The Red Cloud chief., 1881-10-06
The First Dlsc,yerers OF Petroleum.

1t seems to be now pretty conclusive
ly established that long before the dis
covcry Of petroleum in this country
started the enormous speculation in oil
wells which eliminated ten or fifteen
years ago. mineral oil had been OBJ
tanned in Galicia, and its value As nm IL
Illuminating agent demonstrated. Though
we were the first to bring it prom
inently before the world, and To intro
duce it into general use, we must sur
render TO Galicia the honor Of having
first found out that mineral oil could be
made 10 supply fuel for lamps.
An Austrian mining engineer, Herr
Heinrich Walter. has lately contributed
to a scientific publication of his coun-
try two papers. in which he presents
proofs gathered with the most patient
industry, and made so complete that
we cannot disregard them, to show that
so far back as the cary part of this
century petroleum vas obtained by two
miners OF Galicia, distilled. and success
fully employed for Illuminating pur-
poses. They were Josef Hecker and
Johann Mitis, and they found the min
cral oil between 1910 and 1917 in the
neighborhood of Truscoyich, where
they were working sulphur and lead
ore. The first mention of distilled pc
tro!eum occurs in the report of a law
suit which took place in the latter year.
In the same year .naphtha ndmineral
OIL" probably distilled and raw petro-
leum. were formally tested by n COM
mission organized by the Mayor OF
Prague. The account of the trial i'm
the municipal records declares that
''naphtha possesses great advantages,
both as regards economy and intensity
of light" Accordingly the Mayor or
dered a supply of the oil of Hecker. Ia
be delivered within n specified time,
but the mater al came too late and was
refused.
Nothing nor was heard of petroleum
until 1888, when it is mentioned rs q
mineral product in the account of a
mining action at Starunia, and in the
same year it was decided that the oil
came under the classification of miner.
ais subject to a Stale royalty. Little
revenue, however, was received from
that source, the product of the wells
being used for wagon grease only. Pc.
troleum was thus neglected until 1855
or 1854, when a man named Schreiner
accidentally discovered its value as an
Illuminating agent, and as such it be,
gan to attract scientific attention in
Austria. But before it had been
brought into any use otherwise than
expcrimentally, the discovery of pc.
troleum in this country occurred. Then
the product. which had been neglected
i'm Galicia for nearly half a century,
was speedily made known TO the whole
world as a cheap and admirable illumi'
mating agent, and it soon became one
of the most important articles of COM
merce. Moreover, it was an American
or an Americanized German. named
Toch, who gave the first impetus to the
petroleum trade of Austria. He had
learned his business at our oil wells,
and, arriving at Vienna, at once taught
the refiners at Borgslaw how to make
their industry profitable.
Hence, even if we must give to Ga.
licia the credit of priority in the discov.
cry of petroleum, we shall allow it only
an empty honor. for We were the first
to bring the product they neglected,
and with whose value they failed to &C,
quaint themselves. into general use
as an illuminating agent, and to make
it one of the staple articles of com
merce. II was from us. too, through
Toch, that Austria learned how to util.
ize the oil of the Galician retiners. The
question of first discovery is according.
ly more interesting than important
~. Y. San.