The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-12-10
OIL AND NATURAL GAS.
THE PROCESSES or NATURE BY WHICH
TREY WE'RE STORED AWAY.

what Scientific investigation HAS Re-
veaied-The Great Russian OH Fields.
Ths Natural Gas Or Inaiana--s what
may be Expected In the FIXTURE.
when natural gas was first dis
covered, z said Prof. w. j. McGee to
a Star writer, It was regarded as a
thing mysterious and uncanny, If not
positively diabolical The spread Of
various diseases was attributed to it.
its employmentwas declared impious,
and belief widely prevailed that its
extraction from the earth was cause
Of earthquakes. For a long time
fven science was very much puzzled
about 1t. and geelogists could give no
instruction on the subject TO prospec-
tors. who sought blindly for the pro-
duct
Now, however, the origin Of rock
pas md petrol nm, rs well asthe laws
by which they were accumulated, Is
so well understood that 1t Is as easy
70 predict the success or failure of q
prospect bore for oil or gas, as to tell
where an artesian well will or will not
fetch water
Owing to. the lack of knowledge
on the subject, the first oil wells In
Pennsylvania We're put down without
adequate preparation, and the oil
poured forth in such volumes as To-
overflow the land and poison the wa
tiers.
a I In the great Russian field Of Bak4
the How Of petroleum is so difficult to
. ~ . Il
swept away all barriers and flowed for
days in geysers as thick as a mans
body and 900 feet IN height. Such
geysers were charged with sand,
which buried neighboring houses and
farms, the oil flowing seaward In riv-
ers many miles long.
The pressure of ROCK gas in our
own fields Is SO enormous that for
some time il was believed to be I'm
controllable. In cases its roar when
escaping could be heard for miles,.
compelling the closing or schools and
permanently deafening the " ,rkmen.
Scientific investigation has made
known the cause OF the tremendous
pressure under which the gas and oil
are confined Every great field In
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana is an
enormous dome beneath the surface
Of the ground, filed in with porous
sandstone or limestone.
I The natural gas of Indiana is such
q dome, about fifty miles across,
formed by the bending out OF shape
of the strata incidentally to the con-
traction OF tho earth's crust. The
course grained limestone under it. is
charged with inflammable fluids. On
top is gas, beneath it oil and under
the soil salt water.
This dome rises In the middle Of a
great basin 500 miles in diameter. The
rain water falling into this basin is
partly absorbed by the rocks. and it
flows from all directions toward the
centre, driving the oil and gas which
are in the rocks toward the dome and
thus COMPRISING it with enormous
power.
Rock gas Is very nearly the same
thing as the marsh gas which is often
seen bubbling from the muddy bot
toms of stagnant ponds. 1t, and oil
likewise, was formed originally by the
slow decomposition of woody or other
organic matter contained in the strata
Of the earth.
The making Of both is nov in pro-
gress in all rocks containing partly
-decomposed organic remains. The
question is often asked, Is natural
gas yet forming?' Undoubtedly, but
so slowly that it goes but an infinitely
small way toward supplying the con-
sumption Of the store now being
drawn upon.
At the present rate of exhaustion
it will not take long to use up the
supply in the great Cincinnati arch,
which represents the accumulation Of
millions Of years. Z
ALI the compounds Of carbon upon
which the civilized world chiefly de-
ponds at present for fuel must be ex-
hausted within few centuries. THE
anthracite coal will be used up within
a few decades, while bituminous coal
beds formed in the carboniferous and
cretaceous epochs will be dug out
within ! 900 or 1000 years.
Happily, however, the stock Of
bitumens in the rocks of the earth
is practically unlimited and in them
I'LL DG lOuAa LtlG 1llCAo anu
nants Of the future.
1t is well to be able to look for
ward with confidence to this promise
Of the future, inasmuch as the human
race cannot get along without some
thing to burn that will produce heat,
power and light. Man may be defined
as the fuel using animal
He builds houses, but SO do the ant
and the wasp; the mouse, the sqair-
rel and the bee store up provisions
against the inclement season, the
oriole weaves cloth with which to pro-
tect its young, the tailor bird nrepaTes
thread and sews seams, the ant keeps
slaves that it may be relieved on labor.
feeds kline for their milk and reaps
the harvest; the beaver cuts canals
and dams rivers; the spider lays
shares; the ant lion set traps for
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