Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-09-04
"TRUTH STRANGER THAN FIG
TION,"
a Venl HOLD of nc Infernal Regions

"A Vent Hole oT the internal Regions.
WEST BLOOMFIELD, New York, Aug.
26, 1867. -Editors Rochester Democrat
We have an 'lnstitution" in our town
which, were it in Italy or Switzerland,
parties making the grand tour" would go
miles to see, and think themselves well
paid for their trouble and as | have not
seen any notice of it in the papers | will
give you a short account of it.
Fifty years ago. some of the early set
tiers living near what is now called Bee
bes Brook, three miles south of our vii
lage, conceived that there was coal or some
| other valuable mineral in a locality near
the brook, and accordingly sunk shalt to
test the matter. After getting down some
thirty feet they perceived indications OF
| foul air, and fired bundle of straw and
| threw it down the shaft 1t instantly ignited
| and burned high above the surface, causing
! them to retreat on the dOuble-quick BADLY
scorched) with the entire loss of baggage.
1t burned short time and went out, but
| the experiment induced them to abandon
any farther Investigations In later years,
parties fishing in the brook by torchlight,
could, by touching the surface where the
water was still, ignite it at pleasure, when
it would burn a short time and expire.
These facts being well known, when the
coil fever" was at its height some three
years since, parties here decided to bore for
oil. A company was formed, an engine
and the necessary tools procured, and boring
commenced. After boring about one hun
bred feet they struck creyice which emit
ted a strong volume of gas. This gave
them renewed courage, and they bored
away for months until they reached depth
of five hundred feet when their courage
and capital being alike exhausted, they con-
cluded to abandon it, and pocket the loss as
many seeker after oil has done before and
since.
Since then the well has remained in
statu quo (the volume of gas never tagging
for moment) until about the first of July
one of our citizens visited it, to show it to
a visiting friend, and concluded to try an
experiment with it. Accordingly he at
tached lead pipe to the curbing tube to
conduct it outside of the building, and APP
piled lighted match to it, when "presto
change" quicker than you could say Jack
Robinson" the pipe melted, the flame fol-
lowing it up. They used every effort to
extinguish it, but in vain. 1t would not
tout" at their bidding any more than the
spot of blood from the hand of Lady Mac
beth.
1t reached the building in less time than
l could write it, and in short time the
structure was a mass of smoking ruins, the
heat damaging the engine past repair, leay-
ing damages of $1,000 or so for some one to
pay. Since then it has burned constantly.
The iron tubing rises fifteen feet above the
surface, and a roaring, surging, leaping
column of five or six inches in diameter
rises thirty feet above that, making the
vicinity light as day in the darkest night
The reflection on the sky can be seen for
miles away.
The well is situated in a romantic dale,
with a pebbly brook running near it. The
ground is carpeted with thick green turf,
and altogether it is a charming place at
which to spend a few hours pic-nicing,
aside from the burning well. It is already
a favorite trysting place for the young
folks, so much so that they have changed
the old song to meet the new order of
things. Instead of 80 meet me by moon
light" etc, it is:
meet me by gaslight alone
And then l will tell the tale,
1t must be told by the gaslie bit alone,
In the grove close by the oil well.
And appointments can be made with
some certainty, as the we'll ever shines,
while it is notorious that the moon utterly
refuses to shine on dark nights.
1t would be a grand place for camp
meeting. The whole grounds would be
brightly Illuminated while there would be
a column Of fame ever surging upward.
seemingly making mad efforts to set the
blue empyrean vault on fire, and ever and
anon as gust of wind strikes it, taking the
shape of thousand fiery serpents eagerly
darling for their prey, to point sermon or
adorn a tale.