Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-08-28
Petroleum.

When we are told at the present
time over 1 100000 gallons Of petroleum
or earth oil are brought to the surface
every day in the oil regions of Pennsyl-
vania 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 sur
face much faster than it can be taken
care of, and at the present time
100000 gallons, at the lowest estimate,
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 over-fowing.
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 CAP
acity to as large number of barrels,
and these also are full.
Thus it will be understood that
are great lakes of oil above ground, as
well as below; but there is good reason
to believe that the subterranean de-
posts may with greater propriety be
called oceans rather than lakes. The
oil workers are evidently pumping
from inexhaustibIe 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 oil that
cannot be secured; into what does it
flow, and where is its final resting
place? 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 large rivers, and is lost ulti-
mately IN the Gulf OF Mexico or the
the Atlantic Ocean. Sill larger quanti-
ties are absorbed by the earth in ravines
and marshy places, and thus it is lost
TO view. In the famous district one is
led to exclaim, coil, oil everywhere,
and no untained water to drink"
There is oil in the soil; oil in the springs;
oil in the bushes on the trees; oil in the
atmosphere apparently, oil on the
clothing, and in the mouth, eyes, and
hair Of the workmen; the bread and
coffee of the region nave 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 OF" and it was claimed
be most efficacious remedy for a
variety OF ills to which the human body
is suhjec'. The statement that it
flowed spontaneously from d spring in
Pennsylvania was received at first with
much incredulity, as that was regarded
as impossible; but in short space of
time the truth was known, and the oil
was no longer regarded as mixture de-
vised 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
tie sea. For the paltry sum Of fifteen
cents we can purchase a gallon of the
clear refined oil, and the cost of the
light afforded, in com parison 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
of gas, and we can scarcely hope in the
utilization of electrical force in the lu
ture, to secure light at lower expense.
-Bo'tOn Journa! Of Chemistry.