THE UNITED STATES.--In no other country has such continuous progress been recorded in connection with the production of petroleum as in the case of the United States. Quite recently, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that there are no less than 9,000 square miles of oil-bearing territory in the States, yet the petroleum industry was not commercially established until the early sixties of the last century. It was in Pennsylvania that the industry had its birth, and the troubles which beset Drake, the pioneer, have filled many pages of early oil literature. His first well, which produced quite a modest yield of crude oil, was at Titusville, Pa., which spot soon became a thriving town. And as Pennsylvania was the scene of the early successes, it also became the pivot round which the petroleum industry of the States prospered for many years. Until 1885, the Pennsylvanian fields furnished over 98 per cent. of the production of crude oil: then a gradual decline set in, until, at the present time, Pennsylvanian regions do not produce 10 per cent. of the oil output of the United States. No sooner had the petroleum industry been firmly established in Pennsylvania than an active search was made for the precious fluid in various parts of the States, and one by one new oil regions were opened up, but it is interesting to recall the fact that, even in the first developed oil-producing region, no district has been entirely abandoned as exhausted of oil, for to-day wells are being pumped quite close to Drake’s first well and the scene of the birth of the American petroleum industry. In the zenith of its prosperity, the Pennsylvanian field produced nearly 5,000,000 tons of crude oil per annum, but to-day the output has fallen off nearly 40 per cent. When it is mentioned that the output of crude petroleum from the various fields of the United States last year was over 40,000,000 tons, the magnitude of America’s oil industry will at once be apparent. The regions known as the Mid-Continent fields--and which embrace the extensive oil-producing regions of Kansas and Oklahoma--are responsible for a very large portion of this output. Each field has its various “pools,” the most famous of this part, perhaps, being the Cushing pool, which came into prominence but a few years ago. Toward the end of 1914, it was estimated that the daily output of Cushing was 35,000 tons of crude oil. Cushing, like all other prolific oil districts, has many interesting stories associated with its rapid rise as an oil-producing centre, and there are instances on record where, in the course of a few days, land values have increased tenfold.