Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-08-29

When we are told that at the present
time over 100000 gallons Of petro-
leum or earth oil are brought to the
surface every day in the oil regions of
Pennsylvania alone, the mind is stag
gered by the contemplation of the mag
nitude of this comparatively new indus
try. SO lavish Is Mother Earth of her
hidden stores of oil that it is sent to the
surface much faster than it can be taken
care of, or stored, and at the present
time 5000 gallons, at the lowest es-
innate, run to waste every day. The
great United Pipe Line, and other
methods of conveyance, utterly fail to
convey the oil to markets, and the
enormous tanks for storage are full to
overfowing. There are tanks owned
by companies which hold 5000, 600 bar
rels of oil, and all of them are full.
The wooden tanks owned by individuals
and private concerns amount in their
aggregate capacity to as large a num-
Der of barrels, and these also are full.
Thus it will be understood that there
are great lakes of oil above ground, as
well as below; but there is good reason
to believe that the subterranean depos-
its may withgreater propriety be called
oceans rather than lakes. The oil
workers are evidently pumping from
inexhaustible supplies in the crock cham
bers below, and what are called the
"spouting wells" delivered 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 oil 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 nature 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 ma-shy places, and thus it is lost
to view. In the famous district one is
led to exclaim, "Oil, oil everywhere,
and no untainted water to drink"
There is oil in the soil; oil in the
springs; oil on the bushes and tees; oil
in the atmosphere, apparently; oil on
the clothing, and in the mouth, eyes
udll VI bllG NOl JlO DIGdU
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
crock oil'' fell into our hands. 1t was
called "Seneca oil" and it was claimed
to be most efficacious remedy for a
variety of ills to which the human body
is subject. The statement that it flowed
spontaneously from spring in Penn
sylvania was received at first with mitch
ineredulity, as that was regarded as i'm
possible; but in short space of time
the truth was known, and the oil was
no longer regarded as mixture devised
by human hands,
American petroleum oil Is now used
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 are illuminated by its combus-
ton; it is found in 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
paltry sum of fifteen cents we can pur-
chase gallon of the clear refined oil,
and the cost of the light afforded, in
comparison with gas as furnished at
the lowest cost in cities, is as one to
twenty in its favor. 1t is just now the
most formidable antagonist to gas, and
we can scarcely hope in the utilization
of electrical force in the future, to Sc
cure light at lower expense. boston
Journal of Chemistry.