The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1901-04-20

6y the Almighty. Let NJ hope
that the Texas Legislature and the
Houston Post will be able to keep
it out Of the Beaumont oil fields.
Daily States.
The Manufacturers Record of
Baltimore makes the prediction that
the discovery Of the great oil field
in Texas will result in giving . great
boom to manufacturing industries
in the South, and this opinion 10
shared by nearly all the trade
journals IN the country. 1t is noted
that Beaumont oil is fuel OIL which
10 declared to b. of much greater
importance than illuminating oil,
because of the prac eically unlimited
uses and demand for it and the ad-
vantage it has over any other In the
fact that it can be produced and
marketed At . minimum cost. As
many of the greatest gushing wells
are located within only eighteen
miles of seaport, the oil can be
piped, So it has been stated, into
tank steamers and delivered At sea
ports of the United States. MEXICO.
Central America and Europe at SO
| small . cos, tina. it will be impossi
BILE for any other fuel to compete
with it for steaming purposes.
According to one statement it can
be piped into tanks aboard ship At
Port Arthur At . total cost for pro-
duction and transportation not to
exceed ten cents q barrel, and as
three and . halt barrels OF the oil
equal one ton of coal for steAm;ng
purposes it represents the equivalent
of ton of coal delivered At the
seaboard at cost of thirty five
cents = ton. The government re-
ports of 1899 show that the average
of coal exported from the United
States vas 81. So ton, therefore it
is quite evident that 80 far as steam
purposes are concerned it is impossi-
| bic for coal to compete with the
Texas fuel oil, for wherever coal
has come in competition with oil
for these purposes coal Las been
driven from the field. This has
happened in California and Russia,
and will happen in any country in
| which large oil fields are discovered
and developed. The Manufacturers
Record says:
ssThe ports which would receive and
| handle and forward the new fuel to interior
would. of course, derive an immense share
of these advantages. The Atlantic and Gull
States, it is noted, contain ~ per cent Of
the population of the United States and al
100 900, 900 tons of coal a year-costing, in
many of them, from s. to IS ton. The
oil will displace coal in many of their in
dustrial establishments, and probably on al
their railroads. Two Of the California roads
alone, rs has been stated, consume 6,oo1
barrels day. and will soon consume 10. ooo
The calculation is not made for all the At.
lantic and Gulf States, but it is estimated
that the roads of Texas will require 1900
barrels = day, or I6, 600. 600 barrels year;
and the roads OF Louisiana and Mississippi
1900, 900 barrels year. The demands OF
the rest of the Underwater region, for all pur'
poses. can be estimated accordingly"
Expert oil men who are now ex-
aiming the Beaumont oil fields are
unable at the present time to es.
innate the probable supply, but il
is known that at least three of the
wells are producing $4,000 barrels
a day, which is six times the pro.
duction of all the wells in Califor.
mia, more then double those Of
Pennsylvania, and nearly half Al
much as the aggregate production
of all the wells in the United States,
of which there are about. 10000.
The indications are that the Texa,
oil field is the richest III the world,
as it is known to cover ten counties
in the State, and its actual limits
are only conjectural.
There is q section in ST. Landry
parlsh which easily takes the cake
for the best. oil indications. 1t is