Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-07-10
How Nature Makes Oil Wells Gush.
What is an oil "gusher?"
What makes it gush?

Where does the oil come from?
Why does it spout into the air?
How can the presence of oil be de-
tected from surface indications?
What natural conditions result in the
formation of petroleum?
Can these conditions be brought
about artificially?
These are questions which have been
asked by thousands since the Texas oil
boom began. Every man who owns an
acre tract in the hopeful" district is
wondering whether his real estate is
merely the cover of natural oil tank
Professor Gustav Hanback,, instruc-
tor in geology at Washington univer-
sity says: Scientists agree that
at some period of the worlds history
there was an upheaval of some
kind which completely changed the
character of the earth's surface. AS Il
legacy to the world death left petro-
leum. Geology teaches us that animal
and vegetable life were ruthlessly de-
stroyed in this great cataclyism. Count
less millions of fishes were carried on
the crest of the food Then the water
subsidized and the fish were left found
ering in the mud. They could not re-
lease themselves. They sank deeper
and deepr in the thick deposit which
closed over them and hardened rapidly.
The fate of animal and vegetable life
on land was the same.
The clay gradually hardened into
rock which inclosed these animal and
vegetable forms and held them firmly
imbedded. In some places this hard.
ening process was so rapid that air was
completely excluded from the buried
forms before decomposition set in.
The animals, fishes and plants remain
ed in their rocky repositories in a state
of perfect preservation for centuries
But changes in the earth's composition
are constantly taking place. Improve
ments made by man and the natural
shifting of the strata gradually caused
conditions which admitted air to the
imprisoned fossils. Disintegration en-
sued. The result was petroleum.
1t is probable that this decaying mat
ter which has been incased in rock for
millions of years does not always result
in the formation of petroleum. The
presence of other chemical elements are
necessary to this, but what they are is
one Of the mysteries of science. All
that chemists know is that petroleum is
a mixture of carbon and hydrogen. But
they do not know the proportion in
which these elements are combined to
make it. Attempts to analyze it have
always failed, and no means of manu-
featuring it artificially has ever been
clusively in any particular stratum of
the earth's crust. On the western
boundary Of Wyoming there is ledge
Of rock Of the tretian period. II you
scrape piece of this rock you will find
that it smells strongly of petroleum.
Borings have been made out there ana
enough petroleum is being taken out to
supply the demands of Wyoming and
Idaho. The tretian age was the one i'm
mediately preceding the present per
iod of the worlds life. This shows that
the oil of Wyoming is of comparatively
recent origin.
The oil of Pennsylvania is found in
strata of the devonian period. This
was part of the paleozooic age, the
earliest OF which the geologians have
any record. This shows that the oil
in Pennsylvania was formed mil
lions of years before that of Wyoming,
1t has not yet been determined in
what stratum the oil recently discover
ed in Texas originated. 1t may be
found that it is neither triassic or de-
yonian. These great differences in the
time at which Oil originates at var
ious places shows that there is no set
rule by which geologists can govern
lHtLlSclN6S III an tiNNCilipI ~ NNN~i AA'AA-
whether or not a certain locality is oil
bearing. 1t is certainly not found in
the tertian or devonian strata every
where. Rocks of these periods found
in southwest Missouri for instance
show no trace of petroleum,
The decomposition of animal ant
vegetable matter is found to have taker
place just as in Wyoming and Pennsyl
vania, but there was an absence o
those unknown chemical elements
which were necessary to produce oil IL
this process. From this it follows tina
there are no surface indications whicl
will point infallibly to the presence o
petroleum. Boring alone will settle tn
question. Even boring is not alway
satisfactory. The drill might go straigh
to the source of a petroleum suppl
without showing a satisfactory result
Beautifying methods that injure tn
skin and health are dangerous. b
beautiful without discomfort by takin
Rocky Mountain Tea. Sunshiny face