The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-11
OIL SHALE HANDLING.
Valuable Pointers Given by Amer
lean Consul at Edinaburqh.

Consul Rufus Fleming writes from
Edinburgh that shae distillation has been
carried on in Scotland for more than half
century. He details the operations
for the benefit of American inquirers as
follows:
This industry is practically confined to
the two counties of Linlithgow aud
Edinburgh. The output of oil shale in re-
cent years has varied from 100000 to
2J9,90o tons per annum. In 1894 the lat
est year for which trustworthy statis-
tics are obtainabie Scotland produced
23Sl,SS5 tons. The marketable products
of the industry were: Burning oil. 1891
gi6 gallons; naphtha. 25I7296 gallons: gas
oil. g $50 tons; lubricating oil. 80. t76 tons;
paraffin wax, Pat tons; sulphate of am
monia. $500 tons. The value of total
products has not been officially stated
but il IS estimated at somewhat above
the figures for 1903. S. 80 200 In 1905 and
1896 there was. it is believed d consider
able advance in the output of shale and
the quantities of the various products Of
manufacture. The mineral oil industry
has experienced many vicissitudes. due
chiefly TO foreign competition and to lack
of proper organization. Within the last
decade seven Scottish oil companies have
gone out Of business. but production has
not diminished, the remaining six COM
panies having extended their operations.
improved and cheapened their processes.
and established the industry on a fairly
secure and profitable basis.
Technical Information.
Oil shales are found in several sec
tions of the United States. Now and
then have received letters from persons
or firms in America wishing to know the
nature of Scottish oil shale. how it is
worked. the methods of distillation. etc
Some years ago l procured for a mineral
oil company in a western state blue
prints of retOrts used in oil shaie works
here. from which the companys engineer
constructed retoFts that / am told. have
been in successful operation. To anyone
interested in the discovery aud utilization
of oil shale government publication just
issued by the geological survey office,
London, will be of value. 1t treats of the
'Oil Shales of the Lothians." dealing
with Cd the geology of the shale fields,
90 methods of working the seams. and 90
The chemistry of the oil-bearing mineral.
An adequate summary of this detailed
and technical report is impracticable, but
few facts of special importance to
Americans who have been giving atten-
tion TO oil shale may be stated
The workable seams of oil shale in
Scotland all occur in the caiciferOus sand
stone series. which has two subdivisions.
The upper. known as the oil shale group,
is over S.e00 feet in thickness. and con-
tains, in its higher parts. beds of coal
usually of inferior quality. and farther
down. about six main seams of oil shale,
interstratified with beds of sandstone.
shale. fire clay. mari and estuarine lime
stone. The lower group. in which no oil
shales of economic Importance have yet
been found, consist of white sandstone
and shales. passing downward into gray.
green and red shales. clays- mari and
sandstones. with beds of srgillaceous
limestone or cement stone.
Physical Character of ShaIe.
In regard to the physical characters
of oil shale the report says that good
Fhale can. as rule be distinguished by
its brown streak. toughness, and resist
ance to disintegration by the weather.
Ordinary carbonaceous shale is more or
less brittle and often gritty, and when
exposed 10 the air il cracks and crum-
bles into fragments which ultimately be-
come clay or mud. Oil Shaie. on the 9TH
er hand resembles hard dark wood or
dry leather. and its quality in the field
which Il can be cut and curled up with
the edge of sharp knife. 1t is free from
g-ittiness. and is often flexible as well as
tough.
Variable Qualities of shale.
Miners draw distinction between
plain and curly" shale. the former
variety being flat and smooth. and the
latter contorted or ''curled" and polished
or CLASSY on the squeezed faces The
same seam may be partly plain and part
y curly, and the curly beds are often
richer in oil than the plain portions It
is said that shaie is curly because It is
rich. as the higher percentage of hydro
car5ons in some beds may have rendered
them more easily crumDled than the
stronger but poorer bands along side of
them In internal structure oil shaie Is
infinitely ANIMATED which is apparent in
the spent sh8le" after distillation when
II Is thrown out in fragments composed
OF extremely thin sheets. ike the leaves
of book or flakes in piece Of pastry.
In thickness the shale seams vary
greatly At certain localities they dis
appear and pass into ordinary carbon
iaceoas shale. and az. others they swell