The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-02-08

ton is, whether the supply will tail!-
There is nereasen teathink that the pc
troleum deposits will be exhausted before
the coal deposits are Individual mines
NAV and do faiL but new ones are being
sunk every day; and when we take into
consideration the fact that petroleum, in
various shapes, has been exuding from
the earth and flowing away on the
waters, or floating off into the ether tor
tensof thousands, if not for millions of
wears, we may doubt if there is any
reasonable prospect for the exhaustid On OF
the vast petroleum reservoir at any lime
earlier tnan that period at winch MI;
Macaulay's New Zealander will stand
upon broken arch of London bridge to
sketch the ruins of St. Pauls. Our
readers who are interested in the new
trade may rest assured, at any rate, that
peace will settle upon our distra cted
land long before the oil-wen will
'breathe" or pump" no more. ..,
THE OIL COMPANIES. 49,.
The first petroleum mining association
was organized and began operations in
1859. This was New Haven company,
whose pioneer, Massachusetts, gentle
man named Drake, sank the first well,
we believe, and striking" largely the
fortunes of himself and associates were
assured. From this success date all sub
sequent enterprises, and the increase in
the number Of corporations has been per
fectly enormous. There are at present
more than FIVE hundred public companies
in existence in the United States, while
the number of private companies cannot
be much less. Despite the extraordinary
number of companies before the public,
new ones find that their stock, if backed
up by respectable names, need not go a
begging, Indeed some of the most sue
cessful of the oil companies, in this mat
ter, are among those whose prospectnses
have most recently appeared. We might
instance the Everett Oil Company, hose
stock was all taken in four hours from the
time of opening the subscription books,
and the First National Petroleum Com
pany, of New York, and Pennsylvania
Whose advertisement appears elsewhere)
tbe length of whose title does not seem
to have deferred the public from absorb
ing nearly all of the stock. The history
of some of the associations would paral-
we with establishment the prudent spec
ulators of the last generation; either as
respects the enterprises themselves, or
the success which has attended them.
THE OIL TERRITORY.
No particular locality can be pointed
out as peculiar for petroleum. 1t is, OF
course, we'll known that the best paying
wells are in certain counties of Pennsyl-
yania-Venango Crawford, and others
and portions of Western Virginia. but
unmistakable traces of oil have been
discovered in nearly every free State, or
rather (as all the States are now sup
posed to be free) in every unseceded
State; while it is more than probable that
paying wells might be sunk i'll many
portions of the territory OF the Maynard
sister States in rebellion. Canada yields
quite crop of oil already, several fine
wells being in operation i'll various To-
calities in the Queens dominions. Ore
gon is not behind her sisters in sustain
inc the excitement; but the most remark
able stories come from California, i'll San
la Barbara county, of which State it Is
said the oil exists i'll pools, actually SO
great as to prove complete cattle-traps
many of the vaccine ''prospectors"
having been drowned in them. In our
own State, in several of the Western
counties, as well as in Duchess county,
oil indications show themselves. AT
Fishkill, the ''show" is promising
OIL LANDS.
People, in weighing the subject otpnr-
chasing oil stocks, must remember that
the companies backed up by good and
respectable names are the least likely to
prove man-traps After this, it is well
10 inquire into the location of the lands
1t does not follow that because the prop
erty of particular company may he
situated upon Oil creek, or in Venango
county, that success is certain to follow
all pertoratiOns for petroleum. The best
oil-wells are neither on the low lands
nor on the tops of the hills or mountains,
but will bo generally found i'll the
gulches or gllllies, at a greater or lesser
distance away from the banks of the par
ticular stream or swamp upon whose sur
face the first oleaginous indications were
discovered A company might own land
bordering upon that in which "oil'
should be daily struck, and yet, bore
they never so wisely, would not be able
to obtain single drop of the precious
substance Those who must trust en-
tirely to luck should inquire critically
into the character of the men composing
the company they desire to patronize;
while those who can afford it would do
well to visit the scene of operations