The herald., 1895-05-19
Saint Teresa, the Mexican Miracle Worker

/, is solved. Oil can be furnished at S5
cents per barrel. According to the esii-
mates OF an engineer in one OF the cable
power houses three barrels of oil will fur
nish horsepower equal to one ton OF coal.
Hence coal would have to sell for $2.55 to
compete with our local fuel product.
From this it is evident not only that
coal cannot compete with oil as fuel, but
the petroleum is so cheap that it can be
usc4l in all lines of manufacturing indus
try. Already we have evidence OF the
growth in this direction as shown in the
opening of new factories and the extended
plans for others. The increasing supply
due to the sinking OF new wells will
thus find proportionate demand from
the consumption of the new factories.
Such u balance is the very health of trade.
The locality in which most of the wells
are operated presents busy scene. Hun
dreds of tall derricks rear their heads
above the surrounding houses, and clouds
of smoke and steam rise constantly from
the busy engines. Wagons with capa-
cious tanks distribute the product from
the storage tanks to the different points
of consumption throughout the city.
This will soon cease. however, as a great
central tank is now in process OF con-
struction in the business part OF the city
to which oil will be conducted through
pipe line, now being laid. The tank will
be 80 feet in diameter at the base and 30
feet in height, with capacity of $4,000
barrels, or 1, 336, 900 gallons. Over four
with the wells. Through this the oil will
be forced by pumping engine, at max
imum pressure of 1900 pounds to the
square inch. SThe cost of handling the oil
will then be greatly reduced, and ship
ment facilitated.
those of Pennsylvania affords an interest
ing bit of data. The oil is found in very
much the same strata of sand as that
which bears oil in the east. with this pc
culiar difference-in Pennsylvania the oil
generally flows to the surface. whereas
here it has to be raised by pumps, except
in two or three instances. One engine
usually serves to run from five to sixteen
or eighteen separate pumps, represent
ing as many different wells
Another difference lies in the compost
tion of the oil. Pennsylvania petroleum
has paratfine basis, while the Los An
gee oil has an asphaltum basis This
ence over the refining of the crude oil.
There is a further difference between the
eastern oil and that from the local wells
namely, that of gravity The eastern
oil is lighter. Here the pest oil has a
specific gravity of from twelve to thir-
teen, the average running between fifteen
and twenty.
Inc ueptH Oh lL0 WoIb varies Win tut
pitch of the land. Some strike oil at
about 700 feet, while others are sunk to a
depth OF 1000. In Pennsylvania wells are
bored sometimes 1000 and 5000 feet deep.
Every day over 1900 barrels of forty gal
Ions each are added to the wealth of the
community Some wells are more valu-
able than others, the daily output vary
ing from rs to 100 barrels. Ono enter.
prising oil man says he has a surface well
yielding from ten to sixty barrels daily.
He showed the reporter his well. 1t has
a larger area than any in the district be-
ing large pool of oil which has collected
in the hollow formed by the grade of the
street. In this way all the rcfupe oil
which drains from the wells and tanks is
collected and saved. to the advantage of
the owners and adjoining residents
And these residents, by the by, are not
to be overlooked. Much has already been
written, pro and con, upon the conflict
ing interests OF the oil industry and the
original resident owners of the locality.
The matter has never found its way into
the courts, where 1t will ultimately be
settled. AS matter of course, the pres
ence of the oil workers. with their smoke
and rattle, and machinery, do not add
much to the beauty of the place. Nor 10
that liquid nuisance peculiar to steam
engines, wooden pumps and various other
thundering paraphernalia, conducive to
sleep; especially if the industrious sere-
made is Kept up all night yht under
ones window. In fact. house rents in
the imm ,diate vicinity have gone down.