Show oil 01 1 of the west r before the discovery of the great subterranean petroleum pools in various portions of the united states about the time of f the civil war the extraction of oil from ominous bituminous shale was a considerable and growing industry in 1860 there were more than twenty shale treating plants in operation but by 1865 the cost of producing petroleum tro leuin was so much less than that of producing the artificial oil that the owners of shale plants were either forced out of business or compelled to ally themselves with the petroleum industry some of them becoming re finers of crude petroleum interest is now revived in the matter by a preliminary lira inary report of the united states geological survey on the oil bearing qualities of the extensive deposits of bituminous shale in northwestern colorado and northwestern utah and the fact that secretary lane has had under consideration the advisability of withdrawing from entry large areas of public lands containing these shale beds which are of undoubted ultimate economic value notwithstanding banding the facts that the worlds production of petroleum was never so great as at present and that last years production in the united states was a record breaker by an increase of barrels yet the improved methods of handling oil bearing shale by which not only oil but ammonia salts and other valuable byproducts are extracted have rendered the deposits of bituminous shale in colorado and utah well worthy of consideration field and laboratory tests of these by the geological survey indicate an oil content of ten to sixty one gallons a ton with a probable average for the better grades of shale of a barrel to a ton though this average may not hold for extensive deposits posits of the rock no tonnage estimate of the bituminous is attempted in a forthcoming report of the survey but observations ions have been made of their occurrence in various localities in colorado and utah as well as in wyoming and nevada during the last seven or eight years of geologic field work in these states and it AB is known that their acreage is very great and in many places beds of generous thickness have been found with only incomplete data at hand the geological survey considers the present olt cost of pro ducting crude oil from these bituminous tu minous as probably above the curmit price of petroleum even taking into consideration the valuable nature of the byproducts by products the great latent possibility of these resources however is fully realized in fact in any european country other than an russia or roumania which are rich in petroleum lands these large areas of bituminous oua shale would possess immediate utility city furthermore they would be rp re carded as of large importance as a war resource for naval use the dl american de posits are situated inland where whet operations piot would not require oft guarding in time of at tack and they constitute a resource which can be estimated both as to quantity and quality as accurately as a coal bed whereas their competitor natural petroleum is variable in both these respects and its production is uncertain secretary lane has however after careful consideration decided not to recommend to the president at this time the withdrawal of these lands because of his belief that such action might possibly result in retarding or prejudicing the development of a new mining industry in these portions of colorado and utah especially at this stage when private initiative needs every inducement to test out the real value of the resources although the oil are undoubtedly a valuable reserve resource being capable of furnishing a large and reliable supply both of fuel and of fertilizing til izing material in the form of ammonia salts there would seem to be no urgent public need for withdrawing the land from prospecting and acquisition under the existing laws which are believed to be fairly adequate to meet the present needs of this prospective industry jn in dealing with a resource whose present value is somewhat conjectural both as to market and as to cost of production it seems wise to avoid placing any possible hindrance whatever in the way of private enterprise at the initial stage of development and to favor utilization by offering to real producers every premium that the present law affords it is probable however that the geological survey will make a more detailed examination of the colo colorado rado and utah and possibly the bureau of mines may take up technologic studies related to their utilization although as stated the oil shale industry long since c eased ceased I 1 in n the united states it has persisted and apparently parent ly flourished in great britain and france in 1904 the production of oil shale in scotland amounted to of gallons of tons with a content marketable products of crude oil yielding of naphtha gallons 2 gallons of burning oil tons of gas oil oil tons of 39 tons of lubricating tons of ammonia paraffin wax and of oil shale salts in 1913 the production tons tong f from rom which in scotland was about gallons of oil was obtained of ammonium sul amount and also a large phate this yield of twenty gallons of shale may be contrasted of oil to the ton average yield of forty with the assumed colorado and utah gallons from the and treating the shale the cost og 0 mining a in scotland for both oil and byproducts by products is said to be about a ton especial interest attaches to the deposits of oil shale in the united states because of the recognition by great britain of the value of these deposits and the reported purchase last year by the british admiralty of a large tract of oil shale land in new brunswick to be used exclusively as the source of oil for the british navy lord winston churchill estimates that the scottish shale deposits are capable of an annual output of to tons of fuel oil during the next years the report on the oil of colorado and utah when issued may be obtained from the director of the united states geological survey washington D C but it will not be printed and available for three or four months |