The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-01-20
5tastrille @niou.
VIM. CAMERON a CO., Publishers.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2o, 1866. -

| W. CAMEhOA q JV.s fuBllSntfs.
SATURDAY, JANUARY %, 1866. -
From the Tennessee Oil Regions.
Correspondence Of the Chicago Republican.
McMNNvILLE, Tenn, Jan. T..
That Tennessee is one of the riches
Of the old States of the Union in min
eral wealth, no one who has observed
the geological structure of the STATE
can doubt; yet this mineral wealth ii
almost wholly undeveloped. and
might say undiscovered. Slavery hal
psralyzed the enterprise of her people
and hid from their sight the vast
wealth that is just beneath their feet
McMinnvilie, where date this letter
and where have t 'ried several days
is the county seat of Warren county
before the war beautiful town of some
four thousand inhabitants, situated
near the Cumberland mountains, a
thousand feet higher than Nashville, in
an atmosphere as pure IS that of St
/ Paul McMinnville is forty miles
northeast from Murfreesboro, on the
railroad from Tullahoma to Sparta,
which is not now in running order,
having been stripped of rails and roll
! ing stock by the ravages of war. Gen.
Wilder found it necessary to destroy
the bridges on the road, which have
not yet been rebuilt The President
of the road, by the way, is now in
Washington to see if the Government
viii not replace the iron of the road.
McMinnville is situated in the midst
of fine fruit growing district, and in
the midst of the richest mineral
district of the State. ! have seen much
to convince me that this is true, and
have heard wonderful stories of coal
veins eight and ten feet in thickness;
of beds of lead surprisingly rich, forty
feet wide, extending for miles through
the hills and mountains; and of an
cient salt wells destroyed by overflow
ing oil before its value was known, etc,
etc. tithe of which, if true, is amply
sufficient to make a more than Pithole
of McMinnville in sixty days Ii is
certainly true that within FIVE hundred
yards of where ] write, petroleum gas,
the veritable carburetted hydrogen,
bubbles up through the surface of the
earth in sufficient quantities to light a
small city. By the aid of an extempo-
rized gas burner, formed by an inverted
wooden bucket with a gimblet-hole in
the bottom, secured a bright Jet of
flame on the instant; and this gas for
years has bubbled up unappropriated,
and wasted its Illuminating power on
the desert air, to no purpose except to
frighten the superstitioGs people by
suggesting the possible proximity of
that much dreaded lake of fire and
birthstone, the exact location of which
is not marked on the maps topographi-
cal or theological.
1t is reported, and is undoubtedly
true, that on Rocky river, ten miles
from this place, in Warren county,
some thirty or forty years ago, well
was bored for salt water, which was
found in abundance, and salt manufac-
tured therefrom; that, after time, an
attempt was made TO sink the well
deeper, and that, when at a depth of
three hundred and eleven feet, the well
suddenly overfiowed with oil, and con-
tinued to flow oil in vast quantities,
to the utter destruction of the salt
works, and the flooding of the creeks
and rayines with oil; and that the oil
finally took fire, and the fire came very
near burning the world up" as the
people said One man at the time iu-
sisted that hell must be located under
the Cumberland m9untainA True it is,
also, that at place called Calf-Killer
creek, twenty miles from McMinnVille,
in White county, some thirty years ago,
a well was sunk for salt four hundred
feet, and that this well became a flow
ing oil well, destroyed the salt-msnufac-
turing, snd finally took fire, and burn
ed to the great terror of the good peo-
pie round about, who had no idea of
the character or value OF the int1smable
substance, except a superstitious notion
that it was the same which fed the tlres
of the Internal regions under the Cum
berlapd mountains.
This latter well, and what happened
in connection with it. may be found su-
thenticalIy described in Saffords re-
portof the geological survey of Tennes-
see. Since public attention has been
so generally directed TO the subject Of
oil and oil lands, the locations OF these
ancient salt wells, and the adjoining
lands that could be secured, have been
leased by individuals and companies
with the view of boring for mL There
Is a talk of endeaYoring to ind the
mouths of these wells and of cleaning
them out in hope that the flow of oil
will again commence as OF old.
Six oil wells are now in progress Of
boring in the vicinity of McMinnville,
two by Cincinnati company, and four
by Mr. McCsbe of Chicago, with most
encouraging indications that oil will be
obtained One near Yervills, in War
rem county, belonging to the Cincinnati
company, has reached depth Of fifty
nine feet Some oil is discovered when
using the sandpump, and very con
siderable bubbling and smell OF gas is
noticed. Surface indications are very
strong at this point The shale crops
out here, and is so saturated with oil
that it looks oily and smells strongly
of petroleum. The Cavsnaugh well, a
mile and q half from the first, on
Hickory creek, has reached 6 depth Of
seventy-eight feet, and overAows with
water several times a day, caused by
the,effervenscence of gas, which bubbles
up in large quantities The next is
the Thompson well at McMinnville,
now fifty-nine feet deep NO striking
symptoms of oil were noticed at this
well. The fourth is the Pioneer well on
Hickory creek, three miles from
Vervilla, now one hundred feet deep,
Just through the hard lime rock, and
entering the slate The hfth IS the
Milroy well, ninety-five feet and pro
crossing through the sand rock The
sixth. Priests well 50 called, four miles
from McMinnville, on Collins river at
the mouth of Zesks creek, one hun
dred and thirty-three feet deep, now
in the sand rock. Gas and small guam
titles of oil encourage those engaged TO
believe that oil will be struck at no
great distance further. The strata OF
rock through which this well las passed
are indicated as follows
Feet
1917