1888 16,488,668 76 93¾ 87 1,515 578,351,638 47,042,409 07½ 1889 21,487,435 83¼ 1 08⅛ 94 5,434 616,195,459 49,913,677 07⅛ 1890 30,065,867 68⅞ 1 05 86½ 6,435 664,491,498 51,403,089 07⅜ 1891 35,742,152 59 77¾ 66¾ 3,390 710,124,077 52,026,734 06⅞ 1892 33,332,306 52 64⅛ 55⅛ 1,954 715,471,979 44,805,992 06 1893 31,362,890 53½ 78⅜ 64 1,980 804,337,168 42,142,058 05¼ 1894 29,597,614 80 91⅜ 84 3,756 908,281,968 41,499,806 05⅙ 1895 31,147,235 95⅝ 1 79⅝ 1 35¼ 7,138 853,126,180 56,223,425 07⅓ 1896 33,298,437 1 40 1 50 1 19 7,811 927,431,959 62,132,432 06⅞ —————————— —————-————— —————————— ————————— Totals 593,232,488 93,197 13,110,140,927 $6,332,963,049 WELLS BARRELS STOCKS OPERATIONS IN 1896. DRILLED. PRODUCED. DEC. 31. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, South-eastern Ohio 7,811 33,298,437 9,550,582 North-eastern Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, California 5,895 22,491,500 23,985,000 ———— ————— ————— TOTALS 13,706 55,789,937 33,535,582 ---------- Breadstuffs and cotton, iron and coal All have been distanc’d; oil has the pole. [Illustration: VIEW IN OIL CITY, PA., AFTER THE FLOOD, MARCH 17, 1865.] III. NEARING THE DAWN. SALT-WATER HELPING SOLVE THE PROBLEM—KIER’S IMPORTANT EXPERIMENTS—REMARKABLE SHAFT AT TARENTUM—WEST VIRGINIA AND OHIO TO THE FRONT—THE LANTERN FIEND—WHAT AN OLD MAP SHOWED—KENTUCKY PLAYS TRUMPS—THE FATHER OF FLOWING WELLS—SUNDRY EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVATIONS AT VARIOUS POINTS. ---------- “Just now the golden-sandaled dawn.”—_Sappho._ “The first dawnings open slowly, by little and little, into the full, clear light.”—_Newton._ “Let there be light.”—_Genesis i: 3._ “Come into the bright light beyond.”—_Wilson Barrett._ “Watchman, what of the night? The morning cometh.”—_Isaiah xxi: 11-12._ “The for’ard light’s shining bright and all’s well.”—_Richard Harding Davis._ “A salt-well dug in 1814, to the depth of four-hundred feet, near Marietta, discharged oil periodically at intervals of two to four days.”—_Dr. Hildreth, A. D. 1819._ “Nearly all the Kanawha salt-wells contained more or less petroleum.”—_Dr. Hale, A. D. 1825._