Year: 1865

llly mas peen annually consumed, during


several hundred years Even in this coun-
try petroleum is by no means a new dis


covery. 1t was well known to the Indians


before America was discovered, and was


used for medicinal purposes. The early


settlers of Western Pennsylvania and


other districts where oil springs now exist,


used rock oil, as they called it, for various


purposes, collecting it by skimming the oil


deposit on the top of the water as it accum-


ulated from the springs In the memoranda


of his visit to Fort du Quesne NOW Pitts
burg, )during the French and Indian war


with the Colonies, General Washington


mentions the existence of oil springs in To-


calities where well sare now in operation.


But neither the Indians nor the early white


settlers knew anything of the vast deposits


i'll the bed Of the earth


The region i'll which the oil is now found


in Western Pennsylvania has almost for a


century been known as great salt district,


and salt wells have been in operation there


ever since the early settlement of the coun-
try. In boring salt wells the greatest diff
ticulty was found in selecting localities


where the water was not impregnated with


a substance which the salt men character


lied as " nasty, greasy substance" and


which we OF the present day call petroleum.


Nearly forty years ago, Mr.. Packer while
| boring for salt water on Deer creek, in
| Clarion county, Pa, struck oil at the depth
OF 400 feet. The greasy water" as he


termed it, spurted up with great force, over
flowing the land thereabOuts, ruined his


salt machinery, saturated the land with


grease and Mr.. Packer profoundly DISCUS
! ted with the result Of his efforts to obtain
salt, left the country in milf, little dream
ing that he was running away from an Ell
| Dorado richer than the gold mines Of Cali
tornia-more remunerative too, than the
| diamond mines of Brazil


As a natural consequence Of the increase
Of the quantity of oil that found its way to
the surface from abandoned salt wells, the
people living in localities where it appeared
gradually discovered that it contained some
valuable properties The reader will per-
haps remember that onl ly few years ago
substance of horrid odor and taste was sold
throughout the country as a sovereign
remedy for nearly all the ills of the flesh,
and bearing the names successfully of Sen
eca Oil, Gennesee Oil, and Rock Oil. 1t
was warranted to cure everything from
toothache to hereditary consumption, and
was perfect annihilator to such simple
ailments as rheumatism and asthma-being
equally etficacious to external and internal
applications This miraculous stuff was
simply crude petroleum, and that it was
calculated to either kill or cure, when ia
ken internally nobody will now deny. The
apparently inexhaustible supply of the oil
at length attracted the attention of scicn-
tifc men, and in 1853 its properties and
uses became more generally understood A
few barrels Cf crude oil were exported to
to England, where it was partially refined,
and its commercial Importance began to be
understood. Yankee enterprise having
been attracted to the subject, the natural
result followed a method of refining was


invented, the Illuminating and lubricating
uses of petroleum were discovered and the
reign of petroleum commenced


The existence of oil beds having been de-
termined, and Yankee enterprise having
been attracted thereto, the next question
that naturally arose was, how to determine
how to sink well; for it was soon discov-
cred that there was something of lottery
in striking OIL Biologists and other scien-
tifiC men, who embarked in the oil trade,
carried out their theories in this respect,
but were not always successful. The lar
ger class who flocked to the Oil Dorado,
however, had no faith in geology, and &C
cOrdingly bored at random The super
stitious class who are generally the majority
relied, and still rely upon the miraculous
witch hazel" men. These men profess to
tell precisely where deposits of water, salt
or oil may be found, by means of little
stick The more sensible manner of choos-
ing localities for oil wells is to bore where
the geological formation is like that where
good wells have been found At best, sink
ing oil wells is lottery--if man stands
one chance in twenty of drawing prize, he
is lucky


The process of boring the oil we'll is very
simple. A derrick, consisting of four up
right timbers placed 10 or II feet apart
and fastened by cross pieces, is erected d- |
rectly over the spot selected for boring.
This derrick is usually from 40 to 60 feet |
high, and is made very stable in order TO
support the boring machinery. A steam m
engine of six or eight horse power is now
used for the work Of drilling, although many
wells Of not very great depth have been
bored by hand. An iron pipe, about six
inches in diameter, is first driven down to |
the first stratum of rock. Where this is |
found at a considerable distance from the |
surface, the pipe is inserted in sections
that is, piece is first driven down, then |
another section is fastened firmly to it at |
the top this is in turn driven down, and |
so on till the rock is reached The drill is |
then introduced into this tube, reaching
down to the rock-the iron rod suspending |
it being heightened by the fastening of ad- !
ditonaI pieces as the top Of the drill works |
its way through the rock. The drill is
about two and half inches in diameter, |
and is worked up and down by means of the |
engine above. The process of drilling is of
course slow, and depends upon the hard
ness of the stratum. An average days |
work of drilling is from to s feet, but
sometimes 10 or II feet is accomplished |
The first stratum through which the drill
passes is slate or soap stone, then comes
stratum of sand stone, which is usually not |
more than ten or twelve feet in thickness
next is another layer of slate of blush |
appearance, about twenty feet in thickness,
after which the second stratum of sand |
stone is reached When this is accom-
plished-the depth ranging from two to six
hundred and in some instances thousand |
faat-tha oil iS Struck nrovda6 +ha boror