The Kevin review., 1926-12-16
The Romantic Story of the Petroleum
Industry--=-Oil9 Mans Great Servant

Barbara is said to have been known since
| 1872, and natural gas was probably flrst
obtained commercially In America at Pre-
donia, Chautauqua county, New YORK. In
| 1921 well was sunk, which supplied gas
! for 20 burners The inn was Illuminated by
| it when Lafayette passed through the
Village in 1924.
Known in the Orient
Marco Polo wrote of the petroleum of
Baku at the end of the 18th century, as
did Kaempfer, and DR.. Hyde described the
ceremonial of the WOrshippers. Passing
over the authors and writings about petro
Ieum in many minor parts of the world
we find some amazing revelations regard
ing petroleum and gas in the ancient
records of Persia, Burma, China and
Japan. Natural gas was employed in
China and japan for fuel and illumina-
ting purposes centuries before the Chris
tian era, the. wells being from 1900 to
2000 feet deep and the gas piped as now,
excepting that they used bamboo pipes. In
the authorized Bible and Aocrypha there
are more than two hundred illusions to it.
The legend of Noah speaks of him having
used pitch to Tighten the seams of his
ark, which certainly indicates a familiari-
ty with the uses of fluid bitumen avail
able in the East In Deuteronomy there is
mention of "oil out of the flinty rock"
and Biblical students could cite countless
other. instances where the meaning clear
ly indicates a common use of the surface ,
deposits of Western Asia.
1t is clearly this material that is meant
by the "Slime" which is stated to have
been used as mortar for the erection of |
the Tower of Babel.
In later days the greatest of Russian
Emperors, Peter the Great, showed him |
self alive to the commercial value of the
Baku wells When in 1928 he obtained |
from Persia control of the Baku Khanate, |
he ordered the seizure of as much white |
petroleum as possible, and directed that |
a refining master be sent there. This"
remarks a historian of petroleum, sis the
first record of vacancy for a manager
of an oil refinery"
Early American Development
Prof. Peckham quotes to show that the
first rock bored brine WELL west Of the
Alleghanies if not in the United States,
was sunk by the brothers Ruffner, about
1906. This the legitimate precursor Of all
hored on the banks of "Salt Lick" or
Great Buffalo Lick to depth of about
SO feet.
well bored in 1914 to a depth of 476
feet at Duck Creek, periodically DISCHARGED
from 80 to go gallons of oil, together with
large quantities of natural gas, at inter-
walls of from two to four days. Il
Shortly after the introduction of Young |
process for obtaining paraffin and paraf-
fin oils by the distillation of coal and
shale,f considerable number of refineries
were erected in the United States; and
were worked under licenses from Young's
Company. Al some of these, imported coal
was distilled, but most of them received
their raw material from the extensive
lucky and Missouri. The Downer works,
near Boston, cost half million dollars.
This industry Increased until there were {
fifty or sixty of these establishments in /
his country. Most of those, however, were
1ut fairly started when what we refer to
Is the discovery of petroleum prostrated s
he whole. business and Threatened the 4
,WnerS with overwhelming losses. But z
hey h " were saved by converting their fac
ories into refineries which was done with q
cry little trouble. 3
Col. Drake really ''struck oil'' on August /
%, 1859, and the history of events leading y
Ip to and including this event and that t
f the industry for many years after is q
ust as interesting as the ancient history c
+ petroleum is. 1t constitutes a romance
ivaling any of fiction, but is too long for Il
overing here. AS to the Immediately re- v
ent development of the industry in this t
ountry, the daily papers and bunk stock c
aiesmen have kept the public well in n
ormed O
Having worked on our background we g
ill now proceed to outline our picture s
Petroleum tTo. = and Its Influence on ,id the e
etroleum in industry. a
Petroleum in Industry I;
Sidney Brooks, the noted English public n
It sayse Petroleum enters into our daily d
fe under the guise of at least $50 differ
Mt and marketable commodities. 1t lights
ur lamps and stoves; it cleans our clothes; a
prepares our varnishes; it acts as a z
lbstitute for turpentine in the printing, "
yelHS anu pdluLluS luuuSLrleSt IL cOJbSS ~
n our table as artificial butter; confec- Il
onery and number of other edibles: it CT
lpplies us. with our wax, our candles, II
lr chewing gum and a vast array of OF
salves and drugs it furnishes b
lie dressing table with perfumes and the Il
noking room with matches; the textile
AIDES use enormous quantities of 1t in N
nishing soft goods; it medicates our 1t
1dies and gives to preserved fruits their st
sculiarly toothsome appearance; it blends st
ith animal and vegetable oils in range IL
combinations almost infinite; its resi- c
le can be burned as coke or used in G.
aking of electric arc lights or employed 50
road making; it lubricates our ma al
linery and drives our motor cars ships,
.roplanes, locomotives, plows and tractors
We could not enjoy such modern con
niences as electric lights in our homes pt
id offices, or electric street cars, were Il eV
It for petroleum.. No animal oil Will pc
bricate machinery that runs at the speed 81
at electricity generating machinery runs. ef
nd the only vegetable oil that would be
rye the purpose is Castor Oil and it has "a
zen shown that this oil would not alone in
almost prohibitive in price, but that IA
raise enough of the castor plants to
pply the demand would necessitate using ef