Cornell University Library
HD 9574.P52M84 1891

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PREROLRUM IN PERU,

FROM AN INDUSTRIAL POINT OF VIEW.

BY

FEDERICO MORENO,

BX-PREFECT OF PIURA,

Dedicated to the ‘Sociedad Geogrdfica de Lima”

{ Translated from the original Spanish.]

LIMA

F. Mastas & Co. PRINTERS.
317, Union Street. \

1891.
PETROLBUM IN PERU

FROM AN INDUSTRIAL POINT OF VIEW.

BY

FEDERICO MORENO,

EX-PREFECT OF PIURA,

Dedicated to the “Sociedad Geogrdfica de Lima”

| Translated from the original Spanish. ]

LIMA

F. Mastas & Co. PRINTERS.
317, Union Street.

1891.
INDEX.

 

DP ree
PAGES.
TTA wanes ix uann eakeeteneaecieumncninmoaaes 3
PART I
LPO actus cheainasatnancsendh walt aheeiasuagsapobe 5
Exteworon Of (eds... cscsseyensorsre anpeneucnae: 10
Scientific opinions in favor of Peruvian
PCRPOIGUT cs teateekeesiey, coonbaduniimene 15
Markets [Or COUSUMPUGI x. cecsiaswacaawe axvnns 24
Wes: Duties 2S TOE evs. cunseensevswrnwedexereneseoneun: 34
Works already @$talish@d sic caiac..00sscnenstites 39
Fields which are bee ex plowed iisssiscsscsavcceme 46
General aspect of the district. andcvsesssncsnegans 55
PMT if,
Industrial development of petroleum in
the United States of North America....... 63
Flowing and. Spouting W€lisssccassasccrasseeses 69
PYORPOSU ne MOT OH viacarmnnaataaitwe ahaesedudees 73
= Tp

 

PAGES.
Russian petroleum ficlds............ccceeceese sevens 77
Petroleum deposits, Refineries, Expor--

PATIO ays wizeniaener cvage ease kinveseiesuidanialuns 84
Transportation Of Kerosene.y....000 cessiracanewens 86
Pig rote wie WHOrs i dingy svanaicaee>waesounskusanens 89
NEGRO DEY ansnwasenaniniess sinamoimninicesdasigini ike 92

PART III.
Scientific aspect, origin and chemical

composition of petroleum...........-...64 95
Where petroleum 15 TOU .522..065 vvosaeaeceenee 99
FE LINOIG CI acevo canpascsos suas maabgunrnnmen sirage 104

PART I¥.
Combustible 01] sccsccsvmuses Pisa: aa Snip aioli deg LL
Contéerencte in LOndOfisiy.cascansoastnaxasas cece 117
Report. of E. P. Larkin, Esq...... xem oe
" wo 3. Warren, IESG. sytinsraesocexciens 157
Lima, August 1 1891.

Mr. President:

As the petroleum districts of Peru, according to
the reports of eminent engineers, have been shown
to be the second tn tmportance in the world, [ have
come to the conclusion that it ts a matter of national
interest to publish this lettle work, the object of
which ts stmply to show the country the new, and
perhaps tnexhaustible, source of wealth tt possesses,
and which, tf rts industrial development ts under-
taken with prudence and intelligence, may prove

highly profitable.

LT beg of you, Mr. Prestdent, to accept, with your
habitual benevolence, this defictent study, which I
have the honor to dedicate to the “ Sociedad Geogra-
fica de Lima,” as a mark of respect.

With sentiments of the highest consideration, [
subscribe myself, Mr. President.

Your most obedient servant.
HF. Woreno.

To Dr. Luis Carranza, PRE-
SIDENT OF THE “SoOcIEDAD
GroarAFica DE Lima,”
PRTRULBUM IN PERU

FROM AN INDUSTRIAL POINT OF VIEW.

PART FLRSI.-

 

GCEAPTER -1
Lts Flestory.

Although the narrow columns of a newspaper do
not suffice for a long disertation on the importance
of this substance, which to day attracts the serious
attention of European governments and capitalists,
we believe an opportune moment has arrived to
make a brief study of this new source of wealth, now
that Peru turns out to be one of the few privileged
nations, as a petroleum producing country.

For more than a century past, people here have

-known Brea or Cofé, [asphaltum] an almost exclu-
sive product of the Aaczexda of Parifias, in the dis-
trict of Amotape, in the Department of Piura, and
which was employed then, as it is now, to coat the
insides of do¢z7as, piscos [earthenware receptacles of
about 150 lb, and 25 lb, capacity, respectively] and
a aes

other articles of the kind, for the ardent spirits made
in Ica, Locumba and Moquegua, in order to give
them a special flavor, preserve them better, and
prevent injurious fermentations.

In the memorials of the Vice-roys of Peru, an
entry is found, in favor of the Spanish Crown,
of $ 28,000 for the export tax on this substance.

Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1860, the
happy idea occurred to Manuel Antonio de Lama
to refine petroleum, for the first time in Peru, ta-
ken from the asphaltum beds of Mancora and Zo-
rritos, the property, at that time, of the wealthy
Don Diego de Lama.

Subsequent to that date, a large commercial house,
of Lima, established expensive works at Negri-
tos, from the wells of which place an abundance of
oil rose to a height of seventy feet above the ground,
the whole of which was lost for want of receptacles
for its deposit. This cox¢re temps, as well as others
met with by the house of Rollin Thorne, the first
to establish works of any extent in the oil fields of
the province of Paita, was the cause of their aban-
doning their idea, at a heavy loss, due exclusively
to the fact that the petroleum industry and its va-
rious applications were still in their infancy, only a
few years having passed since the discovery of this
oil in the United States, where kerosene for illumi-
nating purposes was first made.

Don Alejandro Rudens, a merchant of Paita, and
Consul of the United States, at that time, associa-
ted with other persons, organised a big company,
with a capital of $ 4.000,000, for the working, on
a large scale, of the important oil fields that had been
discovered; but, owing to the civil war in the United
States, the scheme fell through.

In 1876 there arrived in Peru the wealthy Mr.
Sees

Prentice, a proprietor of extensive oil works in
Pennsylvania, who, on convincing himself of the
richness of the supply in Tumbez, after sinking a
well 500 feet deep, from which a heavy stream of
oil spouted forth, asked the Government for the
concession to him of the entire petroleum district;
but this request was not granted, it being contrary
to the mining ordinances and other laws of the
country. Mr. Prentice, after the Government’s ne-
gative, left the country and abandoned his project.

This is the true history of petroleum in Peru.

From the studies made in that epoch, in. the dis-
trict of Zorritos, it will be seen: that of the two wells
which were opened, one gave 60 barrels per day;
and the other, at a depth of 500 feet, gave as much
as 600 barrels per day; and it was the unanimous
opinion of the engineers that this last well, if sunk
a hundred metres more, would yield 5,000 barrels
per day.

Eminent English and American engineers visited
that region then and later on, and arrived at the
conclusion, from the studies made, that the petro-
leum fields on the coast of the Department of Piura
were the second in importance in the world.

As a matter of fact, the petroleum deposits, com-
monly called acezte de piedra {stone oil] or kerosene,
situated along the coast of the vast Department of
Piura, constitute, on account of their extent, exce-
llent quality and proximity to the sea (100 to 16,000
metres) an immense source of wealth, the whole of
which will be available once the deposits of oil in
the United States, in the natural order of things,
are exhausted, and when petroleum, solving a great
economic problem, as it is, in fact, already sol-
ved, is definitely employed as the best combustible
known, in all steam-engines, and in steamers as well
=f

as in locomotives, as is done at present, in Russia,
with an economy over coal of 50°/,; for there is no
application, in the form of combustible, which can-
not be given to petroleum; while the cost of its
extraction is as low as the expense of taking water
from a well.

Its industrial applications, at present, are many,
and they will increase, in future, in proportion to
the progress of the studies constantly being made,
according to articles published daily by the Euro-
pean press, to discover further applications of this
valuable substance.

Nearly all the locomotives on our railways use
petroleum, and it will not be long before we see
the same thing in the merchant steamers plying
along the coast.

The Peruvian Corporation, in the last report pre-
sented to the shareholders, says, regarding this com-
bustible: “Experiments made on the Oroya Railway
and also on a few others, with the object of testing
the efficacy of petroleum as a combustible instead
of coal, have so far given such satisfactory results
that arrangements have been made with the Lon-
don and Pacific Petroleum Company, established
in the North of Peru, for them to furnish the oil
necessary for this and other roads. The economy
in the cost of combustible, to judge from the re-
sults of the experiments, will amount to over 4o
per cent.”

Similar trials, with magnificent results, have late-
ly been made in some of the nitrate ofzeczas in
Tarapaca, for which industry the application of
petroleum as a combustible would be its salvation,
English coke, placed on the pampas of Iquique,
being so dear.

The use of petroleum in the machinery on the
— 9 —

sugar estates in the North may be considered as of
the utmost importance, leaving the dagazo (pressed
sugar-cane) which is to day used as a combustible,
to be applied to another industry.

Captain N. V. Coxmichael, in the interesting
report read at a conference held in London on Fe-
bruary 13 of this year, declares, & propos of the
combustible oil, according to his own experience,
that merchant steamers which consume petroleum
instead of coal will, apart from other advantages
which he enumerates, obtain an economy of £ 7,000
per annum.

The Pacific Steam Navigation Company, there-
fore, which owns twenty vessels, would economise
the sum of £ 140,000 per annum, or 980,000 sols
of our money!

According to the opinion expressed by Mr. Nel-
son Boyd, the most conspicuous of petroleum mi-
ning engineers, and who at present resides in Lon-
don, there is petroleum enough in the beds disco-
vered so far, for many centuries; whereas the coal,
according to measurements taken in the coal mines
of England and Belgium, will hardly suffice for
sixty years, while it is getting dearer every day.

The numerous factories in the neighborhood of
Chicago alone, by using petroleum, save annually
500,000 tons of coal, which they formerly consumed.

We do not know the exact cost of the extraction
of the crude oil; but, in view of the fact that, in
order to convert it into a combustible, by removing
its inflammable qualities, it is only necessary to
expose it in the open air for a month, or submit it,
immediately after its extraction from the wells, to
a temperature of 350°, we have every reason to
believe that this operation will not be too costly,
although this would not be the case with the residue,
20

which is only obtained in the proportion of 10 to
30 per cent, after the refinement of the oils and the
extraction of the kerosene.

From the foregoing it will be seen: that petro-
leum, from an economical standpoint, is to coal, as
beet-root sugar to sugar made from sugar cane. In
its employment on board men-ofwar, it differs from
coal, as the modern repeating rifle, with smokeless
powder, differs from the old fire-locks. And its power
as a generator of heat, is to coal what dynamite
is to powder. In a word, petroleum is the sepul-
chre of coal.

To recapitulate:

The industrial applications which have been given
petroleum, for the moment, are:

1* A generator of steam in merchant steamers
and men-of-war.

2" The same thing in railway locomotives, and
all kinds of steam engines.

3°" As fuel for smelting ores, especially silver,
lead and copper.

4" As fuel for the working of nitrate or any
other substance.

5"" For the heating of ovens for baking bread.

6 For the heating of rooms in cold countries,
using the hardened oil, as is done in Russia.

7 For the fabrication of illuminating gas in
cities.

8" For illuminating purposes in the form of

kerosene.
CHAPTER II.
Extension of the Beds.

According to the opinion expressed by the emi-
nent North American engineer E. P. Larkin, in a
ee pies

pamphlet published in New York in 1866, the pe-
troleum beds visited by him in the Department of
Piura, comprise an area of 800 square leagues, or
7,200 square miles, the equivalent of 4,408,000 Eng-
lish acres; but, according to Mr. Prentice, the
length is 120 miles, and the width 60, giving a total
area of 1,000,000 hectaras, the equivalent of
250,000 claims of 40,000 square metres each, accord-
ing to our mining laws.

The district to which these engineers refer is
merely that comprised between Cabo Blanco, fifty
miles north of Paita, and the extreme north of the
province of Tumbez; but the late discoveries of the
engineers Blume and Davila, in the neighborhood
of Punta de Aguja, in the district of Sechura, com-
prising Punta Falsa, Garita, Reventazon, Colorado,
Nonura, Pisura, Bichayo, Salinas and other points
such as Brea, Talara, Negritos, Playa Grande, Playa
Chica, Pericos and Punta Foca, of the province of
Paita, form an area equal in extent to the other.

The petroleum beds of Paita, therefore, comprise
to-day, beyond any doubt, an area of 16,000 square
miles, inferior, certainly, in extent, to the Russian
petroleum beds, which comprise some 200,000
square miles, but very superior to those in the
United States, which are hardly 120 miles long,
with a variable width of from one to twenty. These
furnish the commercial world, in the form of illu-
minating oil, or kerosene, 40,000,000 barrels per
year, the annual output from 1860 to 1884 having
been 266,000,000 barrels, the value of which is
estimated at 443,991,380 dollars.

The area of the petroleum fields indicated by the
engineers Larkin and Prentice may possibly, in
reality, be greater, considering the fact that the De-
partment in which they are situated comprises an
a

extension of 70,463 square kilometres, the greater
part of the same being on the coast, and of the same
geological formation.

This formation of the three petroleum regions of
the Centre, South and North, comprised in the De-
partment of Piura, is identical, and only varies, at
some places, in the outward appearances of the oil,
either in its liquid state, or hardened by atmospheric
action.

Thus we see that in Negritos, the region of the
Centre, Sechura, the region ef the South, and Tum-
bez and Mancora, the region of the North, petro-
leum, at a depth of from too to 350 feet (English),
is found with slight variations in quality. In Se-
chura, it is found, as a rare exception, in combina-
tion with gas, from a depth of one metre onwards,
the temperature augmenting until it becomes insup-
portable.

As a general rule, in the petroleum fields, the
earth on the superfice is of modern deposit. The oil
is commonly found underneath, sometimes con-
glomerated with stone, and at others covered with
a layer of sandy clay, mixed with gravel. The geo-
logical strata are the same, and are found in the
following order:

1* At the surface, a layer of sand varying from
0.25 to 4 metres in thickness.

2™- White sandstone, hard in some places, and
porous in others, the thickness varying from 0.30 to
2 metres. Where the sandstone is only slightly po-
rous, the petroleum filters through and stains in; but
where it is less compact, the filtration is abundant.

3°* A layer of wet sand, soft and very fine, from 8
to 10 metres thick.

4" Conglomerate of decomposed carbonate of
lime, formed by the conglomeration of sea shells,
4a

5 Slate impregnated with oil, through the fissu-
res of which the oil and gas escape.

From the formation of the strata, in will be seen
that the work of drilling the wells for the extraction
of the oil is very easy. As Mr, Warren, the engineer,
said, in his report on Talara: ‘‘The operation of sink-
ing wells is very easy on account of the softness of
the ground and the perfection of modern apparatus.
A well 200 feet deep was drilled in five days, and
another, 345 feet in depth in ten days. The average
depth in’ North America and Russia is 1,000 feet,
and the cost per foot is much more.

‘Everything in this place tends to prove the exis-
tence of petroleum, on a large scale, which can be
obtained at different points. At one of these, Ne-
gritos, for example, twelve wells were sunk within
a radius of two square miles, or 1280 acres, and pe-
troleum was found in every one of them, in varying
proportions. The wells which have been worked
yield the some quantity of oil as those which have
not been worked, and are situated about twelve miles
to the East of a point called Brea, which is equally
productive. Among the latter and those of Negritos,
there is a petroleum field still unexplored.

“The area of the petroleum field of Negritos being
two square miles, and calculating culy the half of it
to be productive, it would equal an area of 1229
acres, in Russia, which produced 14.575,000 barrels
in 1886. The half of this alone, representing over
7.000,000 barrels, would be worth £ 1.100,000.

“Tf the quantity of oil yielded by it were only half
that produced in the works on an area of the same
size at Venango, in the United States, which yield-
ed, during the same year 1,800,000 barrels, valued
at £ 300,000, that of itself would be a satisfactory
result for the Company. The different wells opened
— 14 —

ta Brea, however, show, on an average, a result
far superior to that obtained in the United States, or
even in Russia, their output being em ¢zmes greater
than that of the American wells.

“The possible yield of the two square miles of the
petroleum field in Negritos may be estimated at
from fifteen to eighteen million barrels, worth
4% 3.000,000.

“The petroleum fields in the United States repre-
sent an area of 1339 square miles. Within a space
there of only 87% miles, 22,524 wells have been
opened, and from these the greater part of the yield
has been obtained.

“In Rusia, it is more or less the same. Within a
space of 1229 acres, or in an area less than two miles
square of the total petroleum field, which, at Baku,
is estimated at about 1200 miles, there are 400 wells,
which produced, and still produce, the greater part
of Russian petroleum.

“The average product per square mile in Penn-
sylvania, worked up to the year 1885, may be esti-
mated at 740,000 barrels; while in Russia the same
area yields an immeasureably greater quantity.

“Judging from the results already obtained, the
yield, per square mile, of the wells at Brea will be
much greater than that obtained, up till to-day, in
the United States, for an equal area.

“The average yield of petrolenm per well, in the
United States, is calculated to be 12,000 barrels. In
Russia, where it is much greater, it is estimated at
76,000.

“Estimating the yield of two square miles in the
petroleum district between Negritos and the sea
shore at 50,000 barrels per well, which is no exag-
geration, we would have, with 300 wells, an output
of 15,000,000 barrels, worth £3,000,000 for every
= 45

two miles. Around these two miles, there is an area
ten times greater in extent, and very rich in petro-
leum.

Fifty wells may be sunk in this place within a
year, and would yield a good output of crude or re-
fined petroleum.

“The crude oil would prove more profitable than
the refined petroleum or kerosene, because it could
be employed as fuel on the greater pert of the North
and South American coast, where English coal is so
dear. ;

“The quality of the petroleum is, generally speak-
ing, good, and the product of the last well sunk gives
91% per cent of oil, the greater part of which may
be clarified like kerosene.”

The foregoing report proves the great facility for
sinking wells in those places, and the great abund-
ance of petroleum.

Let us now see what is said about the quality of
Peruvian petroleum by the celebrated chemists of
the United States.

CEAPTER. IL,

Sczentific Opinions 2n Favor of Peruvian
Petroleum.

Dr. Salathé, in a report dated at Titusville,
Pennsylvania, March 31st, 1885, referring to Peru-
vian petroleum, says: ‘‘The crude oil of Peru differs
essentially from the petroleum of Pennsylvania. It
may be considered as a product decomposed by heat,
thus forming a series of hydro-carburets amongst the
greasy and aromatic series. The odour is similar to
that of the products of coal-tar.

“The density of oil this crude is 0.8480 at 15° C.,
— 16 —

or 36° B., by the hydrometer of the Standard Petro-
leum Association.
“Its analysis gives the following results:

CATON sxinnsans meonnralcuces 84. 9 per cent.
FEVOTORER acccisiaiuecsseyeeiiaad dy Vo 4g
Oxo sawriaioreaen dy 2

“The heat of the flame is equivalent to 13,672
calorics; the co-efficient of dilatation being 0.00072.

“The distillation of the crude oil has given the
following results:

Degrees Celsius. Nos. Products.
10 to 100, 2.8—1 Cicachena, Pigolena.
30,, 80, 9.0—2 Gasoline
80 ,, 150, 11.1—3 Benzine
150 ,, 230, 5—4 Kerosene light.

—5 Kerosene, heavy.
—6 Lubricating oil, light.

4.8—T Lubricating oil,heavy
31.0—8 Asphaltum.

18.
230,, 280, 10.0
At high tem- pee
peratures

“All the light products that are distilled at a tem-
perature of between 10 to 15 degrees Celsius, are
distinguished by a very agreeable odour, while the
light oils of the petroleum in Pennsylvania have a
detestable odour, which makes it necessary for them
to be adzsenfected. So far as the oils which are
distilled at a temperature of between 150° to 280°
are concerned, a small guantzty of sulphuric acid is
sufficient to purify them, a barrel containing 42
gallons of oil requiring only 2% to 3 Ibs. of acid.

“The precipitate that is formed, when a sufficient
quantity of acid has been added, zs not black as zt zs
in our Pennsylvania oils. The acid givesa reddish
brown colour, proving that there is not the same
quantity of tar in Peruvian oils that there is in ours

“The lubricating oils that I have separated and
marked Nos. 6 and 7 are distinguished by the ab-
sence of parafine, which is never mzsseng in the heavy
Pennsylvania oils, and which makes it very adzfficult
to obtain good lubricating oils from them.

“Samples Nos. 6 and 7 have been exposed to a
very low temperature (33 degrees below zero Cel-
sius) without becoming solidified, merely acquiring
the consistency of syrup. Such properties give
great value to these heavy petroleum oils, asstmi-
lating them to the lubricating oils of Russia, which
are considered the best for their purpose.

“The distillation may be terminated the moment
that vapours of a yellowish orange colour begin to
issue from the retort, and which it is difficult to con-
dense. The residue forms a product something like
asphaltum (No. 8) and may be used as such for
street pavements,

“In case it is not desired to obtain asphalt, the
distillation may be continued in separate retorts until
coke (n°. 9) is formed, which is an excellent combus-
tible, leaving no ashes and giving a high temperature”.

So much for the report of the famous Dr Salathé.

Let us now hear the opinion of another chemist
no less eminent:

Boston, July 28th, 1886.

To Epwarp Towks, Esq.,
Payta, Per, S. A.
Dear Sir:

Having carefully examined and made fractional

distillations of the oil obtained near the sea, at Ne-
2
= [8

gritos, Peri, S. A., in March, 1885, I submit for
your consideration the following report.

In March 1885, I visited the petroleum fields
between the rivers Honda and Chira, in Peru, op
the west coast of South America; and from one of
the abandoned wells in Negritos I took ten gallons
of oil, filled two iron drums of fire gallons each with
it, and, after duly closing and sealing them, I shipped
them to Boston, Mass. N. A., in order to examine
the oil carefully.

On the arrival of the drums containing the oil, I
sent it to the laboratory of the Downer Kerosene
Company, South Boston, where I broke the seals in
the presence of my brother, Mr. Joshua Merrill, the
said Company’s chemist. The seals had not been
damaged on the voyage: they were intact. The oil
was found tc be of a dark olive green colour, and of
an agreeable odor, comparatively free from water
and dirt. Its weight reached 290 in the hydrometer
of Beaumé, or 883 S. G. at 60° Fahrenheit, although
the liquid was thin. It should be observed that the
gravity of liquids does not always imply thickness of
“body”; to which I must add that the samples in
question were taken from a well in which they
had remained exposed to atmospheric distillation,
assisted by an almost constant current of air on ac-
count of the prevailing winds, and the oil must have
gradually thickened. I do not doubt, therefore, that
the oils of this place will be found a few degrees
lighter when taken from recently opened wells.

I placed the oil ina still, and, applying sufficient,
heat, obtained: Ist. Five degrees of naphtha, which
appeared colorless in the condenser, and of a very
mild odor, requiring no further treatment to prepare
it for commerce; it being worthy of note that this
crude naphtha is clearer than the best treated naphtha
— 19 —

of the petroleum of Pennsylvania. 2nd. I obtained 50
per cent. of kerosene, or illuminating oil, as clear as
water, 110° F. proof, and of a peculiarly sweet odor.
This kerosene burned in ordinary lamps, giving a
white and luminous flame, equal to that given by
oils of the same quality in Pennsylvania, and might
be reputed as first class. 3rd. After the kerosene, I
obtained 10 per cent. of medium fine oil, 300° proof,
of a lemon color, and a slight, agreeable odor. This
oil is used, throughout this country, in factories, on
railways and on board steamers, and is burned in
lamps made specially for the purpose. The product
obtained from the Negritos oil burns very well in
such lamps.

I next obtained lubricating and fixed oil, all ina
single product. It gave 30 per cent of a very remark-
able, oil, slightly amber coloured, weighing 20°
Beaumé, almost without odor and with a good “bo-
dy”, but liquid. It contained no parafine wax, and
remained liquid at a temperature of ten degrees be-
low zero, without congealing, and absorbing only a
small quantity of oxygen.

This ott ts the best brilliant petroleum that I have
ever seen, and is of great value to lubricate all kinds
of machinery, and soften leather, wool, etc. An oil
like this, put on the market at a fair price, would
be easily and immediately placed. I classify the /Ve-
gritos oil among aromatic petrcleums.

Rufus S, Merrill.
104 Water Street,
Boston, Mass.

 

The following document, and what was said by
Mr. N. Coxmichael in the public conference in Lon-
tm OF ne

don, on February 13th last, to which we have already
alluded, sufficiently proves the advantage and econo-
my of the use of petroleum instead of coal.

Opinion oF A. D. Bryce Doucias ON THE SAME
SUBJECT.

14 Great George Street—London, S. W.
Barrow-in-Furness, May 18th, 1888.
Dear Sir:

In reply to your request regarding my experience
in connection with petroleum as fuel on board steam-
ers in the Pacific, I have the pleasure to inform you
that when I was Superintendent of the Factory of
the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, I arranged
one of their small steamers, the “Supe”, to burn oil,
which it did with very great success.

At that time (1874) the price of Cardiff coal, in
Callao, was $. 17 per ton, and we paid only 7 cents
per gallon for oil.

From a memorandum of those trials, it appears
that on a short voyage from Callao to Guafiape, the
quantity of oil consumed was 2200 gallons, which,
compared with the 15 tons of coal that was burned
before, was a great advantage in favor of the oil.
Thus:

 

15 tons of coal at $.17....... ........ $. 255
2220 gallons of oil at 7 cents........ 154
Difference in favor of oil.......... ... $. 101

 

The oil used then was from the wells near Paita
Sa DT ae

(Negritos) and for a long time past, I have been
under the impression that an immense and, probably,
inexhaustible supply of petroleum exists there. I
think it even exists underneath the sea, because, on
many occasions, J] have seen the surface of the water
covered with oil, for a number of miles around, in
front of Point Parifias.

I enclose you a copy of the original memorandum
which I addressed to Mr. Petrie, General Manager
of the Company on the Coast.

Your obedient servant,

A. D. Bryce-Douglas.
To Herbert W. C. Tweddle, Esq.

Notwithstanding the respected opinions which we
have just copied in favor of oil as fuel, we will tran-
scribe some paragraphs froma notable work pub-
iished in Paris, in 1885, by M. Hué, which says:

“We will see in the chapter which we dedicate to
Russian petroleum that, thanks to the perfection of
the apparatus invented, the problem is solved. The
great fleet of steamers cruising in the Caspian sea,
and going as far as the Volga; and the locomotives
on all the Trans-Caucasian railways, are worked
solely with petroleum for fuel. It is a matter of pride
to us that the burning apparatus was invented by a
Parisian; and this apparatus served as a model to the
Russian engineers, giving the most splendid results.

“To apply this fuel to steamers, either merchant-
men or men—of-war, would be to make a real revo-
lution not only in steam navigation but also in the
art of naval construction.

“We have seen steamers in Russia, such as the
“Persia”, one of the best on the Cunard Line, with
space for 1400 tons of coal, until petroleum was
adopted as fuel, after which only the fourth part of
that space was occupied.

“Our big men—-of—war of 6,000 tons require, at
least, 1,000 tons of coal for a voyage of only ten
days; whereas by using the same quantity of oil they
might steam away fora month without touching at
any port.

“Before the application of petroleum as fuel,
220,000 tons of oil were lost in Russia per annum,
there being no employment to give it. To-day the
steamers and locomotives of Caucasia use 500,000
tons, and those of the Trans-Caspian sea 280,000
tons.

“The petroleum burning apparatus is the inven-
tion of M, Sainte Claire Deville, perfected by Rus-
sian engineers in the year 1872; but, up til] to- day,
the war waged against petroleum by the great coal
mining companies of France, England and Belgium
has been so crude, and the struggle so tenacious,
that oil has not yet been able to enter on the wide
industrial field it is called upon to open. On the part
of England, no quarter has been given in this war.

“It is a mistake to think that only the residue of
petroleum—i. e., the remains after separating the
volatile oils, parafines and gases—is applicable as fuel.

“The Russian sage Goulichambarof, whose opinion
on this subject is law, asserts that there is no danger
whatever in the use of crude petroleum as fuel after
it has been exposed, for a time, to the air.

“Once crude petroleum has been exposed to the
atmosphere, inflammable substances may be immer-
sed in it, without the least danger of their catching
fire. This is done almost constantly, by the inhabi-

tants of Balakhani, in the petroleum lakes of that
district.
— 93 —

“In summer, petroleum is soon relieved of its in-
flammable properties, and in less time in warm than
in cold climates. The same result is ohtained by
submitting it toa high temperature, using the oil
itself for fuel.

“The point of ignition of petroleum, on being
taken from the wells, is 40° Celsius; and that of the
residue 80° to.170; but the same crude petroleum
which, on leaving the wells, ignites at a temperature
of 40°, only ignites at 60° after being exposed for a
few days, and after a few weeks’ exposal, at 70° at
least.

“During these last years, millions of tons of crude
petroleum have been employed as fuel, in Russia, in
all its different uses, and, so far, no noteworthy acci-
dent has happened.

“Up till to-day, there has not been a single ex-
plosion on the innumerable railways of Caucasia,
where the locomotives, using petroleum as fuel,
move, day and night, a large number of trains
carrying the oil itself”.

From the contents of this chapter, it will be seen:

1* That the petroleum of the Department of Piu-
ra is superior to that of the United States.

2°° That it has not the detestable odour of that
oil.

3° That it has very little parafine, (a very inflam-
mable substance).

4". That the heavy oils are very valuable, being
similar to those of Russia.

5" That the kerosene extracted from it is of the
best quality.

6": That it is the most brilliant petroleum ever
seen.

7 That the crude oil may be employed as fuel,
as is done in Russia, with no other treatment than
os Od

that of exposing it tothe atmosphere, for a few days,
in open tanks.

CHAPTER IV.
Markets for Consumption.

The existence of petroleum in the Department of
Piura having been demonstrated, not only by the
authentic documents which we have published, but
also by the fact of there existing, for some years
past, in the petroleum fields of Mancora and Paita,
two large establishments for refining kerosene, viz.,
Zorritos and the London Pacific Petroleum Company
Limited, with a capital of nearly two million sols,
the former turning out 6,000 cases of kerosene per
month, and the latter distilling 300,000 litres of
petroleum daily, with a thousand square miles of
petroleum lands to dispose of, it now remains for us
to inquire what would be the possible markets or
rather let us say the markets of necessity, for the
disposal of the product of the 2.500,000 wells which
it is possible to drill in the 250,000 claims—calculat-
ing only ten wells to each claim— that is to say,
taking as a basis the 1.000,000 hectareas of land
which the engineer Prentice declares exist there.

The geographical position of the petroleum fields
of Peru being lat. 3°25’ to 6° 5’ South, and long.
81°8’ 4” to 8° 40’ West, which is almost on the
same parallel with Australia, China and other coun-
tries on the western border of the sea between them
and Peru, it is to be presumed that these are natur-
ally and necessarily the markets for Peruvian oils,
whether exported in the form of crude petroleum or
fuel, or in the form of refined oil or kerosene.

In this respect, the oils of Peru are so advan-
tageously situated that they have nothing to fear from
= Be

competition with the most favored country in the
world.

It is known that the centre of the petroleum in-
dustry of the world is Pennsylvania, and that to
place the oil in New York, the principal port for
its exportation, it is run through 4000 miles of pipes,
in order to save railroad freight.

This petroleum, which to-day monopolises the
western market, leaves New York and, running the
whole length of America, turns Cape Horn, and
goes westward. They could be sent more easily and
rapidly via the inter-oceanic railway between New
York and San Francisco; but as there is no mer-
chandise, however valuable it may be, that can stand
the freight over that line’s 3500 miles of road, it is
clear that the only possible route for American oils
is the dangerous route around Cape Horn, which
voyage takes from 180 to 200 days to make; while
the trip from the petroleum districts of Pin, Paita
or Tumbez, to China, is made generally in 60 or 65
days, and ecoaomising 9000 miles of navigation,
which of itself represents some pounds sterling,

The following table shows the advantages enjoyed
in this respect by Peruvian over American oils.

Comparative Distances betwecn New York and
the Coast of Piura, and Western Ports.

Miles. Difference in favor o
the cuust of Piura

From New York to Madras.. 11,745 2,135

 

Calcutta sos 6240 -evissnican ss 12,080 2,630
Singapore... h aicechanen Neem dees 12,495 1,950
SIDOA wnanehawisiccseemuemeee 14,535 5,520
TOKi0-JaPativicssas cies, coven seven 15,165 7,035
Sidnéy Aaustralia.....-.c.s.ses 13,050 6.000

Auckland, N. Zealand......... 14,025 8,145
— 26 —

Real Distances.

From the petroleum deposits,
Pitra, to Madras .. .; o¢sisssiendvssovevense 11,610

» New York to ditto.......... Bs insceeananes 11,745
4 Ente CO ACU Aes vee ence soe eee 11,700
a GW ViOrle $0. G0 sscciciscedavcunssnccenwurss 12,330
ic Pitiva: to ‘Siigapore ccvas vex casnedicenss 10,545
ae EW WOE FOO agin toa dessstaue souweune 12,495
» Puta to Shane hale. capacadsnesgnsuwersovase 9,015
vn Dew Yorke fo WGisccs.. sce ocseq csavonceade 14,535
«» Piura to. "Tokio ([apan) scccnsexcisiaases 8,130
ap RE OLR TO Oi a tickedure nauvaneeie 15,165
» Piura to Syduey (Australia).icpsoss-s-- 7,050
we DROW Vor 00: iwssccscenans ceceunse secnceed 13,040
« Pia fe. Auckland, csccawessixevencecves 5,880
pp INES VOR, BO DO canay vonsseuavanesuesvcs 14,020
we PNR: TO Hong RONG iraprenencnsoncaclens sve 9,226
is. WE VOPR 1G 1G semaraoneveamavemnescsces 18,180

The only petroleum that could enter into serious
competition with Peruvian petroleum would be that
of California; but there the supply isnot enough for
the demand of that state alone, where, on the con-
trary, there is an annual deficit of a million barrels.

We may beasked: Which are the countries that
could consume Peruvian petroleum, and what is the
number of their inhabitants.

 

 

 

We answer:
Inhabitants.
English GOlONiSS ssesersenserssacveriaenens 209.000,000
COMIMESS: EVP IG aiiciasi\eo'esecuey wanes neae 403.000,000
MAWAN Chncadsts idea iedeswergsnmpenurenns cent 36.000,000
SUNN 5.5 las Sasa a'sla ie wear ael eae bhet ete 5.750,000

PAVE AG ie se aes cold vac ves ence 3.411,000
 

 

COlGNT BA ureshercasaaebimersedces seaadees 3.000,000
FSCU ad OL aiae: ‘saan ara deteuces cceidde acide ie 2.000,000
PO ati cle ater haste tml lis 3.000,000
BG Na sesasinatrercee eos neta uie asic) Gsactaertioamcnsor 2.000,000
fo INUS sancanunecenuixs:ummininmdeewsaers radon 3.000,090
Argentine Nepublit.c. cc s.ccs ceesweus cnn 5.000,000
Uruguay and Paraguay.................. 2.000,000
PoP) taciats ol cattinsiiald patente ieee aaas cadens 12.000,0V0

Total number of consumers...... 689.161,000

 

The actual consumption, in the year 1889, of
American petroleum in these countries, where it is
introduced exclusively in the form of kerosene, was:

English gullons.

 

 

 

PUUStra lis octols kasd ceauenmaien 5.173,801
PRAOM cs sian suscaatonadiccctaad 270,000
Burmahh isccieses eessuaaecs 2,420,570
IA Teh oGis cis daeneannaseawee 22.458,840
Penang ...... opie a taaalamaaues 607,600
SINZAPOTE crsene rivers eveenme 1.676,760  27.433,770
SIAN) veceveu nt esesy peacanenans 580,680
ASIA 55.555 creda cece pepenicans 16.836, / 64
JAIANY ciccsiinineden venues csvens 9.424,560
ATT conics cence eaommenncuen 16.578,380
IW AGEASSHY view sow nenmdanseccese 256,000
SOMAtraveasecas ies caanaiconice 705,000 17,549,380

 

South America.

Colombia ......ccscesee veces 2,468,324
BlGHad OF seccseeven st exe axeees 75,170
COU suey ioeseetnasseadane tance 1,755,530
— 28 —

Fea WAT cabitontiamneroceenbees 164,640

BOLIVIA ics omcaavcnonimoninemiins 176,420

POP veacensensvecwsnesiimw vende 335,592

ATCENNE ...ccssseweeicerers 5.000,000

PUA rset in toccvcc: 446,937

BRTART sa exnssavet crx pauenetes + 9.000,000 19,422,713
Total number of gallons 96.421,668

equivalent more or less to 400,000 English tons, or
say 7.000.000 cases, which, at S/ 2 each, represent
the sum of 14.000,000 sols.

It is possible that Peruvian Petroleum, on account
of the facility of its extraction, its abundance and
good quality, and its being found on the coast, may
some day compete with North American kerosene,
in the most thickly populated centres of Europe, if
the Panama canal is completed.

It remains for us simply to consider ‘the value of
petroleum as fuel.

According to some rather deficient data before us,
* the amount of English coal consumed in South
America is as follows:

 

Tons.: -
Colombidisiscceecassasvseas peed 136,000
PiGUad ORs cas cksccesseen aidiee ees 117,000
PRU secciuseee ieee eee dames 110.000
Gills waaessh seit eeanens aon 600,000
Aupentine Repvivisicicsvende. - 800,000
NUON AES ap ctashuu nee ssapeaee sees 838,000
UPA MGy ages tesecacs ease onoss 1.240,000

 

FOUL oceeiccocene:: SALL COD

-_
2969 ss

This shows that South America, which would be
the nearest market for the consumption of Peruvian
petroleum, as combustible, consumes 3,411,000 tons
of English coal per annum and which, calculated at
the average price of £ 8, gives the enormous sum
of £ 10.233,090, or 51.165.000 sols.

By applying crude petroleum to the same uses as
coal, which would represent an economy of 50 per
cent., it is clear that the half of the value of the coal,
or S/25.582,500 per annum, would be clear profit to
the consumers, and that that sum would represen
the extent of the industry in Pera.

In order to give our readers an approximate idea
of this powerful industry in the United States, we
submit the following table:

UNITED STATES.

Production of Petroleum.

 

 

 

Years. Barrels.

LED icpicciwa cuneate eS 500,000
SS OL a icitisattociarn oman osaubececwntens 2.113,609
TS OA scctsacsiatexduasnimumnres 3.056,690-
LDCS cmianin: evades soncntewinstone salsa 2,611,309
LB GF ssidssers vs rvexnah encneren ens 2.116,109
LBD. ci ccvcasesnesassnsancmecmmees 2.497,700
LEB cscuanquiniicaeanamcmmnte 3.597,700
TSG creme ckcue: gignts gceancnaents 8.347,300
LOD sisinenmiapivds ama aalans 3.646, 117
ESOS saceiwaweadswssvwsnamiuaeenans 4,215,000
EN poxtotcnanats Sx oeseRw eee 5.260,745
TBA A ciciaiicbegeaes van digeesewersaan 5,205,341
Ol 2 rasieumacecsenasminasese ann 5,890,248

acct oa eS ES

Carried forward........... 44.057,868
8
80

Brought forward......... 44,057,868
UST Stas sec dese saseaecaas wanderers 9,890,964
WT Acc tid vad on ce meonn iss coenss 10.809,852
NBEO ecaissisacns A wnviereingumeens 8,787,506
TBTG nord saastrnenocavinaacsnedy 8.968,906
VBE Ts vcee ccevreeasea waits acseen 13.135,771
BTS re cde dative hadi seeiwucena 15.163,462
LS FO catcsanmadigeonarsanenaneans 20.041,581
TOU visccsdatcaredisusiews spunnnet 26.032,421
TOO] crideseereaneaviveceumeonnes 29.674,458
LBS Ds sana ecvics Cha vaiteie phen 31.789,190
LOSS inde asia deumninisinese 24,385,966
1 BSA: cian snnseasaann wardaeees 28.596,945

Ota sictanweiae 266.334,890

This represents the value of $ 443.991,980 Ameri-
can gold.

EXPORTS OF PURIFIED PETROLEUM.
Kerosene of the United States.

 

 

 

Years, Gallons.

VB G4 rare se eee eis tesa 23,210,369
LOGO yasaze ch ces iadswelasacsiuen nes 25.496,849
TB OGxcsten Ave scecetuetioutsteaes 50.987 ,341
16 fn Rea 70,255,481
TGR e,.ce settee ees mei 79.456,888
To sei ee 100.636,684
Tecate ieee nee 113.735,394
US Tl icws ageat iaoeuas iene 149,892,691
TOT: cicasdeivnacgeccmave 1ae0 1 eee
TOE ascduirsivsducedtesomeraate 187.815,187

 

Carried forward........... 946,658,467
2 9f es

Brought forward...... .. 946.658,467
STA detec aoa wacaeter creates ie 247,806,483
Re Go erga leiornanndde saueoananannn 221.955,308
TAS Di acsitechedinwinneranmmaseusawaacies 243.660,152
ey ( Pieneusdabieoea ne: - unwodtescuse 309.198,914
SLs AS tec serendemesaaniasacues Goce on ane 338.841,303
VSO eecsisided cmos wncntina erates 378.310,010
aac tata carne oe Edel betas 433.964,699
Ne apiece din tele ale all 397.660,262
SLR an iteicatansiat as eats Clue were ensie 559.954,590
cE cls eh ci ecrmeatbopen veneer 505.931,622°
1 SE owapaateaeens: slanuas sans 513.660,092
BE wise Varia tudeaabhel hecadauies 574.668,180
TE cbse inasiniertin id sical cae 577.781,752

TOGA] asieeraiewnes 6.240,051,834
representing a value of $ 847.126,550 American gold.
The 200 petroleum refineries working in Bakhu
(Russia) have produced the following:

 

 

 

Years. Tons.

NES Acie aieice ei seaiaaiee ou iauebcahin 16,400
EAE SS esaiiinrwn mancemrtennas saibsraaonsounicent 24,500
OTA erstecncansnverssvenssnearnatens 23,600
LEO wisctvavessnatesewialks ahve ase 32,600
WEF Ga uscccuishguadassaeaasmeaanmayoas 52,100
SY ccesadonseesbiee menapeneueees 72,600
MA osniciaranslangececaiaiasteetaainenien 97,500
STO naiaihaoncnonenmnmcesemnnnacnsinunions 110,000
PRED prscccevss cavamaveussncancuvacead 150.000
LSS! pesciasvessnnckicannasannionenes 183,000
Eee hua gueddenapa setunnadannseneees 202,000
ES csncdceins mas seesdanlaieaanauiaticase 206,000

 

Total for twelve years...... 1.180,300
— 32 —

The output for the years 1888 to 1885 may be
analysed as follows:

Gallons of kerosene.

1885 1884 1883
137.000,000 109.000,000 72 000,000
Crude Oil.

19.000,000 10.000,000 10,000,000
Residue.

170.000,000 142.800,000 87.000,000

Lubricating Ort.

7.950,000 7.200,000 5.000,000
Benzine,

140,000 380,100 240,000

334,090,000 269.380,100 174,240,000,

 

 

Table showing the total annual output of kerosene

in the world:

1885

North America.

Barrels of 160 Ibs.

 

 

 

Canadé, 200 wells ........... ccc. cee eeeeee 900,000
United States, 25,000 well. Rikscscegiiaes 64.235,081
South America.
PUMICE sai otek Sys neeeies (not worked)
V EN@ZUEl a soe coc ceceheacadccucncacceseess ditto
Carried forward.......scccseesee: 65,135.081
oy BS

 

Brought: forward, visi dnerenenss 65,135,081

PCE cacspawed alos a ed openeaneae Naas sees ie 300,000
BOliyitaiccs save deus seaagasede- (not worked)
PURPOUIEIMeeede saan asiadaanineg penance ditto

Australia.

Wew Zeslands ivsenecaiaies (not worked)

ALUSETANTA: scoeesnsarinn ana aaa dees vee ewaweuernion cs 80,000

Asta

Japan, 200 wells.. cea = 35,143
China... nshucautens .. (Unknown)

Bienanias, AI ee weeeees 1,000,000
Lia nicsssnnsneeeveeossss "(not worked)

Trans- Caspian country, 1 ia well.......... Ss 11 6,250

Bakhu, 400 wells... Diseased ne Leo o,.000

Caucasia, 250 wells.. Pd sarees easeeee 50,000

ae

Roumania, 1,200 wells..............eceeeeees 125,300

Galicia, number of wells unknown........ 5.00 0,000

Crenmany, 200 Welle. ciscccceskbineens asses 300,000
AGI ve rredinrcon ucts adenine wens (not worked )
Prance gaudesas eeesaxdecassscuure ei nves ditto..

Total number of barrels............... 87.766,77 4

Fluctuations in the prices of petroleum, in the
United States, for the following years.

 

 

 

 

 

Years. Maximun. Minimun. Average.
1860 19.25 2.75 9.59
1861 1.00 10 49
1862 2.25 10 1.05

1863 3.95 2.25 3.15
1864 12.12 4 8.06
1865 8.25 4.6214 6.59
1866 4.50 9.1214 3.74
1867 3.55 1.75 2.41
1868 5.12 1.95 3.6214
1869 6.95 4.95 5.6334
1870 4.5214 3.15 3.84
1871 4.8214 3.82% 4.34
1872 4.02% 3.15 3.64
1873 2.60 1.00 1.83
1874 1.90 69 iy
1875 1.75 1.03 1.35
1876 3.81 1.80 2.56%
1877 3.531% 1.80 9.42
1878 1.65% 821% 1.19
1879 1.18% 671% 857%
180 1.06% 78 9434
1881 9414 767% 877%
1882 1.14 5434 78%
1883 1.24 8334 1.041%
1884 1.11 63% 1.0234

CHAPTER V.

Lts Future as Fuel.

The movement which has lately been going on in
Europe in favor of petroleum as fuel, notwithstand-
ing the fact that Europe is the great centre of coal
mining interests, (the mines of France, England,
Italy and Belgium giving daily occupation to thou-
sands of workmen, and being worked by old
companies, with capital representing many millions
of pounds sterling) proves either that the supply of
coal is being exhausted, and its extraction becoming
dearer every day, or that liquid fuel possesses such
2a RRs

advantages over its rival of so many centuries that,
after ahard battle, the defeat of the lord of the en-
tire globe, up till to-day, is evidently being achieved.

In this respect, we must point out certain facts
which are being realized, all of which are of the
greatest importance.

The fact that in the French legislature and the
English parliament, according to the statement of
Captain Coxmichael, the question was discussed of
replacing coal with petroleum in the navies of those
countries (of the definite results of which we are en-
tirely ignorant), after having tried liquid fuel a num-
ber of times in the port of Cherbourg, on board the
Puebla, and in the steamers running between Paris
and Rouen, where it gave every satisfaction; and,
above all, after using it widely for all domestic pur-
poses, in the great factories and the mills of Paris
during the siege of 1871; all goes to show that the
trials in France have given good results.

Similar progress manifests itself in England, not-
withstanding the lentitude with which all innova-
tions are received in that country, as the participa-
tion of ther Bitish Admiralty is being felt, and it is
represented by its eminent engineers, at all the
actual trials and conferences connected with liquid
fuel, which are frequently repeated on the Thames,
where steamers run to-day using the new combustible.

Besides these facts, we learn from Mr. Henwood,
who took part in the conference in London on
March 13th last, that steps were being: taken to
store petroleum in different parts of the world, in
order that naval squadrons, .as well as merchantmen,
could obtain it easily.

Mr. James Holden, of the Great Eastern Rail-
way, declared, at the same conference, that he had
used petroleum in many of the locomotives on that
_— 36 —

line, and that one of them, prepared for the purpose,
had already run 47,000miles, over the road between
London and Norwich, without the slightest mishap
or difficulty. These long experiments, which have
lasted years perhaps, have lately, at all events every
thing points that way, given every satisfaction.

To these certainly very significant antecedents
we may add, according to what we have been as-
sured, that the Italian~ government, following the
example of Russia, after the last experiments made
in their dockyards at Spezia, have decided to use
liquid fuel in their big navy. ;

For the moment, the great obstacle to adopting
this combustible definitely consists undoubtedly in
being able to obtain it constantly and at a fair price.

In this respect, Peruvian petroleum is called upon
to play the most important role in the commerce of
the world.

The petroleum of Bakhu, the old Persian city, in
order to reach European markets, would have to
run over an immense net-work of railways, hun-
dreds of miles long, the freight over which the oil
could not support. On the other route, which is the
longest, but the cheapest, there is the inconvenience
of transhipment; for, in order to arrive at European
centres of consumption, the oil would naturally have
to traverse the Caspian, Baltic and Mediterranean
seas, besides a few railways between them, and
finally go through the Dardanelles, a fortified
Turkish pass, on the free transit through which it
could not always count,'and much less so in case of
war.

Apart from the fact that for Russian petroleum to
reach Europe it would be burdened with heavy rail-
way and steamer freights and duties of all kinds, we
do not think that any European nation, however
EBq?. £2

badly off it might be for fuel, would submit itself
voluntarily to the service of Russia, for an article of
prime necessity, as fuel is, nor submit its navy to the
tutorship of such a powerful nation.

For this and other reasons, of no less importance,
Russian petroleum, in the form of fuel, will never
be able to take a firm hold on European markets,
although it may do so in the form of illuminating
oil or kerosene.

Canadian petroleum, which is another important
source of fuel, and which could advantageously sup-
ply European markets, is not abundant, as the 3000
barrels produced daily at Oil-Springs, Wyoonning,
Petrolia and Eniskillen, all very far from the coast,
barely suffice for home consumption.

The petroleum of Pennsylvania, in the United
States, isthe only oil that reaches Europe under fair
econoniic conditions, and it has, as a matter of fact,
the monopoly, for illuminating purposes, in the four
corners of the earth; but this is always in the form
of kerosene and neveras fuel; and it will always be
thus with the North American product, as, export-
ed in this form, it leaves splendid profits, while the
residue is used at home, without paying freights or
duties.

The supplies of petroleum in Bolivia and the
Argentine Republic are not available, as they are
found, in both countries, in the roughest regions,
hundreds of leagues from the coast, and in semi-
savage localities.

The exceptionally favorable geographical position
of the Department of Piura makes it accessible,
beyond dispute, to all the markets of the world.

The petroleum fuel of Peru, which, as we have
explained in the preceding chapter, may easily
monopolise, with many advantages to consumers,
— 88 —

all the markets of South America, as well as the
centres of consumption of the nations of the west,
may also, some day, and without experiencing any
great difficulties, make its appearance at a central
point on the Atlantic ocean, and, once there, reach
the markets of Europe, Asia and Africa.

As the petroleum of Pensylvania, in order to
arrive at its port of exportation, which is New
York, is run through an immense net-work of iron
pipes 4,000 miles long, uniting the 25,000 wells
that are being worked there; and as petroleum in
Bakhu is taken to the centre of Persia by similar
iron pipes, but only 1,500 miles long (the property
of the house of Noble Brothers, the discoverers of
dynamite), crossing rough land, chasms, big rivers,
seas, lakes and mountains of ice; we see no reason
of any kind why the combustible oils of Peru should
not reach Panama and the Atlantic port of Colon,
by such an easy and economic system as the iron
tubing, like that of Pennsylvania and Russia. It
must be remembered that the distance from Sechu-
ra, Paita or Tumbez, which are the three petroleum
districts of Piura, to Colon, is barely goo miles,
which is a mere nothing to the power of capital.

We have two specimens, on our coast, of these
great works, although on a small scale: one is the
pipe that takes water from Arequipa to the port of
Mollendo, over cordilleras and high hills, one point
being 9,000 feet above the level of the sea, and
which is 120 miles long; and the other the pipe
taking water from Pica to the port of Iquique,
under no less significant engineering difficulties than
the former, and which is of even greater length.

Until the great work indicated is carried out by
bold and enterprising men, which is what is wanted
in such cases, the fuel could be taken in large tank
= 99

steamers, from the coast of Piura to Panama—a
great centre of consumption for many steamship
lines—and from there to Colon, through a pipe
fifty-four miles long. From this point, which we
may call central, all naval squadrons and merchant-
men might be supplied, and vast deposits erected
even in most out-of-the-way places.

This is how the petroleum of Peru, with the aid
of capital, may make its appearance on the Atlantic,
and be easily transported to Europa, Asia and
Africa, as economically as across the Pacific to
Australia, Japan and China, as we have already
demonstrated.

CHAPTER VI.
Works already Established.

Two large establishments have been founded, up
till to-day, in that extensive country for refining
petroleum and producing kerosene, the greater part
of which is consumed, in the latter form, in Ecua-
dor, Peru, Bolivia and Chili.

Signor Faustino G. Piaggio has the honor of
being the first man to found a first class establish-
ment of the kind in South America; and the first
also to defy the competition of North American
kerosene, which, until a short time ago, monopo-
lised this market.

The kerosene of Zorritos, as Signor Piaggio’s
refinery is called, has received premiums for its
excellent qualities at several European exhibitions,
and obtained the gold medal at the South American
Exhibition in Berlin, in 1884.

The petroleum supply of Zorritos is situated on
the sea shore, in the hacienda of Ma4ncora, in the
— 40 —

province of Tumbez, about 34 kilometres to the
south of that city; and, according to all the data in
our possession, it is the richest petroleum district
in the North.

This establishment for obtaining kerosene and
other products of petroleum, was, as we have said,
the first one founded in South America. It has all
the modern apparatus required for working ona
vast scale.

The Minister of Finance, Don Eulogio Delgado,
in his last memorial to Congress, describes this place
as follows:

“These works have 54 claims of 40,000 square
metres each, constituting an area of 2,160,000 su-
perficial metres. It covers the ground from the
point of Malpaso Grande to the Bocapan gulley,
and, stretching inwards from the sea shore to the
hills of the province of Tumbez, is situated at 3° 41’
South lat., and 80° 37’ long. west of Greenwich.

“Eleven wells are being worked with pumps
necessary to extract the quantity of petroleum re-
quired to fill the demand for the refinery established
there, which has facilities for refining 6,000 cases
per month.

“The works include blacksmith, tinsmith, machine
carpenter and cooper shops, and the respective
stores for materials, tools and different apparatus.

‘There are also dwellings for the employees and
laborers, and for the port authorities.

“The establishment comprises in all 25 buildings,
without counting the small village of Sechurita,
which has been laid out two kilometres away from
the offices, and is the residence of the greater part
of the laborers and their families.

“The works are connected with each other by
railroad (the Decoville system), and the principal
eae

centres communicate with the Manager’s Office by
telephone.

“There are, in fine, machines for all kinds of work,
anda good proportion of tanks, pipes and other
apparatus required for the same.

“A large sum of money was invested in this estab-
lishment by its primitive owners, and no small one
by the present manager and propietor, Signor Piaggio,
an industrious and respected merchant of Callao.

“Four hundred workmen are employed in Zorritos,
and the kerosene for illuminating the streets of
Tumbez is supplied gratis by that factory.

“This establishment, with more capital and active
mercantile operations, is called upon to be another
great centre for kerosene and other products of
petroleum; that is, when it has capital sufficient to
transport the oil in its own steamers, and thus become
independent of the established lines, which limit its
exportation on account of the few trips they make”,

The other establishment for refining petroleum,
following Zorritos in chronological order, is that
of the London & Pacific Petroleum Company, Li-
mited, known by the names of Parifias or Talara,
which is its port.

It is situated in the centre of the petroleum fields
of Piura, in the province of Paita, 52 miles from
that port, in the district of Amotape, between the
Chira and Timbez rivers, occupying a large part of
the hacienda of Parifias, known by the name of Brea,
the property formerly of Don Genaro Helguero, who
sold it to Herbert W. C. Tweddle, Esq., for £20,000,
in 1887,

The petroleum grounds of this company comprise
an extension, it is declared, of 1,000 square miles;

but it has only registered ten claims, of 40,000 square
4
as AD)

metres each, on which the proprietors pay contribu-
tions to the Government. :

Mr. Tweddle, an intelligent and hard- working
man, of extraordinary industrial conceptions, is the
same person who, in 1875, proposed to the Russian
government to transport, for his own account, petro-
leum from Bakhu to Poti, by means of an immense
network of pipes, on the basis of the concession to
him of amillion acres of ‘land, and the monopoly of
the transportation of the whole output for forty
years. The technological society of St. Petersburgh
was consulted, and it opposed the scheme, basing its
decision on the grouud that before the forty years
were up, the income derived from the land would
amount to 420.000,000 francs. In the meantime Peru
owes to Mr. Tweddle the first and largest establish-
ment for refining petroleum and supplying oil fuel,
thus contributing towards the fixing of the bases for
the new industry, which at no distant time will take
its rapid and long expected impetus.

In order to avoid repetitions, we will quote the
official description of the Minister of Finance, and
which is contained in his report. It is as follows:

TALARA.
Petroleum wells.

It was not in vain that I last year called the atten-
tion of Congress to the subject of petroleum wells,
in the provinces of Paita and Tambez, as sources of
great wealth for the country’s future. To-day I am
glad to announce that that industry has been initiated
with unexpected enthusiasm, and that, in the natu-
ral course of things, it will be the forerunner of others
of the same and other natures.
as) 43 =

To convey an idea of what has been done in this
direction, allow me to give you a brief description of
the companies established there.

The London & Pacific Petroleum Co., with the
object of competing, at all events on this side of the
continent, with the two great companies of the
world, the Noble Co., in Russia, and the Standard
Oil Trust Co,, in the United States, has been orga-
nised with a capital of £ 250,000 for the purpose of
establishing itself in Talara, also called Brea, a port
on our coast, between Paita and Tumbez, where it
has found that vast field for its development which
the demand for the article requires.

In Talara, one of the best ports on our coast, on
account of the smoothness and depth of the sea at that
point, works have been carried out, with surprising
rapidity, which to-day comprise the following:

In Negritos, nine wells which give 250,000 to
300,000 litres of petroieum per day.

A powerful pump to force the petroleum through
a pipe 11 kilometres long, to the tanks of the Talara
refinery. This pump has sufficient force to supply
three times the quantity mentioned, or one thousand
tons of crude oil daily.

Two stills for the production of kerosene and
capable of distilling 120,000 litres per day. Another
still, of double capacity, is in course of construction,
and there is material on hand for the making of a
greater number, because, before the end of the year,
it is expected that the new wells will yield double
the quantity of petroleum, that is to say, more than
a million litres daily.

They have put up five iron tanks, with a joint
capacity for the deposit of more than half a million
litres of oil, and others are in course of construction,
with a capacity of half a million litres each, destined
— 44 —

not only for the supply of the factory, but intended
also for one of the principal ports on our coast, and
to supply, at all times, the demand for petroleum,
kerosene and lubricating oils.

They have erected a good number of houses for
workmen, and a stone building, 275 metres long, in
which they have installed the blacksmith, machine
and tinsmith shops, which latter can turn out five
thousand tins daily. There is another stone building
adjoining the foregoing, forthe manufacture of three
thousand cases per day. :

The tins are filled in a separate building, by a
special apparatus in the boiler shop, where stills and
tanks are made, andrivetted by means of compressed
air.

They have built a lighthouse in the port, for the
use of their vessels, leaving the Government to
collect the dues on other ships; and the mole in
course of construction, to which six steamers may
be moored at a time, will insure the convenience
and safety of passengers.

The port of Talara, which, when the works were
first begun, had no other drinking water to rely upon
than what was brought from a place thirty kilometres
distant, by beasts of burden, has now running water,
raised from wells by windmills, and conducted
through pipes 7 kilometres long, and which not only
fills all the wants of the establishment, but is also
used in the raising of vegetables.

A tank steamer, one of the five which have been
ordered from England, has already arrived. Their
object is to supply petroleum, kerosene and oil to
the tanks on the coast, thus enabling the public to
economise the extra expense of tins and cases, and
to reap the benefit of the saving made by unloading
simply from tank to tank with hose.
4g

The Company will continue to extend the works,
with which object they will augment their capital to
% 500,000, as, from what I hear, they intend to
supply the Japanese and Chinese markets.

As will be seen, the Company have begun and
will continue this industry, on a large scale, basing
their calculations on the profits obtained by large
outputs.

The kerosene elaborated by them appears to be
of as good, if not of better quality as that imported
in considerable quantity from the United States.

Besides having lowered the price of the article in
this market to such a point that only the native pro-
duct is consumed, the importation of coal is also
being diminished, as the employment of petroleura,
has begun for fuel for locomotives; the caloric power
of 35 kilos of petroleum, according to experiments
made, being equivalent to 90 kilosof coal, but, as it is
a little dearer, the economy in its use is fifty per
cent.

In Russia and other places, this new combustible
has already been employed for locomotives and
we should congratulate ourselves on the fact that,
within the limits of our own territory, we have a rela-
tively cheap combustible, which we so badly needed
before, and which we were formerly obliged to im-
port.

From what I can see, we will soon have petroleum
works here, as good and extensive as the largest in
the world, with the advantage of being completely
independent, established as they will be on the sea
shore, with all the elements necessary for the manu-
facture of acids, with which object the respective
pipes are being laid down.

The manufacture of acids will give birth to a
number of industries in the country, and which could
= 4g

not be undertaken without counting upon the supply
of acids at a moderate price:

We have, therefore, a valuable industry, the
mother of many other important ones, besides that
indispensable element, fuel, advantageously situated
for exportation to the coasts of the Pacific; on which
account, capital will come here from abroad to aug-
ment the wealth of the country, and give impulse to
new and, at present, latent industries, which are only
waiting to be established to yield most abundant
remuneration.

As will be seen, the districts cf Negritos, Brea
and Zorritos guarantee the result of the other under-
takings which will be established in the country at
no far distant time.

CHAPTER VI.
Fields which are being Explored.
THE PETROLEUM REGION OF THE SOUTH.

The petroleum fields in the South, comprehended
in the extensive district known as the peninsula of
Punta de Aguja, in the district of Sechura, in the
province of Piura, are, at this moment, an object
of careful study, on the part of the North American
engineer Major Taggart and his associates, with
the most perfect apparatus and machinery known.

These petroleum fields, discovered only last year
(1890), are situated on the sea shore, at distances
varying from 400 to 16,000 metres from the water's
edge, south of the port of Sechura.

These vast petroleum beds lie between long. 80°
58’ and 81° 11’ West of Greenwich. and lat. 5° 48”
to 6°,10” South, 17 leagues, or 51 miles, distant
eae

from Sechura—an active agricultural and commer-
cial centre, of 9,095 inhabitants—and 60 miles by
sea from the first class port of Paita.

The whole district is crossed by a range of hills,
lying very near to the coast, and which begin at Pun-
ta Pisura, the bay of Sechura, stretching in a south-
easterly and afterwards an easterly direction, and
end in the desert of Sechura, near the salt deposits
of that name. These hills rise as high as 4oo metres,
are covered with pasture in the summer, and are
favored with an abundant rainfall.

A number of small caztoxs begin at the centre of
the hills, and are prolonged as far as the sea, covered
with luxurious vegetation, the most important of
them being the Avisp and Ramazon, as they have
a few water wells, the water of which, although
saltish, is good for animals.

The level portion of the district, on the desert
side, is covered, at some points, with a thick layer
of earth mixed with nitrate, which only contains
small quantities of nitrate of soda, and is composed
principally of layers of ferruginous clay, alumn,
chalk and salt, which latter article is inexhaustible
in the extensive salt deposits of Sechura, covering
many square leagues, and extending thirty kilome-
tres away from the haven of the salt works.

At the end of Punta Falsa or Avisp cazon, the
cliffs 90 metres above the level of the sea, descend
rapidly, and a plain is formed, fifteen kilometres long,
rather more than less, by two kilometres wide,
which stretches between the sea and the hills.

This extensive plain is prolonged as far as the
Ramazon cafion, where it ends at the cliff, when
the land again rises, and forms another plain higher
than the other. This “bank” is formed of extensive
layers of sulphur, which may be utilised for the
=e =

manufacture of sulphuric acid, so necessary for
refining kerosene.

It is on these two plains that the petroleum dis-
tricts of Garita and Reventazon lie, at a distance of
from 430 to 3,000 metres from the sea, and which
are perhaps the richest of the petroleum regions of
the South.

The first plain, Garita, is a depression of the
ground, full, according to the opinion of experts,
of petroleum, which overflows the surface, in many
places, mixed with water. The soil of this place
is completely impregnated, or saturated with oil,
and the oil is struck at only two metres from the
surface.

In the second plain, Reventazon, it has happened
that the subterranean gases of the petroleum have
upheaved the ground here and there, and the petro-
leum has issued from beneath it, spreading over the
surface, from the centre to the circumference, form-
ing large mounds, which are nothing but petro-
leum hardened by atmospheric action. Some of the
mounds have a circunference of 200 metres, and
are 10 cr more metres high.

These miniature volcanoes, especially those near the
hills, and which are known in Piura by the name of
“stone tar” [Zzedra brea], are in a constant state of
activity. On the sides of some of the latter, fissures
are observed, from which petroleum issues, mixed
with salt water.

The temperature in the excavations made so fat
is rather high, and the odor escaping from them iS
that of kerosene. :

To the West of these petroleum fields, there must
be large subterraneum streams of petroleum, which
are lost in the sea, as the surface of the water is
= 4

covered with large patches of oil, reflecting all the
colors of the rainbow,

These petroleum beds have several available ports,
but the most preferable of all is the magnificent bay
of Nonura, where there are also vast petroleum
fields, and which is about nine miles from Garita and
Reventazon.

At the foot of the northern beds of the region in
question, and at the extremity of Pisura-point, the
coast turns to the Northeast, and the bend thus
formed is the beautiful and sheltered bay of Sechura,
24 miles long, and 18 miles from Pisura-point.
Sheltered from southerly and westerly winds, it is
very safe, while its waters are continually in a state
of calm, and it can harbour hundreds of vessels.

In the centre of the bay, about six miles from
Pisura-point, there is a beautiful and extensive plain,
some leagues long, covered with a thick growth of
smooth-podded tare, known by the name of Bayobal
woods, where the centre of the petroleum refineries
may be established, when the oil can be taken there
through pipes.

The petroleum region of the South, or Sechura,
not only comprises the district described, but extends
as far as the haven of the salt works, comprehend-
ing the points and bays of Nonura, Pisura, Bichayo,
etc., etc.

In this region, liquid petroleum is found at from
one metre and upwards from the surface, with slight
variations.

A syndicate formed in London is having the
petroleum fields we have just described, studied, for
its own account.
— 50 —
Region of the Centre.

This comprises a part of the province of Paita
and the port of that name, and extends from the
MAncora gulley to the South of the Silla de Paita
and Foca-point.

These fields, which include a great extent of petro-
leum country, constitute Negritos, Brea, Talara,
Siches and Organos, the first mentioned places being
thoroughly worked.

Petroleum is visible at very few points in this vast
territory, and yet it appears to be very abundant
there.

The Region of the Centre, apart from the beds
mentioned, includes another district, extending for
17 leagues, from Lobo-point to the banks of the
Chira river, and is bounded on the North by Brea,
the area of which, calculated by a German engineer,
is 11.310,000,000 square metres, comprising Lobo-
point, Tortuga-point, Playa Perico, Caleta del Hor-
no, Playa Grande, Playa Paquié, Pescadores, Lora-
dan-point, Chué-point, Tablazo de Paita, Panteon
Ingles, Sor4-point, ,Colan, Tablazo de Cabo Blanco,
etc.

The petroleum supply in this district does not
show itself excepting in Panteon Ingles, Sora-point,
Tutate, Pescadores, Lobo, Tortuga, Paquié and
Colan; but extensive layers of solidified petroleum
are found underneath the sand which covers them.
The oil does not show on the surface, doubtless on
account of the great height of the ground above the
level of the sea, andthe narrow width of the coast
here, or on account of the greater depth at which
the supply lies. At Playa Pescadores, there is a
magnificent port of the same name, and the bay of
Caleta del Horno, between Playa Chica and Playa
—. 5

Grande, where the oil might be embarked without
any necessity for taking it to Paita. Inthe Paquié
gulley, there are fresh water springs sufficient to sup-
ply this whole district. It issituated at long. 81°
West, and lat. 5° to 6° South.

The climate is unsurpassable: dry, breezy and very
healthy. The heat is not excessive, as there is a sea
breeze blowing constantly. There is a great abund-
ance of fish of all kinds, better, perhaps, than those
along the remainder of the coast of Peru. In addition,
all kinds of provisions, fruits, etc., may be produced
here.

Coasting steamers pass clcse by constantly, and
could easily touch at any of the ports or bays,

No serious study has ever been made of this region,
and we regret this, as it isthe one that has most
resources, and the greatest number of inhabitants,
towns and ports.

The Region of the North.

This comprises the whole of the province of
Tumbez, from the Mancora gulley to the Zarumilla
river, which divides Peru from Ecuador, its extent
being, in all, a hundred and fifty miles.

The only part of this district which has been
studied, and that barely enough, is Mancora, the
survey of which will be continued throughout the
present year, by three different companies, formed
for the purpose, and which will soon send engineers
and apparatus to begin work.

Up till to-day, no study has been made of the
country north of the Tumbez river, the explorers
limiting their operations to taking advantage of the
land where petroleum showed itself on the surface,
either in the form of mounds, as in Sechura, or in
ae HD

the liquid form, in which it appears spontaneously at
the surface, as it does nearly all over Mancora.

The district of MAncora, which is rich in petro-
leum fields such as Zorritos, and the beds recently
acquired by Don Manuel A. de la Lama and Ne-
phews, which comprise a vast extent of territory,
and those of Mendizabal Hermanos, are called upon
to be an industrial centre of the first order. It is
divided into three little branches, belonging to the
primitive owner Don Diego de Lama.

The petroleum district of which we now speak be-
gins in the gulley of Charan, ten miles to the South
of the Tumbez river, and, extending along the coast
to the gulley South of Cape Blanco, comprises an
oil field of approximately forty leagues long, by an
average width of twenty leagues, from the low hills
of the cordillera to the sea.

The coast of this region is full of sinuosities; but
its general direction is southwest, beginning at Mal-
pelo-point, which forms the southern end of Tumbez
bay. In the little offing at La Cruz, near Charan,
there is a point stretching out into the sea, and
another at Malpaso Grande, which forms, in Mal-
paso Chico, a merely mediocre anchorage ground,
for although pretty deep, it is exposed to south-
westerly, and, what is worse, to northerly . winds.
From Malpelo-point, as far as the Charan gulley,
the coast is low, distinctly separating the district
from the valley of Tumbez.

La Punta, which follows it, forms the northern,
and Zorritos-point the southern limit, of the bay of
that name, which is an excellent anchorage for
vessels, and where thirty feet of water are found, at
low tide, a thousand feet from shore.

Further to the South, the nearest place of import-
ance is Punta de los Picos, South of Bocapan,
— i

which is another and very much frequented port,
with an excellent anchorage.

Immediately to the North of Cape Blanco is Cape
Mancora, where there is a very important bay, well
protected and close to Cafia Dulce, a district very
rich in petroleum and asphalt.

The hills in this region begin very near the shore,
and rise at the rate of about a hundred feet per mile.

The surface of the ground is covered with differ-
ent kinds of clay, sand and fossiliferous conglomer-
ates, composed of gravel, stones and round rocks,
held together with carbonate of lime, sand and ferru-
ginous earth.

The petroleum stained rocks of this region appear
to be sandstone containing some chloride of sodium,
the greater part of them being saturated with oil,
and the brittle layers of which are so weakly united
that they allow the petroleum to escape through the
cracks. The oil which inundates the beach may be
seen dropping from the rocks exposed to the con-
stant action of the sea.

This abundance of petroleum is noticed from
Malpaso Chico onwards, and, atintervals, it is found
as far as Cape Blanco, i.e., a distance of thirty
leagues or ninety miles.

The district where stained rocks are found is about
twenty leagues long by seven wide, from Malpaso
to Cafia Dulce, making, in all, 806,400 acres.

The northern petroleum fields, in the provinee of
Tumbez, have large and sheltered ports, where the
oil may be shipped, with great facility, by means of
Iron piping and hose, through which it could be run
and poured into tanks on board ship. The largest
vessels may anchor in any of these ports.

The temperature of this region is, as a rule, agree-

able. Lower than that of Guayaquil and Tumbez,
5
=x FA

the thermometre seldom rises to 85° F.; and is
generally at 59° to 63° at night, and 67° to 71° dur-
ing the day.

Although so close to Ecuador, the sea-breezes
which blow refreshingly from the southeast during
ten months of the year, and from the Northwest
during the other two, sensibly moderate the atmos-
phere and make the climate truly healthy.

The points where petroleum shows itself are: Pan
viejo, Zorritos, Sechurita, La Cruz. La Garita,
Malpaso, Q. (guebrada or gulley) Tucillal, Tres
puntas, Q. Heath, Corrales, Q. Boca de Pan, Pie-
dra redonda, Punta Sal, Rivera de Tumbez, Salado
de Averias, Punta de Mero, Piedras redondas,
Canoas, Punta de Pico, Pefia negra, Q. Culebras,
Barranco de Peroles, Cerro blanco, Q. Seca, Sal
chico, Palo santo, Sal grande, Q. Gigantal, Carda-
lito, El bravo, Boca pan, Q. del pozo, Q. Peroles,
Q. Tijeritas, Salado de los preciados, Salado de
realengo, Salado de azotadero, Cuesta de averias,
Q. Hueco, Mal pelo, Mal paso, Pedro viejo, Boca
de Tumbez, El hospital, El abejal, Orillas de Tum-
bez, Estero de taical, Punta de bestin, Punta de
fluro, Q. de fiuro, Q. verde, Q. Beintia, Tablazo
de cabo blanco, La Breita, Siches, Organos.

The number claims of which the Government
have thus far either given possession, or, to obtain
which, the necessary legal formalities are being
complied with, does not exceed twenty two hun-
dred, and are distributed as follows:

Claims.
Region of the Centre ( Paita).casesia. 1000
Region of the North (Tumbez)....... 600
Region of the South (Sechura)........ 600

 

Total number of claims...... 2200
2555

or 8,800 hectares, the equivalent of 22,000 acres,
or 88,000,000 square metres, which bring in to the
national treasury, in the form of contribution of
mines, at the rate of S/. 30 per annum for each
claim, the sum of S/. 66,000, which is the largest
sum known yielded by such a limited space in the
country.

CHAPTER VII.
General Aspect of the Drstrect.

The petroleum deposits of Peru are not situated
in a desert, but in the commercial and productive
centre of Piura, the extreme northern Department
of the Republic.

The area of this vast. portion of our territory
comprises 70,463 square kilometres, divided into
five provinces, those on the coast being Piura, Pai-
ta and Tumbez, and those in the interior Huan-
cabamba and Ayabaca. The total population of
135,615 is as follows:

Provinces. Men. Women. Total.
Piura ccseivieescte naan 26,824 28,275 55,099
Tumbez............006 2,940 2,938 5,878
PANES: secntenteesicevextess 10,168 10,909 21,077
AV ANSGAR: wean ecviis 17,411 18,165 35,576
Huancabamba ...... 8,446 9,539 17,985

 

 

 

65,789 69,826 135,615

The different races which make up the inhabitants
are the same as those which compose the popu-
lation of all Spanish America, Europeans being
wo, 5G

established chiefly in cities like Piura, Paita, Huan-
cabamba and Ayabaca.

As a general rule, the inhabitants of this depart-
ment are of robust physique.

Three large rivers run through this extensive
territory, from the mountains of the intcrior to
the sea. They are the Chira and the Tumbez, navi-
gable, respectively, all the year round, for 200. miles
and 60 miles.

More than 300 haciendas lie on the banks of
these rivers, the principal products of which are
maize and cotton of superior quality.

All the products of the district are of the torrid
zone, and the crops are reaped as follows:

SUSAIH- CANE isicinsexcseaieaetes A crops per year.
APOLLON pantirconatecenyon sea deates i
WEAIZ adeanipeaoates Size okeesns 4 s
BUGS sural dec canto tian arsndnses 3 :
RAMI E>. disiciciecistepe cG,a's'cllot oceieie 4 a
PODACCG io. ds adeieess eves 5 to 8 7
GOMEE, cesscckis veleeiaie gen eee ss 2 re
THEM Ps ecoateecshudarens vases 2 7
Cacao, the whole year round.

PGEATOCS ink rcuniwiecsue sents see 2 i
SWEEL POTALOES. 01.051 sense nes 3 in
YUCASH ives eanadebaServeehsasdaa 2 n
EI GAINS Ora choxaiess ecennaae vaste: +

Cocoanuts, the whole year round.

Almonds, walnuts, chestnuts, aniseed, wheat, bar-
ley, pumkins, chick-peas, Lima beans, peas, lentils,
ratania, zarzaparrilla, vegetable ivory, archil, co-
chineal, cascarilla, cundurango, quillai, caucho, Pe-
ruvian balsam, tamarinds, mahogany, and different
other products,
Rp

The fruits grown there are bananas, dates, coco-
anuts, water-mellons, oranges, limes, figs, mangoes,
pacaes, grapes, papayas, chirimoyas, pineapples, hua-
nabanas, alligator-pears, guayabas, pomme-granates,
plums, pepinos, prickly-pears, citrons, quinces, gra-
nadillas, lemons, etc.

There are also an infinite number of medicinal
plants.

Cattle, goats, sheep, horses, mules, donkeys and
pigs are raised there.

There are many gold, silver, iron, lead, copper,
sulphur, and coal mines; lime and chalk quarries;
asphalt, ochre and salt deposits.

There are more than 150 towns, big and little,
in the Department.

The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture,
and sow cotton principally, which grows in great
abundance, and is of superior quality.

There are seventeen cotton gins working there,
all the year round, the largest being at Sullana,
Piura, Catacaos, and Querecotillo.

Trade is active, and, in years when the rainfall is
abundant, may be estimated as follows:

Exports.

PAITA CUSTOM HOUSE.

Per annum. Value.
Cotton, more or less, 60,000 quintals.. S. 1,200,000
Straw hats, 26,205 kilos........ccccceseee 3 369,092
Cottonseed, 1,592,727 do..........see0e 3 382,961
Tobacco, 309,341 do......cce cee seeeeeee: 137,443
Goatskins, 233,173 do .......cc cece scenes 257,811

 

 

Carried forward.......se000- 1.997,307
— 58 —

 

 

Brought forward......... .. S. 1.997,307
Cattleskins, 54,590 do ......ce cess eee ees - 26,323
Coffee, 20,425 do.....ccceccscceeceeee eae 10,990
Kindling wood, 1,262,000 do........... i 7,733
Charcoal, 3,275,550 do........cceeeeeees 4 50,560
W060] 4112 doy sce cecseapesseaec tears ¥ 2,495
Cundurango, 2,140 dO. sevvesseves ss 23,570
Algarrobo, 10,000 quintals.............. ” 15,000
Salt; dO sisi ae cneueides note c ooo Satsscbaeueng a 150,000
Fatted cattle, 4,000.........0. jaanukeasaes : 136,000
Asphaltum, and other articles ......... i 150,000

Total cmcswnivnens S. 2,570,656

TUMBEZ CUSTOM HOUSE.

Tobacco, when the crop is good,

 

 

5,000: Guiitals sce sccssceeeesxane ssanwe S. 125,000
W hale<Gtl ccstvosesie ti deienent eacaseousces o 100,000
Kerosene from ZOrritOS...........0ce008 » 186,000
Wiser OVG Hate iaunk aacaesen nen cece ss 20,000
TAU MDE Riavaisasnssceseecocacnnmons saueares ays 4 10,000
Hides, fruit and other articles......... os 20,000
Dyer's Orch tvs sscnaveseiaysvsetarsssrsv es 4,000

S. 465,000

TALARA CUSTOM HOUSE, ————————

Kerosene and its products.............. S. 300,000
Resumé.

Paital scat doo aveeeshes bese suens cs shewanes S. 2,570,556

PUM D EZ xessi cs cee cabs See chads Secale ees 33 465,000

ANG Gil cl cua yaad veineusals age ndgunene crema ate Pe 300,000

Total exportation......... S. 3,335,556
— 59 —

The value of imports last year amounted to
1,099,809,50 as follows:

 

Prom England sccscsiswevern S. 674,278.50
« Wirnited States. onduicsaes , 195,195 —
gf SPEEA Sosenssenciaene » 93,441 —
re, SEMATECH ae eeectensSuvih. » 10,675 —
» Ecuador ..............0. » 19,671 —
go, SSNIIIS shacedasenaiowusee » 17,558 —
», Colombia.............0.- » 1,919 —
sa = ONLI. seein as say sc sachet , 6,880 —
ap, JLDONNEs oratevec sea ireenans » 6,019 —
» St. Thomas........ ..... » 9,205 —
ge RCNCTINTS ts orrpecewaawens » 3468 —
Total. Importation wccccse S. 1,099,807.50

 

 

The duties collected at these custom houses
amount approximately to S. 400,000.

With regard to roads, they are, generally speaking,
good. Those on the coast are level, and, although
those in the interior run through uneven country,
they are easy to travel over.

Only two railroads have been built in the Depart-
ment up till to-day. One, belonging to the Govern-
ment, and let out to Don Federico Blume, for
twenty five years, runs from the port of Paita,
along 98 kilometres of level ground, to the city of
Piura; and the other, 12 kilometres long, connects
the latter place with Catacaos, and belongs to a
joint-stock company.

The are two telegraph lines and one telephone
line, with 150 miles of wire.

Provisions, throughout the Department, may be
had in abundance, and very cheap, especially meat,
which is of superior quality.
— 60 —

Laborers are found for all kinds of work, at the
moderate wages of 40 cents to S,1 a day, excepting
at sowing and reaping times, when it is a question
of supply and demand.

The proposed irrigation schemes will reclaim
1,000,000 hectareas, the equivalent of 2.500,000
acres.

Petroleum in Peru has been freed from all taxes
or duties for the next twenty five years, according to
the Act of Congress of November 8th, 1890, which
is as follows:

“The Congress of the Peruvian Republic,
Considering:

That it is necessary to promote the investment of
native and foreign capital in the mining industry of
the country,

Has given the following law:

Art. 1. The taxes which to-day burden mining
property and products shall not be augmented for
the term of twenty five years, counted from the date
of this act, nor may other new ones be created
during that period.

Art. 2. By the word “products” are meant, for the
purposes of this law, gold, silver, copper, iron, tin,
nickel], antimony, cinnabar, coal, sulphur and PETRo-
LEUM, in their primitive condition, as well as worked.

Given etc.”

According to the text of this very liberal law,
which is an honor to the Legislature that passed it,
no new duty can he created without the prestige
of Peru being ruined, and without there being any
means of preventing European capital from being
frightened out of the country forever.
— 61 —

We will not close this chapter without transcribing
the passage, in itsentirety, of the work of the French
writer, M. Simonin, which treats of the industrial
development of the United States of North America.

“If Nature has done much for the United States,
men have done the rest, assisting, with their charac-
ter and institutions, the development of the immense
natural wealth throughout the land.

“In North America, the individual is everywhere,
and the Government nowhere. The initiative of the
citizen is never restricted in the least. The hand of
the Government, when it is felt, is only to help indi-
vidual labor; to guide it with valuable and important
reports, statistics and publications, carefully compiled;
but never to molest it with a series of tedious,
minute and useless formalities, the tradition of which
the latin race piously keeps up.

“In North America, nothing lies locked up in the
national archives: everything sees the light of day,
promptly and at the desired moment. Industry is
free, and monopoly unknown,

' “Tt is for this that individual initiative has done
such great things in that privileged land, and given
the petroleum industry that healthy impulse, the
results of which we are benefitting by”.

What a good example to imitate!

TABLE showing the owners of Petroleum Clatms
zn the three petroleum regions of the Department
of Piura.

REGION OF THE CENTRE.
(PAYTA).

Oscar Heeren, Enrique de la Riva—
Agiiero, Enrique Prevost, Carlos
— 62 —

Leguia, Antero Aspillaga, Isaac

Alzamora, Lorenzo Barbera...... 200
Francisco Mario de Albertis, Gui-

llermo Ferreyros, Carlos Ferrey-

ros, Manuel Zevallos, Manuel Mo-

reno y Maiz, José Buccelli, Juan

F. Valega, Lorenzo Barbera, Car-

los F. de Albertis, partners of the

Peruvian Petroleum Company... 250
Rafael Rojas ees Lorenzo

Barbera & Co.,. ee .. 200
Juan Bautista Serra, “Lorenzo ‘Bar-

bera & Co.,. emencience “200
Federico Moreno & Co. 0)
London Pacific Petroleum Go. . LO
Mulloy & nih cee a 9

PPC GNG GCs iirc idataene It
REGION OF THE SOUTH.

(SECHURA).
Blume, Davila & Co., Cabieses and
ONES nists Giiiaciewensticwersrvnces. B00
Moreno & Co... wieiaimannmers’ L2KU
REGION OF THE NORTH.
(TUMBEZ).
I Aa PID 0 caay eanoensaveruvannsly 54
Lama & Co... se oeeesdeheigeetsae: 000
Mendizabal Henmnatos. Se Se Tee 112
Meret 60 CO sccsiedscnaienssiecsceccene 80
PUIG NOG akc getes ce tuccaee I

Miranda y Lores.........c0006. ssseeeee 10

CLAIMS.
PART THE SECOND.

CHAPTER I.

Industrial Development of Petroleum in the United
States of North America,

A knowledge of the progress of an industry in the
country where it has reached its zenith, is a safe
guide for the initiators of the same industry in
another country.

Itis for this that we believe it to bea matter of lively
interest, and an opportune subject at the moment,
to publish an account of the struggles and hardships
of the pioneers in the petroleum fields, when the
beds were discovered, and of its immediate industrial
application, which is the most brilliant title to glory
of those who, penetrating a totally unknown region,
reaped every possible advantage from it, in a short
time, due solely to their courage and daring.

The following is the interesting history of the
discovery of petroleum in the United States, taken
from different newspapers and books which we have
before us.

The first petroleum company organised in the
United States, and called ‘Columbia,’ was autho-
— 64 —

rised by the Legislature of Pennsylvania on May
31st, 1861, with a capital of $. 25,000 divided in
1000 shares of $. 25 each.

They began operations at Story, on Oil Creek,
seven miles from its source.

During the year 1861, the output of petroleum |
was 20,000 barrels; in 1862 it increased to 89,602
barrels.

Its first dividend was declared on July 8th, 1863,
a littleless than two years from the date of its in-
stallation, and was 30 per cent on its capital stock.
This was followed by another dividend of 25 per
cent., on August 12th; another, at the same rate,
on September 9th; and still another, an October
14th, cf 50 per cent, making the total of the divi-
dends paid within two and one half years of the
Company’s installation, 130 per cent on its subscribed
capital.

In 1864, the output increased to 141,508 barrels.

During the first six months of that year, it de-
clared four other dividends, amounting to 160 per
cent on its capital. At that moment, the capital
was increased to $. 2,500,000, and a dividend im-
mediately declared on the increased capital of 5 per
cent., and, before the end of the year, five dividends
more, amounting to 35 per cent in all. From that
time to the end of 1871, the output of petroleum
was alwaysabout the same, the minimum being 110,655
barrels in 1867, and the maximum 142,034 barrels
in 1871.

The total output of this company, during those
ten years of its existence, was 1.715,972 barrels, and
the total amount of its dividends S. 2.342,600 or 401
per cent on its capital, and nevertheless, after ten
years of active work, only a very small portion of its
Jand had been touched, and the part that has been
==

worked will admit of even more wells being sunk in
it in addition to those that already exist there; and, al-
though the golden dreams of the shareholders have
been more than realised, there is no reason to doubt
that these dividends may be maintained or increased,
at pleasure, in yearsto come.

The history which we have tried to sketch of
this company, is of numbers and not of words; but
from these numbers an idea may be formed of
the vast wealth which still remains hidden in the
cavities of the rocks, and which only requires
the hand of science, and the direction of prudent
administrators, to place it within the reach of man.

A part of the land of this company was sold
for $.&.000,000 sols.

The Owl Fields.—The most important petroleum
beds in the United States lie in the western part of the
State of Pennsylvania, on the northwestern descent of
the Alleghany mountains and lake Erie, and extend
northward to and penetrate the State of New York.
This region, which is watered by the Alleghany river
and its numerous tributaries, is rough, mountainous
and covered with thick woods; the subsoil is com-
posed, in great part, of porous sandstone, covered
with coarse sand, the layers running in a southerly
direction.

The whole extent of the oil fields is not over a
hundred and fifty miles long, with a variable width
of from one to twenty. Oil Creek, a tributary of
the Alleghany to the east, and French Creek to the
west, were for along time the limits of the territory
worked.

The petroleum industry was born at Oil Creek,
where the first wells were sunk, and where, for many
years, oil men concentrated their efforts.

Besides the Pennsylvania fields, others are worked
6
=. 66 —

in West Virginia, Ohio, New York, Kentucky,
Kansas, Colorado, Michigan, Indiana,  [linois,
Utah and California. These districts being of little
importance, they figure very low in the total pro-
duction of the United States.

It is impossible to fix the date on which petro-
leum was first discovered in Pennsylvania, for there
are reasons to suppose that the mineral oil was em-
ployed by a race living there before the indians of
our epoch. In fact, signs of wells have been dis-
covered in the ruins attributed to the Mound Buil-
ders, a mysterious people, known only by the re-
mains which they have left scattered over the im-
mense country watered by the Mississippi, Missouri
and Ohio rivers.

It was in the course of the year 1845 that Mr.
Peterson, the proprietor of some land on which
there were a few salt water springs, while digging
a well with the object of finding fresh water, found,
with astonishment, instead of water, a blackish, oily
liquid.

Analised by the director of the Hope cotton
factory of Pittsburgh, he discovered that through
a chemical process, and mixed with spermaceti, the
new substance constituted one of the best lubricants
for machinery. The commercial value of the mix-
ture was barely 70 cents per gallon, while the sper-
maceti cost $.1. 30 per gallon. The economy was
so manifest that from that moment ten barrels per
week were contracted for consumption in the fac-
tory.

For ten years, the proprietors of the Hope cotton
factory employed this greasy petroleum, without
anybody suspecting its composition. This was the
first use to which petroleum was put in Pennsyl-
vania.
eee

Nevertheless, the illuminating properties of this
oil were known in other parts of North America,
for, in a letter addressed by Dr. Hildreth to the
Journal of Scrences, in 1826, he asserted the fact
that petroleum might be employed for illuminating
purposes, and that, later on, it would be of great
utility in that direction, in the future cities of
America.

In 1858, the city of Pittsburgh was lighted with
refined petroleum, the same process being employ-
ed as was used in the distillation of bituminous
schistes, by James Young, of Nova Scotia. This oil
was known by the name of Carbon Oil, and the
consumption was so great that, ina short time, it
absorbed the output of the wellchristened Tarentun.

The numerous attempts to refine oil, as a neces-
sary consequence, attracted the attention of capita-
lists and business men, who began to look around
for the new substance.

Investigations, which were at first carried out all
over the state, were soon concentrated around Oil
Creek, where petroleum overflowed the surface of
the ground and was collected by a New York com—
pany called the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company.

In 1858, the directors of this company secured
one hundred acres of land near Venango, a mile
and a half below the well which had been worked for
centuries by the indians.

Col. Drake, after having dedicated many years
to the study of this substance, and suffering all kinds
of reverses and deceptions, put himself at the head
of the new works, with the well-founded hope of
finding, at no great depth, the supply wished for.

Work began in June 1859; and in August of
that year the drill pierced the bed at a depth of 182
feet, A pump which had been put in place brought
— 68 —

the oil to the surface, and from that moment
“Drake” well yielded 25 barrels every 24 hours.

From that memorable date, the new industry was
definitely established.

The supply of the raw material being thus assured,
the producers directed their attention to perfecting
the system of refining it, and obtained, in a short
time, an illuminating oil, economical, and of easy
application.

Once the definite result was arrived at, the en-
thusiasm of the owners of the land around Drake
well increased, and they began to dig wells for their
own account, or ceded permission to do so in con-
sideration of heavy premiums. Everyone went to
work, and boring aparatus were put up daily by the
dozen.

Some of the new wells were productive, but others
dried up after giving asmall quantity of oil, and
were abandoned by their owners, who despaired of
the result.

Until the discovery of spoutzxg and flowzng wells,
which completely changed the aspect of the new in-
dustry, the demand for and the use of petroleum were
limited; but from the date of the discovery of those
wells which gave oil without any necessity of pumps
or other expense of any kind, and in extraordinary
abundance, the demand increased to such a point,
that the oil was sold at 10 cents per barrel.

The greater number of the wells which required
pumps to take out the oil were abandoned, and the
owners, believing themselves ruined, were in despair;
but these wells afterwards gave the most brilliant re-
sults.

Those who had been poor laborers, in those dis-
tricts, became opulent millionaires through this un-
expected industry, which increased the price of an
— 69 —

acre of land from ten dollars to ten thousand dollars
—a sum which the oil men cheerfully paid.

This sudden increase in the value of property was
not the only consequence of the discovery of petro-
leum, for, as we shall see further on, colossal for-
tunes were improvised within a few months, while,
at the same time, enormous losses perturbed the
business and the lives of many Americans.

CHAPTER 11.

The first flowing well at Oil Creek was Funk
Well, and it was sunk in the farm called £7 Azuney.

Mr. Funk was a poor man when he began to bore,
and it was amidst countless difficulties that in the
month of June 1861 he arrived at the stratum. To the
surprise of all present, the petroleum spontaneous-
ly rose to the surface, and the well from that
moment yielded 240 barrels daily. Such an unex-
pected event as this broke up many combinations,
and interested parties prognosticated that the well
would not last long, and that no other would be
found like it.

In the meantime, oil continued to flow from the
well for fifteen months, at the end of which time
Mr. Funk was a pretty rich man.

A few months before this well dried up, two more
were bored, the P&z/zp and the Zmpzre, both in the
same locality, and which yielded five thousand bar-
rels daily.

The owners were thunderstruck and did not know
what to do with such an enormous yield, the petro-
leum industry being then in its infancy. For want
of receptacles they allowed the oil to flow from the
wells until it converted the neighboring land into
veritable lakes.
— 70 —

The opinions of the capitalists and of men of
science on the petroleum question differed; many
had doubts as to its future and of its value, and,
above all, were resolved to withdraw their capital.

The five thousand barrels of oil, with which the
flowing wells daily supplied the market, had brought
down the price and left large quantities of oil undis-

osed of.

While all this was going on, the two new wells,
Sherman and Coguette, were sunk, which increased
the annual yield to 500,000 barrels.

After these wells, the Agztator was sunk, which
it was necessary to pump for half an hour to make
it give out oil for the succeding half hour. Szzday
well yielded oil only on Sundays, when its neighbor
the Agitator was not working.

In the meantime, the aspect of the market had
changed completely. Consumption increased rapidly,
and, while 500,000 barrels were sold in 1861, in the
following year, 1862, 3.056,690 barrels barely sup-
plied the demand.

New wells were bored in different places, especially
in Pleasantville and Pithole, which, together with
those at Tidioute, brought up the supply in a short
time, to 3.887,700 barrels.

The new wells, Vexango, Buzter and Clarzon, in
1874, produced 10.809,852 barrels. After this period
of rapid increase, came a notable falling off.

In 1875, Bradford began to feel the results
obtained from its flowing wells; and, in 1880, inthe
total production of 26.000,000 barrels, Bradford
figured with 20.000,000.

The Alleghany wells, opened in 1881, followed
those of Bradford in importance, and with this
reinforcement, the yield, in 1882, reached 81.398,750
barrels, or over five thousand mellion litres!
seach ks

The circunstances attending the discovery of these
beds, and the consequences to the petroleum indus-
try, make it worth while to give a few details about
the sinking of the first well.

Cherry Grove, in Warren county, was, until the
month of April 1882, almost a deserted district,
surrounded by thick woods, and inhabited by hardly
ten or twelve people. The small town of Clarendon,
a station on the Erie railway, is situated ten miles
away from this place, and four miles away there is a
small oil refinery.

For a long time before, oil prospectors asserted
the existence of large quantities of petroleum south-
east of Clarendon; but, notwithstanding such predic-
tions, no speculator cared to undertake work there.

In April 1882, four men, more adventurerous than
their brothers in the profession, established them-
selves at Cherry Grove, secured a few acres of land
for cutting kindling wood, and secretly began the
work of sounding. Once it was known that these
wells were bored, there was a presentment as to the
result,

Stockbrokers, speculators and, in general, everyone
interested in the petroleum industry, sent their spies
to find out how the work was getting on; while the
adventurers, in their turn, took all possible precau-
tions to cover their tracks.

In spite of everything, however, there was a
courageous young fellow, who, at the risk of his
life, and quicker than they, succeded in hiding
himself for ten hours, under the platform of the well,
and gave his employers the information that the like
of well N°. 646 had never been seen before. This
number, by which the well was designated, was the
number of that particular lot of ground in the rural
registers,
ee PD ms

The fortunate owners of the bed made the results
known, and it was soon discovered that the well
yielded 4,000 barrels of oil per day. This unexpected
result produced a serious disturbance in the market,
and the price of kerosene, which was then quoted at
$ 1, fell to 45 cents. ;

From May 17th, 1882, the day on which petro-
leum was first taken from well 646, until the end of
June of the same year, 320 wells were bored, which
all gave a similar yield.

This prosperity, however, was not of long duration,
and in a short time the supply of oil became exhaust-
ed. By the end of October of the same year, the
yield was almost nil; the wells were abandoned, the
woods were deserted, and, with the disappearance of
the wealth of the district, there disappeared also the
fortunes of thousands of individuals who had found-
ed the most brilliant hopes on Cherry Grove.

Since that time, new beds are discovered daily, and
new wells are bored of more or less importance.

Thus the Chrzs¢z well, which has not its equal in
size in the world, poured forth 6,000 barrels of oil in
five hours. The 389 wells of Oil City give 4,200
barrels per day, and there are others which yield as
much as 170 barrels per hour.

At present, 25,000 wells are being worked in
Pennsylvania, the output of which is estimated at
40.000,000 barrels per year, or the equivalent of
6.400,000,000 litres.

The number of wells abandoned on account of the
supply being exhausted is incalculable.

Prospecting for Oil, and Boring Wells,

Excepting in rare instances, the presence of pe-
troleum is not manifested, on the surface, by any
particular sign. Filtrations through crevices in the
= 473 —

rocks, and escapes of gas above ground are not
frequent in Pennsylvania, and chance is, consequne-
tly, almost always the rule in its discovery.

The depth at which petroleum is found is very
variable and uncertain. It depends, in general, on
the exterior configuration of the ground, and also on
the dip of the stratum. Oil is found at a depth of
from 100 to 2,000 feet.

When prospecting first began, it was thought that
the vein followed the course of the depressions be-
tween the rocks that formed the gulleys, and wells
were opened on the sides of the latter. Later on, this
idea was abandoned, and the centre of deep gulleys
was preferred. Afterwards, with more perfect ma-
chinery, wells were sunk from the heights, until at
last the configuration of the ground was not taken
into account at all. What are, however, five hun-
dred feet, more or less, with such perfect apparatus
as is now employed?

CHAPTER [11
Prospecting for Oil.

Prospecting for oil in Pennsylvania is done by so-
called we¢d-catters, who carry on their business either
for their own or somebody else’s account. Like the
gold prospectors who penetrated unexplored regions,
examine the quartz and oil, and wash the sand on
the river banks, wild-catters visit places where they
believe oil is likely to exist, examine the ground,
make soundings more or less deep, and, finally, when
they think the right moment has arrived, sink wells
to discover the so much sought-after oil.

Those active, intelligent and indefatigable men,
pes

leading a life full of privations, hardships and con-
stant adventure, rich to-day and poor to-morrow, bear
up stoically under their changes of fortune.

Many of these people thought, at first, that an
infallible indication of the presence of oil was, a cer-
tain characteristic odour rising from the grounds.
These were called o2/ smellers. Others used magic
rods and cabalistic words to determine its locality.
Once placed, almost always, wtih precision, the
wooden derrick, 80 feet high, is put up, and in this
works the drill, within an iron tube, either by hand or
steam power.

This drill, in order to reach the petroleum bed,
has to pierce three successive strata of sandstone,
according to the geological theory of the experts.
The first, immediately after the layers of alluvial
soil; the second, at a depth of from 100 to 310 feet,
and in which the first indications of petroleum
should be found. Sufficient oil is frequently met
with in this stratum to avoid the necessity of going
deeper; but, as a general rule, it is prefered to go
down to the third stratum, where the oil is undoubt-
edly discovered in greater abundance.

During the last few years, a fourth stratum has
been found in some places.

The work of boring is subject to many accidents,
the most common, and, at the same time, serious of
all being the breaking off the point of the drill, which
if it sticks in the rock, makes it necessary to abandon
the work.

When, as yankees say, oil is struck, a pump may
be required to bring the oil to the surface, and the
well is called a pumpeng well; or the oil may, of
itself, rise to the surface, as in the case of a flowing
well; ora column of oil may spout forth, as it so-
eae fe

metimes does, 300 feet high, and then the well is
called a spouting well.

If the well opened is a pumping well, the retro-
leum does not show at the surface, and it is gas only
that escapes, with a peculiar sound, which willd cat-
ters have baptized earth szghs. A steam pump brings
up the oil and deposits it in iron tanks.

If, on the contrary, a spouting well has been dis-
covered, as soon the drill reaches the cavity contain-
ing the oil, the latter, impelled by the gas, rushes to
the surface, and rises, in the form of a thick column,
as we have already said, to a considerable height, in
which case the mouth must be immediately stopped
up, which is done with an apparatus invented for the
purpose. The stream of oil frequently rushes forth
with such violence that it throws, to a great distance,
the drill as well as the derrick that supports it.

In the case of simply a flowing well, i.e, when
the gas merely forces the oil to the mouth of the
well, it is easy to screw in the stopper, which is
worked with a key. This is the most economical
class of all the wells known.

The natural gas that issues from the wells is used
for illuminating purposes, and is employed as a mo-
tor for all the machinery of the establishment, it
being collected in the generators after passing
through a metal plate, perforated like a sieve, and
of peculiar form.

The oil is deposited in enormous tanks, like the
gasometres of large cities, and led from. there,
through pipes, to be distilled.

These tanks must of necessity be perfectly air-
tight, as the gas given off by petroleum is highly
inflamable, and the slightest piece of carelessness
may bring about an explosion.

The wells themselves sometimes take fire, especial-
— 7G a

ly the flowing wells, in which case, it is of no use to
pour water into them, but rather stuff the mouths
with earth.

One of these wells caught fire in 1882, at Cherry
Grove, the fire lasting for many days and presenting
the glorious spectacle of a column of flame, a hund-
red feet high, illuminating the extensive woods
around it with a lurid light.

The cost of boring a well is estimated at $ 4,000,
provided it is not over 500 feet deep.

In the work of transporting petroleum to the refi-
neries and ports of embarkation, wonders have been
accomplished; and, regarding the pzpe /znxes, through
which thousands of pumps daily force the oil, and
which are extended all over the petroleum fields,
one must admire the progress of this important
industry which has improvised so many millionaires.

For the establishment of refineries, on a large
scale, sites have been chosen, not in the centre of
production, but rather at the ports of embarkation.
The question of transportation has always been one
of the most important in the petroleum industry
and to-day Pennsylvania can show 4,000 miles of
underground piping which connect and receive oil
from the 25,000 wells that are being worked there.

There are five hundred iron tanks, with a capacity
of 35,000 barrels each, with a thousand miles of
telegraph line, communicating between them and
the principal centres of production and refincries,
which latter, in their turn, deposit daily in the tanks
200,000 barrels of oil, which is taken to the ports
of embarkation in 2,500 tank-cars, hermetically
sealed, all belonging to the United Pipe Lines
Company, which, united, and forming a single body
with the Standard Oil Trust Company, have mono-
polised the kerosene trade of the world.
= =

The primitive capital of this company was
3,500,000 dollars.

Its mysterious organization does not allow of its
details being publicly known, nor even how many
shareholders belong to it. The administration of this
gigantic business, directed by a group of bold spe-
culators, is divided into large branches, or sections,
cach one representing the fourth part of the globe,
which attend to the necessities of consumption, and
carefully watch the market.

The founders of this cosmopolitan company have
retired from active participation in the work, after
making fabulous profits, and number amongst
them Lokefeller and Andreau, both veritable money
kings on account of their millions.

Up till to-day, North Americans wield the sceptre
of this industry.

They have monopolised, and hold in their hands,
all the markets of the world.

CHAPTER IV.

Russtan Petroleum Frelds and their Industrial
Development. — Transcaspian Region, — Bakhu, —
Caucasia.

A French writer, treating of the study of pet-
troleum in Russia, expresses himself thus:

Towards the northwest, and following the chain
of mountains, the first peaks of which begin to rise
on the border line of Afghanistan, not far from the
Caspian sea, are the Balkans, through which there
fHowed, in another epoch, the Oxus, and which is
to-day the plan of the Trans-Caspian railway.

All this region, which extends as far as the sea

and ends at the peninsula of Kradsnowodsk, is so im-
q
Sem

mensely rich in petroleum that Russians have giver
it the name of Black California:

When the Russian engineers were making the
survey there, in 1880, for the construction of a rail-
way, on sinking wells for water, they discovered in-
numerable petroleum beds, in the place called Naph-
tha Mountain.

The layer of petroleum which covers the mountain
measures no less than 10,000 hectares in extent,
and could easily yield a million tons of petroleum
per annum, or sufficient to illuminate all Russia,
lubricate all her machinery, and move all her locomo-
tives, merchant vessels and men-of-war.

This region, which, so far as petroleum is concern-
ed, is one of the best in Russia, has been valued by
the well-known Russian engineer General Bohrberg,
and Prince Yeristoff, at £35 000,000; so that if this
sum represents the value of only ten thousand
hectares of petroleum fields, the million hectareas
in Peru, in the same proportion, represent the enor-
mous sum of £3.500,000,000.

Only asingle well has been sunk in the place men-
tioned, which yields invariably 1000 litres per day,
enough to satisfy the necessities of the inhabitants.

The Russians, after carefully studying this terri-
tory, look upon it as areserve which they will work
when their roads advance in Asia, when they will be
able to make Merie a great petroleum centre, where
the people of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Khoras-
sane will be supplied.

On the shore opposite the island of Kradsnowodsk,
there is a gigantic promontory, very high, covered
with woods, and stretching out along way into the sea.
It is the peninsula of Aspheron, the holy land of the
desciples of Zoroastro, the birth-place of the religion
of fire-worshippers.
sh Gy ee

Looking from a distance at this tremendous cliff
breasting the waves of the Caspian sea, when its
wells spout forth columns of petroleum two or three
hundred feet high, it resembles a gigantic whale,
spouting streams of spermaceti from its wide nos-
trils.

At the lower end of a bay, formed and protected
by two peninsulas of the island, lies Bakhu, the
capital of the petroleum region of Caucasia, the
richest and most important petroleum centre in the
world,

Bakhu, with its white houses rising in rows one
behind the other like an amphitheatre, at the foot of
the green hills, its elegant cupolas, numerous bath-
ing houses, splendid “gardens, high observatories,
narrow and winding streets, solid walls with the
Persiantarms, (¢he Lz0u of Persia )—Bakhu, the orien-
tal city, will soon cease to exist.

Solid and elegant buildings have in great part re-
placed the old ones Wide and straight streets,
paved with asphalt, to-day replace the narrow, dark
and muddy streets of other times. And an immense
embankment has been built in front of the town
along the sea shore.

In a few years Bakhu wiil bea new city, with all
the luxuries of modern civilization, and the comforts
of the cities of Europe.

In 1870 it had hardly 12,191 inhabitants; and ten
years later, in 1880, the number was estimated at
50,000.

This immense progress—this rapid transformation
—is due exclusively to the petroleum fields, which
are worked there on a vast scale,

Although these fields have been worked for many
years past, the industry, hampered by the action of the
Russian government, did not arrive at that stage of
— §6 —

development, which it has reached to day, until after
the monopoly to which it was subject was abolished.

The petroleum region of Bakhu, of which the
Aspheron peninsula is the centre, lies between the
Samur river and the Caspian sea, its extension being
200,000 square miles.

Petroleum was found in this region, when the first
wells were sunk, at a depth of 259, 560, 286 and 350
feet. These wells yielded little oil; but another, barely
70 feet deep, had given oil in zbundance for many
years before. Under the impression that petroleum
would be found at the same level, another well was
bored near the one mentioned, and oil was only
discovered at a depth of 420 feet.

The theory of one common bed or level vanishes
and is refuted in face of the existence of flowing
and spouting wells, which, notwithstanding their
abundant yield, do not diminish in the least the pro-
duct of the neighboring wells. Thus, while the
Droczba well, to which we will refer later on, spouted
out acolumn 300 feet high, as if it were emtying
the inside of the earth, the wells around it continued
to yield their ordinary quantity of oil.

The wells of Bakhu are found in two distinct table
lands, with a distance of eight kilometres between
them, crossed by a trail.

The number of wells that are being worked to-day
is four hundred; but the quantity of oil they yield is
enormous and much more than that given by the
25,000 wells in Pennsylvania, Amongst these wells
there are several natural wells, some of them constant
and others intermittent.

Amongst the spouters is the famous Droojba,
which, as we have said, when it was bored, it spouted
forth a column of oil, with a roaring noise, 800 feet
ss ED ae

high, higher than the famous Geiser in Iceland,
inundating the whole country around.

In North America, this great well would have
made its owner a millionaire, bringing in, as it did,
4% 11,000 daily; but in Bakhu it was the ruin of the
man who bored it, for he lost his whole fortune in
compensating the damages caused to the farms in
the vicinity.

For a long time, the Droojba yielded 2,000,000
gallons daily, which quantity was afterwards reduced
to 250,000 gallons. It is stimated that its total yield,
until it gave out, was 500,000 tons of oil.

The wells in Bakhu are at short distances from
each other, there being places, within the space of a
few square yards, where four wells have been opened,
and which always yield oil, notwithstanding the fact
that they are at depths varying between 250 and 560
feet, and amongst them one which, although only 70
feet deep, has yielded oil for several generations past.
This proves that the deposits of petroleum are inde-
pendent, of each other, and that it has yet to be dis-
covered how deep they may be found.

One of the wells belonging to Messrs. Nobel
Brothers spouted out 112,000 tons into the air before
the stopper could be ajusted, an operation that lasted
a month. Number 9, the name of another well
belonging to the same company, yielded 8.000,000
gallons in twenty days, of which 1.600,000 gallons
were sold, 1.200,000 gallons were stored ina depres-
sion of the ground, and 5.200,000 gallons were lost
and the surrounding country inundated with the oil.
The stopper was finally put on, and it proved to be
one of the most productive wells.

On several occasions the yield was so abundant
that the owners, for want of consumers, had to open
ditches and run the oil into the sea.
— 82 —

M. Berthelot, treating of his theory on the mineral
origin of Russian petroleum, says he has discovered
away to calculate the quantity of petroleum in
the porous sandstone, which may contain oil lakes
of 30, 50 or 100 feet in thickness, without any large
caves or defects intervening.

An acre of ground has 43,500 square feet. A square
mile, 27.878,400 square feet, or 4.074.489,000
square inches. A barrel of petroleum of 42 gallons
has 9,702 cubic inches capacity, or 5 6/10 cubes.

Let us now see what would be the production of
an acre in proportion.

If the bed of oil be one inch thick, it should give
646 barrels; if it be two inches thick, 1293; if three
inches thick, 1939; and if it be 734 inches thick, 4997
barrels.

A bed of oil one square mile in extent, if it be
one inch thick, should infallibly yield 414,779 barrels;
if it be two inches thick, 829,559 barrels; if three
inches thick, 1.244,838; and if 734 inches, it would
contain 3,198,515 barrels of 42 gallons, which repre-
sent 137,337,630 gallons.

Experiments made by M. Berthelot show that the
oil containing capacity of sandstone is equal to one
eighth of its volume. Now then, taking each ver-
tical foot of the thickness of the sandstone to be
equal to a petroleum bed one inch thick, and taking
into account the fact that in Pennsylvania the beds
are from 80 to 50 feet deep, the result is that,
accepting merely 15 feet as the average depth, every
acre of petroleum ground is capable of yielding
ia barrels of oil, and each mile 9.600,000 bar-
rels.

Bakhu has 200 petroleum refineries, and seven
railways for the service.

Almost all the wells of this region are flowing
== '83i-2—

wells, so that great precautions have to be taken to
prevent the oil from being lost.

The quantity of kerosene, apart from crude pe-
troleum, produced by the 200 refineries at Bakhu is
as follows.

 

 

 

Years. Tons.

OO Data casos ahaaieueden cca akoue 16,400
Oy scadites 2050 eee aaa summa eae mudade 24,500
TON wigeeisea Sve cee Gapeue ave spoetasuenny 23,600
WOT Dccectague ives aeeeinawbsosay 32,600
TST Occeuatak ace cadutaneonmmee eaee 52,100
HO Mime oeasaucieca eh 72,600
ISTO misgins avewkerwaad wbedes inky saw anes 97,500
UBT Daas essavics dasnademacacexeasvern'02 110,000
LESBO ya voxsnieuedassiceuanceumnnts ..-» 150,000
UCN ccastsncind ee cya babmadent aotearoa: & . 183,000
NSIS Sa aGia Wawintaiens Heenan eee 4auEes 202,000

1883.0 ccccccsccccccecsectecurnstessessse 206,000

TO0G lL saxupewinonnecen ein tes 1,180,300 tons
in twelve years.

The production at the same place from 1883 to
1885 may be classified thus:

1885 1884 1883

 

137.000,000 109.000,000 72.000,000 gals. kerosene
19.000,000 10.000,000 10.000,000 crude oil
170.000,000 142.800,000 87.000,000 residue
7.950,000 7.200,000  5.000,000 lubric. oil
140,800 380,100 240,000 benzine

 

334,890,000 269.380,100 174.240,000
From the year 1886 up tillthe present time, the
production has doubled.

CHAPTER V.
Petroleum Deposits. Refineries. Exportation of Oil.

To the left of Bakhu, and facing the sea, there is
the improvised city of Tcharny Gorod, the Black
Czty, as it is called, from the smoke that pours from
the chimneys of its two hundred factories, forming
a peculiar atmosphere, with a nauseous odor.

Everything is sombre in the Black City; the
sky, the houses, the ground (which, mixed with pe-
troleum, forms aslippery mud) and even the skins
of the inhabitants, naturally white, have turned black
through contact with the atmosphere of oil and
smoke.

In the centre of a sterile and barren region, where
there is not the slightest trace of vegetation for
many kilometres around, a number of low struc-
tures are seen, surrounded by wide and blackened
walls. It is there where the immense tanks which
hold the oil are to be found, and which are spread
over the ground as far as the sea, to where the vessels
are, which load petroleum for Tsaritzen, a port as
dirty and greasy as the Black City, and where the
streets, houses, furniture, docks, ships and the very
sea are covered with a thick coating of oil.

The mode of refining oil is the same everwhere.
Taken from the wells, and put into retorts, it is
submitted to a constantly increasing temperature,
through which it undergoes the different transforma-
tions we have referred to before.

The petroleum of Bakhu, in distillation, does not
— % —

yield such a large quantity of kerosene or illumina-
ting oil as North American petroleum does. From
the latter 70 to 75 per cent of kerosene is extracted,
while the former hardly gives 27 to 30 per cent.
Peruvian petroleum gives more than 60 per cent of
kerosene.

This inferiority, although so great, is compen-
sated by the extraordinary abundance of the raw pro-
duct, its low price and the numerous applications
given in Russia even to the residue.

All the petroleum produced in Bakhu isexpended
in the form of kerosene, and is consumed through-
out the vast Russian territory, without any necessity
for the American product.

Four large commercial centres divide the output:
Moscow, St. Petersburgh, Varsovia and Saratoff,
where reservoirs have been built containing each
82.000,000 litres of refined oil.

From Bakhu to the island of Taman stretch the
vast petroleum beds of Caucasia, covering an extent
of 2,400 kilometres long by 16 wide.

The beds discovered here so far invariably follow
a southeast to northwesterly direction, in a straight
line and parallel to those in the south of Caucasia.
The greater part of the beds are being worked: Ter,
with 120 wells, gives an annual yield of 400 tons of
oil; while Tifles, with 25 wells, gives 2000 tons. At
Kunado, 40 wells give, on an average, 4000 tons.

On the island of Taman, all over the lower part of
Kouban, petroleum beds are numerous, and there is
much analogy between them and those of Pennsyl-
vania, the oil being found in strata of stone, in small
cavities, instead of as at Bakhu, in immense sheets
or natural reservoirs of great capacity.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there are

petroleum beds, although irregularly distributed,
8
— 8 —

under the whole length of the Caucasian hills. It is
not abundant in the centre, while the extremes are
incalculably rich, Throughout the length of the
beds, the petroleum is found at different levels, vary-
ing from 200 metres below the level of the sea, to
300 above it.

The actual value in Russia of a square metre of
petroleum ground is one pound sterling; so that cur
petroleum claims in Peru, which measure 40,000
Square metres each, would be worth, in the same
proportion, £40,000 per claim.

CHAPTER VI.
Transportation of Kerosene.

Nearly all the petroleum refined at Bakhu is dis-
posed of, in the form of kerosene, throughout the
Russian empire. To carry out this complicated
operation, there are only two routes: that of the
Caspian sea, and that of the river Volga, the latter
being 2400 miles long, and over which specially
constructed steamers run as far as Tsaritzin; while
the former goes via the Caspian sea to the ports of
the Black sea.

When work first began, transportation was effected
in wooden barrels, at enormous expense and
with endless difficulties, owing to the inuumerable
series of trans-shipments, and the high rates of
freight over the railways. .

Apart from all this, the refining companies con-
stantly suffered heavy losses from the very nature of
the barrels, their weakness and bad make.

The petroleum industry was on the verge of ruin,
when Messrs. Nobel Brothers, the largest refiners,
proposed to the Russian company that has the privi-
pT as

lege of navigation on the Caspian sea to construct a
certain number of tank steamers, on the most ad-
vantageous terms to that company; but as they re-
fused the proposal made by Nobel, the latter built
the first vessel of this kind on his own account. The
result was splendid, and a short time afterwards those
wealthy business men had at their disposal twelve
big steamers, of the same class, each capable of carry-
ing 750 tons of kerosene.

Induced by this example, and above all by the re-
sults, the other refiners in Bakhu commenced to
build steamers, and to-day this fleet in the Caspian
sea exceeds one hundred tank steamers. The opera—
tion of loading and unloading is simple in the ex-
treme.

The steamers fill their tanks by means of long
hose from the petroleum reservoirs at the Black City;
when loaded they cross the Caspian sea to the mouth
of the Volga river; but, as the bar of this river is
dangerous to vessels of deep draught, the oil has to
be trans-shipped to smaller vessels, with the aid of
hose and pumps. These cistern steamers easily run
down the river as far as Tzaritzin, 400 miles from
its mouth, to the first railway station. The voyage is
generally made in two days, and on the arrival of the
cisterns the oil is pumped into the big reservoirs on
land, from which it is sent to all the markets in
Russia.

The intrepid Messrs. Nobel, Bros., having ob-
tained this advantage, it was necessary to secure
another, which consisted in transporting the
petroleum over the railways in the same way as it
was done by the steamers, that is to say in tank-
cars, an improvement which Messrs. Nobel finally
brought about, building fifteen hundred of these
cars, which run, without interruption, over the im-
— 88 —

mense network of Russian railways; the loading and
trans-shipment being effected at night, the scene
being illuminated with the electric light.

In order to facilitate serving out the oil, large
reservoirs have been built on the banks of the Volga,
as well as at distant points, the former having a
capacity of 22.717,250, and the latter 162.755,510
litres,

The four great kerosene centres are: Moscow,
St. Petersburgh, Varsovia and Saratoff. Between
these, the Black Sea and Germany on the one side,
and the river Volga on the other, there are 21
stations of less importance. During the summer,
sixty trains, which start from the Volga, supply the
36 stations distributed over Russia in Europe,
Poland and Finland.

The Nobel Company does not sell oil by barrels,
but by tank-carloads, delivered at thestation de-
sired by the purchaser, where it is paid for cash down,
this big company not selling a drop of oil on credit.

In the central office at St. Petersburgh, telegraphic
despatches are recéived from the conductors of the
trains, the positions of which are indicated with little
red flags on the great map of Russia; so that during
the whole year, the positions of the sixty oil trains
running over the lines can be known in an instant—
by a coup d’eutl as it were—by the Manager of the
Company.

The tank- cars generally contain ten tons, twenty
five cars making a train. Each wagon is filled or
emptied in three minutes and a half, and the whole
train in an hour.
—_ 39 —

CHAPTER VII.

Petroleum Worship.

The history of petroleum in Russia is extremely
curious, for, in remote ages, it was the firmly estab-
lished religion of various sects.

There can be no doubt but that Fire-worship, of
which Zoroastro, according to some, was the founder,
and, according to others, the restorer, sprang into
existence at Bakhu.

The aspect of the island of Aspheron, crowned
with fire, illuminating at night the waters of the
Caspian sea and the bare country around it, was
more than sufficient to excite the imagination of the
superstitious orientals.

We must not therefore be surprised if they took
for a divine manifestation a physical phenomenon,
unknown before, and which, at that epoch, nobody
was able to explain.

In the time of Cyrus, the followers of Zoroastro
were already very numerous, and every year they
went to Bakhu, in great caravans, to prostrate them-
selves in the temple, on the altars of which burned
the eternal fire. These long pilgrimages lasted until the
day Heraclites invaded Persia, and, giving himself
out as a christian king, extinguished the sacred fire,
destroyed the temple, and dispersed its priests. This
is recorded by Gibbon in his work “Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire”. This religion lasted 2,000
years. :

Twelve years later Persia was conquered by the
Arabs. The conquerors obliged the adorers of the
— 90 —

eternal fire to adopt Islamism: many submitted, but
the greater part emigrated to India, in order not to
accept the new religion, and formed the sect called
Parsis.

Until the beginning of the twelfth century Bakhu
was visited as the birthplace of the sacred element.

The phenomenon that gave rise to the formation
of the religious sect in question was no other than
the column of petroleura which burned constantly,
while the ground around it, saturated with the oil,
formed a perfect sea of fire.

In the thirteenth century, Marco Polo wrote upon
the medicinal properties of this substance, which
was eagerly collected by all the inhabitants of the
neighboring country.

When Peter the Great, in search of conquest,
proposed to make the Caspian sea a Russian lake,
lie directed all his efforts against Bakhu, the wealth
of which his eagle eye had been able to appreciate.
After its annexation to the Empire in 1723, he gave
special orders to have petroleum extracted and sent
to Russia via the Volga.

An Englishman, Jonas Hanway, entrusted by his
government with a special mission to the shores of
the Caspian sea, visited Bakhu in 1754, and was the
first to describe the richness of those petroleum beds,
and the uses to which the oil was put by the natives,
asserting, in his famous book, that petroleum was an
excellent remedy against stone, affections of the
chest, and pains in the head.

Until a few years ago, three priests officiated in
the temple of the eternal fire, two of whom died of
old age, and the third was murdered. A refinery was
then established on the site of the temple, and it
turns to profitable account the petroleum aud natu-
ral gas that escape from the wells.
— 91 —

Petroleum, as far as its uses are concerned, was
perfectly well known in ancient days, and is as old
as the world.

The asphalt lake, the Dead Sea, is nothing more
than an eruption of petroleum, and some authors
believe that that eruption caused the destruction by
fire of ancient oriental cities.

It is the same substance as the Egyptians call
balsam of muntmies, which was taken from the Red
Sea, near Suez, and which they employed to embalm
their dead, covering them with a winding sheet
soaked in oil. Even to-day, notwithstanding the
forty centuries that have passed, the imperial mum-
mies discovered in Egypt, preserve the pungent
odor of petroleum.

The cement employed in the walls of Nineveh
and Babylon is a composition of which petroleum
forms a large proportion. It was taken then from
the beds at Is, 180 kilometres from the last mention-
ed city, which beds also attracted the attention of
Alexander and Trajanus. In the building of all the
monuments erected by the latter,a cement was
emplcyed identical with that used in the walls of
Nineveh, petroleum forming the greater part of it;
and it is the same as that employed in the construc-
tion of the large cities on the banks of the Euphra-
tes.

Herodotus speaks of the mineral oil of Zazin, the
modern Zante of the Ionian sea.

Plutarch describes a sea of fire near Ecbatana; and
Pliny, Diodorus, and Dioscoridus mention, in their
works, the wells of Agrigante, from which oil was
extracted that was burned in the lamps of Sicily,
before the ruin of Pompey and Herculand.

Italy used crude petroleum for illuminating pur-
poses for many centuries.
= (92; =

The mineral oil has been known, under different
names, for centuries. It is found distributed all over
the face of the globe. Its extraction 1s not always
easy, as it is found at agreat depth from the surface
of the earth; but in all latitudes and in all places,
when it can be got at, it is used to great advantage.

It is light, heat and fortune. ;

° 1t has dethroned gold, and it is the most terrible
enemy of coal. Coal is tired after its long pilgrimage
on earth, during so many centuries, and must, in the
end, yield to its rival.

CHAPTER VIII.
Monopoly.

Until afew years ago, in Russia, where the form
of government, absorbing and despotic as it is, is so
favorable to monopolies, the government had mono-
polised the petroleum industry. It was declared
free in 1872, and since exonerated from all taxes or
duties, present or future, the trade at that time
amounting to 117,000 roubles ($. 87,000 gold) per
annum,

In this respect, a well-known French writer, in
treating of this subject, expresses himself thus:

“Tt is a fatal law, in everything and everywhere,
that monopoly kills the industry it governs.

“Bakhu, the great petroleum centre of Russia,
was not exempt from the consequences of that sys-
tem.

“Although the suppression of the monopoly dates
from the year 1872, a heavy duty burdened the pro-
duct of the wells until 1874, and it was from the
date of its abolition that the development of the
— 98 —

great industry began, which is called upon to con-
vert that far-off corner of the Caspian sea into one of
the most powerful commercial centres of the world.

“A few figures will suffice to prove our assertion.

Tons.
“In 1872, when the petroleum
industry was declared free, the
Output PET ANNU WAS .c0.cscckeassesennesenoe 24,800
“When the duty was sup-
pressed If TEACH Ede ccsaneu ss vesi cmnvcane ves 242,000

“And since 1879 it has risen to...........800,000

“The number of wells increased in the same
proportion. In 1872 there were only two wells;
while in 1879 there were 101, and in 1883 as many
as 400 were opened.

“The complete liberty of the industry, and its
exoneration from all duties or taxes, has assured the
future of the petroleum industry in Caucasia for-
ever.”

Until 1883, in order to reach the heart of the
Empire and approach the ports of Europe, the
liquid combustible had to traverse more than ¢wo
thousand miles, going up the Volga in special
steamers; whereas to-day, with the termination of
the Trans-Caspian railway, which was brought about
by the liberty of the petroleum industry, 560 miles
are economised, and the markets of the world open-
ed to the products of the Russian Empire.
PART THE THIRD.

CHAPTER I.

Screntefic Aspect, Origen and Chemical Compo-
sition of Petroleum.

Very little has been written on this important

subject: a little manual in Germany; a good book
containing a practical study of the industry, pub-

lished in Philadelphia in 1887 by Benjamin J. Crew;
and two which have been published in France, ‘the
better of them being in our opinion, that published
in Paris, by M. Hué, in 1885.

From this book we take, entire, the technical part
referring to petroleum, which is the subject of this
chapter, and which we have translated literally from
the French.

Petroleum, which the Romans called dztumen,
owes its name to two latin words: petra, stone;
oleum, oil—i.e. stone-oil. The abbreviation and
— 96 —

union of both, in latin countries, has given the word
petroleum. : 2

It was already known to scientific men in the XV
and XVI centuries by that name.

In North America, it is also called petroleum.
In Caucasia it is known as xaphtha: and in Asia it
preserves its former name of bitumen.

Crude petroleum is a dark, greasy, viscious and
opaque liquid; it has a strong smell, very pungent,
and similar to heated bitumen. :

It is composed of different hydro-carbonides, con-
taining in solution parafine and asphalt. ;

Lighter than water, it distils without undergoing
any change, but becomes limpid and colorless. It
is in this state that it is handed over to commerce,
as kerosene.

Chemical analysis reveals the presence of several
substances in petroleum, their proportion varying
sensibly, according to the spot it is taken from, and
above all the depth of the bed. These substances
are:

Light oils (illuminating),

Heavy oils (lubricating),

Parafine,

Asphalt, and

Residue (combustible). .

At first sight it would appear that, knowing
exactly the elements of which petroleum is compos-
ed, science should be able to formulate the correct
theory of its origin, nature and formation; but, on
the contrary, up tillto-day, nothing certain can be
affirmed, notwithstanding the serious investigations
of geologists and chemists; and absolute obscurity
prevails respecting this phenomenon, which has
given rise to the most contradictory opinions.

According to many geologists, it is a liquid secre-
ee OF aed

ted by seams of coal, and forced above ground by
the pressure of its gases. According to others, who
believe the contrary, it is affirmed that coal is a pro-
duct or transformation of petroleum.

In support of these theories, the partisans of both
of them cite the indentity or similarity between the
mineral oil and the oil obtained by the distillation
of coal; but to this it is answered that in many
regions where petroleum exists it is not accom-
panied by coal, and that the stratum in which oil is
found in greatest abundance is below the coal-beds,
while, in many places, it even takes a diametrically
opposite direction. In the districtsin Pennsylvania,
where oil is found most abundant, it happens to be
met with outside of the range of the coal deposits.

According to Reichenbach, petroleum is the tur-
pentine of the pines of the corresponding geological
epoch. M. Lesquerent believes it to be nothing
more than coal in a liquid state, and, like the latter,
a slow decomposition of vegetable matter, especially
marine plants of cellular texture.

The gas produced by the fermentation of this
vegetable matter remains enclosed with the oil in
the cavities of the rocks, and the salt water, which
is always found with the gas and the mineral oil, is
nothing more than the remains of the sea water
which covers the part where the fucozdes abounded.
Thus, when the drill pierces the stratum or rock
where the petroleum is found, we see the oil mixed
with gas and salt water issue forth like water from
an artesian well.

The theory of the celebrated botanist is accepted
by Bischof, and it is not far off from the opinion
given by Daubrée, who expresses himself as follows:

“Although petroleum has been studied in different
places, until to-day its origin has not been discovered
— 98 —

with any degree of certainty. It is generally sup-
posed that it is the result of the decomposition of
marine plants and of animals that existed on the
banks of the primitive seas. This hypothesis explains
the presence of salt water and salt gema, the result
of the sea water and organic remains having been
shut up in the same cavities.” ; :

“A certain number of geologists, basing their
opinions on the similarity frequently observed be-
tween the different strata of salt, sulphur and bitu-
men so often found in connection with the phenomena
of dislocation, give petroleum a purely volcanic origin.

This theory has been accepted by Dufresnoy,
Newbury and other scientific men.

Amongst all these authorities, at the time of the
first operations in the petroleum fields of the United
States, when everybody was giving an opinion as to
the origin of mineral oil, there was not wanting a
rather learned American who affirmed, with incredi-
ble effrontery, that petroleum was simply the urine of *
whales, deposited at the North Pole, and conducted
to Pennsylvania through underground passages.

By way of throwing more light on the subject, we
will cite the opinion of the Russian chemist Mendi-
leef.

_ He presupposes the existence in the bosom of the
earth of enormous masses of iron mixed with inor-
ganic coal. Water rising to the surface comes into
contact with the molten iron and is decomposed; the
oxygen then combines with the iron, while the hy-
drogen, under the influence of heat and pressure,
combines with the coal, and forms hydro-carbonate
of petroleum. ,

Be it as it may, the fact is that specialists have en-
trenched themselves behind the theory that petroleam
is the result of the decomposition or fermentation of
— 99 —

vegetable and animal matter, through the agency of
a phenomenon analogous to that to which the
formation of coal is ascribed. There can be no
doubt that as a consequence of this decomposition,
certain volatile hydro-carbonides are formed, such as
the gas of the swamps, giving petroleum those hy-
brid qualities which so greatly characterise it. :

Another question of extraordinary importance,
and which affects the petroleum industry in the
highest degree, has presented itself at different times,
and which is whether the formation of mineral oil,
whatever may be its origin, can or can not be con-
sidered as a product of past centuries, or does it
continue to be formed? In the latter case, the sup-
ply would be inexhaustable.

It is very difficult to decide this question. Never-
theless, there are reasons for believing that the exis-
tence of petroleum is not limited to the deposits
discovered so far, and that Nature, which never
paralizes her work of creation, is continually distill-
ing further quantities of the precious liquid.

This opinion is confirmed by the fact that the
wells which have become exhausted, when all their
oilhad been pumped out, have, after remaining idle
a certain time, again produced oil in abundance.

Furthermore, we have the example of the wells
of Birmania, Bakhu and Trinidad, which have yield-
ed oil in abundance for many centuries, without the
supply being diminished.

; CHAPTER II.
Where Petroleum ts Found.

As only negative results have been given by the
investigations made, up to the present time, regard-
ing the origin and formation of petroleum, we must,
— 100 —

for the moment, look to the fields where it is found,
for a rule which will allow us to discover, with any
degree of certainty, the exact position of the de-
posits. ah,

In many places, the existence of the oil is not
manifested on the surface in any way, either by
the presence of the liquid itself, or by the emission of
gases. .

The study of the fields that are being worked
give results so diametrically opposed to each other,
that it has been found necessary to abandon the
attempt to find any indication of the presence of
petroleum in the nature or geological formation of a
given region. ‘

This is just the reverse of what happens with
many mineral substances, more especially with coal,
which exists in certain well defined strata, while the
liquid hydrogen is found in nearly all of them, with-
out exception.

In Kentucky and Tennesse, petroleum is found
in the lower silurean strata, The abundant supply
in West Canada, belong to the lower devonian
strata. The richest deposits in Western Pennsyl-
vania belong to the upper devonian strata. Those
of Virginia to the upper coal strata. In Connecti-
cut and North Carolina, petroleum is found in the
fissures of rocks.

The petroleum of Colorado and Utah is found
amongst the lignites of cretaceous formations; and,
finally, petroleum in California is found in forma-
tions belonging to the tertiary period.

Petroleum therefore runs through the geological
scale, and is found in each one of its degrees. But
we must take into account that in the richest petro-
leum fields of North America, the stratifications are
all of the most ancient formation.
— 101 —

In Europe, Asia and Africa, it is just the reverse,
Liquid mineral hydro-carbonides are found especially
in tertiary formations. In Alsatia, Pechelbronn and
Schwabviller, petroleum is found in tertiary forma-
tions. It isalso found, under the same conditions,
in Gabian and Herault. The most highly prized
oil at Hannover is found in neocomic and jurasic
strata. In Eastern Caucasia and coast of the Cas-
pian sea, liquid hydro-carbonide is found in tertiary
formations; and the same thing occurs in Galicia,
Transylvania, Hungary, Birmania, Syria, Africa, and
the coast of the Red Sea.

Throughout the Old World, where there is much
more petroleum than inthe New, the deposits of
this oil are found in tertiary formations.

Nevertheless, whatever may be the nature of the
soil which is bored through in order to reach the
stratum, the oil is invariably found in sandstone.

Sometimes the strata are impregnated with the
oil, and at others it is hidden in deep cavities, form-
ing deposits or reservoirs, more or less extensive.

The thickness of the petroliferous strata, as well
as the distance between them, areas irregular as the
nature of sandstone itself. Some are dark, fine-
grained and smooth, and others light yellow, coarse
grained and very porous.

It is owing to these differences that we find such
great variety in quality, density, color and consis-
tency of the oil.

Petroleum, taken from shallow wells, rising of its
own accord to the surface and issuing from sand or
porous clay, is heavy, dark-coloured, and similar to
coal tar; the oil from deep wells, like those of
Pennsylvannia, some of which are ¢wo thousand
feet deep, are much lighter in colour and in weight;

it may be considered as having been distilled or
10
— 102 —

purified by the heat of the earth, the heat of which
is greater the deeper the strata. This is one of the
great advantages of :American petroleum, which con-
tains from 70 to 75 per cent of light or illuminating
oil.

To recapitulate: petroleum is not distributed over
the sub-soil in the form of lakes, ponds or streams,
but in the cavities and fissures in the rock, which it
saturates and impregnates, mixed with gases and
salt water. These substances are found in the order
of their specific weights: the water lowest; on the
top of it, the oil; and the gas compressed between it
and sides of the rock.

These reservoirs, where the oil is found, are gene-
rally discovered in an oblique position. The drill may
pierce, indifferently, the part containing the water,
the oil, or the gas.

In the first case, the liquids, compressed through
the pressure of the gases, are forced violently to the
mouth of the well, when it is called either a flowing
or spouting well.

If, on the other hand, the drill strikes the point
where the gas is found, the latter issues in abun-
dance, and it is necessary then to employ pumps, to
bring the oil to the surface, and the well is called a
pumping well.

The size of the cavities containing petroleum is
altogether unknown; and it is also impossible to
estimate their importance or duration.

A well, at a certain point, may produce a barrel
of oil a day, while another, opened at a short distance
from it, three or four thousand barrels every twenty-

four hours. The yield of some may not be dimini-
‘shed for years, while others suddenly stop giving oil,

-or they are exhausted after being worked for a few
weeks.
— 168 —

In North America it frequently happens that the
wells on which the greatest hopes were founded,
dried up within a short time, and caused the loss of
fortunes. _It is true, however, that in that country,
the petroleum industry is a speculative one.

Considerable sums of money have been spent in
sinking wells at the bottom of which not a drop of
oil has been found. These the Americans call dry
holes, At other times, the drill perforatesthe stratum
atthe very beginning, and the oil rushes out in torr-
ents, making their fortunate owners rich in a few
hours.

Millions of dollars have disappeared in fruitless
explorations, and according to the exaggerated say-
ing of oil men, the oil fields of Pennsylvania have
swallowed up more money than they ever produced,

The following is a table showing the number of
wells sunk which have and have not given oil:

 

 

 

Wells opened. With oil. Without oil.
1876 2.319 329
1877 4.056 657
1878 2.988 373
1879 2.798 141
1880 4,203 143
1881 3.848 167
1882 3.263 178
1883 3.949 263
1884 5.195 256

 

 

28.619 2.507
— 104 —

CHAPTER MUI.
Refinement.

To refine petroleum means to separate from it the
volatile and inflammable substances which it con-
tains: to separate the light from the heavy oils and
parafine is to make of this viscious, dark, greasy, and
extremely inflammable and dangerous substance, a
transparent, inoffensive liquid, appropriate for burn-
ing in lamps, and giving an intense and brilliant light.

The separation of the different substances which
it contains is effected by a series of special distilla-
tions, which give the different products that daily
receive new industrial applications.

Petroleum on leaving the wells in deposited in
large retorts and is: progressively submitted toa
temperature of 400°.

In order to avoid the ignition of the gases given
forth during the operation, instead of heating it by
fire direct, steam is employed.

By the action of the heat, raised from 15° to 180°
Centigrade, the light or volatile parts are given off in
the form of gas, which passes to the condensers and
is condensed into different liquid hydro-carbonides,
known to commerce as naphthas or essences of pe-
troleum. Their density varies from 0.600 to 0.780.
At from 180° to 250° C., light or illuminating oils
are found, known as photogene or kerosene, the
density of which should be 0.800 to 0.820.

The temperature may be gradually raised to 400°,
when the heavy oils are obtained, with a density of
0.840, and which are employed as lubricating oils
for machinery. Throughout this operation, para-
— 105 —

fine is distilled and deposited in large subterranean
reservoirs, where it is congealed, at a low tempera-
ture.

Once it is refined, there remains at the bottom of
the retorts a substance called coke, or a_ residue,
which is employed as one of the best classes of fuel
known up till the present time.

Five products are obtained by refining petroleum,
viz.,

Essence of petroleum,
Kerosene,

Heavy oil,

Parafine, and

Coke.

Essence of petroleum or naphtha. This first pu-
rified product appears in the form of a transparent
colorless liquid, reflecting certain violet hues. It is
extremely volatile, and, exposed to the air, eva-
porates rapidly, without leaving any residue.

By the distillation of essence of petroleum, the
following products are obtained:

1* Petroleum ether or rigolene. A substance so
volatile that, at a normal temperature, it makes the
thermometer fall to 28° 54. It is employed asa
dissolvent of resins, and in surgery as a_ local anzs-
thetic.

2" Gasoline. This is employed in the extraction
of vegetable oils, the cleaning of wool, and the fa-
brication of various gases.

3" Benzine. Benzine is employed to take the
grease out of woven materials, to dissolve caoutchouc
and gutta-percha, and in the manufacture of certain
varnishes,

4%. Wfrneral essence. This substance burns in spe-
cially constructed lamps, and is employed in the
— 106 — .

manufacture of gas, such as air gas and instantaneous
gas.

5" Artificial turpentine. A number of colours
are obtained from this, and it also replaces essence
of turpentine.

Photogene or kerosene. This is the second product
obtained by the distillation of crude petroleum, and
it has to be submitted to a special operation before
it can be employed as illuminating oil. It is purified
in the following manner: it is first cleansed with
plenty of water, and afterwards with dilute sulphuric
acid, in order to remove from it all smell, as well as
any tar that may have remained behind, which ope-
ration is continued until it remains colourless. An
alcali is then applied, destined to neutralise the sul-
phuric acid, when it may safely be delivered to
commerce. Nevertheless, some refiners, more scru-
pulous than the rest, submit it to a further operation,
which consists in subjecting it to a high temperature,
until the last particle of benzine disappears.

Once the kerosene is refined, which we improperly
call petroleum oil, it is absolutely safe, and may be
employed with impunity. A lighted match thrown
into this oil, so far from igniting the oil, is itself put
out. The dangerous accidents attributed to petro-
leum, should rather be attributed to the mineral
essence, or essence of petroleum, which is, as we
have shown, the product of the distillation of subs-
tances essentially explosive and volatile, as well as
to imperfectly refined petroleum, handed over to
commerce before separating from it the dangerous
products it contains.

It isa very easy mater to ascertain the good quality
of the oil. Is should mark on the gauge 0.800, or at
least 0.790. If it shows a density inferior to this, its
use is dangerous. In the absence of a gauge, a litre
— 107 —

of oil may be weighed, and its use will be unattend-
ed with danger if it weighs 800 grammes, but not
if it weighs less.

The point of ignition of refined petroleum varies
between 35° and 45°. Care must be taken not to
expose the liquid to a higher temperature because
then it recuperates part of its inflammable proper-
ties, and may explode on contact with fire.

To prove the safety of refined oil North Ame-
ricans make the following experiment: they mix a
glass of the oil with hot water, at a temperature of
5° C, they then apply a lighted match, and if the
petroleum does not ignite on contact with it, the oil
is of good quality.

ffeavy oils. These, which constitute the third
product of petroleum during the operation of refining
it, are obtained at a temperature of 280° to 400°,
and may be classified as follows:

1* Solar, an inferior quality of kerosene, with a
density of 0.820. It has a strong smell, a darker co-
lor, and gives an opaque light. This oil is obtained
by submitting the heavy oil to distillation like crude
petroleum. It yields 50°, ,.

2 Parafine or Belmontine. Parafine in a liquid
state, is a transparent and colorless substance, and in
a solid state, it resembles alabaster in whiteness. It
liquifies at 50°, evaporises at 400° undergoing partial
decomposition. Soluble in ether, benzine and
sulphide of carbon, it mixes perfectly with stearine,
sperm, wax and resins. Extracted in the manner we
have detailed, and afterwards congealed at a low
temperature, parafine is subjected to great pressure.
The liquid which it gives off is a highly appreciated
lubricant, while parafine remains in the press in the
form of a dry white block.

England imports immense quantities from Ran-
== 160

goon in order to extract parafine oil, employing the
residue in the manufacture of extremely fine candles.

In Caucasia parafine is employed preferently, it
being distilled into large receptacles, and giving
60°/, of parafine and 8 °/, of oil. ;

Parafine, called crude parafine, reheated with
naphtha, and submitted to a pressure of three atmos-
pheres, gives a crystalised product, soluble at 56°, of
little value. It is soldin India as chewing gum, on
account of the use it is put to by the natives of the
country, a single merchant in Bangor distilling
75,000 pounds per annum.

Parafine has been given many industrial applica-
tions.

Apart from what is extracted from refined petro-
leum, there is another kind, distilled in the bowels
of the earth, and called ozofesz¢e, a kind of mineral
wax, found in the vicinity of the petroleum fields of
Galicia, near Bovislaw, where it is worked on a vast
scale, as an article of much importance.

Ozokesite has the yellow color of honey, is trans-
parent, and has the same consistency as honey.
There is another kind, of a blackish hue, containing
a great deal of petroleum. The formation of this
substance is attributed to the oxidation and conden-
sation of hydro-carbonides of petroleum

Melted and separated from the earthy matters it
contains, ozokesite is used in the manufacture of
artificial wax, employed, above all, in Russia, in
the the manufacture of candles

Ozokesite when distilled, gives:

Benztne, Zito 8.
, Naphtha, 15 to 20°/°
Heavy ort, 15 to 20 °/,
Coke, 10 to 20 °/,
Paratine, 36 to 50 °/, >

DOD >
— 109 —

3rd. Vaselene. This new substance was discover-
ed in North America in 1873, and was sold under
the name of Petroleum Jelly; it was under this name
that it figured in the great Exhibition of 1876.

Vaseline is a pale yellow transparent substance,
of the consistency of gelatine. It has no taste nor
color, nor does it volatilise at an ordinary tempera-
ture. It meltsat 35°C. Its density is 0.840. It is
soluble in water, and little soluble in alcohol, al-
though it dissolves in ether immediately. In the
liquid state, it mixes with greasy substances, oils and
glycerine. Itisobtained by evaporating, in the air,
the heavy oils which are the result of the refine-
ment of petroleum, and which still contain some
parafine.

Some people confound vaseline with cosmezne, both
being of common origin.

4th. Lubricating of. This is athick and greasy
substance, similar to tar. It is generally employed
to lubricate machinery, and its use, on account of
the good results it has given, has become general.

5th. Zar. When the process of distillation of
the petroleum is finished, there remains, at the bot-
tom of the retort, a kind of tar, from which another
‘and very fine lubricating oil can be obtained. This
tar is given various applications, such as fuel, var-
nish for walls (preserving them from damp) and also
as a powerful disinfectant.

6th. Coke. This is the name given to the solid
product remaining after the distillation is completed,
and is the residue left after the manufacture of pet-
roleum gas. It is the best fuel known.

11
— 110 =

TABLE SHOWING THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND CALORIC
POWER OF PETROLEUM IN THE THREE PETROLEUM
REGIONS OF THE WORLD.

Locality of the fields, Specific Gravity. Caloric Power.

Pert (Piura)..cscuss se sesesdeerees 8.480 13.672

United States and other Places.

W litte Oakes... ics. nas aeereveveneenewess 0.873 10,180
Burning Spngs....ccscssecnsencnves 8.412 10,213
Oil Greek... cis cacsedacssossesaniennens 0.816 9.963
QUO sa isecces cksseesacinscmavey -mamnonae 0.887 10.399
Pranklint cc .ccsecorssssesersectssmvrnwna 0.886 10.672
Pennsylvania. sssivsses .0ees8 ss 0 seeeeee 0.820 8.771
Heavy Gas Assoiation..........000+ 1.044 8.916
Parti .csnconscbes cies <inncsdavsavvoreneen 0.786 10.121
Java Daudang, :..c0sscss.sssse- sieen 0.923 10.831
Jaret JibOdaS cae asvee verse eusebense 0.823 9.593
Java Communo Gogor..........+6 0.972 10.183
BCSheDVOM spaxens siden sus snemercnniee 0.912 9.708

ae CTUCU saGnessaetananaarerseosemarces 0.892 10.020
Schia) WCWMer cg sisexensa ccs evans 0.861 10.458
GANGS ciecetisscrsnasspe nanacanseaeeeaes 0.870 10.005
From West Galicia....cccsssssese 0.885 10.231
PAO MGS che ane ag ste Senasateicasascacates 0.911 9.046
POU ic ck seitoa saan nonoeniweanauwerese 0,870 9.950
Mount Marjan.............0002+++ 0.985 10.081

Russia.

DAU cantons anmutanees See senndarians 0.882 11.370
Caucasia . Linumpncost eases taveaieee 0928 11.000
Transcaspian Region. Daccsesesithan'es 0.987 11.060

scisivnlsslcvinieah wa aeabena sess adlgt 0.884 11.660
a ee rr re 0.938 11.200
- ill —

The proportion of kerosene found in the petro-
leum of the three petroleum regions of the world is

as follows:
Peru. North America. Rassia
65 to 70 °/,...0.. 70 to 75 °/5...4..25 to 30 °/,

In medicine and pharmacy, petroleum has many
important applications, .more especially in homceo-
pathy.

It is employed, with magnificent results, in cuta-
neous affections. In cases of quinsy, the throat is
painted with it. It rapidly heals all wounds, and,
taken in doses of one drop, is excellent for asthma
and chronic bronchitis. Taken in greater doses it
isa violent poison. Its external application for the
relief of rheumatic pains is attended with good re-
sults, and it is, in general, applicable to all complaints
for which phenic acid is receipted.

In pharmacy it is known as cosmeline, vaseline
and petroline.

With regard to its applications in other branches
of industry, these are very numerous, especially as a
caloric force.

A North American engineer has conceived the
idea of employing it, with an apparatus of his own
invention, as a means of coast defense, setting large
quantities of it on fire on the surface of the sea, and
through which it would be impossible for the
enemy’s ships to sail
PART THE FOURTH.

CHAPTER I.

Combustible Ovl,

As we did not dwell extensively enough, in the
third chapter of the first part of this book, on this
new fuel, which is the most important application
petroleum has received, we will enter into a brief
study of it here.

The name of coke is given to the so/rd matter that
remains in the bottom of the retorts, as we have al-
ready said in the last chapter, once the distillation of
petroleum is completely finished. Coke was con-
sidered, for a long time, completely useless, and in
the first refineries which were established, it was
thrown away, as a product of no value nor import-
ance.

Once tried as fuel, it proved to be the best fuel
— 114 —

known, and the results obtained were so satisfactory,
that its use became general, in all places where pe-
troleum was found, as fuel for steam engines.

From this important discovery it was deduced
that not only the sold matter, but also the oil in a
liquid state, might be employed with good results as
fuel for all steam engines.

France, England and North America were greatly
preoccupied with the subject, in their endeavors to
arrive at a satisfactory solution of the problem.
Different commissions were entrusted with its study,
and, after making many experiments, they decided
that, employed in equal quantities, petroleum gave
three times as much heat as coal. The French com-
mission, in their experiments, obtained in 17
minutes, with the combustion of 1.92 kilogrammes
of petroleum, a steam pressure equal to that pro-
duced in 30 minutes by 4.23 kilogrammes of coal.
The fire was brought to its greatest intensity in a
minute and a half, and was extinguished in the same
length of time.

It was then that M. Saint-Claire-Deville, in com-
pany with M. Dieudonné, made several experiments
with the locomotives of the state railways, and,
seconded by M. Depuy of Lome, repeated them on
board a man-of-war. The results showed that coal
could be replaced with petroleum. This innovation
met with a certain amount of resistance on the part
of scientific men, who did not look upon any of the
experiments seriously.

At that time, the employment of petroleum as
fuel looked so impracticable, that one of the men
who have written most about American industries,
and especially about petroleum, Mr. Simonin, ac-
knowledging the great advantages of the oil, affirm-
ed: “it is only in very special cases that it may be
— 115 —

predicted that petroleum will one day advantageous-
supplant coal.”

At the same time (1869), a German mechanic
made some experiments in a refinery at Bakhu.
After employing different apparatus invented by
him, he eventually adopted a kind of sieve, through
which the petroleum passed and was slowly burnt.

In the meantime, the Russians, who wanted to
utilise petroleum for their men- of-war and mer-
chant marine, under the influence and direction of
the admiralty and a scientific committee, ordered a
few government engineers to study the subject
seriously, and they shortly afterwards submitted
several important projects.

The object sought to be attained was to find an
apparatus something like a pulverizer, that would
throw the petroleum into the furnaces in the form
of rain or spray.

Months after the commission was appointed, an
Englishman and a Russian disputed the honor of
the discovery, and, although the new apparatus was a
step in advance, the problem was not considered sol-
ved from a practinal point of view.

Kamenski, a Russian government engineer in
Bakhu, secretly obtained the plans of the apparatus
that M. Saint-Claire Deville had invented a year be-
fore, and successfully applied it to an imperial yacht
of 70 horse-power. Kamenski modified the appara-
tus somewhat, and its invention was attributed to
him; but it did not give satisfactory results.

In the face of these fruitless attempts, the Rus-
sian steamship companies sent engineers to the prin-
cipal European centres, where it was eagerly en-
deavoured to solve the petroleum problem. Lenz
went to London, where he put himself in contact
with Aydon, the inventor of an apparatus, and after-
— 116 —

wards, in Paris, with Mr. Deville. The French
apparatus was adopted by Lenz, who believed to be
the more perfect of the two, but, when it was tried
by himself on board the Devjavzn, it did not work
at all. He then modified it on Aydon’s plan, and
obtained the best results.

It was in 1872 that Lenz, after making many
modifications in the apparatus, too long to enumerate,
succeeded in inventing one that satisfactorily solved
the problem. and this is the apparatus used since
that time, and employed to-day, in all the steamers
that sail in Russian seas and rivers.

Having achieved this great success, Lenz endea-
voured to apply the apparatus to locomotives on
railways; but the result was not complete, for it was
claimed that his system deteriorated the tubes and
did not distribute the heat equally. Engineer
Brand then invented a new apparatus without this
grave inconvenience, which is the same as is used in
all Russian locomotives, as well as on locomotives
of the Arequipa, Puno and Cuzco, and Central
Railways in Peru.

Theoretically, a furnace consuming petroleum
should consume a ton of liquid to two of coal; but,
in practice, in well constructed furnaces, the econo-
my is much greater, and may be calculated as one to
three. The result therefore cannot be more satis-
factory, looking, in the first place, at the reduced
bulk, and, in the second place, at the economy in
the cost. In France, for example, according to M.
Hué, a ton of residue is worth ten francs, while a
ton of coal costs thirty.
-— 17 —
CHAPTER II.

Conference tn London, February 13th, 1891

For the better information of readers on this im-
portant subject, we give, entire, the speeches made
at the conference in London, in 1891, by Captain
Coxmichael and the Chairman of the conference,
both of which we take from the London Shipping
Gazette and Lloyd's List.

Captain Carmichael said:

The subject of liquid fuel in steamers is not a new
one; boats have been run with it on the Caspian for
several years. In 1876 a boat called Supe was run
with it on the coast of Peru, under the superinten-
dence of Mr. Bryce Douglas, of the N. A, andC.
Co. Boats have run with it in England, on the Thames
the Wear, and other rivers; but, partly owing to the
timidity of owners to adopt it, the use of oil fuel
has not been much taken up by steamship owners.
Now, however, the aspect of affairs is changing.
Steamer owners that formerly were either owners of
sailing ships, retired captains, or businees men pure
and simple, are nowadays men who acquire a tech-
nical knowledge of the working cf their steamers
in all departments, and it is generally a bad specula-
tion for either a captain or engineer to try and per-
suade them they don’t know all about it. I don’t
intend to waste your time by a long introductory
address on general subjects, as I do not wish you to
go to sleep. I mean however, to try and explain to
you, as shortly as possible, how petroleum is used
for fuel; how I have seen it fired in an ocean-going
steamer for many months, and why I advocate it so
atrongly; also my own personal experience and ob-

12
— 118 —

servation, while in command of a steamer burning it:
after which I propose to ilustrate its usefulness from
a commercial point of view, together with its advan-
tages over coal for torpedo-boats, and men-of-war
generally; and where obtainable, its advantages for
merchant steamers, especially for passenger boats.
First of all, therefore, I shall describe the fuel used
so far with perfect success, after which I shall de-
scribe the method of using it. In Russia it is called
“Astacki’; in England and America it is generally
known as “Residuum”. It is the residue of crude
petroleum when all the volatile or lighter oils are
distilled from it: it is perfectly non-inflammable un-
til heated to 350 deg. and consequently quite safe to
use and carry in large quantities; it has no smell, in
consequence of not giving off gas, until obtaining
the required heat; it does not deteriorate by being
stored in tanks, exposed to the air, nor does it eva-
porate perceptibly; it is not detrimental to metal
tanks, the inside shin of the vessel nor any of the
ordinary receptacles.

Method of using tt.

Its advantages from an engineering point. The
fires are completely under control of the engineer
on watch; he can regulate them so as to have any
pressure of steam he wants without being dependent
on his firemen; in heavy weather his steam is as much
under control as in fine weather; it does not need
any extraordinary attention, as when once the burn-
ers are set away properly, they will run without
any trouble for days, and maintain steam almost
without variation, providing the engines are kept in
the same gear, and feed water is used in the regular
way. This I have proved on several voyages during
the last eight months, notably on my first voyage
— 119 —

from Talara Bay, Peru, to Valparaiso, Chili, in the
steamship Ewo; the pressure on the boilers was
maintained steadily at 158 lb. for seven days, and
under most unfavourable circumstances, as in the
first place it was our first ocean trip with oil fuel,
and the ship was being driven full speed into a head
sea all the time. For the information of engineers,
of whom I see a rather formidable array, I must here
state that during that time, in order to compensate
for the loss of fresh water occasioned by the use of
the steam jet, together with the ordinary leakage
from glands, &c., the boilers used ten tons of
fresh water; the boilers being run up in Talara
Bay, showed on being tested in Valparaiso, after
the seven days’ run, a density of 7 cz. of salt; the
engines developed 450 i.h.p. The contraction and
expansion of the boilers by using oil fuel is reduced
to a minimun as in getting up steam you can do so
as gradually as you wish. There are no firedoors to
open every time you coal your furnaces; your fires
never need cleaning: consequently, that fruitful
cause of loss of steam, and contraction of the boiler
is done away with, and not having to force your fires
to regain what was lost in that operation you avoid
the consequent expansion of the boiler, thus the life
of a boiler fired with liquid fuel must from these
circumstances alone be longer than a boiler fired with
wood or coal. Liquid fuel, if applied with steam,
-dces not injury to the crown sheets, back conections,
or combustion chamber ofa boiler; tubes do not need
sweeping often—as with coal, for instance; the tubes
in the steamer I mentioned were only swept once in
six months, and even then were not dirty; there is
no dust or grit, as there are no ashes; therefore, the
saving of labour and paint are considerable items in
the engineers’ department.
— 120 -~

From the shipowner’s point of view.

Machinery that is kept clean will run longer than
machinery that is grinding grit. Boilers that are
always at the same temperature will last longer than
boilers that are subject to frequent variations of
temperature; therefore both machinery and boilers
will last longer using oil fuel than using coal. Fire-
men’s wages, in these days of Trades’Unions, are
somewhat of a grief to shipowners, and we hear of
many steamers being detained very unnecessarily
owing to the peculiar laws at present in force regard-
ing both seamen and firemen. If you can work a
steamer of 3,000 tons with only three firemen, it
should make the shipowner happy, but the great
advantage gained by the shipowner is that he can
carry his fuel in a space that is now wasted, namely;
the cellular bottom of the ship, or in ballast tanks,
the consequent carrying capacity of the ship being
increased by the space which was formerly taken up
by coal. As the consumption of oil,as compared
with coal, is (weight for weight) one half, or in
other words ten tons of coal are equal to five of oil
(these facts are taken from actual experience), it is
obvious that the storage of oil fuel can be made
much more compact and easy of access; the ship is
more speedily fuelled and you avoid port charges, by
being enabled to carry more fuel in proportion than
formerly. As an instance, we will go into figures;
say, a steamer of 2,200 tons gross register, with 750
i.h.p. uses 16 tons of coal per 24 hours on a voyage
of 105 days actual steaming, would consume 1,680
tons of coal, against 800 tons of oil. The cost of
the coal at, sav, 20s. a ton. for both outward and
— 121 —

homeward passage, which is rather a low average,
would be 16802, while 800 tons of oil at 40s. a
ton, which is rather a high average, would be 1,6002.
The wages of six stokers for coal would be 1122,
against the wages of three stokers for oil, 56; cargo
space gained 1.050 tons, which at 40s. a ton would
be a nett gain of 2,100, or a nett saving of 2,2362
per 105 days, or, roughly speaking 7,0002. per annum
Owners are, I know, sceptical as to figures and
theory generally, and will very naturally ask—Where
are we to get this fuel from? And if we make the
demand for it, will not the producers put the price
up? To these questions I would answer, that as pe-
troleum is known to exist in all parts of the habita-
ble globe, and as the laws of demand and supply
remain unaltered, it is hardly probable that compe-
tition would not bring this fuel within easy reach of
the commercial world. Experience has taught us
that both enterprise and capital were never wanting
where the capitalist can see a sound investment. Of
course there are certain expenses entailed by the
use of oil fuel; for instance, the furnaces would have
to be fittted for burning oil, the average expense
being about 802 per furnace. You would have to
make your side bunkers oil tight, and fit them with
the necessary connections, also some alterations
might have to be made about the ballast tank, a
small steam pump would have to be fitted, together
with a supply tank, and the necessary connections
for steam and oil. These expenses would be done
away with entirely, if the boat were originally built
for oil fuel, as in the boat I have just commanded.

Lts use for naval purposes.

For many reasons oil fuel is of more value to
— 122 —

torpedo boats and ships of war than it even is to
merchant steamers, being capable of such compact
storage; for you are able to utilise parts of the ship
that are now useless, with the additional advantage
of keping your fuel completely out of gun fire.
Again, a most important question arises, and one
which was asked in Parliament, but if | remember
rightly, very ably shuffled out of. ‘‘How are we to
fuel our-men-of-war at sea during a blockade?” To
either a marine engineer or a seaman the importance
of this question will present itself. Last summer’s
naval manoeuvres went to prove the difficulty, for
although, under exceptionally favourable circum-
stances, men-of-war were coaled at sea, the Admiralty
and all the naval officers who witnessed the opera-
ration know that this means of obtaining fuel could
not be depended on, and, besides, the modern man-
of-war is not constructed for rapid coaling. One of
two things would have to be done in the event of a
blockade; either the ships would have to be relieved,
or else they would have to be fuelled at sea. If the
former were adopted it would mean more ships
and more men; and if the latter it would mean
more coals, more men, more boats, and more fine
weather than we generally get. The reason I say
more coals is because no mention has been made of
the coals which went overboard when coaling at sea
was tried. The reason I mention more boats and
men is that I have always noticed that when such
operations are carried on in a seaway boats get
unaccountably damaged and have to lay up for re-
pairs, and it has generally been my experience also
that a certain number of men also needed repairs
about that time. Now with oil fuel the case is very
different; the large tank steamers of the present day
could always fuel the fleet, even in heavy weather.
— 123 —

For instance, if I were going to fuel a man-of-war
in bad weather, I should signal her to throw a rocket
line aboard me, and haul a hawser aboard from her
stern to my bows, in the usual manner described by
the Board of Trade rocket apparatus. Having the
hawser aboard and made fast, I should signal the
war-ship, “steam ahead slow,” and then let her
send aboard the tank on the hawser a line, to that
I secure my hose, which the man-of-war can heave
in, and when it is coupled up, I pump in the fuel at
any rate I wish, according to size of hose and power
of pump.

The hose, of course, should be secured to the
hawser by hanks, which would enable it to be
kept straight, besides being a great help in getting
it aboard again. Common canvas hose will do, as
residuum will not penetrate it, especially the seam-
less, double-ply woven hose. Of course, in fine
weather the operation could be made much more
simple and rapid, as you could have two or more
hose employed. The question was asked me by the
captain of the Chilian iron-clad Blanco Encalada,
“What would be the result if a live shell were to
penetrate a fuel tank, and explode?” I told him I
beleived it would be a bad job for the shell, as it
would put in out; but granted that it did explode.
it would not do as much harm as if it had exploded
in a coal bunker, because, in the event of a shell
exploding in the said coal bunker, each piece of coal
becomes a projectile; and if any men were in the
coal bunker at the time, it would make it lively for
the men. With oil, onthe contrary, it would produce
the same effect as if it exploded ina tank of water,
as the volume could not be brought up to the requi-
red temperature for explosion; besides, a man-of-war
or torpedo boat constructed to use oil fuel would
— 124 —

have her tanks completely out of gun-fire, with the
advantage of being able to utilise the space now
occupied by coal bunkers for other purposes. Again,
the heat in the stoke-hole of an oil steamer is redu-
ced to a minimum, and closed stoke-holes and fixed
draught need not be mentioned where oil is talked
of as you have all the forced draught you need with
the steam jet and oil fuel. Again, men-of-war of the
present are such masses of machinery that there is
very little room left for coal or crew space. As the
consumption of oil is, weight for weight, one-half that
of coal, men-of-war increase their efficiency as much
again by the use of oil fuel, while to the crewit means
more space and less dirt. The waste with oil fuel is
not so great as with coal. Engineers know full well
the waste there is with coal, in having to drive ahead
full speed at short notice, with green fires, and then
having to suddenly “stop”, as in an action or during
manoeuvres; whereas with oil the fires are as com-
pletely under control as if you had a gas jet to
handle. I believe the Admiralty are thinking of
burning oil fuel, but have not 2s yed decided what
kind to use. I should certainly say not crude oil, but
residuun, for a hundred good reasons, of which to-
night I shall only state a few. 1. Its being so per-
fectly safe while on board ship. 2. It can he stored
on shore so easily, and, in the event of a fuelling
port being bombarded, shells could not set fire to
the tanks. 3. It can be handled without risk of fire
or explosion from the shore to the ships, or wzce-
versa, and it does not deteriorate by exposure to the
weather. In conclusion, I must beg your indulgence
for the crudeness of this paper. It would not be
possible to go into the subject otherwise than ina
superficial way in a single night, but my object is to
allow the mercantile world in general, and the mem-
— 125 —

bers of this society particularly, to know the pro-
gress oil fuel is making, the comfort it is to engi-
neers and all concerned, its pecuniary advantages to
the merchant who can avail himself of it, its pecu-
liar adaptability to ships of war, and its special
value to large first-class passengers steamers where
cleanliness and the comfort of the passenger, is an
object. If I have been able to arouse your interest
in this subject, and have made myself clear, I feel
amply repaid, and thank you very sincerely for your
patient hearing.

A long discussion followed.

The Cuarrman said the subject of the paper was
one of the greatest interest to their profession, and
to commerce in general. When they saw how the
supply of coal was being exhausted, they began to
recognise the necessity of getting some other fuel.
Captain Carmichael’s paper had been written to open
discussion on the subject, and he invited any gentle-
man who felt himself competent either to adress the
meeting or to ask the lecturer questions. He addres-
sed this invitation to visitors as well as to members
of the society.

Colonel Harris, of the Petroleum Company, said
that in 1882 the price of coal on the west coast of
South America was 3/. per ton, and during a small
trial there was a saving of two-thirds of the combus-
tible matter by means of petroleum, The Steam
Navigation Company would at that time have alter-
ed all their furnaces and used oil could they have
depended upon a regular supply of oil; but the
experiment, which was extremely valuable in showing
the saving effected by the use of oil as compared
with coal, dropped. Within the last three or four
years new petroleum wells had been opened, and as
Captain Carmichael would tell them, there was any

13
— 126 —

quantity of oil they chose to take away. Six weeks
ago he had a letter, stating that one well 18 inches
in diameter was throwing a stream of oil 90 feet high,
and experts said that the quantity of oil on the
south-west coast of Peru was equal to any quantity
which had been obtained from Valparaiso. It was
very important that some substitute should be found
for coal, and the paper read by Captain Carmichael
would show that oil had only to be tried to be ap-
proved. The British Government were, however, ,
very slow in their movements in all these things, and
he thought the mercantile marine would be the first
to take oil up asa fuel. If they could get oil at a
reasonable price, they might save an immense sum,
not only in regard to coal, but in other matters—in
stokage, in the wear and tear of journals, and so
forth. In fact the saving was so large that it would
take a long time to explain it. He had looked at the
burning apparatus shown by Captain Carmichael,
and, in his opinion, it was the most perfect system
for burning oil of which he knew at the present
moment. Captain Carmichael’s paper was valuable
not only to the merchant service but to the Admi-
ralty, who wanted rousing up. He thought they were
burning oil on the British men-of-war in the Black
Sea at the present time, and he believed it answered
the purpose very well. There were many oil centres
now being opened. One for instance, existed on the
West Coast of South America, where coal was 34.
per ton at contract price. There oil could be put into
the ships alongside the wells at 1/7. per ton, and has
one ton of oil would do the work of 2 tons to 2%
tons of coal, he thought oil would gradually force
its way into use. As tothe supply, he would guaran-
tee to put as much into their steamers as was wanted.
He would supply 100,000 tons per year at 12, per
— 127 —

ton. Oil might also be used in the manufacture of
gas, and where it could be obtained at alow price,
it was very much superior to coal for this purpose
because it made an illuminant very much superior to
coal gas. A ton of kerosene would contain more than
tbree times the cubic feet of gas the coal would
contain, and he believed that gas works all along
the coast would consume oil. On the west coast of
South America the steamships of the Chilian Com-
pany and the South Pacific Company consumed
upwards of 100,000 tons of oil a year, and they
could get as much power out of 100,000 tons of oil
as out of 200,000 tons of coal while oil was only
one-third the price of coal. In 1887 no lJessthan
460,000 tons of kerosene was exported from New
York to Oriental countries. He thought the meeting
was greatly indebted to Captain Carmichael for the
valuable information he had given on the subject
—(hear, hear).

Mr. E. Hexwoop informed the meeting, that, as
an engineer, he had had a good many years, expe-
rience in the use of liquid fuel. He began in 1883
to experiment in his own yachts. He had to be
content with green oils, with creosote which was:
rather heavier in specific gravity than the oil they
got from Rusia, but he would prefer Astacki, which
was to be had in greater quantities. Subsequently he
triedit ina larger vessel, and in 1886 explained his sys-
tem to agreat number of superintending engineers and
others. The Admiralty also sent their engineer to see
it, and they saw the evaporation he was able to effect
by employing super-heated steam. By this system the
consumption of coal per engine horse-power was re-
duced from 2 Ibs. to 34 Ib., and in triple engines to
something less. He afterwards fitted the system to
his own launch, which had a return tubular boiler.
~— 128 —

The vessel was seen by Lloyd’s surveyor, and a very
favourable letter was written regarding it by their
chief surveyor. The Admiralty surveyor was on
board for four hours, and was perfectly satisfied.
There was not one trace of smoke the whole dis-
tance; they had no difficulty whatever in keeping
steam; and he could dispense entirely with the ser-
vices of the stoker. In fact he sometimes had dis-
pensed with the stoker, having only a waterman on
board to steer. The paper was excellent through-
out, and a more interesting contribution to the re-
cords of the society could not be made. He was
in perfect accord with nearly all Captain Carmi-
chael had said, but he preferred his own injector to
that shown by Captain Carmichael, because it
atomised the fuel in a more effective way, was far
lighter, and could be more readily disconnected. In
ships using oil every stoker might be dispensed with,
and in their place a third-class engineer may be em-
gaged. These men were of rather better education
than the stokers, and all they would have to do was
to keep the oil tanks charged at the proper time.
He did not remember whether Captain Carmichael
mentioned the absence of smoke or smell in the
oil ships. One of the directors of the Union Com-
pany once went on board his little vessel ‘‘“Ruby,”
and was quite astonished when he found neither
smell nor smoke.

Mr. James Houpen, of the Great Eastern Rail-
way Company, thoroughly endorsed all that Captain
Carmichael had said as to the value of liquid fuel.
He had been very interested in the paper, and he
was among those who for years had been surprised
that the mercantile marine and the navy had not
taken up the subject of liquid fuel very much more
seriously than they had done. On the Great Eastern
— 129 —

Railway, in whose service he was employed, they
had had at work for several years past a number of
locomotive engines which used liquid fuel, and last
year one of those engines travelled 47,000 miles
without a single failure or a single difficulty. It was
an express engine running between London and.
Norwich, and the apparatus was so easily controll-
able, so perfectly safe, and there was such an entire
absence of noise or smell that 99 passengers out of
every 100 knew nothing about the engine being pro-
pelled by liquid fuel instead of coal. One of the
advantages which he claimed for the system he used,
was that he had not to alter the furnaces in any
way to use liquid fuel. On one journey he could
use liquid fuel and on another solid. He could even
use liquid fuel one minute and the next solid, with-
out any alteration of the furnaces, and in the present
tentative state of the subject, that appeared to him
to be a considerable advantage. The difficulty of
getting an assured supply of liquid fuel would make
a shipowner reluctant to alter his furnaces so that
they could use liquid fuel alone. His own difficulty
in extending the use of liquid fuel had been this
difficulty of getting the fuel. The Great Eastern
Railway Company had at present six engines using
oil. He had made extensive inquiries with the view
of getting a regular supply of liquid fuel at a reason-
able rate. He had inquired in England, in Russia,
in the United States, and in Canada, but he could
not get an assured supply over a term at anything
like reasonable rates. Therefore, if that discussion
led to some action on the part of gentlemen who
were interested in the supply of liquid fuel, a very
great step would be gained. He had some 200 liquid
fuel injectors at work in all parts of the world—in
India, and the West Indies, South America, North
— 130 —

America, Scotland, various parts of England, but
the difficulty in every place had been that of getting
an assured supply of fuel. With regard to the use
of Astacki, he had been particularly. using the tar
from the manufacture of heavy gas for the lighting
of railway carriages; and on the Great Eastern Rail-
way they had some 1,000 carriages lighted with gas
made from shale oil. They got the tar from that be-
cause it was not readily saleable, and they used it to
propel their locomotives. They had also used or-
dinary tar obtained from the gas works, as well as
green oil—in fact, anything they could get at a rea-
sonable price. He had used Paramatta oil and
Trinidad oil, and he found that Paramatta, or Trini-
dad, or Astacki oil had very much more calorific
value than the materials which they had been com-
pelled to use, owing to the difficulty of “residuum”
at a reasonable price. The Great Eastern Railway
Company had a number of stationary boilers in use
at their works, fed by liquid fuel; and a ferry-boat,
running on the Thames between North and South
Woolwich, was fired by liquid fuel. In none of these
cases had the slightest difficulty ever been experien-
ced, with the exception of getting a supply of the
fuel, and that was the principal difficulty hkely to
be experienced. He apprehended that the officers
of the Board of Trade would probably be willing to
allow a very much more extended use in regard to
Astacki; but he did not wish at ail to criticise their
very careful way of going into a question of this
kind. It was right they should be very careful; but
with the use of ordinary ‘residuum” there was an en-
tire absence of danger, because, as Captain Car-
michael had pointed out, it was non-explosive ;
and with ordinary care there was no more danger
than with coal, On board ships it might be used
— 131 —

either with force or natural draught. With regard
to the ioss of fresh water, he should have thought
there would be no difficulty in using a small donkey
boiler for getting a steam supply.

Mr. Henwoop wished to add that he found no
injury resulting to the boilers from the use of oil,
and it was impossible to set fire to the oil even with
ared hot iron. So far as the supply of this oil was
concerned, he was now negotiating for establishing
depots in different parts of the world, and he believed
there would be an immense supply before long.
There were wells in Burmah, in addition to the
other places mentioned, and a Dutch firm with a
capital of £100,000 had been formed for the pur-
pose of working oil in Java.

Caprain Witson Barker concurred as to the
great difficulty of getting liquid fuel. He was very
much surprised to hear that it had been used in
England, but in Russia it had been used with very
great success for many years. They found that the
air blast did not work at all well; the heating of the
under surface of the boiler was very intense, and in
many cases the rivets were actually melted off the
boiler; but when the steam blast was used every-
thing went on satisfactory. He was surprised to
hear Captain Carmichael say air did not affect the
oil. He should have thought it would deteriorate
when brought in contact with air.

Carrain CARMICHAEL, interposing, said that in
Peru the oil tanks covered a tremendous area. One
tank alone held 37,000 barrels of oil; and the whole
of that oil was left exposed to all the winds that
blew. It had been so exposed for over a year, and,
so far as could be seen, there had been no evapora-
tion and no deterioration, the oil being in exactly
the same condition as when it was put into the tanks.
a 152 —

The coast of Peru seemed to have a temperature spe-
cially adapted for this oil, and though the fact was
not mentioned in any of the sailing directories, he
had noticed the Artic current, which seem to ac-
count for the singularly even temperature—a tem-
perature which at night went down to 68 degrees,
and in the daytime never rose beyond 78 degrees.
Captain Barker said the current to which Cap-
tain Carmichael referred was well known, and there
was a similar current on the West Coast of Africa.
Capraiy Harris also remarked that he had
many times traced the Artic currents off the
coast of Peru, which was one of the most delightful
countries to which an old man could go.
Lieut. Pysus, R.N.R. The subject introduced
in Captain Carmichael’s admirable paper points to
changes of vast interest to the shipowner, shipmaster,
and ship’s officers, and I have taken the trouble to
verify some of his statements. It 1s necessary to
consider the various points in connection with the
use of oil to enable us to grasp all the details in
connection with it and to ascertain if it is used in
the most practical, and, secondly. in the most eco-
nomical manner. The fuel advocated has another
merit; that is, it is the residuum after all the most
valuable constituents have been extracted. The
crucial point, and the one which I think will meet
with most opposition from an engineer’s point of
view, is the question of using the steam jet instead
of air. It certainly has the merit of having stood
the test of practical experience, as it is largely used
in America. To consider it properly, we must go
into the question of combustion. What is com- >
bustion? It is simply the chemical combination of
two gases to form a third, by which great heat is
evolved. In an ordinaty coal fire the oxygen of
— 1383 —

the air enters into combination with the carbon of
the coal to form carbonic acid gas. In the present
instance we must consider our elements of com-
bustion. In coal we have a varying proportion of
carbon (depending on the quality of coal combined
with gas) composed of hydrogen and carbon. In

petroleum we have 85 per cent of carbon with 15
per cent of hydrogen. In steam we have two parts
hydrogen with one of oxygen, or 89 parts oxygen

with 11 parts hydrogen to form 100 parts water. In
air by volume we have 21 parts oxygen, 79 parts.
nitrogen to form 100 parts air. For the complete
combustion of marsh gas (one of the hydro carbons
and similar in its constitutents to petroleum), and

one of the chief ingredients of coal, you require a

double quantity of oxygen or 10 volumes of air as
one half the volume of oxygen, combines with the
carbon to form carbonic acid gas C°, and the other
half combines with the hydrogen and forms water.

For the complete combustion of a pound of carbon

it requires 12 cubic feet of oxygen. In the air this
gas is diluted with four times its bulk of nitrogen.

In theory 62 cubic fect of air is therefore required

to supply the necessary quantity of oxygen; but all
the oxygen is not extracted from the air as it passes
through the furnace, so that in practice 150 feet of
air is required for each pound of carbon consumed,

the exact quantity varying with the shape and cons-
truction of furnace. If too little is admitted the
combustion will be imperfect, if too much the tem-
perature will be reduced, causing a large waste of
energy. In using petroleum we have a substance
containing a large proportion of hydrogen. Hydro-
gen has a greater affinity for oxygen than for carbon,

so that its first action would be to seize 89 parts of
the oxygen and form water, leaving very little for
— 134 —

the combustion of the carbon. If we use steam we
at once supply a large amount of oxygen, combined
with hydrogen, which is in itself an element of com-
bustion. I have not a sufficient knowledge of
chemistry to be able to indicate what the new com-
bustion will be, but one thing is certain—that in
combining they will evolve heat. I only wish to
point out that in every volume of water we supply
in the form of steam e wsupply 89 volumes of oxy-
gen necessary for the combustion of the carbon, and
in every volume of air we only get 21 parts oxygen.
Oxygen constitutes 1-5th of the volume of the at-
mosphere, and 8-9ths of weight of water. I also
wish to point out that in using air the immense
volume you have to use to get the necessary oxygen
causes loss in other ways by reducing the tempera-
ture. I was much struck by a remark of Captain
Carmichael’s. When forced draught was suggested
he said the intensity of the light from the furnaces
blinded the firemen. That indicated imperfect com-
bustion, as the luminosity of flame is caused by the
incandescent and consequently unconsumed particles
of carbon, which, where the temperature is reduced,
becomes visible as smoke. That heat of a flame
does not depend on its luminosity is shown in the
oxy-hydrogen blow pipe and an ordinary coke fire.
I think I have said sufficient to prove that the use
of steam in the furnace will more than compensate
for the loss of steam in the boiler. I would also re-
mind you that the large amount of latent heat in
the steam is utilised and used over again. To meet
practical difficulties, 1 would suggest a small auxili-
ary boiler to drive the furnace, or the donkey boiler
might be utilised when not required for condensing
purposes, &c. We now come to the economical
aspects of the case. We will first take its evapora-
— 135 —

ting qualities. 1 lb. of Astacki is equal to 1-37 lb. of
bituminous coal, and 1-60 Jb. of anthracite. In
actual practice 1 lb. of Astacki is equal to
1 8-10 lb. coal; space—1 ton of coal is equal to 40
cubic feet; 1 ton of Astacki is equal to 39 cubic feet;
weight, one-half. On the whole question the balance
is largely in favour of liquid fuel. Captain Car-
michael has also given us the cost, which is on the
right side. One of the greatest points in its favour
is that it can be adapted in any boiler without a
large outlay, and the boiler can also be used for
burning coal if required, although I think that when
oil comes into general use and supplies are avail-
able at every port it will cause many modifications
in the construction of both boilers and ships. In
boilers, by the adoption of the regenerative system
similar to that employed in the water gas system for
the reduction of metals, by which a saving of from
20 to 30 per cent of fuel effected. In France, at
one of the ironworks, a contrivance was introduced
for combining hot air and superheated steam to
puddling furnaces. The grate, fire-boxes, &c., were
connected with air chambers which supplied vapour
heated to a temperature of 450 deg. to 500 deg.,
and superheated steam was applied under the grate,
by which a most important saving was effected—in
ships by the abolition of large funnels, and open
stoke holds, with the attendant danger, dirt, large
engine-room staff, &c., which will give greater com-
fort, more space, and better discipline. The dele-
terious" effects of sulphur from the coal will be
avoided and add considerably to the life of the boiler,
and the interior structure of the ship.

Capratn CARMICHAEL, in answer to a question in
reference to oil wells in the sea, said there was a
group of islands on the road to Callao, and 30 miles:
— 136 —

S.S,W., where ships always run through a regular
drift of petroleum, extending for two or three miles,
Sailors could smell it as soon as they got up to it,
and the sea at the spot was always as smooth as glass.:
The oil came from an everlasting well in the sea, which
was mentioned by Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru.

Captain Witson said there were plenty of oil
wells to be found in the sea everywhere. In cable
work he had come across a good many of them.

Cot. Harris added that in some places the oil
also oozed from the cliffs.

Mer. Marruews, as an engineer, thanked the’
society for having given him the opportunity of
being present that evenig to listen to Captain Car-
michael’s paper.

Captain Froun the secretary of the society, said that
air could be controlled just as readily as steam. He
could not imagine that we had reached finality in the
shape of boilers, nor could he imagine that air would
not be used to assist in the combustion of petroleum.
He illustrated this process by means of a Wanzer
lamp using forced draught, showing the greater heat
developed by the assistance of the blow-pipe, the ex-
periment being made in connection with the melting
of metal. He urged that more attention should be paid
to the use ofair in burning mineral oils, and hoped to
see some means introduced to enable the oil to be us-
ed in perfect safety when brought straight from the
tanks.

Mr. Howpen said that he always made use ofa
variable and adjustable air supply in using oil.

Captain CARMICHAEL considered that the use of oil
as fuel was an advantage both to passenger steamers
and to vessels of war, especially in enabling the
latter to cover their retreat.— Votes of thanks were
passed to the author of the paper and the chairman.
 
Report to tHe Boarp or Directors OF THE
« Peruvian Prerrotecm Company. ”

New Vork, February 1886.
Gentlemen :

The magnitude of your Oil Territory in South
America, the increasing consumption of refined Pe-
troleum in Peru, Chili and Ecuador, and the proxi-
mity to large foreign markets, have induced your
Superintendent in his first report to describe more
minutely than would have been otherwise necessary,
the geographical situation, geological character and
natural advantages and disadvantages to be met with
in developing the territory and conducting this grand
enterprise to success.

These Oil Land: form the foot hills of the Cor-
dillera from Cape Blanco to the low range that
constitutes the southern boundary of the Tumbez
Valley. They begin at the ‘“quebrada’ de Charan,
about ten miles south of the Tumbez River, and ex-
tend along the coast to a ‘“quebrada” a little south
of Cape Blanco—a distance of about forty leagues;
averaging in width about twenty leagues; thus giv-
ing an area of 800 square leagues equal to 7,200
square miles, or 4,408,000 acres.
— 140 —

The northern portion of this vast tract, where the
Company have commenced operations, is easily ac-
cessible to Tumbez, which is connected with Paita
to the south and Guayaquil and Panama to the
north by steamers running three times a month, and
by mails taking sixteen days from New York.

Climate.

The Company’s works at Zorritos (about 20
miles to the south of the Tumbez River) are near
the southern margin of the Equatorial Rain Belt.

This great Belt shifts regularly north and south
governed by the S. E. trade winds and the variation
of the seasons. Its southern margin oscillates be-
tween 3° 30’ N. and 3° S. causing alternately a rainy
and dry season.

At Zorritos it generrally rains a few nights during
the two winter months of January and February.
Although at times an interval of two or three years
passes with scarcely a shower, on the other hand,
the margin of the Rain Belt occasionally extends
further to the south enveloping Zorritos for three
months in tropical rains.

During the months of December, January, Feb-
ruary and March of last year, there were occasional
showers at night but the regular operations of the
Company were not interrupted by bad weather even
for a day.

The temperature is lower than at Guayaquil or
even at Tumbez, the thermometer rarely reaching
85° Farht., and usually reading between 59° to 63°
through the night, and from 67° to 78° during the
day.

A iiaian so near the Equator, the S. E. Trades
blowing fresh from the ocean for ten months, and
— i41 —

the north-westerly winds for the rest of the year
agreeably moderate the temperature and render the
climate decidedly healthy.

The Coast Line is tortuous but has a general di-
rection of S. by W. beginning at Punta de Malpelo
which forms the southern boundary of Tumbez Bay.
From Malpelo Point to Charan is the low, flat coast
of Tumbez Valley. At La Cruz, near Charan, there
is a point projecting into the sea, another at Mal
Paso Grande which forms with Mal Paso Chico an
indifferent anchorage, for although the water is deep
enough, yet the small bay is somewhat exposed to
south-westers, and more so to the north winds.

The next point forms the northern, as Punta de
Zorritos does the southern, boundary of the Bay of
Zorritos; a good harbour where a ship can he with-
in a thousand feet of shore, in five fathoms, at low
water. Further south the nearest point of import-
ance is Punto de los Picos, at the south of Boca de
Pan, forming another good harbour, much frequent-
ed by vessels loading fire-wood for the Lima mar-
ket.

Immediately north of Cape Blanco is the next
bay and harbour of importance, that of Mancora,
which is well protected and adjacent to Cafia Dulce,
a locality of much interest to the Company on ac—
count of its “Brea” mines and heavy Petroleum.

When your Superintendent first landed at Man-
cora to examine these mines, he found a ship of a
thousand tons in the harbour loading with fire-wood.

This whole region is rough, undulating and hilly.
The hills crowd down almost to high water mark,
and increase in elevation interspersed with valleys
and ‘“quebradas” from the shore to the Cordillera.

Following up the Tuciyal Valley the grade was
roughly estimated at one hundred feet to the mile;
— 142 —

this would doubtless increase rapidly after passing
the foot hills,

The surface is covered with variegated clays, green
sands and fossiliferous conglomerates, consisting of
gravel, pebbles and boulders cemented together with
lime or ferruginous clay or sand.

From Mal Paso Grande, for more than a league
to the south, the sea has encroached upon the hills,
unermining them, and forming in many places cliffs
of from 60 to 120 feet in height. The strata ex-
posed by these cliffs, as well as by the ‘“quebradas”
where the torrent of the rainy season has cut away
the hill-sides sometimes to the depth of from 60 to
SO feet, are for the most part variegated clays, red,
white, yellow, purple, blue green and brown; blue,
red and brown shales; dull coloured friable sand
stones, that readily disintegrate; plates and layers of
gypsum interspersed between the layers of brown
shale; beautiful specimens of selenite and clay iron
ore, concretions of argillaceous and ferruginous sand
stone; globular and ovoidal, of from one to five feet
in diameter (found in the valley of Tuciyal); fossili-
ferous lime rock, sometimes crystallised, brown coal
or lignite, as at Mal Paso Grande, where it crops
out in a seam 18 inches thick, between the layers of
brown shale bituminous shale exhibiting specks of
alum as a white powder, and sometimes layers of
what appears to have been beach sand. Mr. A. E.
Prentice, Civil Engineer of the Peruvian Govern-
ment, says in his report upon this section :—

“With the exception of the veins of calcareous
“sand stone found near the surface, and an occasion-
“al fragment of a large marine bivalve in the grey
“sand, very little lime is found until reaching a
“depth of from 70 to 80 feet, where it appears to
“change into or alternate with strata of very com-
— 143 —

“pact, dry and indurated marl, of the same bluish
“grey colour with specks of carbonate of lime. The
“boring was stopped in this marly shale at 79 ft. 6
‘in. below the surface. It was subsequently ascer-
“tained that at Casitas about ten leagues to the
“south (S.E,) in a district presenting the same ex-
“ternal features, a well had been sunk to upwards of
“250 feet in indurated marl of the same description
‘which at a depth of 300 feet changed to a very
“compact close grained dark grey (almost black)
“clay slate. The only other circumstances worth men-
“tioning are the briny and brackish water springs,
“found every two or three leagues along the coast,
“A considerable deposit of rock salt which is found
“close to the surface at ‘‘Boca de Pan” two leagues
“to the S.W. A_ few leagues to the northeast of
‘“Zorritos the hills assume a yellowish white appear-
“ance, and on the tops of some of these I have
“found deposits of conchoidal nodules of horn stone
“or rather opaque, gilicious stone, resembling flint,
“yellowish white on the outside, and dark brown in-
“side, imbedded in a light coloured pulverulent
“marl.

The general appearance of the coast from the sea,
as ,you sail along the shore, is exceedingly barren
and forbidding, but this aspect is somewhat relieved
on a nearer view by the beautifully variegated
colours which the hills present from their argilla-
ceous deposits sometimes yellow then red and green,
blue and violet or brown as one or another clay pre-
dominates. During the winter season, for several
months the valleys are covered with grasses, wild
flowers and a rich verdure which creeps far up the
hill sides presenting a refreshing and delightful as-
pect.

No fresh water is found near the shore, from the
— df —

Tumbez River to the Chira at Colan, a little to the
north of Paita. More to the intericr the country is
scantily watered, but is susceptible of cultivation in
the valleys while the hills and mountains furnish rich
pasturage.

Nearly all the valleys and many of the hills in the
interior are wooded, indeed, for many years, the
‘“‘Flacienda de MAncora” has furnished a consider-
able portion of the fire-wood consumed in Lima.

The most frequent and important tree is a sort of
bastard vanilla, the Algarroba, whichis in appearance
like the honey locust tree of Egypt and the East and
also like it produces a very sweet bean, most nutri-
ous and fattening to cattle, horses and other live
stock.

The wood is heavier than’ that of the locust, hav-
ing almost the gravity of water, it is very hard and.
of a dark colour.

It is a most excellent fuel, far better than even
dry hickory, giving out more heat and lasting longer
and is well adapted for steaming purposes.

Delivered alongside the portable engine, it costs
six dollars per cord, and there is an abundance of
it to develop the entire estate.

Your Superintendent having no facilities for
preperly examining and classifying the fossils dis-
covered in sinking well No. 3, gives the following
geological sketches with some hesitation, and wishes
to remark, that he may find it necessary at a future
day to correct some of the conclusions expressed
therein. It is doubtful whether any epoch of rhe
carboniferous period is represented at all, and if not,
the tertiary rests upon the upper Devonian.

 
— 145 —

Geological Character.

The western chain of the Cordilleras taking the
“Vulcan de Sangai,” as a point of departure, - bends
rapidly to the westward, till a little to the S. W. dis-
trict of Cuenca, it approaches to the Pacific Coast,
here less than a hundred miles distant. This chain
then bending to the south, follows the coast-line
throughout almost the entire extent of Peru and
Chili, leaving a narrow strip of lower lands at its
base. The geological formation of the Cordilleras
is mostly primary granitic, and porphyritic gold is
found near Cuenca on both slopes, in the sands of
the streams and in the quartz veins. On thesurface
of the upheaved and almost perpendicular cliffs at
Mal Paso Grande, are found beds varying from two
to four feet in thickness formed of oyster shells be-
longing to existing species, agglutinated into a
coarse rock. Thin layers of lignites, green sandy
marls, and other remains of the eocene epoch of the
tertiary period are found at intervals for 60 miles
along the coast to the south, and extending inland,
as far as has been observed, from two to seven
leagues.

Immediately subjacent to these relics of the ter-
tiary period, are found what appear to be shales,
sand stones and lime rock of the subcarboniferous
and upper Devonian periods.

The Petroleoferous rocks of the region under
consideration seem to be the chloritic sand stones,
which are mostly saturated with oil, and the brown
shales very friable and whose layers are so loosely
compacted as to admit the oil to be forced through
the fissures. It is where these rocks have been ex-
— 146 —

posed by the attrition of the sea, that the oil
trickles out at low tide. This outcrop of Petroleum
is first observed at ‘“Mal Paso Chico” and it can be
traced, at intervals, to Cape Blanco a distance of
more than 30 leagues. A gooa example of oil drop-
ping out in sand rock is seen ata distance of two and
a half leagues fromthe sea, up the ‘Valle de Tu-
ciyal,” at a poit marked upon the accompanying map.
A subsequent reference will be made to the rich-
ness of the vein here indicated. The extent of the
Petroleoferous rocks comprehend an area of
twenty leagues by seven, from ‘‘Mal Paso” to “Cafia
Dulce,” making 140 square leagues, or 806,400
acres. This does not include the region near Cape
Blanco which has not yet been examined.

ffistory of the Duscovery of Petroleum on the
Estate of Mancora.

For many years mines of Brea, Alquitran, Capé
or Asphaltum, as the material has been variously
denominated, have been known to exist, and have
been worked at various points along the West Coast
of South America in Chili, Peru and Ecuador. T his
Brea exists at Punta Santa Helena, in Ecuador, and
at Cafia Dulce, in the estate of MAncora, in two
forms: on the surface it is the ‘Brea Piedra,” As-
phaltum—hard of a lustrous surface where broken
and presenting a dark brown colour and _ conchoidal
fracture. Below the surface at various depths, there
exudes from sides of pits excavated for the purpose
of collecting it, a black mineral tar, of a strong
pitchy odour, irridescent, readily igniting and burn-
ing with ared smoky flame entirely consumed.
This is the “Brea Liquida,” or liquid asphaltum, and
is melted with the “Brea Piedra” to make a pitch
— 147 —

for smearing the inner surface of Arscos and dofzzas,
for the native wine and rum. This pitch when
prepared, is sold at from $25 to $30 per quintal, ac-
cording to its quality. A Brea mine was opened
sev -ral years ago by the proprietor of the estate of
Mancora, at Cafia Dulce, for the manufacture of
Alquitran. As the outcrop of Petroleum, believed
then to be the same with “Brea Liquida,” had been
observed on the shore from Cape Blanco to Mal
Paso, the proprietor, in company with several other
gentlemen, determined to open a “Brea Mine” at
Zorritos, where the outcrop seemed to indicate a
large quantity of the material. A Scotchman, by
the name of Farrier took charge of this business,
.and commenced at Zorrites where he opened some
eight pits, varying from 20 to 30 feet in length,
seven to fifteen in width and sunk to a depth of
from 17 to 80 feet. In most of these a surface Pe-
troleum was obtained of a gravity varying from 910°
to 925° and in quantities varying from one to five
buckets per day, from each pozo or pit.

It was found, however, that this Petroleum would
not answer the purpose for which it was sought. As
there was no Asphaltum or “Brea Piedra” in the
vicinity it would be necessary to evaporate the Pe-
troleum until reduced to a thick tar; but the result
proved to be entirely. incommensurate with the
labour and expense, as but a mere residue of tar was
left, nearly the whole volume of Petroleum dis-
appearing by evaporation. As there seemed to be
no other use forthe Petroleum, after considerable-
expense, with no remuneration, the enterprise was
finally abandoned. In 1863 Mr, Alexander Rudens,
of Paita, for many years the commercial agent of
the estate of M4ncora, and interested in the previous
experiment, petitioned the Peruvian Government to
— 148 —

send Mr. A. E. Prentice, Government Civil En-
gineer, to examine the Petroleum Mines of M4n-
cora.

This time the object was to extract Petroleum
and the proprietor with Mr. Rudens and several
other gentlemen, proposed to form a Company for
that purpose. In accordance with Mr. Rudens’ pe-
tition, Mr. Prentice was appointed on the 28rd
September, and he proceededed to Mancora where
he collected ‘“peons” and materials for work, and
commenced operations on Octover 30th.

Farrier, after having abandoned the idea of mak-
ing Alquitran, had collected and shipped to the
Lima Gas Company about one hundred barrels of
oil to determine whether gas could be made from it
more economically than from coal. Mr. Prentice
was also an engineer of the gas company and it was
hoped that the experiment would prove successful,
and thus all the gas companies on the coast become
purchasers of Petroleum. Mr. Prentice proceeded
to open anew the “pozos” made by Farrier and also
on the 2nd of November, commenced boring a
well from the bottom of “pozo” No, 4, which at that
time contained 36 gallons of Petroleum of 900°
gravity. The boring was continued with very im-
perfect tools and various success until about the
middle of November when the well had reached to
79 feet 6 inches below the natural surface, and about
60 feet below the surface of the sea. The oil taken
from this well stood at 842°—thermometer at 84°
While engaged in this enterprise Mr. Prentice exam-
ined this section of the estate as thoroughly as the
circumstances permitted, and gave the following
General Opinon on its Petroleoferous character:

“The superficial deposit from which the oil has
“hitherto been taken appears to be only the overflow.
— 149 —

‘ings of large subterranean deposits, which not
“being able to come directly to the surface on ac-
“count of the impermeable nature of the immediate-
“Jy adjacent strata, only at present find an outlet by
“taking a circuitous or zigzag course or by following
“the thinning out of these impermeable strata until
“meeting with the upper and more permeable beds
“of sandandloam. At Zorritos where the wells were
“dug, these permeable beds are still covered by about
“fifteen feet of impermeable variegated clays, which
“mayaccount for the more liquid state of the oil found
“there, as compared with that found at the ‘Brea,”
‘(Cafia Dulce) about 20, leagues distant south of
“Zorritos and about 12 (?) leagues distant from the
“coast where the oil bearing strata coming to the
“surface, the more liquid or volatile parts, which is
“there collected into shallow trenches and_ boiled
“down to be sold aspitch. The beds of sandy loam
“from which the oil is taken being only slightly
‘permeable, that is only allowing the oil to filter or
“travel horizontally through it (?) at a very low rate
“only a very small continuous supply can be expected
“fromit. After the small local accumulation around
“each well has been drained, still it is not likely to
“cease altogether fora long time. If these, instead
‘of having been made on the shore where the oil bear
‘ang strata crops out between high and low water
“mark, (which was the circumstance which first drew
‘attention to the spot) had been made a little way in-
“land the probability is that a better supply would
“have been found. The wells or pits dug at Zorritos
“were made uselessly large, 24 to 36 feet, and from
“6 to 13 feet wide, so that the cost of the oil taken
“therefrom can form no criterion as to what its ex-
“traction would cost if the pits were made in a more
“economical and systematic manner. I have no doubt
a3 150 es

“but that a very considerable supply might be ob-
“tained, although only counting upon the superficial
“strata at from one-fifth to one-fourth the former
“outlay. I also think that there is a considerable
“probability of finding a large continuous supply by
“persevering with the boring, even although the
“the flrst few trials should not prove successful,

Two and a half leagues from the coast up the
Tuciyal, where the oil bearing sand rock crops out as
before described, a pozo was opened by Farrier
seven feet square on the surface, and on reaching a
‘depth of 28 feet the Petroleum bubbled up like a
boiling spring, the oil rising to 10 feet 6 inches
from the bottom in a few hours, at which depth it
stood when examined by Mr. Prentice, November
Ist 1863. This.:s probably the best surface show
of Petroleum ever discovered. Mr. Prentice’s re-
port not proving so favorable as was desired for ob-
taining iarge results without involving considerable
capital the organization of the Company was never
perfected, and nothing more was done with the
Mancora Petroleum Lands until September of the
following year (1864) when a more careful survey of
the land and a rough map of the coast at Zorritos
and of Cafia Dulce was made by your Superintendent.
During the previous examinations and experiments
Mr. Rudens had sent specimens of the crude Pe-
troleum both to England and the United States for
analysis.

These analyses had proved very favourably giving
a small percentage of Benzine and but little resi-
duum while the illuminating 011 amounted to about
70 per cent for gases, Benzine and residuum. The
analysis and specimens of the refined oil were ob-
tained and new specimens of.the oil, collected and
sealed up at the wells were forwarded to New York
— 151 —

for a fresh analysis, which were made and ‘fully con-
firmed the excellent character given to this Petro-
leum by the former analyses. Minutes of a con-
tract were agreed to by Don Diego Lama the _ pro-
prietor of the estate, of a sufficiently favourably
character to warrant the organization of a company.

The more important considerations which led to
the organization of the “Compania Peruana de Pe-
troleo” were doubtless the following:

First.—Petroleum has been found in a consider-
able quantity and the extent and geological charac-
ter of the territory seemed to indicate the existence
of large quantities and reservoirs in store, waiting
to be developed and utilised by enterprise and capi-
tal.

There is one geological characteristic which has
been reserved for present consideration and that is
the dip of the rock. Numerous volcanic disturb-
ances have here and there bent and distorted the
strata in almost every direction; but for leagues along
the coast and in every ‘quebrada” inland the strata
are seen to dip uniformly when otherwise undisturb-
ed to the southeast at an angle varying in different
localities from 15% to 40°.

As the strata are tilted up towards the coast
and under the sea, their edges exposed by the
removal of the debris, furnish the remark-
able] outcrop of Petroleum beforementioned and,
what is of more importance, prove that it must
have come from a great depth pressed.up between
the strata to the su:face by its accompanying gases.
Thus it was observed in all the pits that were dug,
that the Petroleum flowed in from the lower or
southeast side and by taking the outcrop upon the
shore and tracing it according to the angle of the
dip, back along the strata to a well, itwas found that
— 152 —

the depth at which the vein would be struck could
be calculated with great precision.

Second.—Peru, where the territory is located, furn-
ishes a ready home market for a large quantity of
refined Petroleum.

In. March 1801, the first gallon of refined Petro-
leum introduced into the country for public use
was exposed for sale in the city of Callao; and now
the annual consumption reaches to a million gallons;
and if Chili and Ecuador be included it will increase
the amount to a million anda half. All thisis brought
from the United States and has to pay a revenue
duty amounting in Peru to twenty-five cents per gal-
lon. The amount of the article consumed is rapidly
increasing and this would.no doubt continue for
several years could the price be reduced so as to
extend its use to the poorer classes. Australia is
within forty-five days by sail, with constant south
east trades for the return passage as well. The Aus-
tralasian British Colonies consume more than three
million gallons of refined Petroleum annually almost
all of which is imported from the United States.

Third—To say nothing of California and Oregon,
which are convenient markets should they not suc-
ceed in supplying their own Petroleum, it is a prin-
cipal consideration that this territory lies stretched
for ninety miles along a coast indented with good
harbors where the Petroleum can be produced and
shipped at the least possible expense. The wells
already sunk are within 200 feet of high water mark
thus avoiding all expense of land carriage, so that
the oil produced by these wells or any others simi-
larly located on the coast can he furnished to the
London or Liverpool market for less than half the
expense of the Pennsylvania oil. This fact opens
the European market to the products of this terri-
— 153 —

tory. Fhe Company has been assured that as soon
as a constant supply of oil can be produced to
warrant their undertaking, a line of iron ships with
large iron tanks to carry the oil in bulk, will be built
for this trade. Such were the considerations on
which the company was organised. Two points re-
mained to be settled by actual experimeut upon the
ground to warrant the expenditure of the large ca-
pital necessary for the development of the territory,
the cost of producing the oil and the quantity that
could be obtained. In order to settle these questions
a prospecting party was sent out from New York in
August 1865 with a single engine and two sets of
drilling tools. The party arrived in September.
Everything had to be made and prepared de novo.
The party lived under an old shed on the beach
until the men’s quarters and storehouse could be
built; and on the 30th October drilling commenced.
Various strata of clay shales, sand stones, and con-
glomerates varying from three inches to two feet in
thickness were passed thrcugh down to 56 feet 6 in-
ches where a small vein of salt water was struck and
at "0 feet in looseconglomerate the first considerable
vein of oil and gas was met with. In the alternate
layers of shale sandand conglomerate, smail veins of
oil continued to be encountered every few feet.
These were not crevices but like the small veins
found in sinking a well for water. From I07 to 114
feet the gas and oil improved rapidly and it was
‘thought best to tube and test the well. Tubing was
accordingly put down fo 111 feet. After exhausting
the water, the well pumped at the rate of a little
more than two barrels per hour for forty hours; but
as no tankage had been prepared in advance, it was
thought best to sink the well deeper with the hope

of finding a large crevice anda flowing well. It
15
— 154 —

would be dfficult to say how many good wells have
been spoiled by not letting well enough alone. At
190 feet a mud vein was struck which filled the well
to within 70 feet of the surface and so No, 1 was
lost. Well No. 2 was commenced about the 20th
December and passed down through a somewhet
firmer rock although of the same general character,
excepting that but little conglomerate was found.
The same oil bearing strata were encountered as in
No. 1,

No oil was found between 110 and 160 feet, but
from 160 to 185 feet there was agood show. At 185
feet the rock growing soft drilling was suspended
and the well tubed to 177 feet. No. 2 has pumped
and flowed alternately ever since averaging about 25
barrels per day. It has not diminished in quantity
and it is only necessary to pump it 2 hours daily.

Well No. 2. was put down at a distance of about
100 feet fr6m No, 1. and No. 8. was commenced at
113 feet from No. 2. along the coast line. In this
well the upper veins were more abundant, and at 56
feet four barrels a day could be dipped off regularly
with the sand pump. From 56 feet to 132 feet no
oil was found; but from 132 feet to 422 a good
show of oil and gas was almost constanly met.

From 422 to 463 feet hard lime rock was encoun-
tered, gradually growing softer and more argilla-
ceous, and finally changing toa loose bituminous
shale, with an excellent show of gas and oil. This
continued, gradually increasing, to 526 feet where an
oil crevice of a foot in depth was struck. The well
was put down to 581 feet and then tubed and
tested.

It proved a great misfortune that the only spare
pump barrel was seriously damaged by being bulged
in the middle; the packing that fitted the middle of
— 155 —

the barrel was too tight for the ends, and would
strip off; and when properly packed for the ends it was
too loose for the middle. There were no facilities at
hand to remedy this defect satisfactorily; buf after
drawing tubing five times, the pump worked indiffer-
ently for several hours with the following result:—
Four hours were spent in exhausting mud and water
when the well commenced pumping and flowing oil
at the rate of 480 barrels per day; this continued
until the packing came off and stopped everything.
In drawing tubing at 250 feet from the bottom, the
bore-chip, which caused the difficulty, shook loose,
and the well commenced flowing ina stream the full
size of a two inch pipe, which continued, although
the seed bag had been drawn, until the last length of
tubing was withdrawn from the well.

After the tubing had been removed, it was deter-
mined to drill the well to five hundred and fifty feet,
to allow ample space for the chips and debris of
boring to settle below the crevice. In attempting to
accomplish this object, the tools became fast in well,
and every effort to removethem has thus far proved
unsuccessful,

Well No. 4. has been commenced a short distance
from No.3. and was down to 109 feet Oct: 27th,with
a show of Oil and Gas, corresponding thus far with
No. 3. The accident to No. 3. disappointed the
expectations but did not discourage the efforts of
the Company.

The results of the last year’s prospecting have
convinced the Company of the great extent and per-
manency of the Petroleum deposits and that wells
can be bored and pumped as cheaply on the estate
of Mancora as in Venango Co. Pennsylvania, while
extensive markets are waiting to purchase the oil as
soon as produced.
as diris

With these views the Company has secured the
services of Mr. Geo. E. Corey (a man of extensive
experience in putting down wells in Pennsylvania;
and under whose supervision as chief borer the pros-
pecting of the last year was conducted), and has
supplied a corps of experienced workmen. :

Three additional engines have been purchased, a
small steamer built for supplying water and provisions
to the works, and a bulk boat for loading and dis-
charging cargo; also 8,000 barrels of iron tankage and
all tub: ng and "machinery necessary to secure the com-
plete success of the enterprise have been provided.

The Mancora oil territory has been carefully exam-
ined by men familiar with the Pennsylvania oil
Lands. Mr. Corey has sunk sucessfully more than
sixty wells in the best oil lands in the United
States, and your Superintendent made a careful
examination of the oil Creek territory before secu-
ring the contract for the Mancora estate; and it is
his deliberate opinion, as well as that of Mr Corey
and of every other practical man who is thoroughly
acquainted with both localities, that were both to-
day virgin territories untouched by the drill, the
Mancora estate has a better show, a greater extent,
a more favourable location to supply the great marts
of the world, and a better prospect for a large and
constant yield, of oil, than the entire Pennsylvania
oil region. It only remains to demostrate the cor-
rectness of these views by the actual development of
the “Peruvian Petroleum Co’s Oil Lands”,

It is confidently hoped that before the time for
another annual report shall arrive, your Superinten-
dent will be able to lay before you results that shall
satisfy every reasonable expectation.

I have the honour to be, very respectfully, ‘your
obedt. servant, —E. P. Larxin.—éeneral Superintendent.
CONDENSED REPORT FURNISHED BY W. W<arrev, Esq,
M.LC.E., F.R.GS.
1887.

The estate. extends a distance af over 30 miles
along the sea coast of the Pacific Ocean, being si-
tuated in the most northerly province of Peru, 18 to
53 miles north of Payta, and at Talara, a point about
central of the oil belt of this estate; there is an excel-
lent deep-water harbour, with good anchorages, well
sheltered, and otherwise offering extremely favoura-
ble conditions for the provision of every facility and
requirement for dealing with the largest pcssible
shipments of petroleum, both crude and refined.

Futher, the estate occupies a position in relation
to the whole west coast of South America, as indeed
of North America, most favourable in every respect
for supplying not only those western countries, but
also countries farther west, such as New Zealand, Aus-
tralia, Japan, China, etc., the saving in distances
from the east coast of the U. S. A. to these latter
countries being as much as 5,500 to 8,000 miles.
For the consumption also of the west coast of Ame-
rica the saving in distance is very important, the
present supplies having to come by way of Cape
Horn or the Straits of . seca and. not by the
trans-continental. railways...
— 158 —

Petroleum oil abounds throughout the entire coast
length of the estate and is found in great abundance
over large areas from the coast to 10 or 15 miles
inland, from which there would appear to be ample
reserves to last for generations. Some of the wells
are placed within a few hundred feet of high-water
mark,

Like the Russian oil-fields, the La Brea oil terri-
tory has been known and worked for hundreds of
years, chiefly, however, for the manufacture of pitch,
by evaporating off the lighter oil products and pe-
troleum or kerosenes, the resulting pitch being used,
from ancient times to the present, for glazing the
inside of earthen jars used by the native Peruvian
and Chilian wine producers.

Some 16 wells have been drilled at different and
distant points on the estate, six quite recently; nearly
allare productive at present, although one—now
producing good oil—was drilled some 20 years ago,
and another, drilled some 14 years ago, is still pro-
ductive and has yielded an average of over 30 barrels
daily for that period. This well gave 70 barrels daily
at first, though now reduced by neglect of former
owners tc 10 barrels. :

Other wells have given as much as 400 barrels
each daily, and the six wells drilled during the pre-
sent, year are good for an average of say 200 barrels
each daily, or an aggregate for the six wells of 1200
to 1500 barrels, worth say £ 240 to £ 300, equal to
£ 72,000 to £ 90,000 yearly.

The operation of well-drilling is very easy, one
good productive well 210ft. deep having been drilled
in less than five days, while the average for the six
wells has been 845ft. and ten days respectively. The
average depth in America and Russia is nearer
1,000ft., and the cost per foot much greater,
— 159 —

Everything points to the existence of enormous
supplies of petroleum obtainable from the different
oil belts upon the estate, one ofwhich, at Negritos,
some two square miles in area, or 1,280 acres, having
been explored by drilling 12 wells, zone of which
fatled to produce oil.

The two most distant wells at Negritos are nearly
three miles apart, the intervening land having been
more generally worked, as being equally produc-
tive. These wells are 12 miles west of the equally pro-
ductive wells drilled upon the oil belt inland at La
Brea, between which and the wells referred to as at
Negritos, there are other extensive but as yet unex-
plored oil belts, Should this area of two square miles
at Negritos be only half as productive as an equal
area of 1,329 acres at Bakhuisstated to be(14.375,000
barrels being credited to it for 1886) it would give
7.000,000 barrels of crude oil, value say £1.000,000;
while, even if the output only equalled the best re-
sults obtained froma similar area of America oil
territory (Venango) which gave 1-:000,800 barrels,
value say £ 300,000, the return would still be very
satisfactory. Inasmuch, however, as the wells hitherto
drilled on the La Brea estate at Negritos show re-
sults far supassing the average yield obtained in
America, if not in Russia, averaging about ten times
more than an equal number of wells of the Ameri-
can oil fields, the output for the two square miles at
Negritos may be estimated at 15:000,000 barrels, or
a value of say £3.000,000.

The oil territory of America is returned as 1,339
square miles of which however only some 39%
square miles, on which have been drilled 22,524
wells, have produced the bulk of the output; and si-
milarly at Bakhu 1229 acres, or less than two square
miles of the estimated area of 1,200 square miles,
— 160 —

containing 400 wells, have produced the bulk of the
Russian ‘oil. .

The average production of oil per square mile
worked in America down to 1885 is returned as
740,000 barrels, against an incomparabily greater
production in Russia; and judging from the results
already shown by wells on the La Brea estate, the
output there will greatly exceed the square mile
production of America.

In America the average oil production per well
has averaged about 12,000 barrels as compared with
76,000 barrels per well in Russia, and estimating the
production from the two square miles of the oil belt
on the immediate foreshore of Negritos at 50,000
barrels per well, there would be, from 3800 wells,
15.000,000 barrels of aun-estimated value of 3.000,000
without considering the certainly ten times larger
oil areds adjacent thereto.

Fity wells may be drilled in a year, which would
give a large and prompt return, both from the sale
of crude unrefined and refined oils. The former,
which would yield a larger profit than the refined
oil, will probably be sought after and meet with a
ready market upon the Pacific coast of North and
South America, for gas work, copper smelting, nitrate
evaporation, water condensing, local oil refineries
and other works, as it has calorific value of from two
to three times more than coal, and also produces
more and better gas, even in common coal retorts,
than coal, which has to be imported from Europe.

The character of the oil is brilliant in every respect,
the produce of the last well drilled having yielded
91.5 per cent. of oil, which might almost all be
classified as an illuminating oil, no distillate heavier
than8.114 specific grauity, or 42° Beaumé, having
been obtained.
— 161 —

The “Flash” point of the kerosene averaged about
100° F.—as obtained by laboratory distillation, and
without any treatment—being somewhat low; but
on the large comercial scale and usual treatment,
the flash point can, I believe, he made to conform
to any requirement up to [30° F.

As will be seen from my full report giving all
details as to distillations, the lighter oils began to
come off at 115° to 160° F., and witha temperature
_ of 700° F., about 55 per cent. of all the distillates
had come off of abright water white character which
may be at once burnt in an ordinary lamp giving a
brilliant light, without chemical or other preparation
or treatment of any kind.

W. WarREN.
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10

wn
OTHER WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

The Tobacco, Salt and Alcohol Monopolies.

The Erection of the Monument in Honor of ,Rear-
Admiral Grau, in Piura, 1886.

Defense of the Sears Irrigation Project, 1887.

The Tobacco Monopoly in France, 1886.

Memoranda for a Report on the Department of Piura,
1890.

Reply to the Letters from London on Peruvian Mi-

nes, 1891.
Petroleum in Peru (Spanish original), 1891..
FORTHCOMING.

Second Edition of the Report on the Department of
Piura. —

Technical Data on Peruvian Petroleum.

Peruvian Quicksilver Mines.

Comparison between the Returns of Mines in Peru,
and the Mines in other Countries in America.