Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-08-05
The Passing of Petroleum and Outlook for the Future

GENGGEEGl9IEiSIElGlE FElEIGllGlElEl9TG19Gf9I9
around Port Arthur and see what the
United States is actually doing in de-
veloping and protecting its great oil
supply. I have called this place the oil
spigot of the southwest. Situated on
Sabine lake. with a wide and deep
channel thirty miles long leading into
the Gulf of Mexico. it is the chief re-
fining and shipping point of the petro-
1eum which comes from the oil fields of
Texas, Louisiana. Oklahoma and KAN
sas. Into its tank farms pour the
oleaginous rivers from a thousand oil
wells, and from il go out kerosene,
gasoline and lubricating oils by the
millions of barrels. The oil flows in
through lines of iron pipes eight inches
in diameter, and II goes out in long
trains of tank cars and in tank steam
ers some of which carry seventy
thousand barrels at one load.
X *
The place has two great refneries,
and as I write this dozen large tank
ers lie at their wharves. One of those
being loaded by the Gulf Refining
Company is the Maumee, belonging
to the United States Navy 1t is tech
nically known as collier, but its BUSH
ness is to carry fuel and other oil to
our battleshipS and cruisers. The boat
is manned fore and aft with guns to
protect it from submarines. and il has
the most powerful engines known to
naval construction. The engines are in
the center of the ship. They are three
stories high. anu they fill that part OF
the vessel from the deck to the hull.
The rest of the steamer is taken up
with watts for the cargo. The watts have
a capacity Of three million gallons, and
each may have its own kind of oil, con-
sisting of fuel, gasoline or lubricants.
The oil is pumped in from the tanks Of
the refinery. A ship can be loaded
within a very few hours.
Among the other vessels taking on oil
are British tankers, which will carry
their supply across the Atlantic to Eu-
rope. and there are American ships
ready to sail. The two great reffneries
here the Gulf company and the Texas
company. have their own fleets of tank
ers, and both are building new vessels
for this time of war. The Gulf Re-
filming Company will launch one OF
ten thousand tons before the close of the
year and it has others of five and seven
thousand tons each that will be ready next
winter. The Texas company has several
new vessels of six thousand tons each,
1918. Altogether. since the commencement
of the war in Europe. orders have been
placed with American shipbuilders for
more than one hundred new oil tank
ers, and of this number about thirty
have been launched and sixty-one are
scheduled for completion this year
These ships are being built by the
different oil companies of the United
States, and are, in addition. to the fleets
already in use. We have now a larger
oil fleet than that of any other gov
eminent. and a great stream of gaso-
line, fuel oil and lubricants is now
moving this way and that. as it lodges
the submarines in its course across the
Atlantic.
The loading of these tankers is guard
ed and the two great refineries are sur
rounded by soldiers and watchmen.
Each has 4 high fence of barbed wire
about it, and strangers refusing to halt
or obey the directions of the guards are
in danger of death. The employees of
the works are handled with military
precision Many of them have their
homes near the works. and each refin-
cry may be looked upon as an impor-
tant camp in our new Industrial army
The troops work day and night turning
out gasoline, fuel oil and the other
products Of petroleum never before.
Here at Port Arthur they are divided
into. eight-hour shifts, and the machin-
cry never stops from one years end to
the other
Similar activity is going on at all the
oil centers. ard the works should every
where be guarded. This is so not only
OF the fetfnerlGS, nut alSO OF our great
pipe lines of which we have enough. it
stretched end to end, TO reach twice
around the world. These lines connect
the oil fields with the refneries and the
ports. and sore of them have length
of hundreds OF miles. There is one
which goes from oklahoma clear to
New York. II belongs to the STANDARD
Oil Company.
/ despair of giving you n snapshot of
these mighty oil plants. There are two
here ut Port Arthur. Both have pipe
lines connecting them with the oil fields
of the midcontinent and the gulf, and
the oil comes in in great streams
pipes twenty-four inches in
1t runs day and night
all the year through. The Gulf Rein
ing Company is now using fifty thou
sand barrels, or more than two million
gallons. of such oil per day, and the
of the Texas company is
almost as large The five refineries
which lie near here have a capacity OF
bout one hundred and forty thousand
and their output TO gasoline IL
many thousand barrels daily
FRANK G. CARPENTER