Oil-Shale: An Historical, Technical, and Economic Study Page: 55
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HISTORY OF THE INDUSTRY.
HISTORY OF THE OIL-SHALE INDUSTRY IN SCOTLAND.
The oil-shale industry in Scotland apparently originated inde-
pendently of that in France. In 185058 James Young, who with
a partner, had been refining the oil obtained from a small seep in
Derbyshire, England, conceived the idea that oil was a product
of coal, and had been distilled from the latter by the action of
subterranean heat. He began experimenting with the production
of oil from coals, and finally produced from cannel coal an oil
containing solid paraffin. In the course of his experiments a
highly bituminous material, called "Boghead coal" or "Tor-
banehill material", or simply torbanite, was discovered. This
yielded upwards of 135 gallons of oil to the ton. In 1850 a plant
was erected by Young and two associates at Bathgate, Linlith-
gowshire, for the production of oil from Boghead coal, and was
producing crude oil in 1851. Young's original patent59 covering
the process of the production of oil from bituminous mineral sub-
stances was the subject of much controversy and litigation,
caused mostly by arguments as to whether Boghead coal was a
coal or a shale. Finally it was decided that whatever the material
actually was, the lessors had acquiesced in its being treated as
within the terms of the lease, and that legally it was coal; the
decision was purely on a point of law and scientific evidence was
practically disregarded.
In 1862, the deposits of Boghead coal became exhausted, and
since then the oils obtained in Scotland have been almost entirely
produced from the oil-shales of the lower carboniferous series of
Midlothian and Linlithgow. These shales were first worked in
1862 by Robert Bell at Broxburn.
The industry developed rapidly in Scotland, though many of
the companies, organized to treat oil-shales, failed financially or
combined with others in order to make success possible.
Since 1851, over 140 different individuals or companies have
entered the oil-shale industry in Scotland. In 1871, there were
51 active companies, but of these the number in existence in
1910 was only six. In 1919, the four largest companies-
Pumpherston Oil Co. Ltd., Broxburn Oil Co. Ltd., Young's
Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Co. Ltd., and the Oakbank Oil Co.
Ltd., together with a smaller company, Jas. Ross & Co., Philips-
town Oil Works Ltd., which produced crude oil only-consolidated
as one company, Scottish Oils Ltd. Thus practically there is
but one oil-shale company operating in Scotland at the present
time, although the individual companies still maintain their
identity.
58 Early history of the Scotch oil-shale industry, taken largely from Red-
wood, I. I., Mineral oils and their by-products, 1897, p. 33; et seq; late history
from personal communications and interviews with Scotch operators.
59 English Patent No. 13292, Oct. 17, 1850.55
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Gavin, Martin J. Oil-Shale: An Historical, Technical, and Economic Study, report, July 1922; Denver, Colorado. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc66388/m1/77/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.