The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1873-10-15
BORING for Oil

At DLS4AtS5 VI UIl4AilZ WIS - >
& Franklin, Pa, correspondent OF the
New York Tribune, has now almost
entirely fallen into the hands Of pro-
fessional driliers. When man or q
company has decided upon drilling q
well, and selected it, site. the FIRST
step taken Is 10 put up a derrick, Or
as It termed here, carpenters rig. "
This q framework, made mostly Of
plank. from So to - feet high. about
fourteen feet square at the bottom,
and running nearly to a point at the
top. The cost Of a derrick IS about
$500 The tools used in drilling are
the bit,wbich is ike anv ordinary rock
drill bit, but larger. being about
three feet in length; above that Is
the augur stem then two chain
links called the Jars, and above that
the 'sinker bar" This Is attached
at the upper end to the rope which
passes over the pulley at the top Of
the derrick, and thence down to G
windlass outside OF the derrick The
drilling is done by a steam engine
with a crank movement, whi-h keeps
the drill at work day and night,
man standing by in the derrick to
give the tools more rope at proper in
teryals, and 10 turn the drill while
1t Is operating. Af,er the drill has
reduced q quantity Of rock 20 sand,
it is drawn from the well mp into the
derrick, and the sand pump is lower
ed and the sand brought out, when the
drill Is again inserted. The rope
used must be Of the very best quality.
and in digging deep wells it requires
two ropes, as the sand very soon
cuts them out. The expense Is a
verv considerable one, being S400
for each rope The tools for drilling
that are now used weigh 1900
pounds, those that were first used /.
weighing only ninety pounds. A
good set Of drillers will put a we'll
down in sixty-fve working davs. pro-
vided they have good luck and no
accidents, but it ofteBtimes takes SIX
months TO reach the oil sand
The rock in which the oil sand Is
found has very decided dip from
the north TO the south, it being about Z
sixteen feet TO the mile. In the cid I
or northern part il is found at depth .
of from four hundred TO seven hun I
dred feet. whereas the new wells at
Modoc are seventeen hundred
feet, the expense of drilling one Of the
new wells being nearly double that
of the old ones. The drillers gener-
ally know where thew are by the
kind of sand they bring out At
Modoc, at q depth of about FIVE hun
daed feet, they strike what Is called
the mountain sand, down to which
point they bore an eigbt-inch hole
Here they know that the are below
fresh water, and they put in i casing
down to and resting on that rock,
with an inside diameter with FIVE
and tive-eighth inches. From there
they bore through the casing the
remainder of the well with a dame
ter of FIVE and one-ha!f inches, deped-
ing upon this shoulder Of rock at
the bottom OF the casing to shut off
the salt water, which is sometimes
found in large quantities. The next
sand Of importance that is found is
called the second sand, which lies at
a depth of little over twelve hun
dred feet, and sometimes produces
oil. This. however. is not consider
ed good sign, and makns future
drilling operations on the same well
rather gloom work, as a first class
well cannot be expected. The fifty
foot sand comes next; the next is the
bOwlder then comes lhs corn meal
sand, so called because OF its resem
blauce to corn meal From that you
get Eve or ten feet of slate, and then
YOU strike the oil sand, which is a
sort OF pebbly rock, and if the well /
is gOin to amount to anything. oil ap- /
pears the moment YOU penetrate or
even scratch this rock Between /
thes straits that ! have mentioned |
the space is filed up mostly with !
shells, slate, soap rock, sand, etc, the 1
being very easy. But in
the sand rock above enumerated, I
slow time is made by the drillers
aud the mountain sand is so sharp
that it wears the drill, and the .
particles Of steel from the bit are
among the grazing ofsand-