The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1919-12-30
OIL MAN EXPLAINS
FAL[0N FORMATIONS
WRITES IN MANNER ANYONE CAS
UNDERSTAND CONCERNING OIL
ORIGINATION AND POSSIBILITY

An interesting article on oil fo,
nations. appearing in a recent issu
of the Churchill County Eagl,
written by A. l.. Robinson. a prom
inent oil operator of the Fallon dis
trict, is printed below. 1t is a back
to-nature" story and involves tn
origination and development of oi
from earliest ages to present time:
Mankind has never done anythin,
bnt that which nature first outline,
and practiced ages before there wa,
any record of r an. Man learned I,
k ncle fires and produce heat tnrougi
friction. Nature always prodle.
feat In this way. Man learned to s.
matter in motion. Nature alv avs Ia,
IL in motion, and all of mans ma
chinery of production are but mer,
miniature models of natures greai
producing agencies. When mankind
first needed the oily fats of animals
for domestic purposes. he invented
the rendering pot, which has been in
constant usage throughout his his.
tory. The first extraction of fat was
accomplished by placing the animal
tissue In the pot or receptacle and
kindling a fire underneath. This was
not the most successful way, as the
heat being transmitted through radia-
tion there was danger of the fats
igniting. thus destroying the entire
contents. A more successful method
was thus found in boiling or extrac-
tion of fat through heat by conyec-
ton, which was performed by placing
water and animal tissue in the pot
kindling a fire underneath and boil
ing until hydrocarbons or fats were
driven from the tissue and rose to
float on top OF the water, where they
were skimmend off and the opera
tion proved a successful one. Now
suppose this pot too large for a man
TO reach center from any direction
perfect job of skimming could not
be accomplished without inserting
some object. say a cylinder. in the
center of the pot. extending below
and above the surface of the water
then displacement would force the
fats TO the outer rim within his
reach.
Then suppose still larger pot, say
for instance a mile in diameter; we
would then place a corrugated lid on
in width and 100 feet in depth. The
synclines of these corrugations would
be submerged below the surface OF
the water, while the anuclines would
extend above, leaving a vacuum, in
which the fats would readily find
their way.
We would then drill holes into the
anticlines of these corrugations on
the lid. put in pumps and skim the
pot With such a construction af
this. we would have an almost per-
feet yet miniature model of the huge
rendering pots which nature has out
lined and built in many places upon
this earth.
We, in this big Lahontan Valley
are living upon the lid of one of these
monster pots. Way back in the Pale
ozoic era. the second chronological
event on the chart. nature started
this huge pot by spreading thousands
of square miles of material for both
bottom and rim. Through later con
traction of the earth the rim was
lifted and the huge basin formed
Nature then commenced to pour in
water and fat. During the Tertiary
period of the Cenozoic era she threw
in cubic miles of animal tissue and
fat, countless billions of fish and all
sorts of marine life from cubic miles
of infusoria and diatoms to innumer-
able number of whales, and to assure
a perfect job of rendering she threw
In such minerals as salt, sulphur and
lime. The beginning of the Quater-
nary period perhaps witnessed the
throwing on of the lid. The con-
slant contraction of the earth and
movement of the faulting plains
formed the corrugations in 1t which
we term folds, and those OF the anti
clines called domes. Through sofia
taric action the pot was heated and
the rendering of the so much-needed
oily fats from marine life commenced
and now is completed and hermet-
ically sealed.
1t is all here. We can see 1t. We
can see the great walls of this pot
CONTINUED on Page Four)