Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-09-03
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 Wells-A Re-
markable Eruption-A Profitable Well.

west cUsist Vi tne Sdapldn sea, opoue q '-4iN
If the distance from its southern to its
northern extremity. 1t is at the foot OF the
abrupt eastern end of the Caucasus range, |
which occupies the entire isthmus, and is |
at both extremities by striking |
volcanic developments. Those about Baku |
are most remarkable The city had twenty |
years ago 1000 inhabitants, and now con-
tains 600. Though so much of it is mod
ern, the streets and shops of the old Persian
city remain, with its towers, markets, baths,
shops and temples, giving an excellent idea
of Persian architecture without the trouble
of going into the realms of the shah to seek
it.
The whole place is as redolent Of the odors
of kerosene as town in the oil districts of
west, IN Pennsylvania They penetrate with
equal impartiality hotels, private residences
and public parks and gardens. Though the
soil of the entire region is impregnated with
naphtha and coal oil, and the sea is often
covered with a thick coating, the wells are
at some little distance from the city. The
refneries only are adjacent to the port. They
occupy the middle of the city area, and the
reservoirs of naphtha render by their smells
the passage of the traveller from the steamer
or the railroad station to his hotel almost in
tolerable. Water 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 the tread in summer, the foot
sinking into it as if it were mud of a certain
consistency. 1t costs only one-eighth of a
cent pound The sidewalks are paved with
a sort of bituminous concrete equally sensi-
BILE to the suns rays This oil residuum is
also employed for heating steamer and loco
motive boilers, 1t is cheap and easily trans
ported, and its use is likely to extend from
the Transcaspian railroad and Caspian steam
ers 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
of volcanic activity is to the east or north
east of Baku on this peninsula, and but few
miles distant, and is characterized by little
| craters of mud in constant state of ebulli-
| tion. This surface changes constantly its
| form and level, and from its crevices issue
currents of gas which the application of a
| lighted match may kindle into a general
conflagration. This plain, seen on quiet
night from the Virgins Tower, seems COW
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 subsidized as suddenly a.
it had appeared.
A railroad eight miles in length connects
Baku with the oil producing center. which il
| an nile on faar hove ha laval of fhE
sea- 1t is sort of basin two miles il
diameter. surrounded by low hills of lime
stone. At the bottom of this depression
which is composed of alternate strata of sane
and mari, 400 wells have been sunk, most o
which have given excellent results. TheN
are owned by companies and private indi
viduals. Being within so small space the,
are necessarily crowded closely together, an,
the skeleton structures necessary for thei
operation give at a distance the appearance
of grove or small forest. The system o
boring is borrowed from America 1nsteai
of the shaft used by the French heav.
trepan with steel point is employed, whic
is lifted by machinery and let fall with
rotary movement In Pennsylvania ther
are wells over 1900 feet in depth. Those Q
Baku have not gone so far, though some c
them have exceeded half that distance. T
sink one 1000 feet costs $4,000 and year
time, and it has as yet yielded nothing
Singular difficulty is experienced from th
gas which so permeates the sand that the hol
Is often filed as fast as bored, and the san
even forced far up into the tubing already
place The work has gone on for twent
! years, and as no record has been kept shov
ing thickness of strata. wells are still sunk {
hazard without reference to locality.
At Baku the oil does not seem to exist
level sheets. The wells sunk give differel
results. Some prove abundant; others are
q once exhausted. OF four continuous well
!, the first gave out at 260 feet, the second
:. $50, the third at 2S2 and the fourth at IS
Il Land purchased at $40 the sagene about L
i square feet, next a profitable well, produc
| nothing. On the other hand it often ha
pens that, as in the case of artesian wells
9 America, u new well sunk by the side of
valuable old one takes the supply and rende
it worthless-at least without further borin
l. The deposits seem to be in small pockets, e
is abling well to be fed by two of them at d
II ferent depths at the same time. 1t has be-
proved that there are subterranean comm
nications, for it often happens that the oil
8 several wells may be colored by coloring ms
ter thrown into one of them at the surfac
:. Flowing wells are rare. Pumps are usual
p necessary. When spurt of oil is comil
st the workmen are made aware of it by t
" noise that precedes They at once take figl
and not moment too soon, for the force
the stream is sometimes sufficient to thrt
the structure and machinery at the top hu
dreds of feet into the air. The pockets a
ra ,a supposed to contain at the bottom a strait
of of water, at the top gas, with the crude
ty troleum between them. When the well stril
n n the oil, the gas suddenly expands, forcing
h. up to the opening with violence. Sometin
there is an eruption of sand sufficient to bu
the works about the mouth of the we'll
eruption filled all the canals near by conta
es ing petroleum, created great lakes, a
ne finally, finding no more receptacles, forme
channel to the Caspian and so carried off
Of surplus. Some of these flowing wells hs
IS not only been of no advantage to their .
prietors, but have ruined them by having
pay for the damage caused to their nei
IT, bors. One of them produced 10000,
pounds day, and its product was SO ca
fully preserved that the daily profit from
- was 500 600. A flowing well does not usua
70 last more than two months 1t then becor
pumping well and the oil is extracted
in America.
The eruption of 1887 is the most remar
L. BILE on record The oil mixed with sand ,
- thrown to the height of over 400 feet, {
as expanded by the wind and illuminated
'oi the sun, resembled golden geyser.
rec buildings were buried under mountain
keo sand and earth. Streams Of oil flowed
ar every direction An army of workmen
mi bored under tempest Of oil to check
{ q flow. Iron rails laid across the opening "
ing, completely worn out by the friction of
and jet of sand and oil, and it was only fn'
as stopped by showing over the orifice an
mense framework make of thick oak pla
!. and railroad iron The oil is conveyed fl
the wells to the refineries at Baku by