50 BULLETIN 102, VOL. 1, UNITED STATES NATIONAL -MUSEUM. 



are favorably located in respect to distribution. From tlie refineries 

 the gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil, lubricating oil, and other petroleum 

 products are sent forth to supply the needs of surrounding territory, 

 while refineries near seaboard furnish heavy contributions to foreign 

 trade. As distribution is a diverging process, and, moreover, the 

 crude petroleum is broken into numerous products requiring separate 

 handling, the pipe-line is not broadly adapted to this diverse haulage. 

 Eailroad tank cars,^ therefore, receive the bulkier products and carry 

 them to distributing depots, where storage tanks release the railroad 

 carriers and supply tank wagons that radiate to fill the local needs. 

 In this way the entire country is covered by a network of specialized 

 transporation, each step employing a bulk carrier best adapted to its 

 particular purpose both as to size and mechanical facility, the whole 

 involving the maximum of expedition and simplicity. Without this 

 highly organized system, with its far-reaching ramifications, the 

 present widespread use of gasoline and kerosene would not be pos- 

 sible. From the oil field to the consumer, the handling of petroleum 

 is remarkably efficient. 



The arrangements whereby a foreign trade has been built up and 

 sustained are no less elaborate. Fleets of tank steamers and freighters 

 carry the products in bulk or in suitable containers to all parts of the 

 world. Fuel oil, gasoline, and lubricants go in greater measure to 

 industrial countries, but kerosene penetrates to every corner of the 

 globe, a system of depots and distributing lines adapting the product 

 to the needs of the most out-of-the-way regions. The care that has 

 been bestowed upon the extensions of the market for kerosene, against 

 every conceivable obstacle of climate, topography, and racial preju- 

 dice, is a striking example of industrial foresight; yet without this 

 policy, the whole oil industry would have been unable to expand to 

 its present proportions. 



THE XATUEAL GAS I^-DUSTRY. 



Natural gas is produced in large quantities in the United States, 

 partly as a by-product from oil wells and partly from gas wells 

 drilled in oil fields or adjacent territory. Both natural gas and 

 petroleum are of common origin, the former indeed being merely a 

 volatile component of petroleum, occurring either dissolved in the 

 petroleum under pressure or migrated, as result of the advantageous 

 degree of mobility favoring a gas, to positions more or less distant 

 from the petroleum. The gas-bearing territory of the United States, 

 therefore, embraces the productive oil fields and a considerable area 

 besides. (See fig, 3.) Natural gas is won in 23 States, of which 

 West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Oklahoma enjoy the largest 

 commercial yields. 



^ And to some extent barges where water transportation is advantageously available. 



