PETROLEUM 



99 



Diodonis describes the same product obtained 

 from a lake in Sicily and sold for the same uses. 

 Pliny, Plutarch, Aristotle, and Josephus mention 

 the deposit in Albania on the Adriatic Sea. The 

 holy fires of Baku on the Caspian Sea, wor- 

 shipped for ages by the people dwelling near, 

 ami the goal of pilgrimages even from India (see 

 Vigne's Travels in Oathmir and Little Thibet), 

 have been sustained by apparently inexhaustible 

 petroleum stores. The North American Indians 

 collected what was known as Seneca Oil from 

 petroleum springs, and the indications are that 

 long l>efore them the Mound Builders, who 

 workeil the copper-mines of Lake Superior, the 

 lead-mines of Kentucky, and the mica-mines of 

 North Carolina, not only gathered the oil com- 

 ing from natural springs that ap|>eared on streams, 

 but even dug numerous wells in Pennsylvania, 

 Ohio, and Canada, and dipped up the oil that 

 flowed into them. Trees now growing in the 

 earth thrown out in digging the wells, or in the 

 wells themselves, show that the work was done 

 from 300 to 1000 years ago. 



(2) Gron-th of the Amerim it Industry. But the 

 growth of the American industry, widen has given 

 the world what can be fairly termed the people's 

 light, has l>een within the last half of the 19th cen- 

 tury. From 1850 to 1858 many experiments were 

 made with petroleum, both in the line of collecting 

 the crude article and of refining it when secured, 

 hut with indifferent success. Among the pro- 

 moters of these efforts was the Pennsylvania Kock- 

 oil Company, incor|>orated in 1854 under the laws 

 of the state of New York. The su]>erintendent of 

 this company, E. L. Drake, in 1858 started to 

 sink a well in one of the old pits sup[iosed to lie of 

 prehistoric origin, near Titusville on Oil Creek, 

 Venango county, Pennsylvania. Water and quick- 

 sand choking this o|>en well, he decided to drive 

 mi iron pijie from the surface of the ground down 

 to the solid rock. On August 28, 1859, after going 

 to a depth of 34 feet, he found that oil rose nearly 

 to the top of his pipe at the surface of the ground. 

 He had 'struck oil !' In the general excitement 

 that followed this successful venture wells were 

 sunk in great numbers along Oil Creek, French 

 Creek, and the Alleghany Kiver. Adventurers 

 and investors Mocked thither from all parts of the 

 country. What was soon known as the 'oil 

 rrgion ' was transformed from an almost unbroken 

 forest into camps and towns in which fortunes 

 were made in a day, and often as quickly squan- 

 dered. Many wells yielded nothing, others lasted 

 but a short time, while some gave enormous quan- 

 titie> of oil. But the producing fields were, and 

 are still, constantly changing; new ones being 

 discovered, old ones failing. For example, Pithole 

 City, near Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1865 next 

 to Philadelphia the largest jx>st-oHice in Penn- 

 sylvania, has now entirely disappeared, and the 

 -iie of the city liecnme a 'farm. Crude petroleum 

 is at present secured in many parts of the state of 

 Pennsylvania. Special mention might be made of 

 M'Kean, Warren, Elk, Forrest, Erie, Crawford, 

 Venango, Clarion, Butler, Washington, and Greene 

 counties. It is also produced in some parts of 

 Nt'w York, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, 

 Wyoming, Kentucky, California, and Texas, and 

 in IS97 an important petroleum lake was reported 

 to have Keen dueorered in Alaska. 



Hi 'tween 1890 and 1H97 the product of petroleum 

 in the I'nited States doubled, the production in 1897 

 Ix-ing H0,568,081 barrels, of a value of 840,929,611 ; 

 while the export of mineral oils had a value of over 

 f68,125,00n. In the same year the United Kingdom 

 imported I M.-,,nti.'),376 gallons, valued at 3,335,271. 

 Tlie use of petroleum for fuel, as in motor-cars 

 (see OAS-KNOINK) has of late greatly extended. 



The accompanying table gives the production of 

 crude oil in the United States, the stocks, and the 

 prices realised at the wells for each year, 1861 to 

 1890 inclusive. The unit of measurement of crude 

 oil is a barrel of 42 gallons. 



Yer. 



1861 

 1862 

 1863 

 1M14 

 1865 

 1806 

 1867 

 1868 

 1869 

 1870 

 1871 

 1872 

 1873 

 1874 

 1875 

 1876 

 1877 

 1878 

 1879 

 1SSO 

 1881 

 1882 

 1883 

 1884 

 1889 

 1886 

 1887 

 1888 

 1889 

 1890 



Production. 



2,113,tiOO 

 3,05,(XXi 

 2,611,359 

 2,llci,lS2 

 3,497,712 

 3,597,527 

 3,346,306 

 3,715,741 

 4,186,475 



5,278,072 

 6,505,774 

 9,849,508 

 11,102,114 

 8,948,749 

 9,142,940 

 13,052,753 

 15,011,425 

 20,085,710 



Shipments. 



1,650,133 

 3,101,571 

 3,242,951 

 1,842,061 

 2,100,132 

 3,010,921 

 2,893,210 

 3,482,510 

 4,255,343 

 5,593,168 

 5,667,891 

 5,899,942 

 9,499,775 

 8,821,500 

 8,924,938 

 9,583,949 

 12,469,644 

 13,750,030 

 16,226,580 



29,674,458 

 35,789,190 

 34,385,966 

 23,596,945 

 21,600,651 

 25,854,822 

 21,818,037 

 17,461,86!! 

 22,715,592 

 30,293,545 



19,340,021 

 22,094,209 

 21,967,636 

 24,053,902 

 24,029,424 

 26,332,445 

 26,627,191 

 27,157,108 

 30,4UO,390 

 31,601,847 



Stock, close of 



Yer. 

 Unknown 



534,000 



264,805 



340,154 



537,751 



568,858 



1,174,000 Est. 



1,25,157 



3,705,639 



2,751,758 



1,9211,735 



2,857,098 



4,307,590 



8,094,496 



16,606,344 



25,333,411 



34,335,147 



35,715,565 



36,872,892 



33,836,939 



33,395,885 



28,310,282 



18,634,889 



10,923,442 



9,472,432 



Price it 

 Welli. 

 80.52 

 1.00 

 3.11 

 7.85 

 6.65 

 3.76 

 2.40 

 3.57 

 5.64 

 3.86 

 4.42 

 3.96 

 1.73 

 1.18 

 1.24 

 2.51 

 2.38 

 ].)'> 

 .88 

 .94 

 .85 

 .78 

 1.05 

 .83 

 .88 

 .71 

 .66 

 .87 

 .94 



There are no reliable statistics showing the num- 

 ber of producing wells in existence. It is estimated 

 by those best informed on the subject that in 

 what is known as the Pennsylvania fields there 

 were in 1891 between 30,000 and 40,000. At 

 first the wells were of no great depth, extending 

 down to what was termed the fii-st Had. After- 

 wards wells were sunk to the second and third 

 sands. The average depth is from 1600 to 1800 

 feet, the shallowest wells being about 500 feet, the 

 dee]>est about 3000 feet. Many wells, particularly 

 when first completed, are flowing wells ; that is, 

 the oil is forced up through the tulie composing 

 the well, and reaches the surface of the ground 

 without pumping. This of course indicates that 

 the oil in the reservoir below the surface of the 

 ground is held under pressure ; but as an outlet 

 is given for the oil the pressure subsides, and it 

 becomes necessary to lift the oil by pumps. There 

 are to-day a few flowing wells in America, but 



1>ractically all the wells are pumped. Crude petro- 

 eum as it comes from the ground varies in general 

 appearance from a bright lemon colour to a greenish 

 black, all the intervening shades being found, and 

 in gravity ( weight or density ) from 38 of Baumd's 

 scale to 50, all the intermediate gravities being 

 secured. The same well will, at different stages 

 of its life, give oil of different colours and gravities, 

 the colour growing darker and the gravity heavier 

 as the well grows older. In 1862 it was found that 

 in many cases dry wells could be made to resume 

 their yield, and declining wells to continue produc- 

 tion by being shocked with torpedoes. In 1897-98 a 

 commission took evidence in Lngland as to whether 

 petroleum with a flash-point as low as 73 (Abel 

 close test) is dangerous, and reported by a majority 

 that a flash-point at 100 should be taken as the 

 standard of safety. And see EXPLOSIVES. 



One of the most interesting features of the 

 growth of the petroleum industry is found in the 

 (levices for transportation. The oil was at first 

 carted in barrels over rough roads to the point of 

 consumption or of loading into railroad cars. The 

 wooilen barrel gave place to light iron tanks on 

 wheels, and the ordinary freight car for oil in 

 barrels to wooden tank-cars, and these in turn to 



