Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-10-17

ply. OF course this is popular delusion,
but nothing short of q practical test will
determine this important and slippery
point, or satisfy those most interested
One fact is settled, that at almost any
point on the line of this declination oil is
procured; and the story is correct, wherev.
er the most violent disturbance has taken
place there will be most assures, aud the
oil, with its gaseous. compounds, will
more readily ascend into the underlying
space, and even to the surface. A few
years since quite an extensive trade was
carried on in the lower end of this county
/ by collecting petroleum from q stratum of
sand, upon which rested a stratum of COM
post white clay impermeable to oil. Oil
and gas now rise to the surface of streams,
or issue from the assures of rocks at innu-
mersble places along the line of this ex-
tensive disturbance. Good wells can be
procured at a depth of seventy five to two
hundred feet. The,great WeIf struck With
in the last month at Horse neck has a
depth of but one hundred and sixty.two,
aud the large flowing we'll struck on the
18th of March last has depth of two
handred and forty feet. TheseRre all
too shallow, and this is the principal OBJ.
lection to all the wellsyet bored. No good
we'll con be procured and relied on, with
out passing through the second sand rock,
or even the third. The source of supply
lies higher in the Virginia district than in
that of Pennsylvania. Here the oil is de-
rived from the carboniferous series, those
from the lower formations-the sand stones
and slabs of the upper division. Good
wells can be procured here from $50 to 500
feet; there not much short of $50 feet.
The oil from this district is valuable as
lubricator. Its gravity ranges from,
twenty eight to forty degrees. 1t has a
brown, greenish color, and a strong, pun
gent, bitumiuous odor.
Some OF the HerdlFs readers may not
know what we mean by petroleum in its
crude state. Let US briefly define name
and composition. 10 l.
Petroleum derived from Pstros eLaian, rock
oil. 1t is also called oil of earth, oLsdm
Terra; nspha, asPhaltum, bitumen, seneca
oil, bank oil, natural tar, Barbados tar,
carbon oil, coal oil, Sc. These in effect,
are essentially the same thing. 1t is COM
pound of liquid portions of several bitumi-
nous substances, which, although differing
in some particulars, present a striking sim
ilarity of chemical composition. Petro-
leum approaches naptha or ssphsltum, ac-
cording to the liquid or solid state in which
it may be found. Asphaltum is hard,
black solid, and napths is a light volatile
and transparent fluid, highly cOmbustble.
In chemical composition there is close
resemblance between all the bitumas-sll
containing the elementary gases, carbon
and hydrogen, in nearly the same proper
tons.
These hydro. csrbons are of organic ori-
gin, derived from the decomposition of
vegetable or animal tissue. Petroleum from
this locality is the result Of vegetable BIZ
Illumination; that from the lower SilsriRn
limestone of Canada is of animal origins
The cavities of large orthoceraties have
been found filled with petroleum, but so
fetid as to be most offensive.
Will the supply bold out2 Who can
auswer2 The celebrated Rainsnghong
wells, in Burmah, India, have continued
to yield large quantities of oil for many
ages. What might be the effect of an ex-
haustiRg steam pump it is difficult to tell,
but certain i: is the wells of Hanlin, Ford
and Co., operating near Petroleum station,
Northwestern Virginia Railroad, have been
pumped without interruption for four years,
and without material diminution.
have already referred to the primitive
mode of getting oil on Hughes' river. Pits
we're excavated in the river bank, and the
oil collected very much in the manner prRc-
tised by the ancient inhabitants of Zacyn.
thus, as described by Herodotus. Some old
citiZens who had engaged in the business
informed me that many thousand barrels
have been collected from the sand by this
simple process-excavating pits, filing
them with water, sgitating the sand until
the oil rises, and then removing With q
woollen cloth or skinner.
My opinion, based on careful observa-
ton and exploration, is, the supply of oil
will be found very abundant throughout
the entire district south of Hughes river,
not only along the andclinal line aud its
subordinate folds and fleXures, bat even
beyond it. This point will speedily be
| tubed, as numerous wells will be bored
within the next ninety days. Heavy i'm
vestments have recently been made by
Eastern capitalists-not speculators-Who
have suddenly deemed the present good
opportunity for investing spare funds, with
the certainty of realizing largely therefrom.
Several prominent citizens of New York
have secured important landed interests
in Western Virginia. Not only business
men, but politicians, Statesmen aud others,
have turned their attention hitherward.
| OF those who have secured desirable looa-
tions suppose there may be no impropri.
ETY. in saying that Hon. Joseph o. g. Ken
nedy, dy,SupeFiutendent United States Census,
has been particularly fortunate. know
of NO one more worthy of worldly success.
he has been faithful and efficient officer.
Mr.. Kennedy is a great lover of nature,
ald through the urgent solicitation Of
friends, who felt anxious about his health,
made hurried trip into the mountains of
West Virginia. He was Interested In the
geology, the faurar and eveutful history of
the trans. .Alleghauy region; but especially
in the wonderful resources of the petroleum
district He determined to secure for him
self aud find some desirable location. He
was peculiarly fortunate, for within week
the lands he purchased advanced fifty per
cent.
With the heavy investments recently
made. and from the spirit Of the men en-.