The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1879-08-29
PETROLEUM.

When we are told that at the present
time over 800, 900 gallons of petroleum or
earth oil are brought to the surface every
day in the oil regions of Pennsylvania alone,
the mind is staggered by the contemplation
of the magnitude of this comparatively new
industry. So lavish is Mother Earth of her
hidden stores of oil than it is sent TO the
surface much faster than it can be taken
care of, or stored, and at the present time
800, 900 gallons, at the lowest estimate, ran
to waste every day. The great Union Pipe
Line, and other methods of conveyance ut
terly fail to convey the oil to market, and
the enormous tanks for storage are full to
overfowing. There are tanks owned by
companies which hold 100000 barrels of
oil, and all of them are full. The wooden
tanks owned by individuals and private con-
Germs amount in their aggregate capacity to
as large number of barrels, and these are
also full.
Thus it will be understood that there are
great lakes of oil above ground, as we'll as
below; but there is good reason to believe
that the subterranean deposits may with
greater propriety be called oceans rather
than lakes. The oil workers are evidently
pumping from inexhaustible supplies in
the rock chambers below, and what are
called the "spouting wells" deliver their
vast currents with the same impetuosity as
when the drills first tapped the pent-up
stores. An interesting inquiry arises as
regards what becomes of the soil that cannot
be secured; into what does it flow, and where
is its final resting placer Any one who has
visited the oil regions will know of the
country, and readily understand that much
of the oil flows into brooks or small rivers,
and in time finds its way into the large
rivers, and is lost ultimately in the Gulf OF
Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. Still larger
quantities are absorbed by the earth in
ravines and marshy places, and thus it is
lost to view. In the famous district one is
lead to exclaim, "Oil, oil everywhere, and
no untainted water to drink" There is oil
in the soil; oil in the springs; oil in the
bushes and trees; oil in the atmosphere, ap-
parently, oil on the clothing, and in the
mouth, eyes, and hair of the workmen; the
bread and coffee of the region have the
odor of oil, and the beds are saturated
with it.
How wonderful is all thisl Well do we
remember when the first vial of "rock oil'
fell into our hands. 1t was called "Seneca
OIL" and it was claimed to be most eff
cacious remedy for variety OF ills to which
the human body is subject. The statement
that it flowed spontaneously from spring
in Pennsylvania ia was received at first with
much credulity, as that was regarded as
impossible but in short time the truth
was known, and the oil was no longer
regarded as a mixture devised by human
hands.
American petroleum oil is now used as a
source of artificial illumination in nearly
all parts of the world. 1t goes along with
rum, powder and muskets to the savage
tribes of Africa and the mud houses on the
banks of the rivers of the interior of the
Turkish Empire, in Persia, in Egypt, in
Palestine, in China, in Japan, and in the
remote islands of the sea. For the palt ry
sum of fifteen cents we can purchase 8
gallon of the clear refined oil, and the cos,
of the light afforded, in comparison with
gas as furnished at the lowest cost in cities
is one to twenty in its favor. 1t is JUS
now the most formidable antagonist of gas
and we can scarcely hope in the utiliza
tion of electrical force in the future t.
secure light at lower expense.-Bosto'
journal of Chemistry.