The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1914-01-22
ROMANTIC
HISTORY
Of OIL
UNITED STATES NOW PRO.
DuCES NEALY ONe THIRD
OF WORLD PRODUCTION

ed or field is becoming extended
more widely everv year, and the IN
ereas,ng area over which oil Is found
clips to prove the theory that petrol
um Is product OF the delayed de-
ompositicn Of marine life and vege-
alton of the carboniferous ard
tertiary periods; for though there are
undoubtedly limits to prolific oil
bearing strata, very few countries
exist in which small quantities may
not occur. Even in England small
amounts have been noticed in deep
wells at Willesden and Newark
When in 1849 James Young first
made mineral lubricants from oil is
suing from the shales in the Riddlngs
colliery, and afterward obtained the
oil by distilling certain Scotch shales
and cannels at a low temperature,
the lighter portions Of the distila-
tiCn were looked upon as waste
| products only the heavy reside be-
| ing needed as a lubricant. YoGns,
however, discovered eventually that
these lighter portions were being
oOught up and shipped to Germany
for use in specially constructed lamps,
and having obtained patterns of these
lamps he had them made in Edin-
bureh
Ten years after the original dis
every of shale oil Colonel Drake, IN
linking a well for brine in pennsyl-
vania, came across oil in quantity at
a depth of about sixty nine feet, his
well despite the early difficulties of
collection and storage) yielding about
1000 barrels in year. This led to
an enormous number of wells being
sunk near Oil creek and along the
valleys OF the Alleghenies, where
.arge volumes OF oil We're found, al
though at far greater depth than in
TIE llIsL luStdUCG.
Until 1861 these wells continued to
yield a moderate supply, the oil hav-
ing to be pumped, but in that year
oil was found suddenly under enor-
nous pressure at a depth of 460 feet,
and some Of the wells in the neigh
borhood gave a yield of $500 barrels
a day.
This was the beginning of the oil
fever in America, and prospecting be :
gan in every direction, Such guam
titles OF oil were discovered that,
despite criminal waste due to the
wells being sunk without proper pro-
vision for collecting the oil, the sup
ply rapidly outran the demand, which |
was then in its infancy. and the price !
cases the barrels cost more than was
fetched by their contents, the latter .
frequently being allowed to run to
waste. Indeed, it is supposed that
In Pennsylvania alone 10000,000 bar
rels OF oil were run down the streams
owing to the impossibility Of dealing
with the over glutted market
Slowly, however, the market i'm
proved. and with the growth of the
European demand THAT came into
being attention was drawn to the
v ealth of oil already known to exist
IN the Baku district of Russia where
up 70 that time the oil production had
seen monopoly in the hands Of
Meersceff, a trader In 1872 the
government Withdrew its concession
and imposed a tax on the oil pro-
duced, as result of which the whole
Apsheron Penipsula was developed
-apidly and rich strata were pierced.
At present the worlds supply of
etroleum approximates to the encr-
nous amount OF 50,0OG000 tons an
ually. more than 100000, 900 barres,
rawn from the following countries.
Million
Tons.
lnited states ................ 40
-ussia 90. .-.-.-.......-. 800
lexico - ......i-.. ......... 800
oumania g.. ......-..... lS0
Iutch East Indiee I 2s