Evening star., 1897-12-03
LAND OF NAPHTHA
The Dreary Surroundings Of the City
of Baku.
SEEfHING Sea OF TIE LIQUID
One Lighted Match Would Set
the Country Afire.
RESOURCES OF PETROLEUM NJ
From the Mall Mall Gazette.

| o-
| From the Mall Mall Gazette.
Probably there is no spot on earth where
| more highly inf1ammable matter lies ex-
posed to such terrible conf1agratons as that
| just reported from Baku than in the dis
| trict lying just beyond that town on the
| sEortes of the Caspian. Everything seems
| saturated with petroleum; the air
| breathes is laden with greasy odor, and
| the waters of the bay are covered with an
iridescent sheen which at night may be
| set on fire with most weird effect. Not on
| ly is black naphtha to be seen in monster
fountains playing from the very earth. but
| which naphtha flows of itself in places and
| a short way off are the natural gas vents
| over which the natives do their cooking
without coal, and which once fed the sa-
| cred Zoroastrain fires. No wonder that
| the ancient Persiars locked on this as holy
| ground, where the eternal heaven-fed flames
| OF life burst forth in sacred buildings, the
re mains of which are still extant and have
| recently been no longer, except from Gu
| rle slty, and the modern Persian Parsee
| OF Bombay and Gujerat kindles the oil
| shipped to him from Batoum without a
| sigh for vanished belief. When the late
| Shah of Persia visited Bakuit it was nee
| essary to import a number of priests for
the occasion that he might witness in the
| portion of the Persian empire that had
been wrested from it by Peter the Great a
| specimen of the worship that his prede-
cessors had all but stamped out in the por-
| tion they had conquered and retained. For
| less distinguished visitors to see there is
| only ruined tower from the top of which
| flare natural jets, through ircn gas pipes
| and a number of cells. with affairs for the
| once sacred fire, and some ancient inscrip-
| tons.
Naphtha Fountains.
With this exception. there is little pic
| turesque or attractive in the neighborhood
| of Baku-a name corrupted from the Per
| sian Bad-kuh or Bad-hill-which excels in
| creariness and grininess the worst of our
| "black country at home Here our cli-
| mate does tempt the grass to grow and
! beautify all spots left long enough alone
| by man; but there the arid soil is scorched
| and winnowed by the southern sun and
| fiery breeze, till even round the houses of
the managers it is almost impossible to in
| duce vegetation. Most of the wells are sit
| uated several miles from Baku, to the one
| n.s nufacturing suburb of which-well styled
| the Black Town-the crude brown liquid is
| conveyed in pipes through which it is fore
| Cd by remarkably powerful engines. Lines
| of railway run to the various centers, and
On to the fire temple. which is being over
| sfadowed by works for the preparation of
| the white naphtha which springs hard by
| though as it is, the residue from the brown
| Eaphtha, after the petroleum or kerosene
| has been extracted, the success of the ven
| tGre is doubtful.
| AS one stands out of Baku tall shafts.
| not unlike those of some English coal
| mines, come into view. some twenty or
| thirty feet high built of wood each at the
end of an engine house. Hundreds of them
stand scattered some silent, some the scene
| of noisy boring, others of petroleum foun-
| talns rising to their tops in jet twelve
| INCHES in diameter, and then arrested by
| thiek plates of iron. Ever at that height
| the: force of the stream is SO great that the
| stene and sand in the course of a few
| hours bore through four to six inches OF
| metal, and a fresh plate has to be in re-
serve above. Should the top of the tower
| be carried away. the stream will rise to
| from forty to sixty feet, ard be scattered
| in rain for great distance round.
Resourccs of Oil.
Thus few years ago one of the most
| prolific wells became the ruin of it's owners,
| for. bursting all bounds, the torrent del
! uged. so much of their neighbors' works
| that all their capital was spent in paying
I damages. and all the Oil that was not
caught in their own tanks was lost. The
| Wisest head has rot yet succeeded in ascer-
| ia ming how to discover the oil pools and
| streams below ground, and the elaborate
| sections and plans worked out by those
| who control most borings have revealed lit
| tie more than the erratc nature of the
| streams that seem to mcander along the
| surface of the clay beds and rocks of sand
| and light earths. the pressure of which
drives it UP with such force when tapped
| from above. Sometimes the most success
| full wells have been sunk in small plots of
ground that could not contain the oil re-
ceved while time after time the monster
companies have sunk their tubes in vain.
The largest of these companies are Swe-
dish. but there are Armenians and Per-
slams. Tartars, GeorgianS and CaucaSians.
| both among the spectators and the labor
crs. and many of the original landholders-
| Mohammedans, chefy-have become mi
DlepSpIy rich laaS thpir nj ,iobf for
paid-up shares, the only safe venture about
The Gcpth at which the oil is found va
ries greatly even in wells side by side,
and the expense of driving some of the
tubes. that descend to great depths, is
enormous, the whole thing becoming pure
gambling except for those who control
large chances in land and resource. Each
year the average boring grows deeper
and often the oil has to be pumped into
| cylinders provided with a valve in the
| bottom. opened by lad who pulls cord
as it rises before him when he sits COW
ell ed with spray.
What n Match Might Do.
Everything round is saturated, and I
| have stood in those sheds the only dry
| object. with a naphtha spout playing above
and falling deafeningly upon the roof. No
| tnc objects to naphtha there, and the men
| even wash in it, using sand Herewith
while all employed have fixed allowance
for fuel and light. No dwellings more
dismal than theirs can be ina gined. Dante
should have visited the spot.
All around between the wells lie lakes
cf seething naphtha, which, when clear
of sand and stones. will be pumed into iron
| reservoirs. The roads have naDhtha
streams by the sides, and naphtha pipes
of all sizes cross and interlace in all direc-
tions till they are hardly passable. One
rashly-thrown match would set miles in
a blaze. and the most stringent regula-
nnc T(,,t f0v
disasters would be terribly frequent.
A very different appearance is presented
by the ralpitating Black Town, where in
gigantic furnaces the naptha is distilled
and churaed and distilled again as ben
zine, kerosene and vaseline, and many
valuable chemicals are one by one remov-
ed. till only the thick black residue, of use
for fuel, is left and much of this is used
to feed the furnaces themselves Boilers
so heated closely resemble those intended
for coal and wood. except that on the in
side of the fire doors are stout Jets. through
which it is pumped the length of the fire.
box, forming bright tongues of heat-giv-