply is inexhaustible. 1t has already
founded new cities, and given prodigious
vitality to old ones-even quickening the
trade of such as this, and built railroad
27 miles in length, over which, in the four
teen months ending with 1863, there were
carried 430,6S4 barrels oil, 22,727 tons of
freight, and within thirteen of coo pas
sengers. The receipts were 1884, ,7O5, and
the dividend twenty-five per cent. All
these wonders have been wrought within
four years, in a wild region, into which
strangers never penetrated, where the land
was of little agricultural value, and where
population had never gathered. Up to
1853 the progress of the Petroleum trade
astonished everybody. But that of the
past year has exceeded all expectation. 1t
is evident the wells have no bottom. What
the product for the year has been we can
not say. 1t may be that in the excite
ment of highly prosperous business, no
accurate account has been kept. But the
Custom House figures give some indica-
ton. Petroleum is exported to every
country in the world. In 1861 we shipped
l,ll2,476 gallons in 1862 it rose to
10, 9S7,70l gallons; and in 1868 it reached
the extraordinary quantity of 2S,o00,00o.
Of this total, l9,544.604 gallons were
shipped from this port. In addition to
this foreign export, the home demand is
enormous. Though the whole business
is strictly new one, yet it has already
assumed shape and stability. Ships for
conveying it to England are constructed
oil tight, and the barrels emptied directly
into the hold, thus carrying it in bulk.
The export of last year employed what
was equal to 252 ships of 1000 tons each,
and was worth near $l5,000,000. if re-
fined, or about $l2, 100000 if crude. The
export for this year is estimated at 40, ,O0O,-
600 gallons.
Refined coal oil is now as colorless as
water, and quite as free from smell. 1t is
burned in lamps in tens of thousands of
families, and fortunes have been realized
by the inventors of lamps and the manu-
facturers of shades and chimneys. The
consumption for Illuminating purposes is
only just begun. AS the pleasantest and
cheapest light next to gas. it is destined to
supcrsede all but the latter. Like iron,
gold aud coal no one can fix the limit of
consumption.
1t can only be arrested by failure of the
wells to yield. Of this geologists assert
that there is little probability. The Pc.
troleum wells of Burmah have yielded
uninterrupted supplies for thousands of
years. How long our coal mines may
last has been frequently calculated, but no
calculator has ventured to predict that they
were likely to give out. The iron and
gold they give up is inexhaustible. If
they develope Petroleum to the same ex-
tended form, it may justly claim to take
rank beside them as an equally enduring
staple.-N. Y. Tribune.