Checking the Waste: A Study in Conservation

O

still used extensively; but in the cities, larger towns, and manufacturing regions, it is not used in commercial quantities. Its use for power productio

timber of the farmer's wood-lot, the refuse of lumber regions or the waste of wood-working factories. So that the use o

all become plentiful in all parts of the country will tend to bring about again a larger use of wood as fuel, which will thus once more become

E

vegetable matter to coal. It is probable that in the course of centuries this would become coal, and in i

elop our peat beds, although in European countries ten million tons are used annually for fuel, as well as large quantities for other purpo

ne to turn people's attention to the peat beds of America. One point that is worthy of notice is that peat is found mostly in regions where there is no

orgia; and near the coast in the gulf states, and a narrow strip along the Pacific coast, from southern California to the Canadian border. They cover an area of about 11,000 square miles and are supposed to con

easily breakable, and can be used only for local consumption. (2) By digging either by hand or machine, and grinding it in a mill. It is put in wet, ground, cut with rapidly turning knives, and passe

a binder, or mixed with coal dust and tar or pitch is used for the same purpose. (3) Machine p

he coal now used for that purpose, furnish satisfactory power without smoke or dirt, provide cheap power in regions that have no coal mines, and lastly may be made to yield valuable by-products: ammo

work. The most promising uses are for fuel, as bedding for stock, as a disinfectant, in briquettes for burning lime, brick, and pottery, in which it is finding a large use, and for which it is said to be particularly we

is higher than would appear from the comparison. From two to two and a half pounds will produce one horse-power per hour in gas-producer engines. By this estima

URA

ributed to the home or factory for light, heat, or power; for all of which it is equally desirable. It is ready for our use at the tur

ouisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming. In some of them the area has been large and the production very heavy, in others the field is small and unproductive. Unti

ty to develop the country, to increase the population and attract new factories. In order to advertise and boom their communities free gas is usually offered to factories. So in dozens of instances large factories have been operated for years without a cent having been paid for fuel. For this reason no pro

ntity remaining in the earth. It may be much less or much more than present conditions would indicate

s show, is by far the greatest natural gas region in the United States. With the discovery of natural gas, established towns grew to ten times their former size and new ones sprang up everywhere. Indiana, which had been chiefly an agricultural state, bade fair to become one of the foremost manufacturing states on account of its

for whole communities to grow rich by its use; all these things tend to promote recklessness on the part of all who handle it. In the beginning the wells are usually not tightly cased, and there is a considerable quantity of gas escaping about every well. New wells are frequently lighted to show the volume of gas. In some cases the well has become uncapped on account of heavy pressure and to prevent the escape of unconsumed gas into the air i

and allowed to burn day and night to avoid the expense of a man to care for them. Where natural gas is abundant, meters are not usually installed; instead, gas is sold by the month. The consumer is under no obligation to save the gas, in fact, he usually acts on the commo

is the greatest of all foes to the life of a natural gas region. He finds that the gas interferes with the flow of oil, spraying it into the air and causing loss, and that the danger of fire is much increased by its presence. This frequently causes explosions, tearing out the

en cities the size of Washington, D. C., and equal to ten thousand barrels of petroleum per day. In Indiana a few years ago fourteen wells, al

tional expense for casing are all that is required to stop

et were used and an almost equal number wasted. In other words, the daily waste is over a billion cub

n the year, and destroying our best coal at the rate of a million bushels per day, how quickly we should all arise to aid in checking it! And yet this imaginary case

ever destroyed every day in every year! Would the oil companies permit it? Would we not all assist them in saving their property from destruction, and shall we not ask of them equal help in saving the fuel that in turn conserves our coal supply? Little objection can be made to the present method of using gas in the older regions. The waste in domestic use is comparatively small. Much is used for lighting with incandescent burners, and asbestos grates and gas ra

t a man can not take the oil from the ground where nature has safely stored it, unless he also provide a market for the gas which accompanies i

Indiana statute should be enacted into law in every state where these fuels exist." Since that time Penn

ly watchful of their property. In West Virginia the gas companies buy the gas which has been obtained in the drilling of oil wells, th

of a well. Formerly as soon as a well dropped greatly in p

d consists in compressing it in steel cylinders for shipp

rove that gas may be returned to reservoirs within the ea

ed for long distances. Some natural gas companies have bought up the culm banks and heaps of refuse coal, so that if t

ROL

benzine, kerosene, lubricating oils, and paraffin. The name petroleum applies only to the crude pet

ided to try to dispose of it, but there was no market. No one knew what to do with it. He then partly refined it, making a poor quality of kerosene, and introduced a lamp with a chimney. This proved so popular that A. C. Ferris, also of Pittsburg, undertook to sell this in other cities, and these two men not only sold the fifty barrels and the other petroleum that accumula

four, and the East Indies three barrels, Roumania two, India and Mexico one each, Canada, Japan, Germany, Peru, and Italy each less than one barrel; so we can see that the United States is the one great producer of petrol

h the best known is the Pennsylvania field. It has a grade of petroleum that differs from any other thus far found in the world. It is most easily converted into kerosene

inia, a narrow strip in eastern Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. These southern oils

s gasolene and less lamp oils, and more sulphur, which makes refining difficult. The Illinois field lies next. Here, in a strip about thirty miles long

that it has not been possible to care for all of it, either in the matter of storage tanks or cars for transporting it, and as a result large amounts have b

ermine whether oil could be found. Small storage tanks were provided and it was hoped to find oil enough to make drilling profitable. The well proved to be

incipally for burning as crude oil in locomotives and has sold as low as ten cents per barrel; but lately methods of r

nvestigation has shown that the quantity is greater in this field than in any other. I

Colorado and Wyoming, and promises of fields in New

ttle less than twenty-five billion barrels. The last report officially published shows that we are producing one hundred and seventy million barrels per year. If the same rate of production continues, we might expect our petroleum to last from fifty-five to one hundred and thirty-five years, according to the amount found; but tables of statistics show that throughout the life of the petroleum industry, as much has been produced each nine years as the entire product before that time. For example, up to the prese

s having received any compensating benefit. It is therefore necessary for each lessee to get his share before it flows away. Under these circumstances, it is impossible to prevent an entire fi

l not exceed ten years. West Virginia is producing only a little more than half its former yield and is rapidly declining. Ohio and Indiana are declining more rapidly than Pennsylvania. Texas is also in the

of the present century. It appears more probable, however, that increasing prices long before that time will help to conserve the su

icating oil. This is necessary in the development of all kinds of power. At least one-half pint of lubricating oil is used for every ton of coal consumed for power. All engines, all street and steam r

necessary for the lighting of houses or other estab

is not common. It is largely used for cooking, and still

-boats, and for cleaning, in which it is very v

work, for waxing floors, and as a coveri

nough, but sometimes, as in the case of the big well at Beaumont, Texas, the oil gushes forth in such volume that the drillers are not prepared to take care of the overflow, and much is wasted before the

evaporation of gasolene and similar light products when the petroleum is exposed to the air in open tanks. Thi

ufacture, except some slight residue that might be used for oiling roads, instead of using the crude oil. The principal waste lies in its use. In view of the fact that the supply is not unending, is, indeed, rapidly disappearing, the uses shou

is usually sold for the lowest grade uses, and the price for this crude petroleum is not more than one hundredth as much as for high

in ten years the present fields will be unable profitably to produce enough for these requirements.

roduction, since lands yielding hundreds of dollars per acre in this product can be obtained for a small sum. Every acre of public land,

ed on the Pacific coast, if u

CO

eater use each year, and is regarded by many as the great fuel of the future, because the

tatoes, from inferior grain that is not worth marketing, and from low-grade fruits and vegetables of all kinds. It is even said that the hundreds of

all the kinds of heating, lighting, and power work; the machinery being far from perfect as yet. Wood-alcohol can not yet be made cheaper than gasolene, and is not so easy to burn, so that it is slow in reaching an important place in th

as electric and gas plants. Alcohol-driven motors can be used to take the place of the labor of both horses and men on the farm. On level farms they can run the heavy machines, such as mowers, reapers, and binders, plows

e manufacture of dyes and coal-tar products, of smokeless po

ERE

al Conservati

f Geologi

ated Minerals. (Carnegie.) R

ral Resources. (U. S

nd Its Uses. W. H. W

the U. S. in 1908. U.

Oil in the U

Gas in the U

urces. (White.) Report