3-009-057 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Oil-springs at Tarr Farm, Oil Creek, Venango County, Pennsylvania, 1862. Engraving of Woodford and Phillips's Spouting Wells from a photograph by Alexander S. Macrae, petroleum oilbroker. 'In the foreground is shown a large vat, or cistern, in which a spouting well is running the oil. Owing to the specific lightness of the petroleum it floats upon the surface of water, and any deleterious matter which may be mixed with it is at once precipitated to the bottom, whence it is readily extricated. The oil is run into good strong forty-gallon casks, and dispatched to the refineries at home, or exported to every port in Europe. Phillips's Well is estimated to yield 3000 casks per week. This time last year, petroleum oil was almost unknown in Europe, since which we have imported and consumed from 150,000 to 200,000 casks, representing more than half a million sterling. The uses of this oil are many. In refining, spirits of petroleum are produced, from which a turpentine substitute is made, now being largely used in the place of spirits of turpentine. The next and the most important derivative is the petroleum oil, used for burning in paraffin-lamps. Lubricating oils and greases are likewise extracted from it, and wax also in great quantities'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.