The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1909-04-17

mountain ranges or in p~ropinquity L
active volcanic centers, the promote
that undertakes to finance an oil com
many in a new field, like the PiOneer
Oil in southern Nevada will
which | am Sc connected, hnds tina
there are many throughout the Eas
and elsewhere who, on account of theil
opinion in respect to the origin of oil
are unable or unwilling to believe tha'
il exists in Nevada, Notwithstanding
the truth in regard to the location Of
oil beds generally and the specific pre-
sentation to them of surfcial evidence
for the existence of petroleum that /:
overwhelming at Indian Springs, Lin
coin county, Nevada.
1t also seems peculiar that in an in
dustrv which has existed since 1S5.
and during a period of fifty years has
changed the face of the map in re
spect to transportation, trade relations
and social economy, as well as introduce
ing colossal changes in business
through a production of l,sO6,6Os,4 63
barrels of oil valued at 81 ,654,s II $50,
should still lapse in a state of infantile
obseurity in respect to the origin OF
the product itself. Therefore, having
a vital interest and knowing the i'm
portance of the appearance of petro-
lcum on the commercial horizon of Ne
vada, as fuel for mines and railroads
500 miles farther east than the pres
ent base of supply, the value of which
can he scarcely estimated, in behalf of
myself and others, / have addressed
myself to the task of supplying in
popular language the data of science
and history in respect to the origin OF
oil. as well as ~harmonizing the more
advanced theories.
"Two great circles of fire. girdle
the earth and constantly manifest them
selves. One runs east and west, equa-
IuTldllN- 1T lHt Othti hoiAh INV SC"N
They form two functions; one in the
Western hemisphere in the Caribbean
sea. and the other in the Malay archi-
p,lago between Australia and Asia.
Krakatoa, a volcano III the Sunda
strait between Sumatra and Java, on
Sunday night, August Goth, 1888, blew
its head off. The principal defamation
was heard 5000 miles distant, while
the air pulsation passed round the
earth two and one-half times. Sufficient
scoria was elected to form one cubic
mile of solidly compressed matter that
was blown to a height of more than
nine miles, where it spread out several
thousand miles wide and encircled the
globe for three years, floating in the
atmosphere like a filmy cloud with rare
effects. Notwithstanding this terrific
explosion and that this point has al
WAYS been an active volcanic center,
Java, Sumatra and Borneo, produced
eight and a half million barrels of
crude petroleum in 1907.
The Soufriere Mont Pelee), at the
western junction of the circles in the
West Indies, in part duplicated Kraka-
toa's performance on May Sth, 1907.
NeaI this volcano is the famous ''Pltch
Lake, on the Island of Trinidad. Far
Their south are the Venezuelan asphalt
beds. To the northwest are the new
oil fields of Mexico, and 20 the north,
are the Texas Louisiana oil fields. The
so-called hummocks in the latter fields
are, undoubtedly, the sites of extinct
mud volcanoes, party eroded, evidence
of which has been wholly eroded in the
older (g~eologically speaking) Appa
lachian fields, but apparent and stu
active in the younger fields of the
Caucasian mountains.
According to Trumbull White, travel
er, historian, and geographer, the site
of Lake Asphaltite (the Dead Sea-, was
the seat of an active volcano that like
Krakatoa and as a GROWING event In
it's career, also blew its head off. Coin
c;dently, the crater with the Valley of
Siddim and a part of the adjacent
plain, subsidized and transformed an area
of a hundred square leagues into a cav
ern of unknown depths. Into this, the
Jordan river that formerly traversed
Palestine and found its way into the
Gulf of Arabia, thereafter flowed and
formed the Dead Sea, just as Owens
river that formerly flowed into the Ia
cifc ocean, is now confined to Owens
lake in California. This sea has a sur
face some 800 feet below sea Level,
some 400 feet lower than the floor of
Death Valley. In this sea is no trace
of organic matter; no sound is heard
upon its shores that are impre gnatcd
with salt and bitumen; birds avoid its
lrearv surface from which emanates
deadly ~effluvia. Not a breeze stirs this
silent sea and nothing moves therein
save the thick load of asphalt that
rises from the bottom to float lazily on
the surface. While this "puts Il
crimpv in the Biblical legend of the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
with all of their inhabitants save Lot
81 lie Family fhrouoh a direct vista.