398 
THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL TRADE.* 
In the year 1863, the business of petroleum was at its height. Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky were in the fruition of their fame. The 
former was the mother of oil ; the latter regions poured forth their 
quotas in the fulness of filial aifection. The springs were gushing. 
Worthless lands were "becoming valuable. Wall street had a new hobby, 
liquid to be sure, like a goblet brimmed full with gold, but a green frog 
in the bottom of the cup. There was money to be made, and it was 
made ; there was money to be lost, and it was duly lost. People talked 
oily ; they slipped smoothly in their ways ; they were greasedly inclined ; 
they formed themselves into lubricous companies, and petroleum became 
an institution. 
Companies were formed. You saw the signs prominently noticeable 
in the street. Individual speculators rivalled the gold gamblers in point 
of numbers, noisiness and importance. Exchanges were constituted ; 
men risked and won ; men worked and failed ; women were interested 
through their husbands, brothers, and agents ; little children n went in'* 
with consent of their guardians ; old fogies invested their surplus on an 
oily margin ; servant girls drew their savings-bank accounts, and clerks 
invested their savings ; in fact, since the South Sea Bubble of two hun- 
dred years ago, since the gold excitement of California, there was pro- 
bably never such a furore of speculation as in the new forthcoming of 
oil. When merchants made a surplus they invested in oil. The savings 
of actors or actresses waned or enlarged in fountains of oil. Greengrocers, 
butchers, and candlestick makers became interested in petroleum. In 
fact, petroleum became an institution. 
The number and diversity of uses to which petroleum has come to 
be applied are almost unexplained in the history of any of the earth's 
productions. It gives us light in many forms ; from clear, crystal-like 
candles, or from the depths of a hundred different kinds of lamps ; the 
waven, twisted, or plaited wick gives forth the peculiar mellow, gentle, 
moon-like, but brilliant illumination, which has so largely taken the 
place of sperm, lard, and almost every other oil. 
As a lubricator of machinery, it has also superseded, or is supersed- 
ing, other oils. It is used in laboratories for the preparation of various 
chemicals, and forms itself the main element of a hundred valuable 
compounds. Indeed, it would be difficult to mention one-half of the 
wonderful uses to which petroleum is applied. 
As an article in the commerce of this country, its value is so enor- 
mous as to be computed with diffidence and wonder. The iron yield of 
Pennsylvania is computed to possess an annual value of 50,000,000 dols.; 
the coal yield about 100,000,000 dols. Though yet in its infancy, to the 
* From the ' New York Tribune,' 
