Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-04-26
PETROLEUM.
America Supplies the Oil to Light tho
Worlds Lamps.

Worlds Lamps.
The petroleum region that lies II
the state of Pennsylvania, with mar
row fringe in New York state adjoin
ing, Is hilly and covered with forest
says Pearson's Weekly. The older dis
tricts where the first wells were made
are now exhausted; the towns which
few years ago counted their inhabi
tants by thousands have scarcely any
left behind.
The boring for oil was at first very
speculative business and was as deer
as from 1,100 to 1000 feet. A wei
when once tapped may flow only fol
a few weeks, in other cases for years
Some will yield but a barrel day
others will force up as much as 5000
barrels within the first "a hours.
OF all kinds Of property, an oil wei
is the most capricious. Its life is ut
terly precarious, its yield a matter Of
pure speculation. AS an industry Il
is but 40 years old, and its origin al
most accidental.
A Colonel Drake, who had farm
In Pennsylvania. happened to notice
greasy evil-smelling fluid floating or
the rocks, oozing from the crevices
and was led to discover that 1t lay be-
meath the soil in great quantities.
The Indians had long used 1t as
remedy for rheumatism. The discov
cry led to the formation Of a paten
medicine company called the "Senecs
OIL Company" which found the capi
tai for Colonel Drake to bore the frs
we'll. No one then imagined that thi'
natural medicine would soon become
the cheap and popular light Of th'
world and secure fabulous fortune
for it's later possessors.
Soon, however, the enterprisini
Yankee began to exploit it as an IL
luminant. The oil was refined in
variety of ways; lamps were speedil!
invented for its special use, and thel
came a process for cheapening TIT
production so as to place it within th'
reach of the masses.
The startling reformation that cheal
oil has made in the social and famil!
life of hundreds of thousands cal
scarcely be realized by those Of u
who live in comparative comfort
Poor people so years ago could no
afford enough light Of an evening II
read by, and even in good sized farm
houses a few fiickering candles wer'
the only light. Now, in the million o
homes the genial lamp invites II
games, music, study and social recre
alton. Like railways and electricity
lamp oil has become large civilizint
and humanizing force.
In Pennsylvania and New Yorl
states there are today nearly $4,000
oil-producing wells, and boring for neV
supplies is being constantly pursued
Directly a rich well is struck th'
railway line is at once brought along
side; trucks consisting Of immens'
tanks are filled, and when the who'll
train Is freighted it is taken to INT
nearest seaboard, where again the oi
is pumped into steamships. which arr
simply colossal ocean-going reservoirs
These ships sail direct to the great Eu
ropean markets, where they are un
loaded in bulk, thus saving the laool
of filling into separate barrels. D
course, much comes over sea in bar
rels, but big wholesale transactions arr
now by shipload.
With a present enormous consump
ton for lighting purposes, and an al
most limitless possible development
for all forms of motor carriage th'
future of this vast industry promise!
greatly to increase. While few cap
italists have made large fortunes, many
toilers have found profitable employ
ment, while mankind generally ha'
shared its benefits and comforts.