CP Oil Fuel

From: KyleKWyatt@gmail.com

Central Pacific Oil Fuel

From Railroad Gazette, Nov. 27, 1885, p 759

Liquid fuel in California.

Experiments are being made by the Central Pacific Railroad Co. with petroleum as fuel on some of their steamboats. On the freight steamer "Thoroughfare," plying between Oakland and San Francisco, the saving in cost of fuel is 44 per cent., amounting to $1,400 per month. Four firemen are dispensed with, effecting a further saving of $240 per month. On the “Solono,” the biggest ferry-boat in the world, the saving is only 17 per cent. The oil costs $1.70 per 40-gallon barrel or about 4 cents per gallon. Coal costs $7 per ton, and is estimated to be equal to 100 gallons of oil costing $4.25. Other ferryboats at San Francisco are being altered to burn oil. The amount of petroleum obtained from California has steadily been increasing for the past five years. In 1879, 19,858 barrels were produced, and in 1884 more than 100,000 barrels, thus quadrupling the yield in the space of five years. California now ranks third among the petroleum producing states: New York is second, and West Virginia fourth.