New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-02-25
Petroleum.

When We are told that at the pres
emit time over one million eight hum
dred thousand gallons of petroleum or
earth oil are brought to the surface
every day in the oil regions of Penn
sylvania alone, the mind is staggered
by the contemplation of the magnitude
of this comparatively new industry.
So lavish is Mother Earth of her hid
den stores of oil that it is sent to the
surface much faster than it can he
taken care of, or stored, and at the
present time three hundred thousand
gallons, at the lowest estimate, run to
waste every day. The great United
Pipe Line, and other methods of con-
veyance, utterly fail to convey the oil
to markets, and the enormous tanks
for storage are full to Overlooking.
There are tanks owned by companies
which hold five million barrels of oil,
and all of them arc full The wooden
tanks owned by individuals and private
concerns amount in their aggregate
capacity to as large a number Of bar.
rels. end 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
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 impetu-
osity as when the drills first tapped the
pent-up stores. An interesting in
quiry 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 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 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
trees; oil in the atmosphere, apparent
ly; 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 satu-
lated with it.
How wonderful 10 all this! Well do
we remember when the first vial OF
crock oir' fell into our hands. 1t was
called "Seneca OIL" and it was claimed
to be most eflicacious remedy for a
variety of ills to which the human body
Is subject. The statement that il
flowed spontaneously from a spring in
pennsylvania was received at first will,
much incredulity, as that was regarded
as impossible; but in a short space OF
time the truth was known, and the oil
was no longer regarded as q 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 are illuminated by its
combustion; 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 purchase a gallon of the clear re-
fined oil, and the cost of the light af-
forded, in comparison with gas as fur
nished at the lowest cost in cities, is as
one to twenty in its favor. It is just
now the most formidable antagonist OF
gas, and we can scarcely hope in the
utilization of electrical force in the
future to secure light at a lower ex-
pensc.--15oston Journal Of CHEMISTRY