The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1865-02-01
Prom the New York Sun.
PetrOieum-Its Discovery, DcA
q VeioPnlent, Commercial Inn
porlanCe, sc.

4
Special Correspondence Il the sun.
OIL CITy, San. Is. 1868.
TO compress the whole subject of Petro
leun into a newspaper Article would be ,
feat more difficult Of Accomplishment than
any yet performed bv literary pestidgitators,
However, IVill give you, in as concise 8
atorm ss possible, the more interesting fea.
tares CT the petroleum subject, leaving my
personal experience during two month I.
tour - the classic region Of modern Grease
to subsequent article.
WHAT PETRoLEr!M Is.
| The rapid development of the oil produc.
| mig territory, and the immense quantity OF
| petroleum thar is now annually consumed in
the United States, has made it so familiar
TO the public that an elaborate analysis OF
Its properties is unnecessary tits natur-
al oil, deposited in the earth usually at a
depth Of from one hundred 70 six hundred
feet; has a rancid, disagreeable oder. and is
valuable for burning, lubricating and medi-
cinal purposes Although its properties,
and knowledge of the extent of its depos-
its, have but recently been known in this
country, petroleum has in reality been
known and used to some extent in every age
running back almost to the diluvian period
. Irs ANTIQUITY.
in Egypt petroleum was used for medici-
nal purposes nearly four thousand years ago
and oil springs are still in existence in that
country. In the latter part of the last cen
tury two ship cargoes of the crude oil we're
transported to England to be sold, but the
process Of refining not being understood, the
traffic was abandoned Under the name of
Sicilian oil, the people of Agrigeutum used
what is now known as petroleum for pur-
poses of illumination, and in Parma there
is spring of naptha which the people ap-
ply to like use at the present day. In
Asia Minor the oil has been known to ex-
ist, and has been used to a limited extent
for ages; and in Persia a large quantity has
been annually consumed during several hun
dred years. Even in this country petroleum
is by no means a new discovery. 1t was
we'll known to the Indians bofnre America
was discovered, and was used for medicinal
purposes The early settlers of Western
Pennsylvania, and other districts where oil
springs now exist, used Rock oil, as they
called it, for various purposes, collecting it
by skmming the oil deposit on the top of
the water as it accumulated from the
springs. In the memoranda of his visit to
Fort du Qucsne (now Pittsburg), during the
French and Indian war with the Colonies,
General Washington mentions the existence
of oil springs III localities where wells are
now in operation. But neither the Indians
nor the early white settlers know anything
of the vast deposits in the bed Of the earth.
WHAT PRODUCES PETROLEUM
Biologists, like doctors, do not always
agree and Sith regard to petroleum-the
natural cat LseS which produce it-there is
considerable diversity of opinion. The
most rational theory, however and the one
by the most eminent geologists
is this: The formation o. the North Ameri- !
can Continent the great uphcay, which !
threw off the water and discovered the and,
deposited vast fields of marshy salt grass
and seaweed in the bed where petroleum is |
now found. This vegetable deposite. in the
transformation, became covered with sue
,cssive layers of sand, shutting up the yege-
-ation in its salt water beds. The action of
The internal heat of the earth upon this veg
etation and said water could not consume
he vegetable matter, nor could it drive off
Ind into rock cut off all means of escape
Is i,esult, the heat distilled the vegeta-
ion. extracting the carbon and hydrogen
onlprisiS.n them-hencc the formation of
he hydry car. onc comp r'lnd known as pc
roieum. The SAM natural l..@at which per-
ormed the work Of distl.nlation wou.H natur-
lily crack the rock above, to su:ne exte.t-
ence the assures through which the oil has
een forced up in some localities, produclnr
he oil springs. Upon this theory the fact
hat the oil is found, when near the surface,
J narrow crevices or fssures, is easily ex-
lained-the petroleum being forced into
hese cracks from the beds below,
oW THE PETROLEUM BEDS zWRRE DIS
COVERED.
The region in which the oil is now found {
4 Western Pennsylvania has almost for
entury been known as great salt district,
nd salt wells have been in operation there
yer since the early settlement OF the coun-
~. In boring salt wells the greatest diff
.lty was found in selecting localities where
lie water was not impregnated with sub =
ance which the salt-men characterized as !
a nasty, greasy substance, and which we
the present day call petroleum. Nearly !
'rty years ago Mr.. Packer, while boring /,
II salt water on Deer Greek, in Clarion $
ounty, Pennsylvania, "struck oir' at the ,,
opth Of four hundred feet. The GREASY ,
alter, az he termed it. spurtel up with !;
cat force, overlooking the land therea- :
outs. ruined his salt machinery, saturated .
lie land with grease; and Mr., Packer, pro- !
undly diSgu>ted with the results of his . +.
forts to obtain salt, left the country in =.
lff, little dreaming that he was running
way from an ri Dorado richer than the gold i
ines of Caliiornia-more remuneratiye !
IAN the diamond mines of Brazil ' !
ORIGIN Or TIN PETROLEUM BUSINESS. .
As a natural consequence of the increase r
e surface from abandoned salt wells, the
'ople living in localities where it appeared e
adually discovered that it contained some G
Iluable properties The reader will re- I
ember that only, a few years ago substace t
horrld odor and taste was sold through b
1t the country for nearly all the ills of the
Ssh and bearing the names successfully Fl
Seneca Oil, Genessee Oil, and Rock Oil. e
was warranted to cure every thing from Ii
othachc to hereditary consumption, and
IS perfect annihilator of such simple all &
onts as rheumatism and asthma-bcing
ually efficacious iii external and internal G
plications This miraculous sutff was +,
nply crude petroleum, and that it was h
|culated to either kill or cure when ta- tc
n internally, nobody will now deny The cc
parently inexhaustible supply of the oil h
last att racted the attention, of scientific m
N, and i'll 1858, its properties and uses h
came more generally understood. A few 4,
rrels Of the crude oil were exported to II
lg!and, where it was partially refineG, and, II
commercial importance began to be un- m
rstood. Yankee enterprise having been q
racted to the subject. the natural result W
lowed. A method Of refining was inyen- m
!, the illuminating and lubricating uses of in
troleum was discovered, and the reign of n,
trola commenced. 4 10
-----sss- ~z' ---sesa------- ssy W
ne Blowing Up OF Forts Cas- d'
well and Campbell by the Re- tie