Show early adventures now assuming new significance 3 U DRAKE A H F 1559 tip Z g V dy by HENRY BOTSFORD well nigh a century and throe three quarters a new interest has recently been aroused in tho the earliest military adventures of georgo george washington when barely twenty one years old in 1753 washington was sent by governor dinwiddle of virginia into tho the tar northwestern wild wilderness orn oss that Is northwestern pennsylvania to warn the french that they must cease their efforts to occupy that region recon recent t researches research have given a now historical significance to that expedition during which Washing washington koll always reckless of his personal safety had one of his narrow escapes from death at tho the hands of u treacherous indian guide tho the french at that time occupied canada and claimed tho mississippi and ohio valleys though the fringe of english speaking colonies along the atlantic contained the chief european population france maintained sovereignty over most of north americas area they were apparently determined ter mined to occupy northwestern pennsylvania partly because it was known oven then to be rich in petroleum i regions Re glona wealth known pioneers and missionaries english french german and dutch had ml all reported to their governments that the petroleum was of great potential value thoro there Is however ho no reason to believe that washington knew of its existence or value until hla his adventure of 1753 then lie ho learn od that tho the oil had long been used by the indians indiana and the pioneering whites tor for fuel and light for medicine and in making war paint washington was waa do much impressed with its coq possibilities esibill that ho he later became owner of a largo area of oil hearing bearing lauds lands although tho the petroleum industry in its modern form was waa then undreamed of washington was so sure that a fortune resided in his oll oil bearing lands that in his ats will he listed them thein as his most valuable holdings in the property schedule attached to the will lie he wrote this tract was taken up by general lewis and myself on account of the bituminous spring which it contains of so inflammable a nature as to burn as freely as spirits and as nearly difficult to extinguish the will of washington some historians declare that in nn an earlier will washington dedicated this burning spring to tho the public at any rate it had passed from his ownership before his bis death ile he sold this tract for but suspecting it might rovert revert to his estate under a mortgage ho he warned his heirs that should it do so BO it would bo be worth much more than the although first knowl adze of 0 petroleum was gained within a few miles of the place where tho the first oil well in the world was drilled that first well was not opened until lone one hundred and six alx years yeara later 1859 in that year edwin laurentine Laurent lne drake bored the first well just south of pennsylvania and really started the modern petroleum industry A development wonder today the american industry Is the tha major tart part of the worlds oil business americans are directing oil develop monts all over the world it Is all part of the iho huge problem to mako make sure that the tomorrows shall sw seo americas requirements met every decade the production of petroleum has doubled science and technical progress have met all demands fo foreign eign investment and development aro are in the nature of insurance for the future in the tha days of 0 drake and the indus arys i 1 value lay in lubricants and kerosene the ago agel f i WO ot of machinery was only beginning with its insatiate demand for lubricants while kerosene ko roseno though tho the beat ever known was dangerous because poor refining left gasoline that wah wab liable to explode it is difficult nowadays when the world la Is being combed tor for more petroleum to make more gasoline to that gasoline was a nuisance and a menace monaco tho the internal combustion engine created the demand tor for gasoline now tho the primary product of petroleum the demands ot of millions of motor cars increasing constantly invention and chemistry were sot set at work by the captains of the industry to make inake the barrel of petroleum turn out a larger and larar proportion ot of gasoline this was done by the cracking process through which every year now sees a larger proportion of crude oil turned into anio gasoline high and growing demands today well nigh barrels of petroleum are required every day to satisfy tho the demand for motor cars tractors trucks buses artificial ga X plants and the innumerable by prod acts invention Is constantly finding now uses as enterprise just as eon con scantly finds now new supplies of potro petro loum laum the wonderful and rather mys my cerious fluid has revolutionized social habits and industrial methods YOL yet tt it Is only two thirds of a century since the tha industry had bad its feeble beginning in the pennsylvania oil country this year the country will use about barrels barcela ot of petroleum the country will use gallons of gasoline and will export more the production processing and marketing of petroleum la Is probably second only to agriculture amons among american industries roundly 70 por per cont cent of the worlds petroleum industry Is american ton ten billions of capital Is invested in it ft hall half the valuation of tho the national rail road system it employs just about people the petroleum petr pipe una line system grid ironing a good share of the country aggregates about 85 86 miles petroleum revolutionized naval warfare by bringing in the oil burning ship it Is fast revolutionizing merchant marines in the same fashion multiplication of motor cara car along with the special taxation of their gasoline has made possible the modern highway system A true social service perhaps the most nearly revolutionary result of drakes modernization of the petroleum industry Is to bo be found in the change it has brought in the life of rural america it has carried the city to tho country the country to the city it has by making possible the cheap and quick transportation transport that everybody nowadays en ea joys enabled country and city to know and understand each other as they never did before it has brought docial and educational privileges to country dwellers that a few decades ago seemed absolutely dented denied to thorn them on the one hand it has baa enabled the cities to spread out into sub urban areas and tho the zone of country estates on the other it has enabled tho the people of the open country to have neighbors society church and school privileges loges intimate acquaintance it is a historic fact that the tendency toward division of interest and un der ferstanding standing between city and country is the most serious internal menace to tho security of nations to the futo integrity gri of society more than anything else country and nd city need to know and under understand each other and each others problems the easy transportation the ready opportunity tor association and acquaintance that have come coine the age of have made BO sible in this favored counts country at 1 exactly this now new intimacy and ur standing |