Milford chronicle., 1885-07-17

In the tenth volume Of the Tenth
Census Report, is an article on the
Production of Petroleum, with maps |
and Illustrations. The first map re-
presents the petroleum fields; which
include the States of Ohio and lndi-
ana and parts of New York, Penn
sylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky,
Tennessee. Illinois and Michigan.
It is found in several of the Terri
tories. in Louisiana and California.
But very small portion of this area
furnishes wells that are proiitably
productive. Petroleum was noticed
by the earliest explorers of America,
the Indians applying it to several
useful purposes.
The first we'll bored in rock in this
country was put down in West Viz
oinia in 1906, to procure salt water,
1etroleum was found, but it was re-
Garded as a nuisance and allowed to
flow away over the surface of the
river. The first coal oil used in this
country was made from soft coal by
n Boston firm in 1850. The identity
of that oil with the petroleum OF
West Virginia was soon established
and efforts we're made to secure n
larger supply. In 1853 the first OIL
well was bored, it struck oil at the
depth of SO feet In 1865 the indus
try was extended to every point
where it was thought that oil could
be obtained. In 1880 the Pennsyl-
vania oil fields alone produced p,
pa barrels of oil daily. The first
wells were drilled by hand by
means of spring pole, this has been
suppIanted by a derrick or "rig" and
the long handled auger by rope.
The first operation is to drive a
wrought iron pipe inches in diam
eter to the bed rock, within this the
drilling tools operate. The heavy
drill is raised and dropped by means
of a walking beam. The work is
very monOtOnOus and is kept up day
and night, one driller and one en-
pineer work from noon till midnight
and another pair from midnight till
noon. As many as eighbweils have
been drilled on an acre, but rs re-
suit nearly one half of them were
soon abandoned. Experience has
proved that one well on fiyeacre-ss' is
as close as they Should be drilled.
r The pro9,q!!!SS..on of some wells has
, 9esh enormous, the Divner yielded
200 900 barrels per day. The aver
age duration of a profitable oil well
is five years, through they have been
pumped for twelve years. At first
oil was transported in 40 gallon bar
rels these have been replaced by the
iron cars of the present time. The
first pipe line was constructed III
1865; at the present time they form
complete network through the oil
regions and trunk lines extend to
Pittsburg. Cleveland and New York.
Each well has tank holding 25O
/, barrels connected with the main line
or with storage tanks by 3 inch pipes.
The main lines are inch pipes and
the oil is forced through them by
powerful pumps. The tanks are
very liable to be set on fire by light
ming, hardly a storm passes over the
oil regions but what one or more
tanks are ignited, and terrible dam
age is often done.
Petroleum may be said to have be-
come the light of the world, it is fast
displacing animal and vegetable oils
as a lubricatOr. 1t is used for fuel
for stoves and for steam purposes.
In fact it has become one of the III
dispensible needs of civilized man.
While it is not probable that the
deposits OF petroleum within the
f crust of the earth, are increasing at
the present time, there is reason to
believe that the supply is ample for
. the present, but the production is
wasteful in the extreme, and no
thoughtful person can escape the
conviction that future generations
will want what this generation is
, destroying to no purpose,