Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-11-16
THE OIL STRIKE AT BAKU.
Eleven Thousand Tons of Petroleum
Spouting Every Day.

Inc russian newspapers AOSSi'Vu W.
day contain a telegram from Baku an
nouncing the greatest outbursG OF oil
ever known. 1t runs thus: "Baku, Octo-
Der S. At Tagietfs wells a fountain has
commenced playing at the rate OF 10000
pools of petroleum an hour. Its height
is224 feet. In spite of its being tive versts
from the town, the petroleum sand is
pouring upon the buildings and Streets"
1t is astonishing th at the st. Petersburg
CORES pnndents of the London papers
SHOULD not have telegraDhed this remarka-
BILE phnomenon. and can only account
for their remissness on the grounds hat
they have either been too preoccupied
with bulgarian matters or have grown so
accustomed to fresh oil fountains at Baku
lately as to be blunted to the sIgniticana
OF the present one. Yet Tagief's "gusher"
beats out and out every previous record
tn the oil regions of the two hemspheres.
The champion petroleum fountain up to
now has been The "Droojba,' which in
1883 spouted to the height OF 200 or 300
feet, at the rate of nearly 1890 tons of oil
day. "This single WE'LL" i wrote from
the spot in that year, "is spouting more
oil than all the $4,000 wells in America
yield together"
Such an overflow was looked upon as
almost Incredible, and h ad there not been
other Englisnmen at Baku at the time
SHOULD probably have Jared as ba lly as
Bruce and other travellers. But the
Drotjba is nowhere. Tagitff's well is
spou ling nearly 500 tons an hour, or more
than 1900 tons of oil day. II it were
in London it would top the monument by
twenty feet, and the mansions of far-otf
Belgravia would be covered with Its
greasy dust. During the Oirth -throes of a
Baku oil fountain, stones are hurled
terrific distance, and a high wind will
carry the fine sand spouting up with the
oil miles away. The roar Of the gas pre-
cedIng the oil flow is terrific, and the
atmosphere for time is rendered almost
unbearable. COMPARED with such
fountains as Droojba and Tagisff,
the Great Geyser of Iceland
is pigmy. Luckily the gas
soon clears of, the stones cease to rattle
about the surrounding buildings, and
then the fountain becomes as orderly as
those in Trafalgar square, pouring up
ward sky-high with a prOdigIous roar,
and forming round about the thirteen or
fourteen inch oriice vast shoals OF sand,
beyond which The petroleum gathers in
lakes large enough sometimes TO sail a
yacht in.
How long Tagief,s t'spouter" will last,
and what its ultimate yield Will be will
depend upon circumstances. The Drooj-
ba lasted lis days, flowing for AZ days at
the average rate OF nearly 3,400 cons a
day, 81 days at 1000 tons, 30 days at
abOul9 90 tons, and IL days at 600 tons.
The owners then managed to fix "cap"
over the oritice and placed the we'll under
control. The total amount of oil spouted,
at the verv lowest estimate, was 220, 900
tons, or 65,000,U00 gallOns-the highest
estimate put 1t at 500 900 tons. At a rough
estimate, had the oil spouted in America
IL would have realized about a million
sterling, and made it's owner a million
ARE, instead of which the fate OF the
fountQln "A RAEn n n rauhnr oat or
bankrupt, for the shoa 8 of sand engulf
ing neigh boring buildinAs led to claims
for damage surprising what he got for
the small quantity OF oil be was able to
catch and store, While the rest, flowing
hey oDd on TO other peoples property.
was iD most cases annexed" and not
paid TOR. IL is 10 be hoped that Tagieff g.
Co. Will not be so unucky; but Ia any
case most OF ii is sure to be wasted.
DurLg the au umu as If 10 spite the
American consul, who reported short
time ago that Baku was beginning to yet
drt there has been whole succession of
fouLta MS, and in consequence there Is
sucb gut that ragietf's will hardly be
able to obtain Tor ton (250 gallOns) of
their oil the price that the London oil i'm
porter pays America Tor single gallon
OF tue II fined article. For want of pipe
line TO iun it TO the Black Sea mos OF the
2,I50,0OO gallons OF OIL spouted daily by
tie soil, deIeriorate IN the lakes or mingle
WITH The waters OF the Caspian. such
bar0arous waste OF the world resources
Will be as keenly regretted by the Rus
sian government as by any indignant
Scientist In Europe. Ii the resources of
1agiet q Co. prove inadequate TO quell
the lOuuLain that is, cap over the well
and keep lbe oIl below the surface until
wanted the Minister OF Crown Domains
Will uuoLless put INTO effect a policy
agreed upon on Tue occasion Of the Drooj.
ba outDurst, and send engineers with
full power to utilize all available means
to plug the orltice. Whether they will
succeed 10 anoJner matter. When the
DrOoJoa began TO slacsen In force it was
SUI powerful enough, with its sand blast,
formed by the commIngled sand and oil,
10 grind TO atoms In an hour or two the g.
inch iron BOILER plate The engineers tried
70 iasten on top OF the tube. On the 9th
OF October the lountsin of Tagief's was
6pOuLlng with ten times the intensity of
the DrUoJoa when the latter achieved this
memorable feal, and however much the
Russian government may command" the
}ns~st OF the Baku gusbers will probably
bGUTe more than a match for the engi-
neeriDg skill and resources brought TO bear
upon IL.
The paraff1ne industry is one in which
Scotland taxes great pride, and there are
optimlsts who think tnat 1t has sLill an
important future before IL. 10 produce
Scolcn parat1n every year over 2,25D,O 900
tons Of shaIe coal have to be dug from
mines, and The energies of thousaOds OF
men nave 10 be utii zed before the 20. 600,
OO0 gallons Of crude sh ole oil extracted
from II can be sent to the refineries 10 be
distilled into the illuminant used in
lamps. AT Baku a few men bore a few
hundred feet, and from the tube they
thrust INTO the bowels OF the eartn issues,
without auy further human eff irt, tens of
millions OF gallons OF oil ready for the re-
hDeTy. IL Is thus no exaggeration TO say
that IL is thousand times easier to obta u
oil Tor lamps at Baku tbau IN the shale oil
districts in Scotland. To quote a lew
Instances Of what the 800 wells at Baku
can spout fOrth: Noble Brothers No Is
has y,tl Ged from depth 72l feet nearly
oO,O0O,ODO gallons o. oil; fhelr No. well,
from deptn OfG42 feet, 10000, 900 gallons ;
snG ther No Ii we'll. from IA depth OF sos
feet, $4,000 600 Gallons Of OIL That is 10
say, single gang OF men, score at the
outside, boring tor about a year, is able
al Baku To oring - Toe surface more oil
than all the mines. men aud shaie oil
distille-ies OF Scotland during the same
period nut together. All Scotland takas