ANTIQUITY OF OIL WELLS
Though, as tho report of the American Federal Oil Board says, the first oil well was drilled as recently as 1859, it must not be thought that this was die first time petroleum was known or even utilised.
The Persian surface seepages, often blazing through accidents of nature or man, were famous centres for fire-wor-shippers as far back as history records, and crude oil from Sicily was used to illuminate the temples of Rome. In America itself the first mention of petroleum occurs in the writings of a Franciscan missionary in 1632, though long before that the Indians had been using it medicinally, the precise pairpose for which their “paleface” invaders first began to exploit it commercially in the early part of last century.
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New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12609, 20 November 1926, Page 7
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128ANTIQUITY OF OIL WELLS New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12609, 20 November 1926, Page 7
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