The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-09-02
From the Pittsburg Telegraph.
Petroleum.

Inc Speclal report ou une peiIoleuin
of Pennsylvania, its production, trans
porta,ion, manufactures aud statistics, is
Que of the most interesting volumes ever
issued under State auspices, The gen.
eral details of the history Of the discov.
first We'll ~ty'eDmA the. sinkinG &C. Of the
the enormous enterprise in the same
direction which followed, the big prices
which crude oil commanded IN 1864
($14 per barrel and the evelopmeDt,
OF the Bennehoff, Pioneer, Stevenson,
Tidioute, Triumph, Pleasantville and
Shamberg oil regions, are tolerably
familiar to most Of our readers, but the
ingenious researches of IIesquereux,
fixing the geological aud geographical
distribution of petroleum deposits and
fucoidal remains, which are published in
the pamphlet under notice, would con-
tain much of novel interest to those
who have not investigated the subject.
The opinion most firmly maintained is
that petroleum is the fossil product of
soft sea animals and sea vegetables, and
Lesquereux illustrates this view in a
very captivating aud convincing way.
At the date of the report, which was
prepared last December the tankage of
the oil region amounted to over 3, ,l00,-
coo barrels, and the balance of trade
was Of course disturbed by this great
production. The report submits that
we are producing at a reckless haste,
and makes this very suggestive state
meDt: when we carefully consider
the short life of the best territory that
has been found, how comparatively
small is the relative proportion of the
actual producing area to the entire re-
gion, it becomes serious question even
in the face of tie enormous production
of to-day, whether we shall in this Com
monwealth continue to supply petroleum
in the next generation" 1t is con-
ceded; though, that American and for
eign petroleum cease to be obtained, the
world would be amply supplied with
shale oil, SO that VIC need not fear be-
ing left in utter darkness.
The refining capacity of the United
States at the date Of the report was put
at 1856 barrels per day, of which
Pittsburgh was credited with 5000 bar.
rels per day, Cleveland 11,732 barrels
per day, the Oil Region 9,23l barrels
per day,
AS to general hints, facts, etc in the
report, we notice the statement that the
safety of all oil is increased by age
Left standing undisturbed, the lighter
parts pass gradually off, but the oil will
then burn with dull light. The greater
The illuminating power, the greater the
danger. Church Run, near Titusville
yields the best crude of about 46o
gravity, yielding greater percentage
OF refined than any other. The oil al
Pithole was the lightest ever found, the
gravity reaching in some cases as high
as $40. The standard fire test recog.
nized by Great Britain is greater thar
that of Germany aud America, but tn {
report says that "the earlier use OF the
shade oils there has introduced grea
number of burning fluids which are
really more dangerous than any petro
Ieum." The predominance which ou
oil has obtained is due to the fact thai
it contains greater proportion of the
lighter products than any surface OIL
found elsewhere. Nature has distilled
it for us from the shales and we takC
directly from the well an equivalent tt
the first product Of the coal oil still, bu
containing also much greater proper
tion of those members which possess il
Illuminating properties
The use of petroleum and its kindred
hydrocarbons for the purpose Of fuel ii
treated in the report and on the ques
tion of relative cost as compared with
coal an adverse opinion given. This
matter, however, is yet in Its infancy.