37 Miles. 2 CHART OF DISTANCES. UP THE ALLEGHENY. 'Franklin to Two-mile Run Reed Run } Cornplanter's Run.. Cherrytree Run Michael's Run } Oil Creek, Bennyhoof Run.. Pioneer Creek.. Bull Run.... Pine Creek.. 7 ......30 East Hickory Creek. .37 ..40 Maguire Run... DOWN THE ALLEGHENY. Franklin to Lower Two-mile Run..... 38 888 TOWER OF BABEL. CHAPTER III. ANCIENT HISTORY OF PETROLEUM. WE come now to speak of the grand and important production of Venango county. It is called Petroleum from the Greek words Petros and elaion, signifying rock oil. Sometimes it is called simply rock oil: formerly it was generally known as Seneca oil, being brought to the notice of the early settlers by the Seneca Indians. It is no new article in the world's economy. It is almost as old as the history of time. It has been found in various forms, and used for various purposes; but in all has ministered greatly to the wants and comforts of mankind. We read of it in the sacred writings, the earliest records of man. Profane writers allude to it, and mention the important uses to which it has been applied. It appears to have been known. anciently more in the form of asphaltum than in any other; and the first recorded use was in masonry. We have the first record of its use, four thousand years ago, in the erection of the tower of Babel. Genesis xi. 3. The projected building was to be on the plains of ShiIt was to reach to heaven and stand as an eternal monument of the wisdom, and skill, and forethought of its builders. Again, nearly two hundred years later, we read in Genesis xiv. 10, that the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits," referring without doubt to the nar. HERODOTUS-CARTWRIGHT. 39 springs and fountains of asphaltum, that abound to this day in that region, and on the shore of the Dead Sea. It was also an important material in building the walls of ancient Babylon. The work was at least in part accomplished not less than 3000 years ago. Herodotus, the Greek historian, uses the following language in relation to the buildings of Babylon: "Digging a fosse or ditch, the earth which was cast up they formed into bricks and desiring large ones they burned them in furnaces, using for lime, or mortar, hot asphaltas, or bitumen." He relates further, that this bitumen was brought from the river Is, a tributary of the Euphrates. Cartwright, an old traveler of the last century, gives the following account of his observations at this same river Is. "From the ruins of old Babylon, we came to a town called Ait; (the modern Heet) near unto which town is a valley of pitch, very marvellous to behold, and things almost incredible, wherein are many springs throwing out abundantly a kind of black substance, like unto tar, or pitch, which serveth all the countries thereabout to make staunch their barks and boats; every one of which springs makes a noise like a smith's forge, which never ceaseth night or day, and the noise is heard a mile off, swallowing up all weighty things that come upon it." A later traveler, Mr. Rich, says, "The principal bitumen pit at Heet has two sources, and is divided by a wall in the centre, on one side of which the bitumen bubbles up, and on the other the oil of Naptha." Curtius, Diodorous, Siculus, Bochart, and Josephus, all speak of bitumen as forming a constituent of those 40 LAYARD-EMBALMING. mighty walls, and lofty towers, and pensile gardens, that were the wonder of the world. As even more suggestive of some of the scenes of modern times in the Venango Oil region, we quote from Layard's "Nineveh and Babylon," giving an account of a bitumen pit on fire. "Tongues of flame and jets of gas, driven from the burning pit, shot through the murky canopy. As the fire brightened, a thousand fantastic forms of light, played amid the smoke. In an hour the bitumen was exhausted for the time, the dense smoke gradually died away, and the pale light of the moon shone over the black slime pits." And now, after the lapse of thirty-five centuries, with all that time can do in corroding, and undermining, and destroying the work of man, the remains of these petroleum-built walls and towns still exist. Occasional fragments of bricks, with the asphaltum still clinging to them, are exhumed and brought to light. This substance was also used in Egypt at an early day, as early as history furnishes us the facts of the times. From the accounts, at the close of the book of Genesis, of the embalming of Jacob and Joseph, we infer that the matter of embalming was a common process then, a period of 1700 years before Christ. Dr. Pettigrew, in his "History of Egyptian Mummies," tells us, that many of the mummies that he exhumed, had the cavities of the bodies. filled with asphaltum. A French writer, on the same subject, quoted by Pettigrew, says these bodies were often immersed in liquified pitch, a composition formed of common pitch and asphaltum. Modern research and observation, would confirm this no tion of the extensive use of petroleum in the process of embalming. The color, the odor, the inflammable nature of the mummy, all indicate its presence. The cerements, and even the embalmed body itself, often assist in kindling and keeping up the fire of the wandering Arab, and sometimes that of the more civilized traveler. It was used in other processes in Egyptian art. An antiquarian friend* relates, that having received a piece of Egyptian papyrus, with characters inscribed thereon, he placed it in the crown of his hat as the most secure place of carrying the precious relic to his rooms. On removing the papyrus from his hat, he discovered quite an odor of petroleum, that had been set free by the heat of his head. It is probable that in the manufacture of the papyrus, petroleum had been used in part as an agglutinant, and in part to prevent the attacks of insects, and the corroding effects of time. From those days so ancient, that history would be dim and obscure, were it not for light from the sacred page, down to the present time, petroleum has occupied a place in the arrangements of man, either as an article of utility or luxury. It has been found cropping out, in some form or other, in every continent and almost on every island, giving token of its presence, and dimly foreshadowing its future importance and value. In more modern times it has been found in Burmah, in Zante, in the north of Italy, and, in fact, almost always in the neighborhood of volcanoes; sometimes issuing through the earth, and at others bubbling up |