[RedMonqey]

I'm sure "fracking " has it's problems with retrieval but so is drilling oil.

I wish our farm had natural gas....well other than cow and pig farts;-)

Face it. Oil is natural. It's can be found anywhere in the world.

So is Natural gas.

If the EPA and the environmentalist had been around when petroleum was first drilled on an indusrial scale, they would be spreading horror stories of the dangers of petroleum home lamp oil and whales would be extinct.(whale oil was used to light homes in the 1800's and were nearly driven to extinction by the fleets of whaling ships)

And we would be freezing in the winter and dodging horse sh@t from the millions of horse drawn carriages in the streets....in the heat of summer.

Talk about environmental hazard.(gag!!)

[Dusty Road]

You forgot one of the biggest hazards of that time, our consumption of wood. Heating, cooking and building all involved wood, when the wood ran out you moved to where there was more wood. Look at pictures in the late 1800 and early 1900’s of those that lived in the midwest and how barren the landscapes were. My grandparent came out of Kansas during that period and wood was used like money.