USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 48
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"Success added fuel to the flames of excitement; farmers, mechanics and professional men, leaving their vocations, flocked to the oil region, the centre of which was the Rath- bone farms; a village of shanties became densely populous, with derricks instead of church spires; the cooperage of tanks and barrels the only mechanical product, and the oil product and transport the prolific source of remunerative labor. Sharp, speculative men, eager to reap the advantages which the circumstances offered, waited not a moment, but flooded upon the tide which promised to lead to fortune long before it had reached its flood. They bought lands where they could and then took leases of all that remained. The excitement spread; neighboring territory was involved; strange faces peopled every farm, and every farm-house became an inn."
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Mr. Dodge gives the statement of a participant in this excitement "who was present, when the Llewellyn and Eternal Centre were struck," and who writes:
"The desire of obtaining boring territory soon became so great that large bounties were demanded and paid. 'At first one thousand dollars per acre and one-third of the oil were the conditions; afterward, two thousand dollars per acre and one-third of the oil in iron-bound barrels was demanded and given. The amount of oil thrown out by the Llewellyn well was such as to produce the impression that the surface included within a radius of one mile from that well as the centre, contained the 'oil centre of the world.' Men ran wild with specula- tion, and the desire to sink wells within that limited locality was boundless. A village sprang up in one month, and as the season progressed toward Spring it was calculated that over two thousand persons would be located on the ground before June."
With the breaking out of the Civil War, the oil production at Burning Springs became very much lessened, owing to friends and partners separating-some going South and others North-"leaving the derrick and drill, tank and well, and all the appointments of oil pro- duction to the risks of violence and malice, destruction and decay."
A few remained wholly indifferent to the war embroglio, and determined upon business and a fortune at all hazards. Their hopes and aims were abundantly realized, and upon the surrender of Lee a regathering of the oil men at Burning Springs quickly followed. In a short time a strangely picturesque settlement flourished and augmented, until the famous "Chicago Hotel" was built for the traffic. In 1867 this structure was "piped" for gas by its enterprising host, Amos Allen, and every night numerous jets, fed by the springs, enlivened the scenes of oil speculation and became a feature of the town.
Of the output of oil during the war Mr. Dodge says:
"Yet some of the principal wells in which interests were held by persons in the neigh- borhood were operated with slight interruption, though exposed to guerilla incursions and the inconvenience of lack of laborers, so that the production of 1861 was but four million gallons. In 1862, the war, at first believed not to be of long continuance or great severity, gathered gloom and afforded less encouragement to oil operators than ever; yet there were three million two hundred thousand gallons sent to market from this point.
"In May, 1863, the rebel General Jones, with a strong force, made a descent upon Burn- ing Springs Run, burned twenty thousand barrels of oil, tanks, barrels, derricks and fixtures. A considerable time elapsed before these partial operations were again renewed, and the result of the labors of the season probably did not exceed two millions of gallons."
Some of the oil set on fire by General Jones was in tank boats, which burned loose from their moorings and drifted down the stream, a flotilla of consuming flame that destroyed the trees on both banks of the Little Kanawha for several miles. It is estimated that General Jones destroyed over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth of oil and property. The government tax was one dollar a barrel, and he thought to wipe out so much income from the National treasury, regardless of the loss inflicted on individuals who owned the property.
The Burning Springs referred to is a natural vent of natural gas, constantly flowing, but is one of the smaller of such springs in West Virginia, the largest being the one about nine miles above Charleston on the Great Kanawha.
Colonel B. W. Byrne was a partner with Senator Camden in the Burning Springs oil enterprise, and he relates that the Eternal Centre well was the fourth well struck or yield- ing; the Llewellyn was the third. They struck in the same afternoon. J. C. Rathbone, generally called "Cass," owned the eighty-barrel well located a little below the Eternal Cen- tre, which was the second to produce; and the Karnes, or old salt well of the Rathbones, the
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first as above described, having been originally bored for salt by A. H. Gay and William P. Rathbone, the father of the Rathbone brothers, J. C. and J. V., who were interested with him.
Colonel Byrne states: " The greatest flow ever known from any well at Burning Springs was a thirty-minute gush of the Eternal Centre, which flowed one hundred barrels. This famous well usually gave one hundred barrels a day, natural flow, in spurts of about thirty barrels at a time; but on this occasion the pressure was estimated at one thousand pounds to the square inch. The oil stood up like a geyser or stack of hay over twenty feet high and was seven or eight feet in diameter, although coming from a four-inch outlet. It stopped instantaneously, as usual, until the next spout, which was of the regular order. When tubing was accomplished and the pump kept at work the twenty-four hours, the outflow was at the rate of three or four hundred barrels a day.
"The partners in the Eternal Centre, during its profitable existence of about one year at one hundred and fifty feet depth, were Johnson N. Camden, B. W. Byrne, Gideon D. Camden, then a circuit judge, and John J. Jackson, who was soon after appointed United States district judge of West Virginia. These four gentlemen were equal partners. The Eternal Centre well went into the hands of other operators, who bored it to the depth of one thousand feet; but while it continued to 'gas' it threw up only water and gravel and be- came an astonishing phenomenon. The water and large gravel stones would go up one hun- dred and fifty feet, and the force came on every twenty-four hours at 11 A.M. Every day an expectant crowd would be in waiting, and at the time of eleven to the minute the great spurt would set in. The gravel stones would often be thrown so thick as to be dangerous to those in the neighborhood."
Mr. Dodge describes the quality of the oil as follows:
"The oil of the Burning Springs wells is of average specific gravity, generally about 40 Beaume. It is heavier than that of Pennsylvania, worth more for illumination and bears a higher price. It is found in large quantities at a less depth, having come in most cases from cavities pierced at less than two hundred and fifty feet from the surface. When showing signs of exhaustion, wells have been sunk deeper, and the largely increased product has proved the existence of something more than surface accumulation in transient supply. One deepened from one hundred and sixty feet to two hundred and eighty-five has yielded fifty barrels daily. This fact is corroborated by the theory of Prof. Andrews that the origin of the oil is deep in the beds of bituminous shales, which are computed to contain more com- bustible matter than the coal measures."
Notes on Petroleum and Kerosene.
Petroleum was first discovered underground in Ohio in 1820, while boring for a salt well. In 1845, while boring for salt above Pittsburg on the Alleghany River, a spring of oil was struck and for the first time revealed the presence of that substance in the earth in large quantities. It had been called "Seneca oil" and used by the Indians for bruises and wounds; they generally collected it with blankets from the surface of the water where it prevailed. Before 1857, it had been collected on Oil Creek, Venango County, Pa., so named by first settlers because of oil floating on it. In 1857-59, at Titusville, on Oil Creek, Bowditch & Drake, of New Haven, Conn., began their direct labors of boring for it. Colonel Drake was a Jack-of-all-trades and his ingenuity devised the hollow tube that made deep boring possi- ble. Probably it was August 29, 1859, before his first well was in operation. They obtained, according to one authority, 34 to 40 barrels at a depth of 3372 feet; another writer says they
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obtained 400 gallons a day from a depth of 71 feet. The oil rose at once to the surface. This was the remote beginning of the "oil fever" of speculation, in which so many fortunes were won and lost. Other wells on Oil Creek were put down and yielded as high as 3, 000 gallons a day.
The name of "kerosene," as applied to refined oil for illuminating purposes, was first given by Abraham Gesner, in 1846, who conferred it upon oil which he made from coal on Prince Edward's Island. The first kerosene oil company in this country began operations at Newtown Creek, Long Island, in June, 1854. Bituminous coal was used, and the manu- facture increased rapidly. B.
OIL PRODUCTION OF THE STATE.
THE present output of petroleum in the several fields of the State is given in the follow- ing account from an article prepared by Governor Fleming on "West Virginia's Resources and Development: "
" Rich as is West Virginia in coal, iron and timber, the past two years have demonstrated that she is no less rich in deposits of petroleum oil. There are now three well-defined pro- ducing fields, along parallel lines, having a general northeast and southwest direction, and the activity of the operators, the millions of capital already invested, the extent and character of the territory make the State the chief rival of Pennsylvania as the source of the future oil supply of the country.
"The newer developments embrace the Eureka and Belmont field in Pleasants County, and the Mannington and Doll's Run field in Marion and Monongalia Counties, respectively. The two last named are an extension of the Mt. Morris (Pa. ) field. The source of produc- tion is the 'Big Injun' sand rock, found at a depth of about 1,900 feet. The first important well in the Mannington pool was struck early last Spring, since which time over 40 produc- ing wells have been brought in, yielding a monthly production of over 60,000 barrels. The development is going on at the same rapid rate. The oil is a good grade of light premium, commanding 20 cents per barrel above quoted market prices. The amount of capital now invested in the industry at Mannington is estimated to be little short of $1,500,000. The 'Big Injun' oil line is supposed to extend south to below the Kanawha River. Test wells have been drilled and are drilling along this belt of territory, with more or less favorable results.
" The Belmont and Eureka district in Pleasants County derives its oil from the Berea grit, an extremely rich sand, at a depth of about 1, 200 feet, though a good grade of 'heavy' oil is also found in limited quantities in the shallow sands.
"In this field the development has been even more rapid than in the Mannington region, and the production much greater. The average cost of the wells is $3,000, and the average yield is unusually good, many of the wells coming in with a flow of from 500 to 1,000 bar- rels per day. The head wells in this field are now as far north as the town of St. Mary's. I am unable to report the production of this district. It probably exceeds several times that of the Mannington field.
"A very important development is that in the horizon of the well known Gordon sand, along a line extending southwest from the Little Washington and Nineveh pools in Penn- sylvania, through Wetzel and other counties in this State. Experienced oil men predict that this will be the great oil field of the future. The first producing well in this sand within the State was brought in, a month or more ago, near Littleton, Wetzel County. It is vari-
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ously reported at from 300 to 600 barrels. A rapid development may be expected to follow, and if the prolific character of the Gordon sand rock is maintained, an enormous production from the new field may safely be anticipated."
Professor J. C. White makes this reference to the Standard Oil Company, in an address given at the World's Fair banquet held at Charleston in March, 1891:
"Until the year 1889, the oil magnates of the country paid no serious attention to West Virginia. This date, however, is a 'red letter' one in our oil history, for it marks the open- ing of Doll's Run, Mannington, and the rise of Eureka to prominence. These three devel- opments brought the Standard Oil Company to realize that here in West Virginia was to be the great oil field of the future, and that much-berated monopoly has come into our State to take possession of its oil business. How many hundred thousand acres it has leased or purchased I do not know, but the territory it controls is a vast one, and the million and a half dollars it has expended in building a pipe line from Morgantown to the sea attest that it is with us to stay. Just what its influence will be upon our young Commonwealth remains to be ascertained. It is here at the Capital asking for legislation necessary for carrying on this vast business enterprise of producing and marketing the millions of barrels of oil which lie hidden in our rocky strata. If what it asks be fair, it is only right it should be given. Most of us have only seen the dark side of this monster corporation. It is too true that its immense proceeds have been used in this country to crush out rivals whom it could not pur- chase, but at the same time, only the power of such aggregated wealth could meet and van- quish the Nobells and Rothschilds of Europe in the contest with the cheap oils of Russia. To meet this competition, and hold as well as extend the foreign market for American oils, this much-abused corporation has often sold oil for months far below its cost, and had this not been done the price of our oil would not be more than fifty cents a barrel to-day. This is one of the benefits that aggregated wealth confers, of which we hear very little."
COAL, IRON AND TIMBER. BY J. P. HALE.
UNTIL the Centennial of 1876, the immensely valuable resources of West Virginia were but little known and less appreciated beyond her own borders. Her very striking exhibit at Philadelphia was a revelation to outsiders; and, although the whole country was still suffering from the paralyzing effects of the great panic of 1873, there commenced an active influx of new population into the State, with new capital and new enterprise, bent upon the development of the State's resources.
In 1863, there was but one railroad passing through the State, and that only through a few counties in the upper end; now, 43 of the 54 counties of the State are accommodated by railroads, there are three great east-and-west lines-the B. and O., the C. and O., and the N. and W .- running through the State, and one-the O. R .- running north and south; be- sides the several interior-developing lines and branches. Last year-1892-witnessed the laying of more railroad track in West Virginia than in any other State of the Union; and 1893 promises a repetition of the same fact. The railroad mileage of the State in 1863 was about 325 miles; now (1893), it is 1, 763 main line and 398 side track; total, 2, 161 miles.
Coal.
The extent, variety, quality and value of the coal deposits of West Virginia are simply wonderful. Professor White says that, of the 60, 000 square miles of coal in the great Appa-
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lachian coal field, extending from Pennsylvania to Alabama, inclusive, West Virginia has 16, 000 square miles, or more than one-fourth; has more than any other State in the Union, and one. thirteenth of all the coal in the country; it underlies 50 of the 54 counties of the State, and embraces all the known varieties: anthracite, splint, bituminous, cannel, gas coals, coking coals, etc., and the best qualities of the several varieties for their respective uses, say for gas, coking, steam-generating, grate use, blacksmiths' use, etc. A table of analyses from the World's Fair book on West Virginia resources shows the composition and character of our coals. It also shows that they run singularly low in sulphur and ash; less than the coals of any other State, and less than the English and Scotch coals.
The West Virginia coals lie on the western slope of the Alleghanies, dipping gently from the mountains toward the Ohio River. This fact renders the coal easily accessible from the lower side, where cut by the creeks and branches, and available for working up the dip to the best advantage, altogether above water level, giving good drainage and ventila- tion. There is no fire-damp in our mines. There has never been a gas explosion in a mine in the State, so far as I know.
In 1870, the total shipment of coal to markets outside of the State was 608, 878 tons. In 1892, there were 200 mines in operation, using $10,508, 050 capital, employing 15,383 men, and producing 8, 710,888 tons of coal. The average annual increase of output, since 1880, has been 17.21 per cent. This rapid increase might have been even more rapid, but that it has all the while been kept in check by the somewhat less rapid increase of transportation facilities; but, from the railroads built, building and projected, this promises to be no longer a hindrance to the forward pressing development.
The N. and W. R. R. reports the shipment of coal and coke from the Pocahontas region at 3, 666, 733 tons for 1892, an increase of 384, 062 tons over 1891.
Professor White estimates "that if we put the workable thickness of coal underlying the 10, 000, 000 acres of our coal field at only ten feet, the available product will be at least 100, 000, 000, 000 tons."
West Virginia's coal field is one and a half times as large as that of Great Britain, whose annual production is now about 200,000, 000 tons, though she has to go down 1, 000 to 2, 500 feet to reach it. A comparison of conditions will show the immense value and advantage of our coals.
Professor White estimates that the coal of all the States around us will be exhausted before ours, when West Virginia will have a monopoly of the coals of the Appalachian field; and in the centuries to come, when this State shall have exhausted all coals above water level, it will still have-at 200 to 1, 300 feet below-enough to last for ages.
Cannel Coal.
This beautiful and valuable coal abounds in West Virginia. Professor White says: "In Wayne, Lincoln and Boone Counties, the Upper Freeport coal forms one of the largest areas of pure cannel known in any country of the world;" but, it is not confined to these counties. Before the discovery of oil in wells, cannel coal was becoming largely used in the Kanawha coal field in the manufacture of oil; but, although it was very cheap, the greater cheapness and abundance of the well-oil soon superseded it. Who can tell but that, when the supply from wells shall have been exhausted, or greatly reduced, the West Virginia cannel coals may not again be resorted to to help keep up the world's supply?
Good cannel coal will yield 40 to 80 gallons of oil per ton. The Peytona cannel
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yielded 20 gallons crude illuminating oil, 52 gallons of crude lubricating oil, and 7.2 gallons of oily paraffine; total, 79.2 gallons to the ton.
Cannel coal contains more volatile matter than any other, and consequently makes more gas, and of higher illuminating power, than any other coal. It is largely used by gas com- panies as a mixer, to enrich the gas made from cheaper coals.
In an article in the Manufacturers' Record on the resources of the State, ex-Governor Fleming says: "As illustrating the remarkable coal deposits found in this State, I may refer to a conspicuous development on Pond Fork of Coal River in Boone County; there may be seen no less than 10 seams of coal, ranging from 2 feet 7 inches to 12 feet in thickness, and aggregating 68 feet 11 inches of coal from top to bottom; one vein is pure cannel 42 inches thick, overlaid by 34 inches of splint."
Anthracite.
The area of anthracite coal in the State is quite limited; it is confined to two counties, Berkeley and Morgan. As far back as 1835 a 6-foot vein was discovered; but it was not used and the pit filled with water. In 1883, another effort was made, and a 10-foot vein dis- covered, said to be "of fair quality, and to compare favorably with Pennsylvania anthracite." Later a New York geologist was sent out to investigate the matter. He found "a vein 24 feet 9 inches wide from wall rock to wall rock, containing 15 feet 7 inches of good anthracite coal."
Although these reports seem favorable, no one has yet been induced to undertake the mining of the coal; but it may yet, possibly, turn out to have great value.
Splint Coal.
Professor Maury, in his West Virginia Centennial book, says: "For the combined pur- poses of steam, domestic use and the manufacture of iron, it may be looked upon as the most useful and valuable coal of the State.
" Its value is due to its firmness and solidity, which enables it to be handled, shipped and stored with very little loss; it burns well, leaving but little ash; has both high calorific power and intensity; is usually remarkably free from sulphur and other impurities; has lit- tle or no tendency to clinker; is free from the danger of firing by spontaneous combustion- a great desideratum in storage and ocean transportation; is first rate as a steam and house- hold fire, and has a particular adaptability in the raw state to the manufacture of iron in the blast furnace, for which purpose it is eagerly sought in districts accessible to the market, as it makes a quality of iron which can only be surpassed by the use of charcoal."
Bituminous Coal.
Mr. George W. Summers, in his World's Fair book on West Virginia Resources, says: "By far the most widely distributed coal found in the State is the ordinary bituminous coal, valuable for fuel, gas, steam and coking purposes. It is found in almost every county in the State, and in great variety. Not only is it found in counties where the other coals are not, but, nearly always in the same veins with other coals, bituminous is also found. This coal is mined more than any other in the State, and by reason of the greater variety of uses to which it may be put, and the cheapness with which it may be mined, the demand for it is greater than for any other kind. The veins vary in thickness from a few inches to more than twenty feet, and the character of the coals varies almost as much. While splint and cannel coals are largely mined, it is the softer coals that give the value to the coal fields of
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West Virginia, and employment to thousands of its people. From them the famous West Virginia coke is made, which rivals the celebrated Connellsville coke, and in the manufacture of which long rows of blazing furnaces may be seen from almost any passing railroad train, brightening the hillsides with their lurid light, and filling the valleys near them with their smoke."
Coking Coals and Coke.
West Virginia has about 2, 500 square miles of the superior coking coals that have, within a few years, made her cokes so famous and so much sought after. These coals lie in a belt, some 20 or 25 miles wide and 100 miles or more in length, underlying portions of the coun- ties of Webster, Pocahontas, Greenbrier, Nicholas, Fayette, Raleigh, Summers, Wyoming, Mercer and McDowell. Throughout this region, the coal, wherever examined, seems to be of uniform character and quality; but the culmination of the deposits, in the number and size of the veins, is in the counties of Mercer and McDowell, in the Flat Top Mountains, and along the N. and W. R. R. The largest seam and the one most extensively worked is known as No. 3, or the Pocahontas seam, which varies, in different neighborhoods, from 6 feet to 12 feet. Next to this region, in importance, is the one on the C. and O. R. R., and on New River in Fayette County. The development of other portions of the field awaits transpor- tation facilities.
The peculiar excellence of these coals consists in their very high percentage of carbon, their low percentage of ash, and almost freedom from sulphur. These characteristics render the coal equally good as a steam coal, as a coking coal, and it is very valuable as an ocean steam coal, and particularly for naval vessels, as it emits little or no smoke in burning.
It is but a few years since the manufacture of coke was commenced in West Virginia on a commercial scale; but so rapid has been its increase that last year's product was only second to Pennsylvania, where the business has been so long established and so largely carried on.
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