The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-01-24
It Is Retorting Over in
Oakland.
WORKING UP OLD SHALE.
Oceans of 1t in California, but 1t
Has Never Been Developed
Till Now.
q new industry Ion CalIfornia.

mlneral0glSts and chemists and capitalists
who have just concluded series Of expert
mentS with native shale.
1t sbounds all over California. they say,
and is intrinsically far richer than any other
shale in the world.
There are vast mines of wealth lying but
few inches under our feet in all parts of
the State. they say. only waiting to be de-
veIoped and transmitted into beautiful
golden coins and other luxuries of life.
Shale, they cry: shsle, everywhere shale,
that is almost twice as valuable as that
mined so extensively in Scotland and ten
times as rich as that imE orted into Cali
fornia from Australia.
Why should not California produce lubri-
eating and lighting oils and parafine as
well as gold aud oranges? ask these shale
enthusiasts.
For months secret experiments have been
made with the product from al enormous
shale deposit ia the northern part of this
State.
The chemist who has been making them
Is A. a. Cunning CHAM, who fills the State
Universiiy's chair of chemistry at the To-
land Medical College.
HIS answer TO the query is that California
should produce these materials, and be gives
his reasons for the answer.
He says the raw material from which
these oils aud the paTaffine are refined exists
IN richly paving quantities ali over the State.
Ii Is not news that there is shale in Cali
fornia, but the result Of Mr.. Cunningham's
experiments and the de-
Surprising auctions drawn theTeirom
are. to put it very mildly,
Results from mr. greatly surprising
C,,,i-,t,,-,s At present none OF the
known shale DEPOSITS in
Secret Experiments his State are being
worked Within the mast
year Mr.. Cunningham has examined speci-
mems of shale from various parts of the
State and from a large deposit in Nevada
which is situated only half mile of the
railway.
Quietly, secretly, have these experiments
been made and their results would not now
be made public had not CALL reporter
been curious 10 know the why and where
fore of an experimental retOrt located in
most out-of-the-way spot on the outskirts
OF FTuityale.
For many months it has been putting and
blowing away al un0bserved and hidden
from the too curious by the four walls of a
modest little frame structure.
Investigation proved that quantities of
shale were being refined there and the ex-
perimentalists discovered were not bashful
about preclaiming their great discovery.
1T Is a great discovery, SAID Mr.. Gun
ningham to 4 CALL reporter yesterday.
land il means much for California.
''Shae has been discovered here before,
but has never been developed because those
who examined 1t and found it did not know
its full value.
In Scotland there is 100000 of capt.
tai invested IN refining Shaie and the works
give employment 10 5000 men.
And although the Scotch shale is less
easy of access than that found in this State
and is by nearly. oue-baif less in refining
value the big company there manages to
compete successfully with the Standard
OIL Company, which ships lis product from
the crude petroleum across the Atlantic in
tank ships at rate Of per cent per gallon.
''Ihs Scottish shae works also are in
successful competition with the Russian
petroleum fields of Batoum, Oh the Caspian
Sea.
"And the Scotch companies pay divi-
bends Of % per cent on their invested
capital.
Now at the very highest the Scotch shale
yields only thiTty-fve gallons of crude oil to
the ten, while ali Of that which have exam
ined in this State yields ffty-six gallons of
petroleum to the ton.
"And in refining the crude oil Of the
Scotch shale there is a loss of 80 per cent at
least, sometimes more than that
THE California crude shale oil loses
never more than % per
cent IN refining. (ainornia Shale
''Since the discovery Of
petroleum the valuable = N'e"er
part Of every shale is the in paraffine than
amount of paraffine il con-
tains. Any Other.
California shale yields
10 per cent OF parafflne. Scotch shale yields
per cent, while the shaie Of Australia pro-
duces 10 paTafine at all, because In its re-
6Ding the loss is so great-abOut 60 per cent
that it is Improbable to mine except for
making gas.
THE California shale yields per cent of
Daphtha, 20 per cent of burning oil, 20 per
ront If intermediate Cilc no If
~fubrcating oils, 10 per cent Of paraffne wax.
and sulphate Of ammonia as a by-product to
the exten t OF Is pounds 10 the ton.
I'VE have figured out the cost Of working
the leads and find that the entire cost of
producing the crude oil is 81 per ton.
'The crude oil can be refined and all the
products made ready for the market at a
cost OF AZ cents per gallon.
what would the profits be? Just figure
1t out for yourself. The market price of
Dsphtha is Il cents gallon, Of burning oil u
cents. intermediate oils 20 cents, nbricat Ing
oils IA cents, aud paTaffine wax from TO 10
cents a gallon. The Sulphaie of ammonia
brings So ton. These are the wholesale
prices. Do they not show a splendid
proft?"
Mr.. Cunningham is enthusiastic over the
result Of his experiments. Privately he has
bonded IL 900 acres of shale in Nevada and
is interested in the company that's expected
soon TO open operations IN the northern part
Of the State.
could we compete with the Standard Oil
Company? Beyond all doubt. 1t costs them
from to cents a gallon to bring their oil
here in tank-cars, and when the freight is
added we can produce our crude oil as
cheaply as they can draw it out of the
Eastern wells.
AT present there are some petroleum
wells being worked to a limited extent in
this Slate, but the product contains no paraf-
hne and therefore is not profita BILE to work.
LAS l told yon the paraffine is the valuable
product Of all shale. From it almost all the
candles are made. The laundries use ii to
put the gloss on linen, and the soap manu-
faetureTs find livery valuable.
Here are some candles l made from the
parafhne extracted at the Fruitvaie expert
mental retOrt," and Mr.. Cunningham
pointed 10 half dozen white ana almost
transparent candles.
The Eastern petroleum contains but l
Or er cent Of parafine; is so poor in this
property 10 fact that it does not pay to
refine it for anything but burning OIL
What is paraffne? 1t is pure mixture
Great Deal of the and contains nothing
D..s. else. About oDe-sixth of
Used Her. Come. "a great deal Of the
paraffine now used In
from Scotland. America comes from Scot
land. but there are three
springs In the East which produce the pure
product, and one bed Of 0zoporite in Mon
tans. which gives the crude parafine. The
latter bed is not being worked, / believe.
"Calif0Tnia and all the country west of
the Rocky Mountains has TO import ali her
parafiine from the East.
''She might just as well be producing it
herself and shipping 1t still farther west.
Undoubtedly she could find q market for it
In Australia, at all the islands, and some Of
II could be sent to both South America aid
China and Japan.
Undoubtedly the recent experiments
we have made will show the people that
there is a splendid opportunity here for
them To develop one OF the resources Of this
State mat has ennrmons commercial value