The evolution of the oil industry — Reading Companion

I. PETROLEUM IN HISTORY AND LEGEND 3

II. WHAT IS PETROLEUM? 11

III. DAWN OF AMERICA’S PETROLEUM INDUSTRY 30

IV. FOUNDER OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY 37

V. PETROLEUM AS A WORLD INDUSTRY 44

VI. LOCATING THE OIL WELL 57

VII. DRILLING THE OIL WELL 65

VIII. COLLECTING AND TRANSPORTING CRUDE: THE PIPE LINE 76

IX. REFINING AND MANUFACTURING PETROLEUM PRODUCTS 89

X. PETROLEUM AND OTHER INDUSTRIES 106

XI. PETROLEUM ON THE SEVEN SEAS 116

XII. PETROLEUM IN THE GREAT WAR 129

XIII. AMERICA’S INVESTMENT IN PETROLEUM 148

XIV. PETROLEUM IN THE FUTURE 160

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The first oil well, drilled near Titusville, Pa., on August 27, 1859, by Col. Edwin L. Drake _Frontispiece_

A temporary oil reservoir in Oklahoma 26

Early activity; the famous Red Hot Oil Field near Shamburg, Pa. 42

Where Pithole stood 43

The Drader Well in the Moreni Field, Roumania 66

Burkburnett in Northern Texas 67

Big yield well in Mexico flowing into temporary storage pond 82

Laying a pipe line through a Louisiana forest 83

Lines for loading oil on vessels standing from one to two miles at sea 98

Battery of crude stills at the Bayway Refinery, Linden, N. J. 99

“Look boxes” in the “Still House” where the grades of oil are separated according to gravity 114

A modern tanker carrying 4,000,000 gallons of oil 115

A tanker being loaded with gasoline and oil at a refinery dock at Port Arthur, Texas 146

Kansas wells flowing oil into a temporary sump, or earthen reservoir 147

Steam stills at a modern refinery 162

Storage tank at Cushing, Oklahoma, struck by lightning 163

THE EVOLUTION OF THE OIL INDUSTRY

PETROLEUM IN HISTORY AND LEGEND

While the petroleum industry is in the fullest sense modern, it has been known to, and casually utilized by mankind for centuries. It is named in the earliest annals of the race; and allusions to it are abundant in the literature of the East, from which much of our Western literature had its inspiration. It was applied to the service of religion, and was a subject of superstition in times which are enshrouded in legend. In the authorized Bible and in the Apocrypha there are more than two hundred allusions to it. The legend of Noah speaks of his having used pitch to tighten the seams of his ark, which certainly indicates a familiarity with the uses of fluid bitumen available in the East. In Deuteronomy there is mention of “oil out of the flinty rock;” and Biblical students could cite countless other instances where the meaning clearly indicates a common use of the surface deposits of Western Asia.

It is believed to have been a strong factor in trade between Ancient Judea and Persia, which latter country has again in the twentieth century become a factor in oil production. It played its part in the worship not only of the Hebrews but of other Eastern nations, and to the primitive minds of those peoples assumed miraculous characteristics. The burning wells of Baku were the objective of religious pilgrimages among the prehistoric peoples; and despite the colossal waste of past ages these wells still flow and are a factor in commerce. The Zoroastrians, or Fire Worshippers, a sect of Persian origin, which gained many adherents in ancient India also, regarded these wells as the manifestations of a great imprisoned spirit, who was supposed to breathe inflammable vapour from his nostrils. Zoroaster has a temple at Baku, and students of folk-lore hold that these burning wells helped to confirm the belief in a literal Hell of fire, common to races of Semitic origin. The Macedonian conqueror of Asia, Alexander the Great, witnessed the burning lake of Ectabana in his march to the east, centuries before the Christian era. Marco Polo, the Italian explorer of the middle ages, among many fables, revealed to Europe the truth about the oil resources in Baku, and had sufficient of the instincts of a trader to discern their commercial value. Well-founded belief in the medicinal properties of petroleum, common to all countries where it is found, was also prevalent among the ancient peoples.

The reference to its use in the construction of Noah’s ark shows that the utility of pitch, as a binding material in building operations, was recognized. It is clearly this material that is meant by the “slime” which is stated to have been used as mortar for the erection of the Tower of Babel; and it is supposed to have played its part in more definitely authenticated structures like the palaces of Babylon and Nineveh, and the Temple of King Solomon.