Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-15
Oil From Shale
Now u. S. Project
BY Fred fic ]. Haskin
BY Frederick ]. Haskjn.

took flat bit OF black rock and a thin
glass tube. Placing the piece Of rock in a
mortar, he crushed il into fine sand and
poured it into the lower end Of the tube.
Then he lii gas burner, which produced ii
thin point Of flame, and held the lower end
of the tube over it. Gradually the tube
i filed with thick, brown fluid.
"Oil," the geologist commented briefly.
The piece of rock from which this oil
was distilled came from Colorado where
/ there are huge areas of it, and the gcologist
was jean f. Winchester Of the United
States Geological Survey, who has just re-
turned to Washington after an InvestiQa-
tion of our oil shale resources. For the
| past three years, Mr. " inchester has
Travelled with wagon outfit through the
Rocky Mountains in search Of this par
ticular rock which yields oil tie has spent
weeks in country practically uninbabited
by man, but underlain by rich deposits OF
oil that in the years TO come must supply
the ever-growing demand Of American
industry.
NEVER FOUND ROAD.
'During three weeks last summer,
| aid Mr.. Winchester, we Travelled
shroueh the mountains without once
discox ering n road Our men had To go
ahead, with axes, and clear passage Tor
our wagon 0utf1b.
Yet within ten years this wilderness
will be scene Of industry, for enormous
areas Of il are underlain by the OIL shales
'eThirty-six square miles Is a township
in the west, the geologist explained, and
in Colorado alone there are forty town
ships underlain by oil shalcs. In Utah
, there are even more than that lie
estimates that there is enough shale IN
Colorado alone to produce twenty billion
barrels of oil
The oil shale, while just beginning To
attract attention in this country, IS not
new discovery. In Scotland and France,
the extraction Of oil from rock has long
been a profitable industry, but in the
United States the supply of oil from wells
has always been sufficient to meet our
demands, and II has been produced 50
cheaply that no attempt mas been made
to develop an oil-shales industry. In
the middle Of the last century the Nor
mons were running solitary distliling
plant in Utah, but It was later dlscOn-
tinued All that our huge beds Of oil
shale have received are the curses Of
American cattlemen, because the soil
over them is almost barren Of grass.
Recently however, the oil shale has
begun to attract the attention it de-
serves. The Geological Survey is being
deluged with inquiries concerning the
location Of shale deposits; the Bureau Of
Mines is speeding up its experimental
work with oil shales in its laboratories at
Pittsburg; and many individual OIL COM
panies are employing chemists for ez-
pertinent and research on the subject
For the nation is awake TO the TACT that ITS
oil wells are InexhaustIhlc.
NEW SUPPLIES PAIL
Moreover, the search for new sources
Of supply has failed We have now reach
cd the absolute maximum of our oil pro-
duction from wells, but the demand for
oil and oil products IN our industries has
Just begun. Every year, more Of our ships
burn oil Every year there is a greater
number OF automobiles Of greater horse
power Before the war, the government
informed the public that unless new oil
fields were discovered the nation supply
OF gasoline would be exhausted N thirty
years.
his threatened oil scarcity has partIc,l-
larly gloomy aspects for the reason that
oil is now in the first ranks Of important
world commodities. Heretofore, the
economic prosperity OF a nation depended
on its supplies Of four commodities
wheat. cotton. iron and coal Germany's
great ECOUDEiitC 0GNtltDAllF&lE btS~1l1 ii AEA
she came into possession Of the iron ores
OF Alsace-Lorralne, while Spain s economic
development has always been hampered
BY lack of coal.
But now a nation must also have oil.
II was the rich oil fields Of Roumania
that enabled Germany 10 continue the
war fer SO long q period, and, IN the mean
time alarmed by the scarcity OF the oil
within her doIuiuIons, she put her scien-
tists to work investigating other means OF
producing oil The Germans are reported
now to be producing good grade Of oil
from a very low grade Of Ignite coal
If the United States Is TO maintain its
prestige as a great power, 1t must either
purchase oil fields outside its own bound
aries, or develop its oil shales. The first
possibility Is fraught with danger, since
it would mean the protection OF property
taxed and controlled by another nation
The second expedient is far more prac-
tical. but will require q great deal on
development.
NEED CHEAPER PROCESSES.
What is needed at present Is a cheaper
and more efficient method of turning the
shales into oil For this, machinery must
be developed. The methods used by the
Scots and the French might, Of course. be /
imported, but the oil industry believes that !.
a better method can be developed here IN |
America The oil shales found In France /
and Scotland are not of the same variety /
as those found in our Rocky Mountains. +
which belong to a younger geologic period I
and have different chemical composition /
Americans feel certain they can develop I
something Letter, although one Scottish (
machine has already been installed by /
an American oil concern with view to +
testing its power
The theory of the existence OF the oil /
shale is almost as interesting as the oil
shale itself Geologists, in studying vari-
Gus sections of this shale formation, dis
covered that il contained innumerable
fossils of ancient, vegetable and animal
life The Geological Survey has speci-
mems Of rock containing perfect outlines
of leaves, insects, fish and worms-many
worms which at one time must have .
swarmed in the Rocky Mountain regions. f
Their decaying bodies, it Is believed are
responsible for the vast oil content OF the +
shales
BE this as it may, the shale from which +
the oil may be distilled is certainly there