Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1881-09-01

II seems to be now pretty conclusive
ly established that long before the dis
covery Of petroleum in this country
started the enormous speculation in oil
wells which eliminated ten or fifteen
years ago. mineral oil had been OBJ
iained in Galicia, and its value as an 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 Gaiicia tine honor of having
first found out that mineral oil could be
made to supply fuel for lamps.
An Austrian mining engineer. Herr
Heinrich Walter. has lately contributed
to scientific publication of his coun-
try two papers, i'll 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 early part of this
century petroleum was 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
eral oil between 1910 and 1917 in the
neighborhood or Truscovich. where
they were working sulphur and lead
ore. The first mention of distilled Pc
troleum occurs in the report of law
suit which took place in the latter year.
In the same year "naphtha and mineral
OIL" probably distilled and raw petro-
leum. were formally tested by 4 COM
mission organized by the Mayor of
Prague. The account of the trial in
the municipal records declares that
''naphtha possesses great advantages,
both as regards economy and intensity
of light" Accordingly the Mayor or
dered q supply of the oil of Hecker. to
be delivered within a specified time.
but the material came too late and was
refused.
Nothing more was heard of petroleum
until 1888, when it is mentioned as a
mineral product in the account Of n
mining action at Starunia, and in the
same year il was decided that the oil
came under the classification OF miner
ais subject to a State royalty. Little
revenue, however, was received from
that source, the product OF the wells
beng used for wagon grease only. Pc
troleum was thus neglected until 1858
or 1894. when man named Schreiner
accidentally discovered its value as an
Illuminating agent, and rs such it be-
gan 10 attract scientific attention in
Austria But before il had been
brought into any use otherwise than
experimenially, the discovery of pc
troleum in this country occurred. Then
the product, which had been neglected
in Galicia for nearly half a century.
was speedily made SHOWN TO the whole
world as a cheap and admirable illumi-
mating agent, and il soon became one
OF the most important articles Of COM
merce. Moreover. it was an American
or an Americanizcd German, named
Toch, who gave the first impetus 10 the
petroleum trade of Austria. He had
learned his business at our oil wells,
and. arriving at Vienna, at once taught
the retners at Borgslaw how to make
their industry profitable.
Hence, even if we must give to Ga
licia the credit of priority in the dscov-
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 ac-
quaint themselves. into general use
as an illum mating agent. and to IN lake
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 refners. The
question of first discovery is nc ording-
" more interesting than Important
A. \. sun.