Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-08-28
RUSSIA'S PETROLEUM.
THE OIL FIELDS ON THE WEST
 COAST, OF THE CASPIAN.

Brief Description of Baku-"watering''
 the Streets with Naphtha Residuum.
 The System of Boring wcl1s-A Re l marhablc Erupt;on-A Profitable Well.
 BallC, tEc great oil emporium, is on the west cosSt O. the Caspian sea, about third | of the distance from its southern to its northern cvtrunity. It is at tho foot of the | abrupt eastern end of the Caucasus range i which occupies the entire isthmus and is charactcrized ~o both eXtremitles by striking | volcanic developments. Those about Baku are most re!,2arkablc. The city had twenty years ago 1NUJO inhabitants, and now con- tains G0,0C1. Though much of it is mod l ern, the streets and shops of tho old Persian 1 city remain, with its towers, markets, baths, l shops anl temples, giving an excellent idea ! of Persian architecture without the trouble 1 of going in;H tho realms of the shah to seek i it.
 The whole place is as redolent of the odors of kcrospIl> &s q town in the oil districts of western Pennsylvania They penetrate with equal iupartiality hotels, private residences and public parks and gardens. Though the soil of the entire region is inpregnated with naphtha and coal oil, and the sea is often ! coverel with thick coating, the wells are ! at sonlo HttN distance from the city. The , rehncr-eS uDly arc ad iacent to the port They occ,;. lhr Eiiidlo of the city area, and the resci ,>Nrs (. nlphtha render ny their smells the pA>~;r.,.' .'+ +lc tr,:y>Icr from the steamer or .lir !,lllNa't station To his nOIel almost in- ] toltI'.lr. W Nalcr is not yet abundant and is delivered by Tartar carriers For ''water- ing the streets the reSiduum of naphtha is used, which, tolerably firm in cool weather, yields easily to thC tread ir summer, the foot | sinking into it GS if it were mud of n certain consistency. It costs only one-eighth of a cent Pound The sidewalks are paved with a sort of bitUniuous concrete equally sensi- ble to tLc suns rays. This oil residuum is also employed for heating steamer and loco motive boilers. It is cheap and easily trans ported, and it's use is likely to extend from the TranScaSpian railroad and Caspian steam CTS into other ports of Russia where coal is dear and wood not plentiful
 The port is at the landward end of the lit tie peninsula of Apcheron where it joins the main coast on the southern side. The center ot volcanic activity Is to tho east or north east of Ballu on this peninsula, and but a few miles distant, and is characterized by little craters of mud ill constant state of ebulli- tion. This surface changes constantly it's form and level, and from it's crevices issue currents of gas which tho application of & lighted match may kindle into a general confagration. This plain, seen on a quiet night from tho Virgins Tower, seems cov- cred with phosphorescent flames. In 1885 one of these mud volcanoes burst sending up to height of 800 feet jet of gas that took fire and menaced the whole country with ruin. Fortunately it subsided as suddenly as it had appeared.
 railroad eight miles in length connects Baku with the oil producing center, which is on plateau 200 feet above the level of the sea. It is a sort of basin two miles in diameter. surrounded by low hills of lime stone At the bottom of this depression, which Is composed of alternate strata of sand and mari, 400 wells have been sunk, most of which have given excellent results. They are owned by companies and private indi- vidualS. Being within so small a space they are necessarily crowded closely together, and the skeleton structures necessary for their operation give at distance the appearance of grove or small forest. The system of boring is borrowed from America Instead of the shaft used by the French a heavy trepan with a steel point is employed, which is lifted by machinery and let fall with a rotary movement. In Pennsylvania there are wells over , GOO feet in depth. Those of Baku have not gone far, though some of them have exceeded half that distance. To sink ono ,O0C feet costs S15,OOO and a years , time, and 1t has as yet yielded nothing.
 Singular difficulty is experienced from the gas which so permeates the sand that the hole , is often filled as fast as bored and the sand even forced far up into the tubing already in place. Tho work has gone on for twenty years, and as no record has been kept show ing thickness of strata wells are still sunk at . hazard without reference to locality.
 At Baku the oil does not seem to exist in level sheets, The wells sunk give different results. SOmo prove abundant; others are at once exhausted. Of four continuous wells, the first gave out n 26O feet, the second at 660, the third at 2S3 and the fourth at $50
 Land purchased at Sl0 tho sagene (about 1T5 square fectl, next profitable well, produces nothing. On the other hand it often hap pens that, as iE tho case of artesian wells in America, a i.Cw well sunk by the side of a valuohlo old one takes the supply and renders : io NOrth!rSs-.:5 least without further boring.
 11e t.o? ?2".:5 to be in small pockets, en- abling :, vuIi ;n hr fed F. tmo Uf them at diff feIer,t d. i, ;.. lhc same time It has been , rrovCt that thcre are subterranean commu-
 nit2tions, for it often happens that the oil of ! several wells may be colored by coloring mat ter thrown into one of them at the surface.
 Flow ing wells are rare. Pumps are usually i, necessary. When squirt of oil is coming tho workInen are made aware of it by the , noise that precedeS. They at once take flight, ] and not moment too soon, for the force of the stream is sometimes sufficient to throw
 
 dreds of feetin the air. The pockets are
 supposed to contain at tho bottom stratum ; of water, at the top gas, with the crude pe- troleum between them. When the we'll strikes the oil, the gas suddenly expands, forcing it
 up to the opening with violence. Sometimes . there is eruption of sand sufficient to bury l the works about the mouth of the we'll. One :; eruption filed all tie canals near by contain . ing petroleum, created great lakes, and finally, finding no more receptacles, formed a f channel to the Caspian and so carried off it's f surplus. Some of these flowing wells have } not only been of no advantage to their pro : prietors, but have ruined them by having to
 pay for the damage caused to their neigh bors. One of them produced 16 000, 900 . pounds day, and its product was so care | fully preserved that the daily profit from it
 was $60,OO0. A flowing well does not usually
 last more than two months. It then becomes
 pumping well and the oil is extracted as
 in America. . The eruption of 1887 is the most remarka- ' ble on record. The oil mixed with sand was s thrown to the height of over 400 feet, and a as expanded by the wind and illuminated by e the sun, resembled a golden geyser. The | hY,ilS bnr n,nu nSoix a%