The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-08-11
{. Z. r. Cafacristi Of Baltimore Is at
Beaumont TO Look Over Field.
ATALE ON THE FUTURE OF PETROLEUM
Says that There Are Large Deposits In
Many Counties of Eastern Texas
and Names Them.
New orleans plcayune.

I
the world. He Is a recognized authority,
and outlined the Texas field, pointing out
where Oh was to be expected. and urging
exploration, more than year before It's
discovery there by Captain Lucas. He
has visited all the oil fields of the world,
ana has written exhaustively upon the
! American fields, both In the Northern and
Sou bern hemisphere. His scientific and
practical education were such as 10 qualify
/ him fully for the work, and his papers on
the subject have been taken as the last
4 word, wherever they nave appeared.
For some time Mr.. Caracristi has been
a contributor TO the Manufacturers Record.
aud l. was In the issue Of that Journal OF
| January 10, 1900, that Ills prediction APP
! pearel with relation TO the Beaumont field.
! lie IS now ON his way 10 Beaumont for
! the Manufacturers Record In order to
! make an exhaustive study OF the field and
/ its present scientific and economic condi-
/ tions, that he may lntelgently discuss
| them In the columns Of that paper. A mum
! Der al articles have recently appeared in
the Record from his pen aud they have
| attracted the attention of the oil world,
/ but II seems desirable, he explained, that
n rev view Of the situation be taken, IN
orler that no condition may escape con
sdcration In arriving at conclusions, their
economic value depending upon the com
pie ,ness Of the data upon which uney
are based
There is no question in my mind and ]
said many months ago thut there are vast
pools OF oil in the valley OF the Nechfs
river aud vicinity. mentioning particularly
the counties OF shelby, Nacoguoches, Au
gustiIe, Angelica, Tyler, Har3ins, JaSpeb
orange and Jefferson. q he trurh OF tlis
efn ton haa a F-NI|
discovery or the Lucas well No. ], which
was predicted by me 10 the Manufacturers
Record OF January 10 1900.
This was based upon scientific obsCrvR.
ton made some time before that by me,
and upon similar examinations OF the rest
Of the SAM formation IN south, Am RIGA
the West Indies and Nortai America.
The Texas discovery is Do new thinS
The field was first operated for oil In the
spring of 1S676S, when wen producing
800 barrels per day was discovered, AMI
eighty other wells were drilled, but the
field was abandoned on account Of the fact
that under the then condition Of the j.
70 disull enough kerosene from the product
Now we have a different proposition al
together, which has been 50 fully discusseN
thar IL is not necessary 10 go into tbs dit'
'srhe formation In which the oil is found
is tertiary, and that Is formation that ls
little understood as II occurs M the nned
States This TO nation is found From the
gulf to the Red river, on the west colat
ard In Georgia, extending south through
the West indies, and eros sing the Caribbean
SEA, thence through Colombia anu Yen@-
guela and south 10 the Amazon rivcFs Iit
branch OF the formation reaching the IA
etc coast crosses the isthmus of PaniiLd.
81 am confident that the gulf or Mexico
AMI the Caribbean sea, ltttornls Will be the
oil-produeing s2cticnrol the world lpT tae
next twosor three hundrel years.
I'm what stratum ~ the Tertiary rorind
ton IL the oil foundT' asked the reporter
1T is always found IN the eocene strata.
dlstillatlon from the bituminous shale
strata that le at greater depths.
'Ahis VS. identically the same formation
as that in which the Baku leld of Rus
sia hes, and there the formation OK
tcnds, with a somewhat similar sweep
TO the southward reeedlng as far as the
west coast u the Red sea. have OK
amined the formation there, ana while
II Is to the most extent barren OF oil.
least that formerly there we're great de.
posts Of natural gas, and I believe that
the pillar Of fire that Is spoken of in Ex-
odus as guiding the Hebrews by night
was nothing more than gas Wells th2t
had heen struck while they were boring
for water, and had caught ,nre The
rule has attempted TO bore there for
oil. but it Is so extremely unhealthy
and so full OF yenomous snakes, and oth-
erwise uninhabltable that the attempt
has had to be abandoned
-, coming back to ne American ield
where oil Is found II lies in n stratum
OF tertiary sand, varying ln thickness,
with a cap rock that Is impervious to the
presence OF the accumulation OF oil with
sufficient gas TO eNpel it from the depth
at which 1t is found IL due 10 the cap
rock forming shield ana retaining he
distillates az they come up from the
greater depths as they are distilled from
the hltumlnous shale. / have expert
have found that the fact bears out my
theory. nave examined the similar for
nations In south America, and have made
that ! could obtain. but that is another
matter, and Is embedded In the records
Of the bureau Of South American repub-
hcs from which a can be obtained
"Ihe oil proposition in America Is very
Important 70 the whole world. We pro-
oil o. the world, but from thar oil IL
distilled 80 per cent Of the total dstillates
Of the world, SO that IL can be seen that
The onallry nf the american oil places the
would Indicate.
1.-THE Texas field nc It's present Stage OF
development adds about 30 per cent Ia the
worlds production. and II can be easily
figured what change that makes ln the re-
lation of our oil 10 the oil OF the world. +
ua not believe however. that the Texaa
81 discovery and the production now go-
Ing on win AFFECT the price u oil,
In the first place, Il does not compete
with Illuminating oil, but finds It's field
OF competition as q fuel OH Is liquid
carbon. while coal Is carbon IN more IN
the problem OF producing electric energy
direct without Inc aid Of ordinary CON
hustion and the Transformation of the
stored-up energy of the carbon into electric
power by this means Will now lie solved.
i Is much more simple proposition than
the one Of producing electric power from
coal without combustion IN the ordinary
sense and I think Il will be solved
The question has often been asked n
steel con be pade with this Oh in The
place Of coal or coke. The metaliurgisfs
have not answered the question, but
am now prepared 10 make the abatement
that il can, have made The necessary
experiments, and there Is no mistake about
1T Is merely a question OF the aug used,
and as soon as ] became convinced that
this was the trouble / commenced hunt
Ing for the right fux, and have found m
tested great number of materials, and
rnally lighted upoh tubefaceOus lime
stone thar ] found IN Jamaica. II l. ex.
tremely porous, Ike pumics stone and
when the Rns Is forced into the furnace II
II passed Into the pores OF the stone and
there Retained until Il can do It's work 1
dc not think this explanation very clear
nor Is Il exact. hnt Il will serve.
i have recently had samples OF the
same limestone sent me from Texas sd
II seems that there IL. right in the state
where the oil ~. Iron aud limestone OF
the proper quality 10 make the oil ayail-
able for smelling purposes Or the manufae-
zone great question remains but that
Will be solved. III n the making OF a