THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



199 



bed in Nevada yielded oil at the rate of 

 13,000,000 barrels to the square mile. 



DEPOSITS IN EASTERN STATES 



But the West has no monopoly of the 

 oil-shale resource. Deposits have been 

 examined by the government in Illinois, 

 Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennes- 

 see, West Virginia, and Indiana, some of 

 them testing out with a high oil con- 

 tent. An examination of the black shale 

 of southwestern Indiana shows that it 

 underlies about 16,000 square miles, and 

 although the oil content of much of it is 

 less than that of the western shales, and 

 some of it is too low in oil to be worked 

 commercially, the actual content for the 

 area in Indiana alone would be 100,000,- 

 000,000 barrels. 



Some of the eastern shale that is very 

 rich in oil overlies extensive coal beds, 

 which are being mined by the "stripping" 

 method, so that the oil rock must be re- 

 moved in any event to get out the coal. 

 This shale could therefore be mined by 

 steam-shovels without additional cost, as 

 it is a necessary preliminary to the coal- 

 mining. 



The potential value of this immense 

 oil resource of America is almost beyond 

 comprehension. Enough oil is held in 

 these natural reservoirs to fill many times 

 over every tank, cask, barrel, can, and 

 other container of every kind in the 

 world. 



Until recently the oil shales of the 

 United States, particularly those of the 

 Western States, have been referred to by 

 the government geologists as a reserve 

 available for extraction whenever the de- 

 mand and the price shall become great 

 enough to warrant the establishment of 

 a new industry to supplement the supply 

 of petroleum from the oil fields. This 

 time is now at hand. 



The extraordinary demands of the war 

 are already indicating the approaching in- 

 sufficiency of the output from our pe- 

 troleum fields, and experiments in the 

 utilization of oil shale are already being 

 made in Colorado. Plants are being 

 erected, oil is being distilled, processes 

 are being tested, and a steadily increas- 

 ing output is soon to be expected. So 

 substantial is this resource considered that 

 the government has set aside as a special 





Photograph from U. S. Geological Survey 

 HAND DRILLING TO SECURE UNWEATTIERED 

 SAMPLES OE OIL SHALE 



The deposits of oil shale in the Rocky Moun- 

 tain region lie for the most part near the sur- 

 face and can be mined by steam-shovels. By 

 situating the reducing plants in the valleys, 

 gravity may be utilized in transporting the rock 

 to the distilleries. 



