The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-11-05
THE ORIGIN OF COAL OIL
SQUEEZED FROM PREHISTORIC AN
IMALS AND VEGETATION

O4S" TO the MYStSry-Plant5 Of q
Million Years ago.
From the Pittsb,rq Dispatch.
What was the origin of the oil that exists
in the earth IN such vast quantities. This
is the question that the thoughtful observer
asks himself as he surveys q score or more
of immense wells ct Mcdonald. out Of
which in the aggregate fully $1,000 barrels
Of oil are discharged daily. Think of it
vast river OF petroleum rushing out of the
earth. Truly this question is enc thar is
sufficient to set US to thinking. How are
We to account for this oleaginous wonder
that comes up from 900 feet or more be-
low the level OF the hillsl How easy for
some to put the question Off with the re-
mark that it is not for US to answer-that it
is one of the mysteries Of the world that
God did not intend that man should ever
understand But the thinker is not to be
satisfied with any such evasion of question
the nature of which demands an explana-
ton.
Down deep in the earth he knows that
there is a vast deposit of oil. Call it lake or
river or what you will, it is there, and,
Judging from the amount that rushes up
through slx-inch casing in q second of
time, one Is inclined to think that it is very
tired of imprisonment and has long been
wanting to get out.
CONSIDERED BY THE SCIENTISTS.
The scientific man, ever ready to wrestle
with any vexatious problem, is the only in
dlvldual that undertakes to give US any
light on the subject. He admits that it is a
profound subject in every sense of the word
and wishes that he had some kind of a sub
terranean telescope that would enable him
to study the rocks from W renee this great
volume of petroleum comes as the astrono-
mers study the stars. The distance that in
tervenes shuts out an investigation as com
pletely as il the source Of the oil was far
beyond the north pole.
But the drill and the sand pump that go
down into the EARTH what do they reveal q
Look at the sand and pebbles that are
brought up Just before the oil is struck, and
what do they indicate! Solid rock Yes.
rocks such as are exposed in railway cuts
and quarries, and which in such places are
found TO be devoid Of oil as any other thing,
unless it bs a few fossil plants or shells
These surface rocks are not to be COM
pared to those oiI-prOducing sand rocks, for
we are positive that the latter are as full Of
oil as a sponge throw into q river is of
water. They are indeed so full of petroleum
that it acts as a barrier against a tremeu>
dous pressure Of natural gas. and it is this
y 6Soul LudL AllbS a 5Oll0 COluiDu Ol OIL
inches in diameter and l., 100 feet or mora in
hight, together with thousands of pounds
of steel tools, out of the casing with appar-
emily no effort.
is OF VEGETABLE AND MINERAL ORIGIN.
To be plain, and to avoid bewildering
technicalities we will state that 80 far as
chemistry has been able to ascertain the oil
appears TO be of animal and vegetable ORR
gin. Trere are exceptions to this finding
of chemistry, Of course, and theories that
deal with the spontaneous generation of
petroleum from other sources are common,
and some of them very plausible, but we
believe that We are justified in asserting
that the ma jority Of scientists are of the
opinion that this petroleum had its origin in
the abundant founa and fora of prehistoric
geological ages.
In connection with this statement allow
me to say that this word prehistoric is not
fit term to use in referring to the fauna and
flora of the Devonlan age. In speaking of
some old ruins that may be seen on the
earth's surface, such as the walls of Casa
Grande on the ella desert, or the ruins of
Yucatan, we may with propriety use the
word, but in speaking OF remote geological
ages it has no bearing whatever and is out
Of place. Are we then to understand that
this oil was produced from the remains of
ancient animal and vegetable life. Is it
possible to conceive OF the necessary mate
rails in such enormous quantities as would
justify such beliefs
zIn the vast deposits of the upper and
lower silurian formations there are more
than 10, 900 feet of limestone made entirely
of mo llusks. These immense beds OF iime-
stone are of vast extent aud everywhere
they are amazingly fossiliferous. Take
100000 square miles of limestone 10000 feet
in thickness and entirely made up of the re-
mains of animal life; add to this a similar
extent of Devonian formations crowded
with the remains of fishes, mollusks and crus-
taceans, and then add to that s 900 feet or
more of carboniferOus rocks packed with
the abundant remains Of tropical vegeta-
ton, and what have you got2
1t Is easy to conceive OF au ocean of oil
coming from all these things, providing
they were well squeezed like apples in some
immense cider press aid the juices pre-
served. And what better evidence of a
pressure sufficient to accomplish this is
wanted than that which is obtained by
stud ying the gigantic upheavels and inward
lateral crushing commissions that are sug-
gested by the Appalachian and Rocky
mountain ranges.
THE JUICES WE'RE 5QUEE zED OUT.
Here then, were the materials and there
W ere the forces sufficient to account for this
immense deposit Of oil that has been re-
leased by artificial perforation of the rocks
at Nc Donald and other places.
To come little nearer home in an eff ort
to show the enormous quantity of vegeta bic
matter that must have been buried by in
undation and subsequent elevat ous of the
surface Of the earth, let us GO to Mansfield,
nine miles from Pittsburg on the Pan Han.
die, where, Ill cutting down an immense
hill, the worBmen have discovered a vast
and wonderful deposit Of fossil plants
There, packed in the solid blue aud black
shales, are the abundant re mains Of the
vegetation of the clrboniferous age Per-
feet casts Of beautiful aborescent ferns and
calamltes, PUSHES Of gigantic length, and
curiouslv carved trunks of the lepidoden>
dron and sigiloria are all heaped and pent
in one inseparable mass. Even the un-
learned Italian laborers are amazed at the
sight. On every block of shale are thou
sand perfect casts of plants and a hundred
different varieties. There are enough speci-
mems here to stock q million cabiLets. A
roadbed for the third track of the Pittsburg,
Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis railroad
is being graded with the remains of one of
the forests Of the ancient world. Look
where you will, go where you will In the
vicinity Of this cut and every where you
tread upon the perfect cast of plants that
grew i'll some old carboniferous lagoon per-
baps 10000, 900 years ago.
Here, then, was the origin of our great
deposits of coal, and it may, in conjunction
with the other fossils aoove mentioned,