Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-12-28

magnitude few people dream. Take,
for instance. our petroleum fields Eight
years ago any one who spoke seriously
Of doing anything to develop this
source Of local riches was looked upon
as a iit subject for the lunatie asylum.
As a matter Of cold, prosaic fact, which
is absolutely independent of disquisi-
tioa for or against, a small section of
Los Angeles county is to-day yielding at
the rate OF more than million dollars
worth of crude petroleum year, and
the product ia steadily increasing in
quantity. There appears to be no limit
to the extent to which this new interest
may be developed II is in strong, en-.
terprising and sagacious hands, and not
even the puissant Standard Oil Com
pany itself can say veto to the Messrs G.
N. FELTON, and Scofield & Tevis. Any one
who said, eight years ago, that in the
year of grace 1888, the little Pico canon
alone would be yielding upwards of mil
lion dollars worth of oil per annum, would
have been looked upon as crazy. The
HERALD ventures the prediction that, in
the year 1901, Los Angeles and Ventura
counties will be yielding quite ten mil
lion dollars worth of crude petroleum
year. This looks like n wild editorial
vagary, and yet why? From few hun
dred dollars worth OF oil to q million
dollars worth is an infinitely greater
ratio than from one million to ten mil.
lion dollars worth. An immense area
Of the oil territory OF Pennsylvania has
already been squeezed dry of its oil. 1t
is only question Of time when the pres.
ent center of the oil production will
share the fate of Venango. Butler and
Armstrong counties, the original centers
OF the yield, which are now as devoid
Of oil as a squeezed out sponge is of fluid
Of any kind. The Ohio and West Vir-
ginia oil belts have preceded Pennsyl-
vania in the inevitable process of
exhaustion. Oil measures are spoken
OF in Missouri, which are to replace
those Of the Keystone State when the
period of absolute exhaustion shall have
been reached in the commonwealth of
Penn. As the result of a close scan.
ming OF the newspapers, we are satisfied
that there is something in this Missouri
claim. Oil measures of some value un-
questionably exist in that State. The
same claim is made for Colorado. We
are of opinion, from conversation with
one of the most experienced oil mon in
the United States, who personally in
spected it, that the Colorado oil field is
not OF character TO inspire high hopes
in the breasts of experienced oil pros
pectors.
Thus we are driven back upon Califor.
mia, and upon Southern California at
that, to supply the needs of the worlds
commerce when the Pennsylvania oil
fields shall have given up the petroleum
ghost. OF course, there is great deal
OF vague talk about oil deposits on the
Caspian Sea, in the Russian dominions,
about India and other Asiatic countries;
but, as the world stands to-day, there is
nothing practicable in these propositions
nothing to diminish in the slightest
degree the California oil measures. For
aught wo know there are incalculable
deposits of the precious metals in Alas
ka, towards the North Pole, and in
Adelia.land, towards the South Pole;
but, Tor the present, the mines which
are being worked in the civilized aud de-
veloped portions of the world must be
depended upon to replace the ceaseless
drain upon the precious metals.
In this view of the matter il is ex-
eeedingly fortunate that the develop
ment of the California oil measures has
been so gradual. There has been about
the process nothing of the prodigal waste
which characterized every stage of the
Pennsylvania petroleum saturnalia.
With an incredible fatuity the Pennsyl.
vania producers have poured out their
treasure like water, 1t is perhaps no
exaggeration TO say that far more has
been wasted than used Through. an
inconceivably stupid policy petroleum
illumination, one of the most beautiful
and brilliant OF all lights, has been made
by the Pennsylvania producers five times
as cheap as the murky, fitful CLEANS
which eNhale from sinking tallow dip.
No such prodigal folly has prevailed
or will prevail in the development of the
California oil measures. Our Los An
geles producers have premium OF
nearly "a barrel in the transportation
charges between the Atlantic and Pacific
Coasts. They propose to develop their
great treasure wisely and methodcally.
Next to petroleum, tin is one of the
rarest and most valuable of the earth's
treasures. In fact, surface Indications
OF rock oil are far more frequently en-.
countered than those of tin. Los An.
geles county, which is so rich in petro.
leum, is also, in common with San Bcr-
nardino and San Diego counties, pos
sessed of tin deposits whose value has
not thus far been disclosed simply be-
cause they have been in litigation. This,
in the nature of things, cannot last for
ever; and, when the points in contro-
versy have been definitely and judicially
determined, the development of this
other latent source of doubtless inealcu-
liable wealth will be taken in hand by
strong and persevering capitalists, and
we shall be treated to another magical
evolution OF mineral wealth.
By THAT time we do not despair of see
ing the fact realized that Los Angeles
county is far richer in gold and silver
than many of the regions in Arizona,
New Mexico, Sonora and Chihuahua, to
which people are thronging mainly be-
cause they have to pay there five times
the prices for the necessaries of life
which prevail in Los Angeles. In addi-
tion, here they have no chance of being
murdered with circumstances OF afro.
cious barbarity, as they have there. Yet
our faith is that We shall live through
all these disadvantages, and SHALL in
time, see Los Angeles county rank high
amongst the producers of gold and
silver.
WEATHER breeders are not wanting in
the southern skies since the Christmas
holiday. Yesterday the signs of brew
ing storm in the near future were very