The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1866-06-02
The Burning Well.

or, as it is sometimes called, Pine Hill run.
The distance below Franklin is about
twenty miles by the course of the river, or
across the hills about twelve miles. The
mode of travel was by the river, on the ice
about half the distance, the remainder over
the hills.
Gas you approach the region Of the well
the country becomes rough and romantic in
the extreme. High hills and abrupt preci.
pieces are convered and overhung by immense
masses of detached rock that seem scatter
ed at random on the ltops and on the side
of the activities. If the glacial theory of
Agassiz be correct, then the icebergs that
were anchored here were thickly ladened
with mighty boulders from the North. Be
this as it may, the rocky masses are lying
here in wonderful confusion.
'Before you approach near enough to the
we'll to see the flames, your ears are sauted
with the roaring sound similar to that which
Ross Browne describes as peculiar to the
Geysers in Iceland. 1t seems to be due
chiefly to the rush of gas from the depths
below, but may be in part from the fame
itself as 1t rises high in the air.
"Like most great curiosites this well suf-
fers from surrounding circumstances
There is no good object near with which it
may b" compared It's to height Added to
this, the hills all around it are from six hun
dred to thousand feet in height, affording
as a background rocks and shrubs and stunt
ed trees, that tend to diminish its effect on
the eye and Imagination.
''Ihe well was, Of course, bored for oil.
1t had reached depth of some five hundred
feet, when the column of gas, that must be
immense, rushed up and became lgnited
from the furnace of the engine. Soon, of
course, the derrick, engine house and fix
lures were consumed, and the engine itself
wreck. The top of the conductor which
energies from the pit, being Of wood, was
burned off, when an attempt was made to fill
up the pit with earth and extinguish the
flames. This proved failure as the pres
sure Of the gas was too great to be easily fill
ed up.
''As ii is seen at present, the gas rushes
through the loose earth In Ii thousand Jets,
and the result is that column of flame con
stantly emerges from the pit equal to its size,
which is, perhaps, eight feet square. This
column rises to height of from fifty to one
hundred feet, varying every few seconds
from the minimum to the maximum height.
The pillar is not regular in form, but rough
and jagged. Sometimes it is divided, and
sends its tongues OF fame out in every drec.
ton. AS it reaches its greatest height. the
top Of the flame leaps oifand is extinguished.
This is the appearance in daylight. At
night, and surrounded 10y the darkness, its
appearance must be awtully grand and i'm
posing.
81 am inclined to think that there's some
oil mingled with the product of the well,
inasmuch as every three or four seconds a
cloud Of dark smoke rolls up with the flames
and is swept to its very summit, when it dis
appears
''Some visitors compute the height at one
hundred and fifty feet. This is probable
correct at some periods, as the day visited
it, the air was damp and unfavorable to its
reaching its greatest height.
The roaring sound is constant. and al
most resembles the sound of distant thunder.
The climate in the neighborhood is very
mild and summer like. The buds on the
shrubs are expanding, and the grass green
and fresh as in April, while the very ice on
the river has melted and Disappeared
"The well has been burning about three
weeks, with no apparent diminutlon in its
power, or in the quantity of gas, so that at
present it bids fair to afford light to the peo-
pie for some time to come.
"Although the fire is surrounded on all
sides by hills of such lofty proportions, yet
at night the light is seen at a great distance.
At Franklin it lights up the southern horizon
with bright, tremulous glow.
"Ihis light assumed very strange APP
pearance one evening last week. 1t was
somewhat cloudy, and in addition to the
usual rudy glow, the light appeared to CON
centrate itself into bright lance like figure
about four or five degrees in length, that
remained stationary about midway between
horizon and the zenith, where it continued
all the evening"