, 1876-02-12
PENNSYLVANIA Gas Wells.

Nv engagement at Millerstown, Pa, tOOE
me into the very centre Of the Butler county
gas producing region After the lecture
went up on the hill above Millerstown and
counted forty-nine small burning wells. The
whole heavens were sglow with light. The
/ clouds were silver-li3ed and reflected back
the lurid glare from the wells. could stand
anywhere and resd newspaper. The boil
ers of fifty oil-well engines, heated With gas
line the valley. Away to the south glare
like a cit on fire lighted up the heavens.
From toward the lighted horizon came a
rumbling roar that drowned the hubbub Of
! the street
What ist it ?'' I asked Mr.. Warmcastle.
" That's the great Delemster Gas Well,
Mr.. Perkins. four miles away" he answered.
al thought it was four hundred trains OF
cars passing over bridge" / said.
All night long I listened to the roar Of
that great PeIemater Well, and the next
morning l rode four miles over scrub oak
hills, through muddy gulches, and past, 1
suppose fifty pumping oil wells. to see the
startling wonder.
The noise grew louder and louder as we
approached Then the rumble changed to a
Kissing rush like q thousand locomotives
blowing off steam.
At an eighth of mile the noise changed
| again 10 the continuous roar of thousand
cannon. The human voice could not bt
heard Communication was by pantOmime
! The fame Shoes into the air seventy feet
like steeple on fire. The hills were covered
with snow, but for two acres around the well
the grass is green aud growing, except close
10 the well, where the ground Looks like
burnt lava. At a safe distance calves and
sheep stand warming themselves and eating
the hot house grass. This two acres of ste
riIe Pennsylvania, looks ike section Of fer.
/ tile Florida
What makes it sound like the eoutinu-
Gus report % artillery ! asked the engineer.
NATURE 5 ARTILLERY.
" Because it is five inch cannon constant
ly exploding. Look, he said, you see the
first fame twenty feet from the muzzle-
that Is the aash, the explosion. 1t is like a
cannon, only this continuss-a million cannon
a minute-in fact, one explosion and concus.
sion going on forever
1t Is wonderful to see this volcano Of fame
exploding in the air. The pressure is 81
great that the gas cannot ignite till it gets
twenty feet beyond the nozzle.
The stream of gas comes mp 1900 feet
through tive-inCh iron pipe, and Is con-
ducted off eco foot through another tube,
where it finds vent. The general pressure Of
the gas with the valve open is 500 pounds to
the square inch. We partly closed the valve
and the pressure ran mp to 1900; closed it a
little more, and The tubing began 10 tremble,
and ! great ton weight holding it down be-
gan to lift. 1t was only u quick turn Of the
skillful engineer that saved 1600 feet of iron
| tubing, anchored down with several tors
weight, from shooting into space like an
arrow into the air. You can better realize
the terrible pressure of this gas when you re-
feet that the pressure Oh an ordinary locomo-
tive boiler is from Sc to f15 pounds to the
square inch, while the pressure from this
well, if the valve is closed would run up to
1900, aud then tear the tubing ont and throw
the heavy machinery into TIE air.
The engineer conducted a half inch stream
of gas into twelve horse power steam engine,
and it ran 20 fast that the machinery broke.
The amount of heat and light in the gas
escaping is equal TO 2l00 tons of coal per day.
The gas would light New York, Philadelphia
and Baltimore. 1t would run every locomO-
tive in the State of Pennsylvania. 1t would
fill the biggest balloon in half minute, and
burst it intO q thousand tstters, or shoot 1t
off like gigantic bombshell, and as 1t is
very light-much lighter than ordinary gas
it would be of immense value hereafter IL
trJiDg balloon experiments
ENORMOUS PRESSURE.