Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1868-09-15
DECREASE OF THE NATURAL SUPPLY
OF COAL OIL,

In view Of the fact that nearly all the oil
springAsn the country are showing signs of ex-
haustIon- the question whether the natural
supply of rock oil will be still further dImin-
ished- or entirely cut Oft in the future, is an
important and interesting one, not only to a
great number of manufacturers and dealers,
but to the public at large
A trade worth millions of dollars and giving
employment to $1,000 men. in an article which
contributes so largely 10 the comfort and well
fare OF the civilized world, being used as an il
Eliminating agent. as fuel, as medicine, &c and
entering largely into various manufactures,
cannot be interrupted without infiicting hurry
on many other interests. The natural supply
OF coal oil has rendered It's manufacture from
coal, &C., needless, but leaves the refining
machinery still at work, and multiplies
the stills and watts. The quantities of crude
OIL produced by nature are astonishing
Prof Lesley, of the University of Pennsylya-
MIA, says that the Empire Spring sent up its
OIL 70 a reservoir three hundred feet above the
level Of its mouth. The Phillippl well yielded
at first three thousand barrels of oil daily,
while many others around II Were Welding
from fifty TO five hundred barrels each per day
The Excelsior well flowed five hundred barrels
per day for several months. The wells on Oil
Greek alone, at their best, produced at the rate
of over four thousand barrels daily, or more
than one and half million barrels per annum
In estimating the magnitude of the supply it is
well to take into consideration the fact that the
entire production Of the whale fishery of the
world, in one of its most prolific years, was
not quite four hundred and thirty thousand
barrels of sperm and whale oil together.
The fSrse with which new borings often per-
nit the deep set reservoirs Of Oil and gas to
eyaeuate themselves, would seem itself TO in.
dictate the physical impossibility of its contin.
uance, and experience has shown that all the
older wells slowly but surely diminish their
supply. A writer in describing the old Free
dom spring in Cattaraugus county, New York
says that well was dug fourteen feet deep,
within eighteen feet of it, which afforded AT
first large supply of oil, but soon the old and
the new springs died away together. This is
the case in other localities none Of the old salt
wells Of the Sandy, the Kanawha, the Monon
gahela, Conemaugh, Allegheny, Beaver, and
Nuskingum valleys have been retained in full
working condition except by being deepened
from time TO time. The boring being carried
further down every few years, new supplies
OF brine and oil and gas have been the conse-
quence. The uncertainty Of the supply is,
however, better illustrated in the history of the
famous Oil City, with which our readers are
The fiercest spouting wells of a few years ago
nave become comparatively quiet, and so has
the blowing Of their owners. When a com.
parison with other regions of the world is
instituted the same conclusion is arrived at
The original five hundred springs on the Ira.
waddy in India now yield less than 100, OO0
gallons per annum. Cases Of sudden exhaus-
tIon sometimes occur where wells beginning to
blow OF gas, become entirely unproductive in
day or two, and it is asserted that In nearly
every case Of confiagatIon, the burning we'll,
as if internally injured, has ceased its yield of
oil. On the other hand, old wells exhausted
and abandoned have sometimes been seemingly
refreshed by rest, and again become profitable
This recuperative power, however, is, we are
inclined 10 think, poor dependence, and no,
worth so much as the probability Of new wells
being discovered to replace the old. Expert.
ence teaches that the resources of nature are
inexhaustible, and we have no dou bt petroleum
or some equivalent for il will be forthcoming
so long as mar requires fire to warm him
and oil or gas to give him light.