storing the oil, the latter being carried in barrels upon camels or two-wheeled carts to the refineries.

In recent years, immense reservoirs, with a capacity of over 88,000 cwt., have been erected, especially in the Balakhani region, and are filled directly by means of pumps from the naphtha lakes or from the wells. These cylindrical reservoirs of sheet iron riveted together are placed without foundation upon the ground, and are provided with a flat, conical roof of sheet iron. The naphtha remains in the reservoirs for some time for the deposit of mud, sand and water, and is then conducted by means of pipe lines to the refineries.

In the United States the oil is pumped from the mouth of the well into tanks; the latter are either of wood with a capacity of about from 250 to 600 barrels, or of iron with a capacity of about 2,500 barrels.

In Galicia the crude oil is brought directly from the pits to the refineries by means of wagons. However, in recent years larger reservoirs have also been erected in the neighborhood of the wells from which the crude oil is transported by wagons or railroad to the refineries. The most recent boring enterprises in Western Galicia are in this respect provided with all modern improvements, they being furnished even with small pipe lines for conveying the oil to the nearest railway station.

In Germany the crude oil is conducted into smaller reservoirs in the immediate neighborhood of the wells, and after settling conveyed to the refineries, which, as a rule, are located but a short distance from the wells.

Transport of Crude Oil.

Facility of transport is one of the most important factors in the development of the mineral oil industry, and it may be said that the price of the oil and the prosperity of the industry are almost solely dependent on it. This is very clearly shown by the oil regions of Galicia, Roumania, and partially also of Germany. These countries possess large natural stores of crude oil, but the means of transportation are difficult and insufficient,

so that they cannot find a suitable home market for their products, which are of good quality, and cannot prevent the importations of foreign producers provided with better means of transportation.

The Americans were the first to understand that the markets of the world could be conquered only by the proper solution of the problem of transportation. They created astonishing and standard contrivances in this direction by which they have obtained their object, so that up to the present time their products have encountered but slight competition.

Primitive methods. In Burmah the crude oil is placed in glass jars and transported in them about the country. The breakage of the jars and muck occasioned by the leakage is mentioned as one of the disagreeable adjuncts of the production. in the neighborhood of Rangoon.'

Then by a tube

In this country the Seneca oil of early days was transported in barrels or packed in bottles. During the first years of the excitement in the oil regions oil was transported in 40 and 42 gallon barrels, made of oak and hooped with iron. To prevent the oil from penetrating the wood the inside of the barrels is coated as follows: The barrels are first thoroughly washed, usually with a jet of steam, dried and heated. Hot glue is then put in and distributed over the whole surface. a pressure of about 20 lbs. per square inch is applied through the bung, and the glue is forced into the pores of the wood. Great difficulty has always been experienced in the transportation of crude oil in barrels, due to the fact that such oil invariably contains a trace of water, usually as much as I per cent., which, acting on the glue, causes the barrel to leak, and consequently a loss of oil. To remedy the difficulty and also to decrease the labor of handling the oil, early in 1866, or possibly in the latter part of 1865, tank-cars were introduced upon railroads entering the oil regions. Those first introduced consisted of an ordinary flat car, upon which were placed two wooden

1 Report on Petroleum, by S. F. Peckham.

tanks shaped like tubs, each holding about 2,000 gallons, or 4,000 gallons to a car.

In the meanwhile transportation by water had assumed large proportions, quite too large for the volume of water usually flowing in Oil Creek, and the novel expedient of "pond freshets" was resorted to, to which allusion is made in the following terms in Henry's "Early and Later History of Petroleum."

"Arrangements were made with the mill owners at the head of Oil Creek for the use of their surplus water at stated intervals. The boats were towed up the creek by horses, not by a tow-path, but through the stream, to the various points of loading, and when laden they were floated off on a pond freshet. As many as 40,000 barrels were brought out of the creek on one of these freshets, but the average was between 15,000 and 20,000. At Oil City the oil was transferred to larger boats. At one time over 1,000 boats, 30 steamers, and about 4,000 men were engaged in this traffic. At times great loss occurred from collisions and jams. During the freshet of May, 1864, a jam occurred in Oil City, resulting in the loss of from 20,000 to 30,000 barrels."

In many places in India the transportation of oil is effected. by means of camels, each camel carrying on its back two iron tanks filled with oil.

Tank cars. In 1871, the wooden tanks placed on ordinary flat cars began to disappear, their place being supplied by the boiler iron cylinder car of the present time. They are now used in transporting crude, illuminating and lubricating oils. and other petroleum products, also residuum and spent acid. Fig. 57 shows the form of tank-car now in general use. The heads are made of inch flange iron, the bottom of inch, and the top of inch tank iron, and they weigh about 4,500 lbs. The tanks are about 24 feet 6 inches long and 66 inches in diameter, and hold from 4,500 to 5,000 gallons each. They are provided with an expansion dome and a man-hole, the latter being used for filling the tank. During the transport the man

hole is closed with an iron cover which is screwed to a flange on the tank. In the United States about 10,000 of such tankcars are in use, while Russia has about 4000, about 2000 of which belong to the Nobel Brothers. The Russian cars traverse three regions, from which they go further into foreign countries.

1. The crude oil districts (Balakhani, Sabuntschi, etc.,) from which, besides in pipe lines, the crude oil is transported in tank-cars either to the refineries (Baku, Tschormy Gorodok, etc.,) or what is done to a still greater extent to the harbor of Batoum, where the crude oil is partially distilled and brought into storage tanks to be finally shipped in tank vessels to European, especially Austrian, harbors.

2. The second region for tank-cars embraces the transport of refined oil from Baku to Batoum. This line is used most because it supplies the great foreign commerce by means of tank vessels. At the present time 7000 cars per month are at an average transported from Baku to Batoum. In August, 1889, the number of cars was 6613, and in September of the same year, 6935.

3. The oil station of greatest importance next to Baku and

Batoum is the city of Zarizyn on the Volga. The oil is brought to the city in tank-vessels and stored in immense reservoirs, to be finally shipped in tank-cars through the entire Russian Empire, but especially to Moscow, Petersburg, Riga and Warsaw, where the oil is again pumped into reservoirs and finally transported to Austria-Hungary, Germany, and other foreign countries.

Tank vessels. Like the pipe lines, which will be described later on, tank-vessels have caused a revolution in transporting petroleum. The high freight which was formerly demanded for shipping oil in barrels or tin canisters by steamships, sailing vessels, etc., has been reduced to the minimum by the introduction of tank vessels. If we further take into consideration the saving in barrels, the price of which is increasing daily, and the avoidance of leakage, which, in shipping oil in barrels, frequently amounted to 10 per cent., and finally the saving of time in filling and emptying the barrels, the great advantage of tankvessels will be readily understood.

In 1871, the Astrachan merchants, Artemjeff, Ragosin and Schipoff commenced the transportation of crude oil and re siduum in tank-vessels. They used for the purpose ordinary wooden vessels (barks), the oil being brought into the hold. The water enveloping the exterior of the vessel prevented the oil from penetrating the wood to any serious extent, the hold being not filled deeper with oil than the water line. The deck was loaded with oil in barrels or in iron tanks. A large number of these sailing vessels were soon engaged in the petroleum carrying trade on the Caspian Sea and Volga. But, of course, they were not sufficiently safe, because, notwithstanding the envelopment of water, the oil penetrated the planks of the vessel, thereby causing considerable losses, and even conflagrations. When Nobel, in 1871, laid the first pipe line in Russia, he also endeavored to improve this primitive method of tank-transpor tation. He first erected in the sailing vessels and barks which carried the oil across the Caspian Sea to Astrachan, and to Zarizyn on the Volga, cisterns similar to those used in