The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-10-04
In the Oil Country.

Probably few OF the many to whom
kerosene is household necessity have
ever given thought to its origin, and
fewer still have ever seen the process
by which petroleum is extracted from
the ground and sent to the large re-
fneries, there to be converted by re-
fning and distillation into the many
products which give to it such vast
commercial importance. Petroleum
has been found in many localities,
both in this and other countries. and
owing to the ingenuity and enterprise
of the Standard Oil Company, which
practically controls the industry, its
development has attained higher de-
gree of perfection in the United States
than elsewhere. As is well known,
the most productive of all fields, so
far developed, is that lying in Western
New York, Pennsylvania, and Eastern
Ohio, while within the last few years
the West Virginia field has attained
considerable prominence, and bids fair
to rival the old fields, both in produc-
tiveness and in the quality Of its oil.
The oil field, or belt, as it is tech
nically called, Of West Virginia, if
plotted upon map, would much re-
semble river, varying, as it does, in
width from half mile to three miles,
but subject to bends and turns either
TO the East or West. 1t begins at the
Pennsylvania State line in Green
County, and runs thence Southwest
erly through the State of West Vir-
rinia to the Ohio River. The oil is
contained in the porous sandstone
locally known as the Big Injun Sand
| which is regarded by gcologists as the
lowest number of the carboniferous
| series, and lies at an average depth
in the valleys Of about two thousand
feet below the surface, or from eleven
hundred to twelve hundred feet below
sea level. AS there is little or moth
| ing of surface indication to guide the
| oil operator in tracing the belt, the
| services Of eminent geologlsts have
from time to time been employed to
aid in the search and to Prof. l.. z.
| White, of the United States Geologi-
cal Survey, belongs the credit OF be-
ing the first to enunciate and put IN
| practical use what is known as the
anticlinal theory of petroleum depos-
it's, and by its means to open up a
territory which has proved to be most
productive. :,
The sight presented by an oil field,
| if viewed for the first time at night,
is strange and weird one. Standing
| upon the top Of any Of the high hills
in the oil region of West Virginia, as
far as the eye can reach the country is
dotted by the burning natural gas used
at the wells for heating and lighting
purposes, and through the stiffness OF
the thinly inhabited hills comes the
| roar of the gas and the clank OF the
machinery which tells where men are
busy night and day forcing their huge
steel drills hundreds of feet down
into the solid rock in search OF the
dirty, amber-colored fluid which has
brought fortune to so many OF it's
seekers. But it is daylight when,
robbed of the poetry given by dark
ness, we can see the reality and nature
of the work.
The process of drilling an oil we'll,
while simple, is one that requires long
experience and the greatest care
When the location Of the proposed
we'll has been determined upon, der,
rick some ninety feet high is erected
on the spot, and adjoining it shed
containing the engine which is to fur
nish the necessary power. The first
operation is that Of "spudding in,
as it isc allied, which means boring a
hole to solid rock, and some distance
into it; but as the hole is but a few
feet in depth, the operation need not
be described. After the hole has been
bored to solid rock wooden lining,
called conductor, is inserted, and
the real operation Of drilling begins.
The drill itself is an enormous affair
| of solid steel weighing hundreds OF
| pounds, and drills hole thirteen
I inches in diameter. 1t is attached to
long, heavy steel bar some thirty
feet long and six inches in diameter,
to give it weight, and the whole is
attached to huge cable or rope, which
runs through pulley at the top OF
the derrick, and, returning, is wound
around shaft, by revolving which the
ronn can he coiled or uncoiled, thus
raising or lowering the "string OF
| tools, as the drill and bar are term
| ed. When the drill is in position at
the bottom of the hole, the cable is
gripped at the proper height by iron
laws, which in turn are fastened to
| the end of huge walking beam,
which is run by the machinery, and
has the same motion as the beam OF
our river steamers. The beam, as it
| rises and falls, gives the churning mo-
| tion to the drill, and constitutes the
act of drilling.
When once begun work is inccssant
| and continues night and day. Dull
| drills have to be brought to the sur
face, unscrewed from the stem,
| sharp one put on and lowered, and the
| dulled one heated and sharpened, or
dressed" as it is called, with
| heavy sledge. This thirteen-inch
hole is carried down to what is known
| as the Pittsburg coal-a coal seam
found at a greater or less depth, just
as the we'll is in valley or on hill,
the average depth being perhaps about
five hundred feet. The drill is then
taken out and the whole lined or
Ceased with ten-inch iron pipe:
which is screwed tightly together and
| lowered to the bottom of the hole.
This casing prevents the water encoun-
tered from running into and filling up
the hole. The water and the drilled
material are taken out Of the hole
from time to time during the cprocess of
| work by means of bailer. After the.
| insertion of this casing a ten-inch
drill is used, and the hole drilled
down through the various strata OF
limestone, coal and shale to further
depth of about eight hundred feet.
This section is in turn cased, and an
eight-inch drill used from thence un-
til the top of the oil rock is reached.
The entire hole is then cased with
six and fve-eight-inch casing, and
the larger casing is withdrawn. From
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