Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-01-28
The Great Pennsylvania Gas Well.

\ correspondent writes "In Millerstoyn
Pa, IN the very centre of Butler County
| went up on the hill and counted forty-nine
small burning wells The whole heaven.
were aglow with light The clouds Were
sllyer-lined, and reflected back the lurid
glare from the well. | could stand anywhere
and read newspaper. The boilers of fifty
on-well engines heated with gas line the
valley. Away to the south, glare like a
city on fire lighted up the heavens. From
toward the lighted horizon came a rumbling
roar that drowned the hubbub of the street.
All night long | listened to the roar of that
great deiemater mill, and the next morning |
rode four miles over scrub-oak hills. through
muddy gulches and past, | suppose, ffty
pumping ol-wells, to see the startling won
der. The noise grew louder and louder as
We approached. Then the rumble changed
TO kissing rush
LIKE a THOUSAND LOCOMOTIVES
blowing off steam. At an eighth Of a mile
the noise changed again TO the continuous
roar of a thousand cannon. The human
Voice could not be heard Communication wa.
by Vantomime. The flame shoots seventy
feet into the air, like Il steeple on fire. Tie
hills were covered with snow, but for two
acres around the well the grass is green aud
| growing, except close to the well, where the
ground looks like burned lava. At safe dis
tauce calves and sheep stand warming them
selves, and eating the hot-house grass. This
two acres ofsterile Pennsylvania looks like a
section Of fertile Florida.
What makes itsound ike the continuous
report of artillery ?' asked the engineer.
9. Raoaueo - j.. a 4ra-1r.t,
stlntly exploding. Look said he. ''vou
see the first flame twenty feet from the muz-
zle-that Is the flash, the explosion, it is like
q cannon, only this is c0ntinuous-a million
cann0ns mInute-in fact, one explosion
and conclusion going on forever" 1t Is won
deriul to see this volcanic fame exploding in
the air. The pressure Is 50 great that the
gas cannot ignite till it gets twenty feet be-
yond the nozzle. The stream Of gas comes
up lO0O feet through a fye-inch iron pine.
and Is conducted of POO feet through anoth-
er tube, where it finds vent. The general
pressure of the gaS with the valve open Is
900 pounds 10 the square inch We partly
closed the valve, and the pressure ran up to
1900 closed it a little more and the tubing
began TO tremble, and the great ton weight
holding it down began to liti It was only a
quick turn Of the skilful engineer that saved
/ 1000 feet of iron tubinr. anchored down with
several tons weight from ebootjno Iike an
arrow into the air. You can bstter coli
.,,.,.,....... -,
of this gas when you reflect that the pre-
sure on an ordinary locomotive boiler Is from
eighty to l2j pounds to the square inch.
while the pressure from this well. II tie
valve Is closed, would run up to 1900, and
then tear the tubing ont and throw the
heeyy machinery INTO the air. The engineer
conducted hail-inch stream Of gas into a
t~elye-horse-power steam engine, and 1t ran
So fast that the machinery broke. The amour:
Of heat and Light in the gas escaping Is
equal to 2loo tons Of coal Per day. The ga'
would light New York. Philadelphia and
Baltimore. /, would run every locomotive
IN the state OF Pennsylvania 1t would I'LL