The San Francisco call., 1910-01-22
OIL BIG. FACTOR
IN CITY'S GROWTH
Influence on Manufacturing IN
dustry Has Been Reflected
in Rapid Progress

The enumeraters of the United States
census, about to be taken in this city,
will find an interesting theme in the
economical provision made here for
ma uufacturing att the lowest cost. This
matter has been discussed more or
less, by prominent real estate men and
they consider the situation TO be of
great Importance in it's relation to ad-
vertising San. Francisco Every large
city in the United States looks to it's
local manufactures for a large per-
centage of its growth and prosperity.
Capitalists devote their attention to
manufacturing where the conditions are
most favorable and a large body of
skilled mechanics eventually settle in
such places. Some interesting figures
have been made by Fire Marshal Towe
which have been brought up to date.
and which will prove of interest at this
time
Records prior to 1906 that relate to
storage of oil for power and other pur-
poses in this city were destroyed by
fire. Fire Marshal Towe has, however,
all the data relating to the permits is
sued by him for the storage of fuel oil
for part of the year 1906 and also for
the succeeding years and up to the
last day of 1909. These figures are IL
lustra tive and the compilation of them
for publication is of great value to the
city
BIG OIL SUPPLY
In the permits that have been issued.
necessarily, the storage capacity of
each and every reservoir is given. The
total storage in the city for fuel oil at
this time, or up to the first day of the
present year, is Is. .537, ,939 gallons. This
oil was procured at the current mar
ket price of about 80 cents per barrel
gate a great sum. The general esti-
mate of the heat generating capacity
of the oil compels the selling of steam
coal at about SO ton. In steam gen
Grafton three and a half barrels of oil
equals a ton of steam coal. From this
it will be seen that the stock of fuel
oil is factor which insures stable
conditions.
Fire Marshal Towe's statement
shows that in 1906. after the fire. IS
permits to store oil in the city We're
issued, and the permits allowed the
placing in tanks of 1910 gallons Of
OIL In the succeeding year permits
were issued for 162 plants, with a
storage capacity of e.f43 600 gallons. In
creased by 100 and the storage ca
pacity by 3,S55.45S gallons. Even in
1909 when the price of oil scared, the
number of plants was increased by ia
and the storage capacity by S,I7S,S56
gallons. In total. 40 storage plants
have been established in the city since
the fire of 1906.
In addition to its value for manu-
featuring purposes" said Fire Marshal
Towe yesterday, "the fuel oil prop
erIy stored, as it necessarily is under
our local regulations, is absolutely
safe The fire that we had in 1905
was as large fire as the world will
"a wi oil
yet with hundreds of oil tanks in San
Francisco in April, 1906, not one of
them took fire. After the flames were
extinguished many property owners
found that all that remained of their
property was stock of fuel OIL This
is great consideration because it
shows that our great ally in cheap
when protected from flames by the re-
quired four feet of earth"
IMPORTANT FACTOR
81 regard the oil supply near at
hand said a leading real estate broker
recently, "as a matter only next 10 the
Panama canal in Importance.
Every real estate broker and every
large owner of local realty estimates
CaIifornia's supply of fuel oil as an
element in the valuation of all San
Francisco real estate. While the manu-
featuring sections are necessarily re-
stricted to certain parts of the city,
each plant adds to the value of every
lot in San Francisco in good times and
helps to sustain values in other times
because it is a guarantee of business"
In the Potrero section, in the Mis-
sion, at North Beach and on the east
line of the water front north of Mar
ket street manufacturing industries are
increasing. This fact is due largely to
the increasing use of fuel oil.
According to State Mineralogist Au-
bury, California in 1909 produced 49,
306,O1O barrels. A period of % years
shows a total production before the
time mentioned of 241,274,941 barrels
and a total value of $1O4. .295, ,041. Seem
ingly the soil of California is richer in
oil than that of the producing section
of the east and as a consequence the
outlook for the future of the industry
is bright