PETROLEUM. 149 



subject, mention should be made of the gas which so generally accom- 

 panies the oil. It is often met with in the oil-regions when no oil is 

 struck, producing " gas-wells ; " and is also met with where no oil, or 

 very little, is found, on the borders of the oil-districts. Many private 

 residences and manufacturing establishments are heated and lighted 

 by this gas ; Fredonia, New York, has been lighted with it for years. 

 The Newton gas-well, five miles south of Titusville, Pennsylvania, is 

 786 feet deep, and yielded 4,000,000 cubic feet per day, supplying 

 light and fuel to a great number of dwellings and manufactories in 

 Titusville. A rolling-mill near Pittsburg is run by gas brought 

 from Butler County, a distance of about nineteen miles, and when it 

 is not needed the gas is lighted, furnishing a jet of flame seventy feet 

 high, which, with another jet from a neighboring mill, furnishes a 

 grand spectacle at night. 



This gas is the cause of spouting-wells. If a well is sunk into the 

 top of a fissure containing oil and gas, the gas will first escape, and 

 then the oil must be pumped out ; but, if the well strikes in the oil, 

 the pressure of the gas would first drive out the oil. If water also 

 was present and the well struck the bottom of the fissure the heavier 

 water would first escape, then the oil, and then the gas. Such a well, 

 after standing a while would again yield oil on pumping, then perhaps 

 water only, or water and oil, until it had had another rest. If the 

 supply of gas is kept up by an open crevice, the well may continue to 

 flow for some time. The pressure of neighboring water may also 

 cause the oil to flow from a well. Generally the pumping-wells are 

 pretty constant, although when a number of wells are bored near 

 together they interfere with each other, and sometimes water poured 

 down one well will appear in another, and this method has been 

 pursued to bring rival well-owners to terms. 



A few words may here be said about drilling wells and transport- 

 ing the oil. The wells are drilled by means of drilling-tools like 

 those used in sinking artesian w T ells, which are suspended by a cable, 

 and operated by small steam-engines. The well is lined with wrought- 

 iron tubing, screwed together in sections, and, to prevent water from 

 flowing down the outside of the lining into the well, a water-packer is 

 used, which is essentially a circular piece of leather with the edges 

 cut and tiu-ned upward, so that the whole forms a cup about the tube, 

 which is pressed tightly against the sides of the well by the weight 

 of the column of water. It is much better than the old flaxseed basr. 

 The oil is conveyed from the oil-district to the refineries and shipping- 

 stations by means of wrought-iron pipes, two to four inches in diam- 

 eter, which form a network throughout the entire country, and have 

 an aggregate length of nearly 2,000 miles. One company carries the 

 oil thirty-seven miles, in this way, from Butler County to the vicinity 

 of Pittsburg. 



Refining and Uses of Petroleum. Crude petroleum contains 



