Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1866-10-27
Petroleum..

vey,' by ,, B' buckley
Petroleum is n mineral oil derived
from the decomposition Of organic
matter, principally in q vegetable
form, being mostly made by cheml'
cal changes in vegetable matter,
beneath the surface OF the Garth
II has been found in the rocks OF
nearly every geological age above
the Azoic, but only in large quaint
ties near, or Mt no great distance
from extensive deposits OF coal or
Ignite, both of which are, as we
have before remarked, Of undoubtcd
vegetable origin. Under heat ana
pressure il is generated and MADE
In coal beds, from whence it may
run in streams through the creviccs
of the rocky strata below, or be
there held in reservoirs until struck
by the auger of some fortunate com
pany or individual boring through
the rocks above. We can now see
why in the oil regions some wells
cease to flow. The reservoir may
have b come exhausted, or the oil
stream may have been struck still
higher up the stream or valley by
the sinking of one or more wells
Petroleum, although known to
the ancients and by them used to
limited extent, has never been OBJ,
tanned in immense quantities and
subjected to a refining process, so as
to render it cheap safe and excel
lent illuminating agent, until re-
Gently. We say safe, because if
properly refined and deprived of its
more volatile matters, such as ben
zole, it is not subject to explosion in
good lamps. Buy good article OF
kerosene, have your lampsfilled and
trimmed in the morning, and You
need havo no fears that they Will
explode. Petroleum has added SO
much to the wealth, resources ana
commerce ofsome parts oithe North
ern States, and we may add comfort
to the entire country by giving Il
cheap, brilliant light, in place OF the
old dim tallow candle, which was in
general use in a large portion OF the
United States, that it demands from
us quite an extend ID notice, because
we believe that it will ere long be
found in abundance in many parts
of Texas. Petroleum exists in
fluid form on the shores Of the
Caspian Sea and in the Birman EN-
pire, where at Rangoon there are
upwards of five hundl ed naptha
wells, which yield annually about
412,OOO hogsheads When inspis-
stated, or somewhat indurated, it is
called asphaltum or bitumen, in
which form (partly) there is a
wonderful lake of it in the Island
of Trinidad, a mile and halfin cir
cumference, which is in II more or
less solid form around its shores
and over large portion of its sur
face, but boiling in the middle, from
whence it increases in hardness to-
ward it's shores. According to
Manross "the solidified bitumen ap-
pears as if it had cooled at the sur
face when boiling in large bubbles.
The ascent to the lake from the sea,
a distance of three -fourths of mile,
is covered with hardened pitch, on
which trees and vegetables flourish,
and about Point La Braye the
masses of pitch look like black rocks
among the foliage. The lake is un-
derlaid by bed of mineral coal"
Two ship loads ofthe Trinidad pitch
were sent by Admiral Cochran to
England, but the oil required, to
render it fit for use so much ex-
pense, and the present rectifying
process not then being understood,
The project of importing more was
abandoned. At Inniskillen, in Can
ada West, according to the Geologi-
cal Report of Logan, the bitumen is
in some places two feet deep.
Petroleum was first brought to
notice in our own country by the
Seneca Indians, about a century
ago. They used it as an ointment
for their wounds, and in some OF
theirreIigious ceremonies A spring
on Oil Creek, in Pennsylvania, was
covered with the oil, from whence it
was skinned and sold in small
quantities as q medicine, under the
name of "Seneca oil" The Oil
Creek spring and its adjacent lands
was sold few years since by the
Seneca Indians for small sum,
much to the present. regret OF their
leading men, for these lands are
now worth many millions, and have
been the most productive in oil of
any in the country. In boring tor
salt near Tarcntum, town about
thirty. five miles above Pittsburg,
oil was "struck" in 1915, which,
when tested, proved to be similar in
its chemical composition to other
coal oils, which were then being
manufactured quite extensively in
IlldIll DldCcS llOhi bhO DibhiANHNaS
ard camel coal of the Western coal
fields. However, as its refining
process was not then fully under
stood, its value was not appreciated.
Twelve years later Messrs. Bow
ditch and Drake of New Haven, be-
gan boring for oil at Titusville, on
Oil Creek, high up the Allegheny,
in the hilly region Of Pennsylvania,
where lands were held at little
value Their work progressed slow
ly and at intervals so that it was
not until August 1859, that oil was
struck at the depth of seveuty-one
feet. which flowed out at the surface
al the rate of 400 gallons daily.
The oil excitement then began, and
before the termination of 1860,
about 1000 wells and borings were
made, of which seventy -four Of the
largest gave daily 1,l65 gallons,
worth. at its then market value,