WATER SUPPLIES 95 



Wales, even this will be a great boon. While we were there 

 the wells were yielding only twenty-five to thirty barrels 

 of oil a day and half of that was from the government 

 well, which is a pretty poor return for the expense of 

 drilling and maintaining the wells. At first the oil flowed 

 without pumping, but that has changed and the new wells 

 had to pump. 



The immediate benefit to the town comes in utilizing 

 the oil from the government wells to run a distilling plant, 

 in which sea water is evaporated and drinking water 

 produced, to be sold for about eight cents a barrel or at 

 the public drinking place for two cents a head for animals. 

 The railroad mentioned previously is also burning this 

 oil, but it runs only one train a week and its demands are 

 not excessive. Some oil has been shipped away, but most 

 of it is consumed on the spot to run the distilling plant, 

 and also the engines used in drilling new wells, which takes 

 about all the production. It seems doubtful that the prod- 

 uct will ever have more than a local use. 



When we were there all the producing wells were within 

 six or seven miles of Comodoro, a well bored thirty miles 

 to the north having proved dry; but others were being 

 drilled, even lOO miles to the north and south. From the 

 lay of the land it seemed to us that there was but little 

 probability of striking oil more than twenty miles either 

 to the north or the south of the town ; for it lies in the lowest 

 part of a shallow fold in the rocks, which also slopes gently 

 upwards toward the interior. 



In addition to the activity connected with the wells the 

 town was humming with business. Down on the beach 

 were great and growing piles of wool, in front of which 

 from time to time a great freight wagon would draw up 

 to sell and discharge its two or three tons of wool. There 

 were always buyers there, who as fast as a bale was un- 

 loaded had it rolled on to hand scales to be weighed, and 

 the seller and buyer stood by keeping lists of the weights 



