The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-01-22
Boston Transcript.


ton was chiefly made, to wit: the dElil-
ing for oil on the shore OF the caspian
Sea. From time .immemorial almost the
oil wells OF Apoheron were known, put
it was not until after the invention OF
'photogene'' that people began to THINK
seriously 1of exploiting the oil regions OF
Baku. In the application OF petIoiuem
to commercial purposes America led the
WY. and Russia followed suit, but
slowly and with hating footsteps. 1t
took some time to get the Government to
move, and although Messrs. White &
Co. built petroleum refneries in 1861, IL
was not until the 31st of Deem Der, 1879,
that the Governments granted the neces-
sary facilities to make the exploitation
of petroleum in Russia commercially
feasible. Marvin wrote up the oil wells
of Baku in 1884, nevertheless the earliest
Trustworthy statitsics Of petroleum ex-
ports do not date back farther than 1888.
Even then Russian petroleum had many
difficulties to overcome In its unequal
competition with American oil.
In the first place, the Government stub
bornly resisted, until last year, all at
tempts at unity OF action on the part OF
owners, on the score of wishing to en-
courage the smaller owners and Of dis
counusnancing anything like m0nop-
oily. Even today, only Russians or Rus
sian companies can exploit and own Pc
troleum wells. That explains why
hno No
Russian subjects. Secondly. the Govern
meut has, for the sans ostensible reason,
refused to grant permission for the lay
ing down Of a main pipe to carry the oil
to Batoum, although there is. at.present,
some tslk of a pipe line to the Persian
Gulf. Such line, however, although
excellent for the India and China trade.
would be of little use for Europe, and,
in view of the threatened competition of
Burmah, of very little use whatever.
Then there is only single line OF rail-
way to Batoum, and, consequently the
transport of petroleum taxes time. OF
course, large part of the Russian ttrade
goes through thet Caspian up the Volaa,
but that river is nayigable only in the
aummer. All these reasons are sufficient
to explain how it is that the petroleum
trade of Russia languishes. Notwith-
standing the ipaooessibiity of Baku 1T
self. and the stepfatherlY attitude of the
Russian Government, the coil trade of
Bakd, owing largely to the energyiof the
brothers Nobel, now Russian subjects,
and of Messrs. Rothschild & Co., who
have tablished Russian company, has
made enormous strides, and has been
the means of building up large fortunes.
In 1888 there existed only 239aoil wells
with an output of 6542 million pounds,
whereassin 1898 there were 458 oil wells
with an annual output of 1880 million
pounds. There ssare at present as many
as twenty-five large owners and fifty
three small ones. The town of Baku
seventeen years ago, possessed 10, 600 in
habitants, priH cipally Persians. Today
there is a population of TIC, coo, of which
very large proportion is European sand
Armenian.
TTThe port of Baku is one of the most
ancient cities of Russia. In the eighth
century it was aireadyaa hcuriehing town
Ii fell into the hands OF Persia In the
sixtce h century, although 1t retained
it's autonomy under a separate. khan. In
1906 the Russians finally stormed and
annexed it, and ever since then 1t has
been under the dominion of Russia. But
It's Importance as the port OF the oil
region of the peninsula of Apcheron is of
two parts, the "white town." where the
peopie i've and the "black town" where
the oil ia refined. The low roofiess. houses
of what ia called the "white town" look
unimposing, but the streets are well
paved, and the shops, though unattrac-
tive, are good. The most picturesque
part Of Baku is the old town, with its
Persian citadel, the old minaret and
mosu uey and the ruins of the palace and
baths of the khan. The ruinsehave still
pieces cfssmasonry in excellent preserva-
ton, among these ara two magnificent
uorticos, the carvings On which are still
beautiful. Very quaint is the Persian
bazaar. with its squalid sheds, iioper-
fectly covered way, ssand weird Persian
merchants. Outside the walls OF the cita-
del Is the camel market, where may be
sean grouped together the laltnIul SHIPS
of the desert.
If the Persian element is picturesque,
the same cannot be- said for the essen
TALLY Russian part Of the town. The
"black town." as it is called, where the
refineries are situated, is a mournful
wilderness OF sheds, pipes and chlmneys.
Nearly all the buildings are OF wood, SO
that if q fire were to break out theswhole
town would burn right merrily, as, in
deed IL d0essevery, now and Fthen. There
isaapothing much TO learn at these srefn-
cries. The plant is nothing to- speak Of
The engines aEesnearly alls driven by oil
residuels. The refneries consist of
series OF lufuaCor3 oHLOdAA WLioh CuO
naphtha ia driven in its raw state and
vapcrize1. The first furnace, ia Of a COM
paratively low temperature, and the last
exosssiveiylhigh The product received
from this last furnace Is either treated as
what Is 90 lied tresiauals, =" or ''ostalki, y
that ID, "liguid fuel" or else. by dint OF
boiling, ii is converted into tar and en-
eine oil The vRpor obtained from the
furnaces Swallowed to escape by means
ofspipes, (which are carried through cool
ing cisterns always kept full of cold
water, direct from the Caspian, and thus
gradually cooled until it oondenses and
turns into petroleum.. The PROCESS is so
simple that Nobel's analytical chemist
assures me that in lnanys Of the existing
works the engineers and chemists are
ifiiterats, unsdueated Tartars.
Indeed, of late, the Tartars are making
ali the running, and the biggest foun-
balm of recent years, which has been
spouting at the rate Of thirty six million
pounds day, belongs to Tartar called
Assadoulayeff. Nominally, this fountain
brings It's owner $40, 900 day. But this
ia only what his petroleum represents at
the usual prices. He must SILL 1t first
before he eansbesssaid to have earned such
an enormous income. ard the competi-
+fop sr,oDo o1ypera is HkaaD and nTtan