Release date is 2025-10-16

deaurider, Daniel Lowe, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

"The evolution of the oil industry" by Victor Ross is a historical account written in the early 20th century. It charts how petroleum progressed from ancient curiosity to a globally organized, technology-driven industry, highlighting the United States’ pioneering role, standardization, and the systems that made oil vital in peace and war. Expect clear explanations of origins and geology, early Pennsylvania breakthroughs and figures like Edwin L. Drake, global fields, drilling and pipelines, refining, and the industry’s economic and social reach. The opening of this volume sets the tone with a preface arguing that petroleum enabled a new industrial “order,” reducing waste through standardized production and organization, with the U.S. leading and benefiting society broadly. It then surveys oil in history and legend—from biblical and classical references to Baku fire temples, Asian practices, Native American use, and George Washington’s remarks—before explaining what petroleum is, competing origin theories, geological migration, natural gas, gushers, and the diversity of crudes. The narrative turns to America’s beginnings: salt-brine drilling that revealed oil, Kier’s “rock oil,” Bissell’s vision, and Drake’s 1859 Titusville well, followed by booms like Pithole. A global overview follows (Russia, Roumania, Galicia, British imperial fields, Dutch East Indies, Japan, Mexico, Peru) and the rise of U.S. dominance across Pennsylvania, California, Oklahoma, and Texas. Practical chapters outline how geologists locate pools, how wells are drilled (cable-tool and rotary), “shooted” with nitroglycerin, and pumped, along with costs and risks. Finally, it explains early collection and storage, the shift from river barges and wagon caravans to pipelines, the teamsters’ resistance, and the large-scale, efficiently organized pipe-line systems that transformed transport—where the excerpt ends mid-discussion. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1920