The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-04-11
HOW PETROLEUM IS FOUND.
An Interesting Article about the great Light
Producer.

An Interesting Article about the Rrcnt Light
Producer.
The Pennsylvania petroleum is found
ina sandstone formation fully 1000 feet
below the lowest coal measures, the But
Ter county oil bearing rock lying fully
300 feet below the level of the sea. The
general public entertain the idea that it
! is the result of the distillation of coal;
but scientists and practical operators
! deny any connection between the coal
and oil measures. Hitherto science has
offered but little light upon the origin OF
rock oil, while operators have given
more attention to the processes for ex-
tracing it from the earth than to the in
vcstigation Of the question rs to how it
came there There are but few facts
Which will support any theory whatever,
and these point to product OF the de-
composition of aquatic plants and nni-
mails, rs coal is the result of enormous
deposits of vegetation. Other authori-
ties have asserted that it is the result OF
distillation in the earths crust As
yet it's origin is utterly undetermined.
In the winter of 1859 Colonel E. L..
Drake, of New Haven, Ct., started an
artesian well on nm island in Oil creek, a
small tributary of the Allegheny river.
A neighboring spring had for along time
given out about twenty barrels of petro-
leum each year, which had been bottled
and sold for medicinal purposes under
the name of "Seneca OIL" 1t was with
a view of increasing this yield that the
artesian well was started. In the latter
part of August, 1859, the drill reached
the oil bearing rock at q depth of seven
ty-one feet, and resulted in yield of
over 1000 gallons per day. For cent1r-
les the Indians of that section had col
lected the oil from the creek by spread
ing their blankets upon it's surface, their
labors being rewarded by small lots, with
which they mixed their war paint or
which they burned to illumine their
feasts or war dances. During these cell
turies no effort had been made to secure
it in large quantities, and the first one to
drill for the product had caused glut in
the market by producing twenty-five
barrels per day. But subsequent events
showed that Colonel Drake had builded
greater than he knew.
Its near resemblance to crude coal oil
the first product Of the destructive
distillation of coal-led manufacturers
| to subject petroleum to those same pro-
cesses to which crude coal oil was sub
| jected in the manufacture Of an ilumina-
tor, and in day a demand for the pro
duct was created. From daily yield of
twenty-five barrels $4,000 barrels pro-
duction has been reached and passed.
From sales of fifty cent vials for corns,
chilblains and rheumatism, transactions
have enlarged to entire cargoes and are
daily carried from our shores to every
part of the globe. From seventy-one
feet-the depth Of the initial effort-the
oil driller of to-day sinks shaft I, 700
feet deep-nearly one-third of mile.
Indeed some wells have been drilled to a
depth of nearly 5000 feet. Instead of a
twenty-five barrel "pumper the oil
operator has sometimes been rewarded
by a 5000 barrel "spouter, " and one
well on the Dougherty farm, near Petro-
lia, flowed 4, 800 barrels during the first
twenty-four hours. From a product un-
known among American exports, petro-
leum arose in a decade of years to the
third position, being surpassed only by
grain and cotton. Between the inception
of the industry (say 1861 and the begin
ming of the year just passed (1876) it has
brought into the United States more than
$4OO, 100000 in gold-almost equal Cf
the heavy premium on gold during the
o;,,;1 ,,,or 1,o oo,s;,1orolI fo tho o,t;ra
amount of the circulating medium of the
nation, including the treasury notes and
national bank circulation. From serving
atfeasts and orgies of savages it has arisen
to the foremost position in the world as
an illuminator, and now enters millions
of households, carrying humanizing and
civilizing effects which can hardly be es-
timated. From Colonel Drake, the soil
tary operator of 1859, with his single
assistant, the number receiving employ
ment from drilling has increased to 1000
men, while those who derive support
from pumping, refining and transporting
petroleum, together with the mechanics,
statesmen and clerks employed in various
dependent industries, and among whom
may be included machinists and manu-
facturers of barrels, boilers, drilling
tools, chemicals, glue, lamps and the
like, would form larger army than won
for us American independence.
Nor is the sudden growth of this in
dustry the most remarkable event in it's
career. Colossal fortunes have been
made and dissipated by dealings in q
staple which has ever been subject to
the most violent fluctuations in prices.
Crude oil has sold as high as $l4 per
barrel at the wells when demand has ex-
ceeded the supply, and, when the scales
turned contra, ten cents per barrel has
darkened the hopes Of producers. Won
derful improvements have been made in
all branches of the industry, and Yankee
ingenuity has been taxed to the utmost:
It took Colonel Drake eight months to
drill seventy one feet in 1859; but in
1876 Mr.. Charles S. Clark drilled over
1900 feet in twenty-eight days, the
usual time being six or eight weeks. In
the refining branch great improvements
have been effected. Many will remem-
ber the dark color of oil turned out by
refners in early days. Its offensive odor
made even the presence of lamp an OBJ
jectionable feature in any room, while
the fumes arising from burning lamp
were almost unbearable. Crusted wicks
and smoky chi1nneys attested the imper-
fection of the refner's art, annoyed the
thrifty housewife, and contrasted strong
ly with the pure water white color of the
premium safety oil, its freedom from
odor and it's superior burning qualities.
Again, the volatility of the liquid made
it's confinement difficult, even in the
most skillfully prepared barrels. Often
times lot of oil would shrink twenty
and sometimes even fifty per cent. while
being transported to the retailer. A days
exposure on platform car or at a
freight depot, in hot sun or searching
wind, would make sad havoc with the
Dealers profits; or it might be carefully
placed by the side of a hogshead of
sugar, only to escape from its barrel and
quietly take up quarters in the hogshead
with it's neighbor.