New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-06-08
PETROLEUM MINING.

THE THEORY OF CONIINssrrI INyPsTI-
DEMONSTRATION BY SUCCESSFUL Innnoi nv
.nro,,a 1oc,r1oN AND PECULIARITIEs OF
THE GREAT BELT. r.,
To me Edffor Of The I''o"",
Srp. No history OF success OF ialuie III .no
-, o., oil can be utterly disnterested; ana IL INC
-, reader should infer from the following descrp-
Its that somebody has oil-lands for SALE he
uoi ,o admit that in the face OF such hypoth
h facts are OF too general value to be confined to
,terested few. The history OF oil developments In
hs country has been chronicle OF reckless fsks anu
Mind speculation. No systematic, Intelligent EFFORTS
have been made to detect the sources OF petroleum.
hence the balance In dollars and cents Ia against Petro-
eum I'm its account with Trade. Science has contributed
little almost nothing to the practical ends OF the bus-
ness II is matter OF surprise that these wonderful
manifestations Of natures workings have received so
little attention from scientists, compared with their
merits and their needs tl more matter OF surprise Is
IL that Trade has neglected their investigation; while
II has systemazed the oilrallc abovegTound wonder
fully The financial departments OF the business are
also perfectly organized. An oilbroker can actu-
ally handle and transfer thousand barrels OF oil
as easily rs he could thousand dollars In money,
deposng and checking against the former precisely as
the latter. At Oil City, Titusyile and other centers
there have been organized Boards Of Trade or Petroleum
Exchanges which keep their members and the trade at
largo well informed Of all that concerns the business
ADORE ground Yet none OF these organizations have
made any effort TO collect information analyze expert
ences and make even general deductions which woniu
offer the driller the net results OF all experiments ana
Tins reduce the tremendous chances against his success
II every driler had kept such record as he might ana
concerted intelligent efforts had been made 10 coate
these records the lines Of subteanean wealth could be
traced on the surface with very considerable degree OF
The result would be the saving OF millions OF
dollars annually wasted in blind probing for oil deposits
and the reduction of the business TO safe basis as In
any pursuit Strange that nothing like Bureau OF VI
Mining exists to this day
sueh investigation as been made has been empri-
cal in character The science OF oil development can
hardly be said to exist though recent indications show
that is gestatng vigorously The business OF OIL ne
yeopment owes what progress 1t has made to the gam
nspired efforts of practical unscentfc men, The country
cannot present body Of men better fitted Tor practca
achievement than the business men OF Oildom Next W
the wonderful natural phenomena OF TINS region, inc
observing spectator will impressed with the wonderu
enterprise of its men. They highly personify that quick
ness of perception and fertility OF resources which Yam
KEGS sum ND in the word cuteness" The average OIL
| man is a practical engineer. consuminate hhancnr
and scientist by intuition and experiment III Is this
class of men who have made all the discoveries ana
originated all the theories of any value yet
70 the ORIGIN location and probable future OF oil deposits
And they are the ones who will have to construct the
new science OF oil mining. That such science is pos
sibenay that It's truth is at hand-l propose 10
show by detailing the experiments OF an operator
Preli minary to narration few wellestaDlished
facts in oil phenomena should perhaps be laid before the
general reader a. Operators and scientists are pretty
well agreed the conclusion that OIL exists potn III
bsnnes of considerable extent Whether the two forms
OF territory have any connection; the distinctions oe
tween them the continuity OF the beltsthese are I'M
settled problems. The facts am about to relate may
tend toward their solution; The basins were rst dis
covered and IT probable have been in large measure
| exhausted 1t was they that supplied the leyiathan
spouting wells of former days Hs6o6 such lakes were
| f6und at PithOle, Tarr FARM and other points "
Present developments extended lines that constr
tnte belts of oil territory they indicate currents or
| starnapt channels, elongated basins OF OIL;
| the ablest thought OF the petroleum world
is now turned toward discovering the location direction,
found on margin Of Oil Creek, it was supposed the
with the external waterc0urses Because oi ms IN
preston, traces Of which still exist in me minds OF OIL
men, and because the streams offered the best some
fines the only means OF transit in this rough country,
the majority OF drers have chosen locations on streams
Nearly the entire waterfront of this section Is perforated
with wells II is safe TO say that not one IN twenty vi
these wells to-day, 10y production vlndlcaes ihe eoIy
on which their locations were selected ~ Tue ODeai
ing rock is the third stratum OF sandock IN orueF % ~,
DOWN ard progress The sandrock Is cohelOneiae V
or sand-rock are Of varying degrees of hard
ness and whencss, these variations Always
fret trituTaons the drn brought up from the third
sand eagerly scanned by the operator as an index
Scone of The new we'll Old drlers read the value OF
in ta GHss sPPeSmens WHICH Gfs and
panes are nowadays more in the habit Of preserving
Than formerly together with the records and inoTna
ton drers could give, and by thcii aid Trace OIL INES
| with some degree OF certainty. -,
This is Just what one man, though not scientist, dl
accomplish This brings us TO our story to eOnprehen
which the reader will need to bear III mind the general
Angel of FOrcsville n. Y, embarked on the petroleum
sea He enjoyed large degree Of iuek-or was that
more than ANYTHING that gave his first ventures sue
! cess He soon commenced studying the problem that
ectotes all srewd "greasers viz, the location OF the
oil bet He began collect data bearing on this prob
LEM and TO study them by day ana night lie cOhceNed
and assumed real this postulae Exactly correspond
ing geological data, at two or more points Oh OH H
ment, are proof Of continuous belt between THOSE
points. Or conversely an OIL belt VIII malIest t1e
same characteristics everywhere Taking series OF facts
| regarding paying wells in one locality, he imagined that
i'm another paving locality he would have two bearings
on the same oil belt and that at any place between
cal results had followed drilling at the extremes VIZ
| oil in paying quantities .,.o.
a. The depth from the surface TO the different sand
rocks a. Distance between the upper surfaces OF the
different sandlocks. o. Thickness Of the sandrocks
a. Quantity and quality of the oil indications called
shows) found in the second sand 81 Color and gray
y of the oil produced by the third sand. o. Texture
and temper OF the third sand have named those ind
cations in the order of their Importance as basis OF gen
and most anxOusy for those last named but as these
are all fixed scientific data, it is probable that for pur
moses of comparing different wells, all equally i'm
portan and decisive. 1t will be noticed that none OF
these points Of inquiry relate to the more and
administrative manifestations they are mainly seOOsi
Nj ANGEL started with the data pertaining to his own
wells Belle Isand-a little strip OF land in the Ale
gheny River just below scTubgrass Station, on the Al
egheny Valley Railway and about 70 miles, by the river
below OIL CITY. On this island and also on the river
bank above GOrth OF it, was small but rich oil neld
two thick clusters of wells here had for some years been
producing. Making himself master Of the whole suber
ranean history of this development as told by the log
books Of the drers the specimens OF sand and other
rocks and his observation while making wells on
Belle Island he turned his steps to other developed ter
rtory in search OF the duplicate picture III the rocks
Proceeding up the river the most producing territory
lie found was at Foster Station nine miles, 10y river
from Belle Island. Here, little area OF about 20
acres rich wells have been for years pumping and
probably millions OF dollars worth OF OIL nave
been taken out. A. Foster he heard
drer's tale that echo to the he had learned
at scrubgras The depth of drill at the first sand, the
texture and color of the third sand the color and gravity
the and the other data remarkably identical
at these Two points, five miles apart by airline. More