And beyond these in point of time lie the vast deposits of oil shale
which by a comparatively cheap refining process can be made to yield
vastly more oil than has yet been found in pools or sands. The value of
this oil shale will depend upon the cheapness of its reduction, and this
must be greatly lessened by the value of by-products before it can
compete with coal or the oil from wells. There is every reason to
believe, however, that some day the production of oil from shale will be
a great and a permanent industry. And the country could make no better
immediate investment than to give a large appropriation for the
development of an economical shale-reducing plant.
So conservative an authority as the Geological Survey estimates that
the oil shales of the Western States alone contain many times over the
quantity of oil that will be recovered from our oil wells. The retorting
of oil from oil shale has been a commercial industry for many years in
Scotland and France; in fact, oil was obtained from oil shale here in
the United States before the first oil well was drilled. The industry is
in process of redevelopment to-day and if successful will assure us of a
future supply, but at the best it will take years of time and a vast
investment of capital to build up the industry to such a point that it
can supply any considerable proportion of our needs. It is imperative,
however, that the development of this latent resource be furthered and
brought to a state of commercial development as soon as possible.