The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1879-09-03
Petroleum.,

When we are told that at the present
time over 1900, 600 gallons of petroleum
or earth oil are brought to the surface
every day in the oil regions of Pennsyl-
vauia 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 that it is sent to the surface
much faster than it can be taken care of
or stored, and at the present time 3OO,-
600 gallons, at the lowest estimate, run
to waste every day. The great United
Pipe Line, and other methods of convey
ance, 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 100000 barrels of oil, and
all of them are full. The wooden tanks
owned by individuals and private con-
cerns1amount in their aggregate capacity
to as large a number 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 subtelTanean deposits
may with greater propriety be called
oceans rather than lakes. The oil-work-
ers are evidently pumping from mex
below, and what are called the "spout-
ing wells" deliver their vast currents
with the same jmpetuosity as when the
drills first tapped the pent up stores. An
interesting inquiry arises as regards what
becomes of the oil that cannot be Sc
cured; into what does it flow and where
is its final resting-placeP Any one who
has visited the oil regions will know of
the nature of the country, and readily un-
derstand 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 tits lost to view.
In the famous district one is led to eX-
claim, "Oil, oil everywhere, and no un-
untainted water to drink" There is oil
in the soil; oil in the springs; oil in the
bushes and trees; oil in the atmosphere,
apparently, oil on the clothing, and in
the mouth, eyes and hair of the work
men; the bread and coffee of the region
have the odor of oil. and the beds are
saturated with it.
How wonderful is all this! Well do
we remember when the first vial of crock
oil' fell into our hands. 1t was called
Seneca oil, "and it was claimed 10 be
most efficacious remedy for variety of
ills to which the human body was sub
ject. The statement that it flowed spon
taneously from a spring in Pennsylvania
was received at first with much incredu-
lity, as that was regarded MS impossible,
but in a short space of time the truth was
known, and the oil was no longerregard-
ed as a miqture devised by human
hands.
American petroleum oil is now used
us 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 are illuminated by its COM
bustion 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 a gallon ofthe clear refined oil, and
the cost of the light affo' ded, in compari-
son with gas as furnished at the lowest
cost in cities, is one to twenty in its favor.
1t is Just now the most formidable an
tagonist of gas, and we can scarcely hope
in the utilization of electrical force in
the future, to secure light at a lower eX-
I-pense. .-BoSton Journal of Chemistry. d.