Marble Hill press., 1890-05-01
4 PEIHO;-EuA gCLCA:sO.
A Spectacle i'.c T,ii.r ~ Winch Jiay >svcr
.i:-t.,i e. SEri,.

A Spectacle ihc T.tE. ri Winch aiay .>svcr
-,ssa-.i i;c Sccii.
Petroleum, or -. eek oii," according
to the present theory of its or:.:n. is
a distiilate from The remains of n.nrlne
life, both animal and vege,ame. 1t
sometimes finds its way to the top of
the ground and forms springs, as does
water; but it is more frequently held
down. at great pressure, by hard.
impervious, rocky strata, lying above
the il-bearing beds; and when in such
cases hole or "well" is d.illed down
TO it, through the superintendent
mass, it gushes up with great force.
Within the last ten years the ''holy
land" Of the Parsees has become the
seat OF a vast petroleum trade. Baku
is now q grand kerosene Oil refinery.
Tie industry is not yet as fully de-
velopod there as III our own Gil region
Of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has
nearly thirty thousand oil-wells,
against five hund ed at Bal.u. But
the five hundred Baku wells are dis
charging IS much petroleum to-day as
the thirty thousand American wells.
AT nalsu tho oil is nearer the sur
face of the ground than in Pennsyl-
vania. American oil-wells average
ncarly fifteen hundred feet in depth.
While in Balku the average depth is
scarcely six hundred feet, In Ameri-
ca, too, the diameter of oil-wells ia
but about five inches, while those at
Ballu are rarely drilled less than u
foot in diameter.
The discharge of oil and gas from
some Of the wells at Baku has been 50
prof,ssc and violent that a mere state-
mont of the facts seems too marvellous
for belief. These facts, however, come
to us well attested.
In one case where well was being
drilled, the augor, or drill, at Il depth
of five hundred and seventy feet, sud-
denly penetrated to tho oil Strata and
was blown bodily out of the shaft with
tremendous Violence. With q roar
that could be plainly heard at dis.
tanco OF two miles, the gas blew off
for some minutes, and was followed by
an equally terrific blast Of oil.
The derrick which had supported
the drill WAS seventy feet in height
The jnt Of oil and sand blew away the
Top Ct the derrick and rose two hun
lr2d foet above it. All efforts to check
the dj@chargc by blocking the shaft
proved useless. Log plugs, and even
hugo stones, worc thrown aside like
feathers. Throughout September and
October this g2Esor continued to dis
charge oil at the rate OF nearly two
millions OF gallons q day. Pools and
lakes, broad and deep enough to row
boats on, were formed on tho adjacent
plain, and u o0od-siZcd brook OF Pc
tt'oleum flowed from them down to the
sea.
Tho sand which was vomited forth
with the oil accumulated in huge
drifts, burying tho neighboring der
ricks along with sovora! shops, tanks
and other buildings. The sand and oil
driftod first 10 one side. thon to the
other, according to the direction of tho
wind, and 81 vast mound was formed,
having a sauccr-shapod depression, or
crater, at the contor, whehce tho jet
issued.
This conter orifice, or crater, con-
stantly obstructed by the sand, pre-
sented the appearance of a wildly
soothing caldron, which it was dam
gerous to approach. All the fires in
the vicinity We're extinguishcd to pro-
vent explosions and conllagrations.
Thus, day after day and week after
week, this oil fountain continued to
play, presenting, it is stated by those
who saw it. truly grand and memor-
able spectacle.
1t is estimated that not less than five
hundred thousand tons of oil were
spoutod forth during the months of its
unrestricted flow, nearly all of which
Ittll W W uSut! Ill hultE lC1t UlllS CIullJ
oil would have been worth at least five
millions of dollars; yet the unfortu-
nate company that drilled the we'll,
being quite unable to control it, was
ruined by the damages which it oc-
casioned to its noighbors. Unwitting-
ly q monster had been let loose which
no one could capture or curb.
The Russian Government was at
length appealed to for assistance, and
two imperial engineers visited Baku,
to see what could be done to this end.
They wcre able to devise nothing
which succeeded, however, and it was
not till late in December of that year,
when tho geyser had spent its first
violence, that a resident engineer sue
coeded in fixing cap OF boiler iron
over the mouth of the orifice and cf-
fectually "gagging' it. Youth Com
panion.