The RoanokeSlant

This file is a US personal journal of commentary of examples of the Roanoke Times and Liberal Media Slant...... lbhagen@aol.com

Sunday, June 05, 2016

 

John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Saved The Whales – Really!

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“Say What?”   My conservation minded friends exclaim!
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Yes, John D. Rockefeller with his fledging Standard Oil Company saved the whales!
With the rapid growth of population, the demand for whale oil was resulting in the extermination of whales just like the demand for beaver hats and furs resulted in the extermination of beavers in most of the US.
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The data from three Connecticut Ports gives one a sense of the tremendous volume of whale oil that was used just on the US East Coast.
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Debow's Review: Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial Progress and Resources   Pg 48
https://books.google.com/books?id=2Wo6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=whale+oil+1863&source=bl&ots=dGEhzvWHPN&sig=JLzC0NWU41jnLgNoCVPChOBPdbM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiChey0y_LMAhUG3SYKHScmDSIQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=whale%20oil%201863&f=false
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For just three ports in Connecticut for 1862-3:
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Connecticut

Port City

1862-3

Barrels

Whale Oil

Barrels

Sperm Whale Oil

Barrels

Total

New London

36,200

445

36,645

New Bedford

125,004

94,178

219,182

Bristol

20,550

1,140

21,690

 

 

 

277,517
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It is difficult today to comprehend the massive volume of  East Coast, South Cost, and West Coast Whale Oil harvested by Just the US whalers no less that of the other whaling countries of the world.
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One can still buy vintage whale oil lamps and residual whale oil for the lamps.
Simply use key words: whale oil in eBay.
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The start of the oil business in the mid-1800s was focused on replacing wick whale oil lamps and later fueling kerosene space heaters.  Most of the whale oil lamps had replaced or were supplementing candles.
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Some interesting trivia on why Rockefeller became dominate in the kerosene business.
There were many kerosene manufacturers in the 1860s.  Many were novice start-ups without good controls on their products.  The result was a wide disparity between batches of kerosene and between suppliers.  This resulted in kerosene that burned poorly, provided limited heat and light and generated lots of oily smoke.
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Other batches were so volatile they caused the lamps and heaters to flame-up and burn and in some cases explode as if the kerosene was gasoline.
Perhaps it wasn’t Mrs. O’Leary’s cow that caused the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
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Rockefeller “standardized” his kerosene production facilities and processes to produce consistent, safe, and reliable kerosene and named it “Standard Oil”.  Consumers recognized the value and safety of the product and embraced the brand resulting in a near kerosene-monopoly.
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So Junior, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil (Later: ESSO, EXXON, EXXON-Mobil) Really Did Save The Whales!  A lot more whales than GreenPeace and all their associates combined.
He than went on to dominate the oil and gasoline business and became one of “The Robber Barons” – Bummer!
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I apologize to all my anti-fossil-fuel and save-the-whales friends.  I realize this is a very difficult whale-oil-pill to swallow (shades of taking cod-liver-oil).
Why didn’t my schoolteachers or the media ever tell me about this?  Are they explaining it to students now?  I think Not!
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In defense of my Scandinavian Whaler ancestors – they only harpooned the whales that surfaced!
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