Butler and Armstrong counties. Within 15 years production 
had grown to nearly 30,000 barrels a day. Late in 1874 the 
initial well of the great Bradford oil field was opened, and 
for three years this new district, which covered over 100,000 
acres, was the scene of great activity. Production increased 
at a rapid rate, until in July, 1880, the Bradford field yielded 
100,000 barrels a day. Of this large quantity, about 80,000 
barrels were run into the storage tanks of the transportation 
companies, while the remainder was lost. Later came the 
discovery of gushers in Warren and Butler counties, and since 
then oil has been found in many parts of the United States, 
Mexico, South America, and other portions of the globe. 
The production of 2000 barrels in 1859, grew, with oc- 
casional recessions in totals, until in the year 1917, the total 
was 335,315,600, with a valuation of $522,635,213. Coming 
down to later years, the United States Geological Survey, in 
a publication dated May 26, 1923, gives the petroleum pro- 
duction of the year 1921 at 472,183,000 barrels. 
Very remarkable has been the expansion of the petroleum 
industry in the last two years, for the American Petroleum 
Institute, which issues weekly reports on the oil trade, esti- 
mates the production of crude oil in the United States, in 
the week ending October 27, 1923, at 2,265,900 barrels daily, 
or on the annual basis of a production of 827,053,500 barrels. 
As one can easily guess from the number of motor cars 
in use, the consumption of gasoline is enormous. A report 
from the United States Bureau of Mines puts the consump- 
tion of gasoline for the first quarter of 1923, which includes 
exports, at 1,447,760,000 gallons, and from this it figures that 
the total consumption for the year will be between 7,900,000,- 
000 and 8,500,000,000 gallons. This is based on the fact that 
since the date of the first government statistics on gasoline 
consumption, the demand in the first quarter of the year has 
never been less than 179%, and never more than 18.25%, of 
the total consumption for the year. The report goes on to 
say that the production of gasoline in the first three months 
of 1928 was the largest on record, and at the annual rate of 
7,400,000,000 gallons. Total stocks of gasoline January 1 
were 883,792,861 gallons. An excess of 540,000,000 gallons 
of consumption over production this year would reduce this