The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-09
MYSTERIES OF NATURE
By George Frederick Wright,
A. M, IL. d.
OIL "0UsHERs" AND THEIR ORIGIN
George Frederick Wrigh


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distant cities and to furnish heat and
some OF the more delicate forms of
manufacture, like glass. Cleveland is
now partly supplied with gas piped
from West Virginia.
When gas and oil are found to-
gether the gas is above the oil. as it
naturally would be, since it Is the
lighter. The whole is often under
enormous pressure, SO that when the
reservoir is penetrated the gas and
oil gush out with tremendous force.
well remember visiting the Karg well
soon after It was opened in Findlay,
o. The pressure was more than 700
pounds to the square inch-about five
times that ON q locomotive when put
to its hardest work. The roaring
could be heard five miles, and when
the gas was lighted 1t made the day
brilliant for ten miles.
New fields Of gas and oil are con-
stantly being discovered. Those in
western Ohio and in Indiana are
among the most important In this
country. and were the greatest sur
prise to biologists. for they occur on
the Trenton limestone, a geological
horizon far below that Of western
Pennsylvania. The oil is also so DIFF
ferent in its impurities that II il
thought to be derived not from veg
etable decomposition. but from animal
Probably the innumerable sea animals
whose shells form the Trenton lime
stone furnished the oleaginous matter
contained in this oil district
More recently important discoveries
Of oil have been made In Colorado,
Wyoming. California and Texas. That
in California is specially important,
as the state had no coal mines. Al
most Immediately on the discovery of
this oil In California it came into use
in the locomotives of the great rail-
road lines. The Texas fields were SO
far from economical means of trans
portation that much has been lost.
while the supply is not as great as
was at first hoped.
The oil fields of Russia at Baku, on
the Caspian sea. however. bear the
palm both for abundance and con-
stancy of production. From the
earliest times gas has been known
to come out of the rocks there. SO
that It early became a sacred place
for the Parsees. or fire worshipers.
For thousands of years the sacred
fires were kept burning beneath the
dome of a great temple built by the
priests. and religious devotees came
from as far away as India. Indeed. It
is only few years since their visits
ceased.
But the discovery of OIL In this re-
gion in vast commercial quantities has
crowded out the religious devotees.
The facts are stranger than fiction.
A territory at Baku no larger than q
single township furnishes more oil
than the whole United States, and has
continued to do so for many years.
Our consular reports show also that
the percentage Of increase In that
lield is greater for the last I'VE years
than It has been here.
At Baku they must go down with
their wells only . few hundred feet,
when they strike q reservoir which is
nnder tremendous pressure. The drills
IRE thrown out of the well. followed
By q bombardment of pebbles which
batters the derrick to pieces and piles
up pyramid Of stones about the
mouth, and the oil pours out In tor
'ents. This Is preserved, not In large
ron tanks. as here, but, Is collected
n pools by a dam across the valley.
It IL not always fortunate to strike
J flowing OIL well. A Russian in Baku
'wo years ago struck one which
'oured forth 100000 barrels in .
month. and caused SO much damage
" IFS overflow that 1t Suined him.
1t is interesting to see how near
Alexander the Great came to being
he oil king of central Asia rather
han the conqueror Of India The his
cries relate that when he was at
,amarcand he started out on an ex-
,edition farther north, when he found
lis army short of water. and COM
handed his men to dig a well. But
instead of finding water they Struck
ILL.," which was bad to the taste.
borrower. the soothsayer said 1t was
bad omen. So he ordered 1t to be
He'd up and sacrifices to be made, and
hen started for India. But now all
be locomotives on the Transcaspian
abroad use petroleum from the wells
Baku.
Copyright by Joseph B. Bowles.)
Turtle Is an Autograph Album.
A turtle with 76 years Of history
sryed on its back was found near