684 



PETROLEUM. 



from many wells to trunk-lines which have 

 pumping- stations at which powerful pumps 

 force the oil through sections of pipe about forty 

 miles long. Trunk-lines of six-inch pipe run 

 out of the oil regions to Baltimore, Philadel- 

 phia, and New York, Buffalo, Cleveland, and 

 Pittsburg. Small quantities of crude oil are 

 transported in tank-cars, and a very little is 

 still transported in barrels, from localities of 

 small production that are remote from the 

 trunk pipe-lines. 



The methods employed in transporting oil in 

 pipe-lines have made possible a vast amount 

 of speculation in crude petroleum. When a 

 run of oil is made from a well-tank to a trunk- 

 line, the owner of the oil receives a certificate 

 for each 1,000 barrels run, which, when prop- 

 erly indorsed by the officers of the pipe-line, 

 becomes negotiable paper, after the manner 

 of an accepted draft or a certified check. 

 These certificates may be sold and resold many 

 times daily without any reference to the oil 

 that they represent. But if a person wishes 

 to use the oil, he purchases the certificates and, 

 taking them to the nearest pipe-line station, 

 demands the delivery of the oil. From 1870 

 until 1884 the production of oil was each year 

 greatly in excess of its use for all purposes ; 

 consequently, oil accumulated above-ground. 

 In August, 1884, this accumulated oil reached 

 the enormous maximum amount of 39,083,464 

 barrels, since which period it has been reduced 

 to less than 30,000,000 barrels. The storage of 

 thesa vast accumulations of inflammable mate- 

 rial was at first managed by private individuals 

 and corporations; but it was finally undertaken 

 by the pipe lines acting together as the United 

 Pipe-Lines. In the hands of this great cor- 

 poration the storage of oil has been carried on 

 with remarkable success and safety. Besides 

 the vast quantity of oil required to fill the 

 nearly 1,000 miles of six-inch pipe of which 

 the trunk-pipe lines consist, the United Lines 

 provide storage-tanks. The usual size of these 

 tanks is ninety-five feet in diameter and twenty- 

 nine feet high, having a working capacity of 

 35,000 barrels. They are constantly menaced 

 with destruction from lightning, and are occa- 

 sionally struck and fired. In the Caucasus a 

 pipe-line extends from Batoum to Poti on the 

 Black Sea, 600 miles. 



Transportation of both crude and refined oil 

 across the ocean has been carried on in barrels, 

 for northern ports, and in cases, each contain- 

 ing two tin cans holding five gallons. This 

 case oil goes to all equatorial countries and the 

 far East. Since 18SO experiments have been 

 in progress for carrying bulk cargoes of oil 

 across the ocean. Steamers fitted with tanks 

 in such a manner that the liquid cargo is com- 

 paratively motionless have successfully trans- 

 ported Russian oil from ports on the Black Sea 

 to England, Adriatic ports, Germany, and Rus- 

 sian ports on the Baltic. Such cargoes have 

 also been carried from Philadelphia to Eng- 

 lish ports. 



Statistics. The following table shows the 

 amount of oil exported from 1864 to 1887: 



The following table shows the amount of oil 

 produced from 1859 to 1886 inclusive, with 

 the average price per barrel for each year. 

 The apparently large price in 1864 was due to 

 the condition of the currency, a paper dollar 

 being worth less than fifty cents in gold: 



With the consumption of Galician oil con- 

 fined to Austria-Hungary, Russian oil is the 

 only competitor with the United States in the 

 markets of the world. From insignificant 

 proportions, this competition haa grown year 

 by year until all Europe and Eastern Asia are 

 feeling its influence. The low price and super- 

 lative quality of American petroleum alone 

 permit it to maintain its superiority in many 

 localities not yet seriously invaded by Russian 

 oil. For the past ten years oil at one dollar 

 or more a barrel has been predicted along with 

 the partial exhaustion of every new pool that 



