180 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. VIII. 
are found in the counties of Kent and Lambton. In the former there are 
two oil fields, one at Oil Springs, extending over 1,200 acres, and the other 
in the Petrolea district, 20 miles long by 2 wide.6* In Lambton county 
the industry dates back to the year 1862. Petroleum is also found in 
Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and boring operations that have 
in recent years been carried on at Athabasca, near Edmonton, in the 
North-West Territories, point to a likelihood of that part of the country 
contributing largely to the future supply of mineral oil. 
The industry is now one of the most highly organized in the Dominion; 
the system of drilling and pump’ng now used—the ‘‘jerker-line” system 
enables a well yielding from eight to ten gallons a day to be profitably 
worked. This system has gained for itself a world-wide reputation; it is 
used in Galicia, Russia, Afghanistan, Burmah, India, -Italy, France, Cal- 
ifornia, and Australia. Its advantages are numerous; a central engine 
can operate a large number of wells; on one property near Petrolea, 233 
wells, scattered over an area of 400 acres, are worked by a single engine. 
It is estimated that to sink a well of about 500 feet in depth costs only 
$125.°° In 1900, there were approximately 10,000 wells in operation, 
yielding on an average seventy-one barrels of oil each. 
The refining side of the petroleum industry is largely in the hands of 
the Imperial Oil Company,®° which some years ago absorbed several other 
concerns, and of the Canadian Oil Refining Company. The plant of the 
former at Sarnia has a capacity of 60,000 barrels of crude o'l per month, 
and the market for their products reaches from Halifax to Vancouver. 
Many of the bye-products of the refining process find a market in England 
and in Spain. The latter company have erected an up-to date plant at 
Petrolea, on the site of one which was in operation some years ago, where 
all the products will be manufactured that modern science shows can be 
obtained from petroleum.®’ Improvements ‘n methods of retort ng have 
recently led to considerable quantity of the crude oil being used for gas 
making, three and a half million gallons being an estimate of the amount 
so employed.® 
There has been a slight falling off in the production of oil during the 
past years; calculated as ‘‘crude”’ oil, the output in 1901 was 27 millions 
Imperial gallons, and in 1go1 a little over 264 millions. In 1903 it fell 
to some 16 million gallons. A slow process of diminution seems to be going 
on in the area at present productive, and a falling off must be looked for 
(64) The oil is found at depths varying from 370 to 400 feet. 
(65) This and much of what is given here on natural gas and petroleum is from a paper by Mr. 
. J. K. Vanston, read before the Canadian Section of the Society of Chemical Industry in Jan. 1903. 
(66) Capital stock, $1,000,000. ~ 
(67) Bureau of Mines Report, Ontario, 1902. 
(68) Statistical Year Book, 1903. 
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