The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1912-02-06
USE OF FUEL OIL
Is ON INCREASE

IT has required but a few years
cum industry. This change is due to
the modern emphasis upon oil as a
source of power; more broadly speak
ing, the reliance upon oil as a fuel.
During the five years from 1904 to
1909, according to census returns of
those periods, the percentage of fuel
oil obtained from the crude petroleum
produced in the United States inereas-
ed from 12.s per cent to 335 This pro-
portion seems certain to show contin-
ued increases. During the same inter
val the percentage of the production
manufactured into Illuminating oil de-
creased from 4S.2 to 379 per cent.
This means that the time is near at
hand when illuminants will prove of
smaller significance in the total output
of final products than the fuels. The
spread of electric lighting through the
rural districts is helping to rapidly
reduce the dependence of the human
! family upon oil for illumination. On
the other hand, the remarkable growth
| in the use of oil fuel, especially for
power purposes, has been the result
both of the discovery of enormous sup
| plies of petroleum and of the invention
of engines for its utilization. 1t is
difficult to say which is the cause and
which is the effect, the development of
| Iindustrialism or the development of
| the mineral resource.
| Petroleum is a product which has re-
ceived special notice from the eonser-
vationists, and the inference has al
ways been that the supplies would
easily exhaust themselves within a
comparatively short period. Neverthe-
less, the continued discoveries both in
new and old fields have been con-
slant source of disturbance to the mar
| kets for the output. One emphatic
cause of the creation of so-called trust
control of the oil industry is the appar-
ent need of stability in production
and prices. 1t may, therefore, be sur
prising that it has required so long to
convince the possible users of fuel oil
that they could rely upon the sources
of the product, when it is considered
that the history of the industry has
been one constant complaint of pro-
ducers against a glutted market and
the uncertainty of prices. No resource
has ever so belied it's apparently re-
stricted limits.
| The interests which are most vital
ly with the application of oil 20 power
generation are at last aroused to the
opinion that the supply of petroleum
| is reliable. Railroads consider it safe
to install oil-burning systems, while
oil-using engines for marine purposes
are being more confidently adopted
throughout the world. The fuel or pow
er feature of the use of oil is now the
essential factor governing the explora
| ton for new fields and the enlargement
of the old In the west the most re-
markable developments have been con
erned with oils which We're suitable
| mainly for burning, but even here the
| improvements in refining have made
these resources capable of yielding
products of higher quality. Notwtih-
standing this, the use of oil for fuel
| is the chief insentive, and will con
tinue to be the chief incentive in de-
velopment. The scarcity of coal on
| the Pacific coast is, of course, a very
weghty cause of the demand for oil
in these regions, but the argument is
not wholly a local one. The oil en-
gine, especially for marine work, is
making headway throughout the world.
1t is therefore something to have an
assured supply of, petroleum upon
which the erectors of plants can base
their confdence.-Mining Science.