The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1865-03-23
PETROLEUM.

t prestldgltators. However, | will Civ
Il you, In as concise form as possible, tn
| more interesting features of the petroleum
Y subject
< The rapid development of the oil pre-
D ducing territory, andthe immense quantit
: OF petroleum that is now consumed in tn
United States, has made it so familiar t
, the public that an elaborate analysis @
: its properties is unnecessary 1t is nat
ural oil, deposited in the earth usual
, at depth of from one hundred to 81:
. hundred feet, has rancid, disagreeabl
!, odor, and is valuable for burning, lubri
eating and medicinal purposes. Although
its properties, and knowledge of th
extent of its deposits, have but recently
been known in this country, petroleum ha,
in reality been known and used to some
extent in every age, running back almos
to the diluvian period.
In Egypt petroleum was used for medi
cinal purposes nearly four thousand years
ago, and oil springs are still in existance
In that country, In the latter part Of
the last century, two ship cargoes of the
crude oil were transported to England tc
be sold, but the process of refining moi
being understood, the traffic was aband.
oned. Under the name of Sicilian oil,
the people of Agrigentum used what is
known as petroleum for the purpose of
illumination, and in Parma there is a
spring of naptha which the people apply
to like use at the present day. In Asia
Minor the oil has been known to exist,
and has been used to limited extent for
ages; and in Persia large quantity has
been annually consumed, buring several
hundred years. Even in this country
petroleum is by no means new discovery.
1t was well known to the Indians before
America was discovered, and was used
for medicinal purposes. The early set
tiers of Western Pennsylvania, and other
districts where oil springs now exist, used
rock oil, as they called it, for various pur-
poses, collecting it by skimming the oil
deposit on the top of the water as it ac-
cumulated from the springs. In the
memoranda of his visits to Fort du Quesne
(now Pittsburg,) during the French and
Indian war with the Colonies, General
Washington mentions the existence of
oil springs in localities where wells are
now in operation. But neither the In
dians nor the early white settler knew
anything of the vast deposits in the bed
of the earth.
The region in which the oil is now
found in Western Pennsylvania has al
most for century been known as great
salt district, and salt wells have been in
operation there ever since the early set
Element Of the country. In boring salt
wells the greatest difficulty was found in
selecting localities where the water was
not impregnated with a substance which
the salt men characterized as "a nasty,
greasy, substance" and which We of the
present day call petroleum. Nearly forty
years ago Mr.. Packer, while boring for
salt water on Deer Creek, in Clarion coun-
ty, Pa, struck oil at the depth of 400 feet.
The "greasy water,' as he termed it,
spurted up with great force, overfowed
the land thereabouts, ruined his salt ma
chinery, saturated the land with grease;
and Mr.. Packer profoundly disgusted
with the result of his efforts to obtain
salt, left the country in milf, little
dreaming that he was running away from
an El Dorado richer than the gold mines
of California-more remunerative, too.
than the diamond mines of Brazil.
Asa natural consequence Of the in
crease of the quantity of oil that found
its way to the surface from abandoned
salt wells, the people living in localities
where it appeared, gradually discovered
that it contained some valuable proper
ties. The reader will perhaps remember
that only few years ago a substance of
horrid odor and taste was sold throughout
the country as a sovereign remedy for
nearly alf the ills of the flesh, and bearing
the names successively of Seneca Oil,
Gennesee Oil, and Rock Oil. 1t was
warranted to cure everything from tooth
ache to hereditary consumption, and was
perfect annihilator of such simple all
ments as rheumatism and asthma-being
equally eficacious in external and inter
nal applications. This miraculous stuff
was simply crude petroleum, and that it
was cactlateu 10 clIueT hlIl VI cure, WHcu
taken internally, nobody will now deny:
The apparently inexhaustable supply of
the oil at length attracted the attention
of scientific men, and in 1858 its proper
ties and nses became more generally un-
derstood. A few barrels of the crude oil
were exported to England, where it was
partially refined, and its commercial i'm
portance began to be understood. Yam
kee enterprise having been attracted to
the subject, the natural result followed.
A method of refining was invented, the
Illuminating and lubricating uses of
petroleum were discovered, and the reign
of Petrolia commenced.
The existance of oil beds having been
determined, and Yankee enterprise hav-
ing been attracted thereto, the next ques-
tion that naturally arose was, how to
determine where to sink well for 1t
was soon discovered that there was some
thing of lottery in striking OIL Geolo-
gists and other scientific men, who en-
Il h