at the rate of 2,000,000 gallons a day 

 from a depth of 574 feet." 



About the year 1858 oil was dis 

 covered in Berksville, Tenn., on the 

 Cumberland River. It was called rock 

 oil and was hawked about the streets 

 as a sure cure for rheumatism. About 

 1866 there was a company formed to 

 develop the petroleum then so-called. 

 The transportation from Berksville to 

 market was so dear that the company 

 was unsuccessful. At Glasgow, twelve 

 miles from Cave City, Ky., near the 

 Mammoth Cave, there wa*s a well, and 

 a transportation trough was suggested 

 by Mr. Geo. Northrup, which was never 

 used. But the suggestion finally led 

 up to the subsequent use of pipe lines 

 for transporting the oil. The first oil 

 used was at the head-waters of the 

 Cumberland River. It was sold in a 

 crude state and was not then used for 

 illuminating purposes. A few years 

 afterwards, when it was discovered in 

 Pennsylvania, it was so used, although 

 still in a comparatively crude condi 

 tion. The price of oil was then about 

 thirty-five cents a gallon at retail, or to 

 the consumer. It has since been sold 

 to the consumer at as low a price as 

 seven cents a gallon. 



The Standard Oil Company owned 

 the first pipe lines that transported oil 

 from the Pennsylvania oil fields to the 

 seacoast. It was then and still istheonly 

 company that has furnished the best 

 oil product. The American oil is said 

 to be at least twenty-five per cent, 

 superior to the Russian article. It is 

 of a higher grade and commands, 

 naturally, a higher price. 



It is assumed that there must still be 

 great quantities of oil in the rock for 

 mation of the earth. The substance is 

 absorbed by the rocks where deposited 

 and does not evaporate, therefore it 

 would long ago have disappeared by 

 absorption were it not that there must 



be vast areas of it still lying ready to 

 be pumped to the surface. 



The odor of the petroleum first dis 

 covered was similar to that of the 

 cheap bituminous coal. In this respect 

 there has been a great improvement, 

 although there is yet room for the re 

 moval of what, to many, is a very un 

 pleasant odor. 



In the fall of 1865 the narrator, Mr. 

 George Northrup, at that time a young 

 Chicago business man, still living in 

 that city, believing that vast fortunes 

 could be made in the oil regions, caught 

 the fever, and ascertaining that new 

 fieldswere being developed in Glasgow, 

 Ky., went there with $5,000 capital, 

 intending to invest it, fancying that 

 amount would be sufficient to buy oil 

 land and develop the same. Arriving 

 at Cave City, on the L. & N. Railway, he 

 was lucky enough to get a seat on the 

 stage coach that ran to Glasgow. The 

 only public inn was filled to overflow 

 ing, and he was obliged, with others, to 

 sleep on the office floor of the hotel. 

 Two miles before reaching the town 

 the odor from the wells in operation 

 affected him to such a degree that he 

 confesses that no bouquet of flowers 

 ever seemed to him sweeter. After 

 dining at the hotel he was approached 

 by a score of speculators who inquired 

 of him whether he desired to invest in 

 oil territory, which was held at from 

 1 $25,000 to $200,000 an acre. He said 

 that he would investigate the next day, 

 became disgusted and immediately dis 

 appeared. The principal objection to 

 the territory was the absolute ab 

 sence of transportation. It was then 

 that he suggested the use of a trough 

 for the transportation of the oil to 

 Glasgow, a distance of twelve miles, 

 since which time it has been carried by 

 pipe from the oil fields of Pennsylvania 

 to the Atlantic Ocean. 



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