Show early adventures now assuming new significance ik f OVER THE DRAXIE A AS hr 1 af LOOKED IN 00 li it st 1 by HENRY BOTS FORt FTER well nigh a cealo and turee oree quarters a new interest a baa has recently been aroused la 11 the eart earliest leat military adaven alres of 0 george washington when barely twenty one year years old in 1753 washington was ent sent by gov arnor dinwiddle of 0 virginia into the far northwestern wilderness that la Is northwestern norh western pennsylvania to warn the I 1 reach that they thet mint must cease their effort to occupy that region recent researches have given a naw new cal significance to that expedition during which washington always reckless rec klees of hie his personal pera onal safety had one ot if hia his narrow escape escapes from iron death at the handa hands of a treacherous indian guide I 1 the french at that time occupied canada and claimed the and ohio valley alleys though t the fringe ring ot of english peaking speaking colon colonies le fiig along the atlantic Atlin tic contained the chief luro par laffon prance france maintained mos bourett creig ty over most ot of north amer acas lea are ti were apparently determined ter mined to northwestern part blaise it waa was known even then the i to be ba rica in n petro leum region a wealth K town iown pioneers Pion eera and cag lisa lish french german jad and dutch bad had all fill reported to their governments that a the a pe petroleum ro eum was bif 0 great grest po alu there ie Is however no reason tc to believe 11 that washington knew of iti its existence or calub until bli his adventure ot of 1753 then he learn ed that the oil had lone long been used by the indiana indians and the pioneering whites tor for fuel and light for or medicine and in making war paint washington waa was 90 moch much impressed with its ta Dossi blit lies that he later became owner of a large area ot of oil bearing beating lands al at though the petroleum industry in ita its modern form wai was then undreamed ot of washington wai was so 0 o sure that a fori tune tube resided in bit hit oil oli bearing landa lancis that in his will tie he listed them as ala his most val able holdings holdin in the property erty schedule ache dule attached 0 to o the will he wrote this tract waa was taken up by gen eral lewie lewis and myself on account of the bituminous pring spring which it con tain ot of so a nature as to burn as freely a as spirits and as nearly difficult to extinguish the will ct of washington some declare that in an earlier will washington dedicated this burning spring to the public at any rate it bad had parsed passed from bis bit own enship before bis his death ho lie sold this tract tor for but suspecting it might revert to bis his estate under a mortgage he warned he b a beira heirs that should it do so it would be worth much mom than the cua although i ashington a first knowl edge of petroleum as gained within a few n ale lea of the place obe h e ibe the firm toil oil well ID ip the world was drilled that brat first well was not opened until one hundred and six years later 1859 1159 in that year jwan Lai drake droke bored the first well just south of pennsylvania Pennsyl rania and really stared the oarn petr I 1 um indus try A development wonder today loday the american ledu industry stry Is the malor major pirt of the me world a all 01 bubness aserleans Amer A leans are directing oil develop meats all over the world it Is all 1 l part of the huge lern to make laros that the tomorrow tomorrows hall hill see ee america a e requirements met every decade the production of petroleum halt ha doubled Se science leneil and cal progress have md met all demands foreign investment and development are in to the nature of insurance tor for the future in to the dys days of drake sad nd afi indu arys try s beginnings petroleum alue value lay in lubricant lubricants and kerosene the age of t machinery was only with its it insatiate demand tor for aubri cant ante while kerosene though th te beet best illuminant ever known was d danger nger eis because poor refining left gasoline that wi was light to explode it it Is dim cu cult it nowadays wt wl i the world la is being combed tor for more petroleum petrol rum loum to t make more gasoline to r realize e aliz 0 that gasoline waa was once a nuis nuisance nce and d I 1 cona menace the internal combustion bustion e eu gloe gins created the demand clemand car far gasoline now the primary product ot of petroleum the demands of millions ot of motor care increasing constantly anven tion and chemistry were let at worl by the captains of the industry to 0 o make the barrel ot of petroleum turn out a 2 larger and larger proportion of gas a bilna ina this was done by the cracking process through which every year now sees 1 a larger pro ponton ot of crude oil turned into gasoline high and growing demands toay well 2 barrels ot of pearl urn um are required every day to satisfy the demand for motor cars carts tractors trucks buses artificial 11 gas plants and the innumerable by prod acts invention la Is coan constantly tautly finding new now uses as enterprise just as con scantly finds new supplies 9 of petroleum the wonderful and rather mysterious fluid has revolutionized social habits and industrial methods yet it Is only two thirds of 0 a century sinco since the industry lad its beeble beginning in n the Penn pennsylvania syly anis oil country this year the country wll will use abat ab dijt barrels of petroleum ahe he country will use gallons ot of gasoline and will export more the production processing and marketing of petroleum Is probably second only to agriculture among american Mus trios roundly 70 per cent of the world worlds s petroleum industry Is to american tea billions of capital Is invested li in it half halt the valuation of the national rail road system it employs just about 1 people the petroleum pipe una line system grid ironing a good share of the country aggregates about as sz miles petroleum revolutionized naval warfare by bringing in to the oil burning thip it la Is fast revolutionizing merchant chant marines in the same fash it i t multiplication of motor care cars along with the special taxation of their gasoline has mad made possible the modern highway system A true social service perhaps the most nearly refo revolution lution ary result of drake drakes a modernization of the patrol petroleum jum industry Is to be feind to ind in the change it has brought in the life cf of rural america it has carried the city to the country the country to the city it ha ba by making coeel pos I 1 ble his the cheap and quick transports transports tran tion that everybody na am dadaye daye on e joys enabled country and city to know and understand each other as they never did before it has ban brought social and educational privileges to country dwellers that a few tow decades ago seemed absolutely denied to them on the one hand it has en able I 1 the cities to spread out into h s K hurban arens and th atif zone of country on the other it has enami enabled e d the people of the open country to have ha v 0 neighbors society church and school elege pl ege intimate acquaintance it Is a historic fact that the tend tendon m cy toward dI div lilon of interest and ua between city and country Is the most cerious internal m mr race to io me ta security of nations to the integ integrity of society more than anything else country and city need to know and understand each other and each others problems the easy transportation the ready opportunity for association and acquaintance that have come with the age of petroleum hare have made possible ibi 1 I 1 I 1 la this favored country at least 1 standing exactly 1 aly this new now intimacy an aai I 1 under va |