Telegram-herald., 1890-03-21
THE OLDEST OIL FIELD
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Il
sSfhe eldest practical pstEoleuea pro
aaesss in shs world are tie lie Be- fam
uy, q Als4ee. ssid ex-senator Lewis
Emery. Jr.. The hghting Aoti-St@HdzTa
oil PROD 1csr Of Bradford, Pa, % New
York Sun Reporter. strange IS u may
seen. they began % prod zee Petroleum
more than $50 years before Colonel
DRAKE sank his pioneer SeLl IN Penn
sylvaniz. and yet the history Of OF pro
daction is dated from brakes successful
venture near Titusyille. No one II this
country ever heard Of the ancient Al
satan oil aeld until 1850 In thai year
l was making = tour Of investigation
amoux the Russian and other alleged
foreign OIL countries and learned % the
existence % the lie Bel territory. l was
surprised % ind that IL was only nfty
miles from strasburg. and that rail
road ran wishia three miles Of II % a
place called Sulsz-unter m-Wsld. l took
trip % me district, and met the own
er, NJ. Jacques lie Bel, an ancestor Of
whose, ss no told me, had discovered the
oil in l7S5, fouEd that 1T made an excel
lent lutricator, and purchased fol q song
81, 900 meters square OF the land in tho
region, and went 10 mining the oil. n.
lie Bal also told nc that was the first
foreigner who had ever visited the leld.
Il found IL most curious oil region,
and when I told lie Bel that / was al
oil operator myself from the greatest
oil country in the world, he was sur
prised, for be knew nothing about any
other oil country beside his own prim-
tive field, which had been owned and
worked b. tho descendants OF its Dis
royerer for l8o years. After satisfying
him of the truth Of my statements
except the one as TO the manner in
which oil wells were utdOwn and oper-
ated IN America, which he could not
bring himself 10 believe-he consented
to show me the way ne put down and
operated his wells, at the same time as
suring me that | was the first outsider
who had ever been permitted 70 exam
inc the works. After seeing the way
they produced oil in Alsace. was not
surrrised that II. Le Bel was incredu-
lous about the Pennsylvania methods.
The sinking of an Alsatian oil we'll
Is more like the operation of opening n
coal mine than by tapping an oil vein.
asunderstood and practiced in our fields.
When the oil operator in Alsace sets out
TO put down az oil well he first erects \
building s0x10O feet for his engine and
boiler Near by an excavation 20 feet
deep ard IA feet square is made in tho
ground. This Is Alled with solid stone
masonry. Upon this foundation is
erected chimney 100 feet high. octa-
gonal In shape, and IA feet in diameter.
The work of digging tho we'll is begun
beneath the engine house. AS the well
is 70 consist of shaft and numerous
drifts and galleries, It's plan Is first care
fully laid out by an engineer. The shaft
Is excavated entirely BY workmen with
pick and shovel. The work goes on
night and day, there being three sets OF
hands, three IN set, who work eight
hours day each.
'sThe Alsatian oil wells were put
down TO depth Of about 800 feet, al
though when the pioneer operator in
the field went TO work In 1885 he had to
20 down only so feet to get to the oil.
That vein was long ago exhausted, and
the second vein was found at the pres
ent depth. At depth OF 80 feet tun-
nel is cut from the shaft at an ascend
ing slope 10 fetch its other opening 70
the surface at the base of the tall chin
ney. This tunnel, or drift, is three feet
square, and it Is really a fiue up which
the impure underground air Is drawn by
the chimney draught- The shaft proper
Is divided into three compartments by
wooden partitions from top to bottom.
One is feet by 8 and is the well.
Another is feet by 9 and is air tight at
the top. This one the flue opens ont OF.
The third compartment Is OF the same
size as the second, and down it fresh air
Is drawn by the draught of the fue that
carries OF the impure air from tho
bottom.
when q shaft Is sunk to the oil sand
or vein, tunnels are cut IN all directions
from it, as al ascending slope. The oil
oozes from tho surrounding earth into
these tunnels CT drains, and runs down
to the bottom OF the shaft. The tunnels
drain an area Of several acres. Tho
&C consistency OF the oil Is such that the
workmen shovel 1t from the bottom OF
the shaft into buckets, the same as they
did the dirt taken out in digging the
shaft The buckets are hoisted TO tho
top and the oil Is taken away immedi-
ately TO be refined. The methods OF
refining were OF the crndest. but NJ. Le
Bel obtained 90 per cent OF good lvbri-
eating oil from the product Of his wells.
The miners Of this oil. for that is what
they are, light themselves 1T their work
by lamps strapped 70 their breasts.
There ia no gas with the Alsatian petro-
leum. such ga our product always has
with II. or those miners would have 10
find some other way 70 get At their oil.
an. lie Bel told me that II cost him
$4,000 TO put down a single shaft-more
than three times as much as - costs TO
drill Pennsylvania well more than
three times as deep. The Alsatian oil
Is sold by The pound. in packages OF 200
pounds. They are called kilos. and a
kiIo was worth from s. 70 SO, a. the then
market price, which is equal 70 from 81
TO ss barrel. Le Bel bad two wells IA
operation when | was there. which were
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