Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-01-11
Oil-Wclls Of Baku.

The railway between Titlis, the Capt.
tai of Trans aucasia and Baku, was
opened on May 1. A correspondent of
The London Daily Ne1CS passed through
on the first trip. There are many first
sights in the East" he says, (which
one never forgets, such as the first sight
of the Pyramids, or of India at Bombay,
or of the mysterious glow which in a
dark night may suddenly illumine the
ocean, perhaps to vanish as quickly as
it appeared, and the first sight of the
Caspian, especially if near Baku, is one
of them. Not that it is, like the others,
marvellous or beautiful. But it is
strange and startling after many days
travelling among the silent mountains
and the empty plains to come all at
once upon this big port on the shore
of great sea in the heart of Asia; this
Portsmouth of the Steppes, dotted white
upon its amphitheater of brown hills
with forests of masts bristling along the
shore. smoking steamers and white
sailed ships gliding over the smooth
waters; its splendid Quay Alexander H.,
bordercd with wharyes and jetties, and
GREAT shops and warehouses, resound-
inc with traffic wagons and with open
cabs for a ruble per hour, and frequent
with gentlemen in frock-coatS and chin.
ncy-pot hats, and ladies in the latest
,onc-leG-trouser' fashion from Paris;
and, most strange sight of all, its verta-
bic black country away to the left, the
black, GRAY, and white smoke of which
hides the sky and stretches over the
and for leagues the petroleum mines
of Baku. Let us visit them; in the in
dustrial sphere. nj all events, there are
few if any sights rs curious in the whole
Of the Continent. Half an hours run
by railway brings lis into the heart OF
the black district, and to the place
named Sarunchi, which may also be
called Olcopolis, from the greasy char
actcr of its soil, to say nothing of its
very heavy atmosphere. The oil oozes
with the sticky, oleaginous stuff You
walk over acres after acres of what at
first sight seems to be fields of asphalt,
such as that with which they cover the
London streets. Only st Sarunchi the
notwithstanding ground yields at every
step, like soft putty, and perspires
greaSily at every pore.
'.Some of the mines here can produce
enough of il to light the whole of Asia,
and the Russians are doing their utmost
TO beat tha Americans in the markets OF
the Old World. Each mine or boring
has its wooden shed. with black, wood
en-. pyramid-shaped chimney over the
bore or fountan-hole. the upper end OF
which consists of an iron tube protrud-
inc to distance of about five feet above
the level of the ground. There are APP
parently hundreds of these black pyra-
midS scattered about the undulatino
surface of Oleopolis, and they impart to
the scene All aspect of curious, if dreary,
monotony. And now one discovers the
use of the vast and numerous lines OF
iron pipes which vein the upper surface
of the ground all the way from Baku tc
Sarunchi. and which one would at first
sight take for gas or water pipes. They
carry the naphtha from the reservoirs
at the mines TO the refining factories.
And now that I am on the subject OF
pipes may mention that nice little
contract awaits SONS iron-master in
England or Belgium. The principal
oil-master in Oleopolis is asking the
j Russian Government for permission
which no doubt he will obtain-to lay
down lines of pipes all the way from
Baku. on the Caspian, to Batoum, on
TIE Black Sea. distance of some AGO
miles. There is touch of American
grandeur in such an undertaking. This
particular oil-master, a Swiss gentle
man. is proprietor of about forty springs,
which, as was told on the spot, yield
10000 pools. each of thirty-eighi
pounds, per diem. One fountain which
| passed. do not know whether it was
that gentleman's property-has been
running for five years at the rate Of
$4,000 pools per day. The total yield
| OF Oieopolis was calculated st 20, 600, 00G
| pools in 1878. Now, l am told, it l.
| about 0,0O0, 900"