Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1865-05-27
VOLUME 2 8.


aow Of brine 1t was this f.ful and un-
governable vis tergo,haviug its unknown
seat OF power n the deep, which made
every effort fttile TO employ the gas as fuel.
Travellers, however ,repor. that this has
been successfully done by the Chinese
salt.makers for many centuries. As for
the oil, continues Hildreth, it made for il.
sell local commerce, beginning to be in
demand ior lamps in workshops and manu-.
factories, and the suggestion was already
made that it would serve to ligh, the streets
of the oties Of Ohio. It is not little
singular, says Mr.. Hodge, ,ha. with the
sources of supply thus pointed out, and
the Useful application Of tho petroleum
understood, its value should have remained
unappreciasod, and at the expiration of
more than thirty five yeara, be at last per-
ceived through the progress of experiment.
made upon the distillation Of bituminous
shales and coal. Bat the fact seems to
stand thus; the natural coal oil was a dis.
gusting and imperfect thing, and there
was neither the pressure Of necessity nor
the favor OF science applicable, in Ohio,
IN The beginning Of the century, to its
purGcation. The destruction Of .he whale
fsharJ, the increase of the railroad sys.
TEN, with its rolling gear and workshop
machinery, and the coming in of lard oil
as substitute for whale Gil, ell had to in.
tervene between tie inception and the per.
formance Of the coal oil drama,
1t was in lS47 that Ar. Young, in
Glasgow, (the most intimate friend, By
the way, of she African traveller, Living.
stone,) had established his publication Of
petroleum from the Riddng's mines in
Dorbyshire, boghcad cannel, common coal
81 ales, peat and solid bitunen, and intro
dused the use Of these mineral oils to such
an extent that a search for the native ar
! ticle, long known to exist, was set on foo,
in earnest. The oils of the coal region
OF America at once commanded principal
sttenslop. The FIRST practical movemen,
in this direction vas not made, tnsil, 10
1854, Messrs, Eveleth and Bissell, Of N.
York, secured tie right to the upper spring
. on Oil creek, and organized company.
r Still, three years passed before Mr.. Bow.
ditch and Colonel Drake, OF New Haven,
began the first Titusvile boring, striking
, the oil stratum q, seventy-one feet depth
9 in August, 1858. The drill sank sudden.
s ly into cavity, and the oil rose within
e i've inches of the surface, and was pumped
i off at the rate Of, at FIRST, 400 and after
# wards 1000 gallons per day. The news
l spread The widest speculation soon
i" ragged. Every acre of land in the valley,
y and part way up the steep hill sides, for
e ten miles south of the boring, as far as
t. to the junction ol Oil creek with the Allta
/. ghany river, was bought up by eager con-
IS testants for fortune sure to be real zed
IS 10 few months. Hundreds of wells sank
speedily to various dertha. The once
/. quiet. et.beautiful valley became noisy den,
t. hideous desert. Der;icks, scafolds, and
IT pumping gear took the places occupied by
i the tall forest tree. or blooming orchards.
IS Groups of warehouses, barrel factories.
re boarding houses, and whole Villages re-
er placed each solitary farmhouse. The
e stream Was damned and sluiced for ar,i
y. fetal foods, barbors were sxcavated in
n the lowest places, and the res. of the id.
h servale became q sinking bog of mud and
!. salt mingled with oil Not blade Of
b grass was 20 be seen, and Dohing 10 be
OF heard but the clapkng of the pumps, the
5, blowing Of some Lew well in its frs. en-
rt ergy, the shouting Of drivers urging mis-.
le cradle mules and horses through the naus-
gS eous mud, dragging empty barrels to the
ct wells, or full ones down to the stream,
nj where the boatmen issten them together
\. for the nezt food. bong barges filled
ID with casks, or with the oil itself in bulk,
le lie waiting for the moving of The waters,
ce when the upper dam is opened Amene
ly them are 10 be seen strange crafts, com
I'd posed of barrels lashed together like q
he raft, or barrels saved in two and lashed
s- together thus, to carry the oil in bulk ,ard
Oh filed to the brim, -,.
OF Occasionally The pond lreshets, as they
e. are called, become scenes OF ludicrous dia
i. aster, The latest were those of Decembe,
Ill . and December 5, 1862, IN which fit,
re thousand barrels of oil we're lost. "The
I'd loss on the Allegheny river writes a COZ
IF respondent, sis estimated a. 10000 o,
,l, 100000 gallous," The scene is graph
e. cally described ID the columns Of til,
it Philadelphia Coal Oil CirSular of becem
at Der lS The boats grounding in grea
H. numbers the larger overriding ,crusLino