Norwich bulletin., 1921-04-08

barrels.
 Early y-eommereial development of oil in Russia was strikingly different from i the development in America. Dug wells 1 were used. They were several feet | square and of depths varying from few | feet to fifty feet or more. The oil seep- | ed into the bottoms of the pits and was l bailed out These crude methods contin- | ued for eight years but under them a 1 |considsrable production for those days was maintained. In 1870, the year be- fore the bringing in of the first drilled i well. more than 2eo,oo0 barrels were pro- duced.i
 AThe bringing in of what Americans
 would speak of as the first gusher was not an unmixed blessing. This foun- tain or rspouter,' as such wells are called l by the English oil men of the Baku | fields, was unexpected. Nothing was
 known of the handling of oil flows under I, high pressure at that time, so the well ran wild and could not be brought under icontrol. Most of the oil was a total loss. l. when later fountains were brought I Tn under control nothing like the present
 demand for oil existed in Europe. carry l ing facilities were poor, and the presence l of great quantities of the liquid above lground demoraiized conditions. The Rus sian government experimented for num- Der of years with monopoly regulations
 and then heavy taxes. When taxes were reduced in 1877 the Baku oil industry lgrew very rapidly.
 'Before the first drilled well was brought in all oil was transported to Baiu from the oil fields, a distance of teight or ten miles, in barrels on awkward two-wheeled Tatar carts. An endless stream of them traversed the unspeaka-
 bly bad road from morning until night. After the advent of gushers pipe line was projected. The Tatar carters staged a riot when the plan became known. The pipeline was constructed, however, and the carting industry died.
 Il From their commercial start in 1888 until the outbreak of the World war the
 Russian oil fields were second in produc- tion except for a few years when they passed the United States. When Rus.
 sian production reached ten million bar. trels in 1884 the United States was pro.
 ducing A million. In 1898 the output ffrom Russian fields passed that from tho United States. being 61,60s,0oo to the lat tter's 55,364,0o0. In 1901 when Russian r production reached it's highest figure 1 85, 900 ,000 barrels-it was well ahead oi fthat years production in the Unitet
 !States, 69,9ee,e00 barrels. But the very inext year the United States jumped tC 7 fSS, ,0Oe,0eo while Russia advanced to onl,
 so,9e0,8oo. The lead of the Unite(
 States has increased steadily since stha
 ldate.
 Tn it's banner year, 1881, Russia pro
 duced little oyer half of the output o
 petroleum in the entire world for tha
 year. The production from the Unite
 States was not much under half, an Q over go per cent of the worlds oil cam f from the two countries.
 r Tn 1913, the last complete year pre- p ceding the war, Mexico had joined tn Il United States and Russia in contributin 5, the Hons share of the worlds oil. Tn Fl three countries produced practically g j. per cent; the United States 65, Russi 1t nearly 1T, and Mexico nearly z. Thes l. three countries now produce more tha r. 90 per cent. of the ol output of the worl .e but since 1913 Russia's output has falle le steadily, that of the United States an r. Mexico has steadily advanced
 n "The 1920 Russian production is b, ,e ieved to have, sunk to about 25,e00 0C Iq barrels. This was considerably less tha r- the monthly output in the United Stat
 during that year, and was probably m ot much more than oBe-sixth of the Mex Id can production. Due to it's long produ ii. ton period. Russia has played an impo to tant part in supplying the worlds O r- Through 1918 1t had furnished moro ths H. one-quarter of all the oil which had beC Dr produced commercially in the history in the oil industry. In the same period tl ,ii United States had contributed more ths va half.
 " "The oldest and best known oil fiel, e. near Baku are on bare, desert-lfke pl