Evening star., 1937-07-11
OIL RICHES SAFE

licks, came to light in Western New
York. Western Pennsylvania. Eastern
and Southeastern Ohio, Northern and
Central West Virginia, Eastern Ken
lucky. Eastern Tennessee and North
ern Alabama And it was the salt in
dustry that actually prepared the way
for oil production. The brothers Ruff
ner, drilling for salt at the Great
Buffalo Lick" on the Kanawha River
above Charleston. w. Va, used drill
rig that enabled them to sink shaft
at far greater depth than ever before.
Every effort was made by them to tube
out the annoying flow of oil. 1t was
after the sinking of this we'll that the
use of drill riggs replaced hand dig
ging and the "trouble"-that Is, the
appearance of oil-really began for
the salt miners.
One salt mine, the Betty Well"
drilled about 1919 on the south fork
Of the Cumberland River, yielded oil in
such large amounts it was abandoned
and forgotten for 80 years. The most
widely known of the wells drilled in
Kentucky during this early period was
the celebrated American Well, bored
on Little Rennox Creek in 1929. A
contemporary writer states: "A vein of
pure oil was struck. from which it is
almost incredible what quantities OF
substance issued. The discharges we're
by floods, at intervals of from two to
five minutes at each flow discharging
many barrels of pure OIL Floods con-
tinued for three or four weeks, when
they subslded to a constant stream,
adording many thousand gallons a
day" This we'll, about one-half mile
from the bank of the Cumberland
River, was traced as far down the
Cumberland as Gallatin, Tex, a dis
tance of nearly 100 miles.
But it was the Drake Well-"Drake's
Folly'-drilled in 1859, that really was
responsible for the beginning Of the
+ great oil era. Advancing prices OF
rock oil and a growing knowledge of
petroleum and its uses in the pro.
duction Of kerosene, paraffn and lubri-
cants were developing widespread
interest in petroleum in America, and
on OH Creek, Pa, where oil seepages
occurred, E. l.. Drake superintendent of
the Seneca Oil Co. property assembled
his drilling equipment After boring
33 feet, the drill fell into a crevice
that made the total depth of the well
6932 feet The next day that we'll
was nearly filled with oil. There
ensued the first race for leases and
wild speculation in Oil properties. BY
1868 drilling had begun its march
from Manitoulin Island to Alabama
and from Missouri to central New
York"
| The early years of the twentieth
century were marked by great ad-
Vances in oil-feld development, in
petroleum technology, in the appli-
cation OF petroleum in the arts, war
1are and commerce. and in geologic
methods OF discovering oil fields. To-
day this black gold is the second
largest industry in the country, and
in production, transportation, refln-
ing ana marketing, some $4,000 OOO.-
700 are now invested in the United
States. In one year, 1894. Italy pro-
duced as much Oil as this country
produced in half an hour.
Today oil is indeed empire" the
biggest stake of international diploma
cy. AND under the Connally act,
this invaluable national asset will
be protected for two more years. Leg
lslators predict that the measure will
then take its place as part of our
permanent legislation, safeguarding
reserves that, once extracted from
the heart of the earth, can never be
replaced