Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-08-25
NATURAL GAS IN THE OIL
REGIONS.
Some Wells IN General. and the
McG1gin Well in Pa yaieuIar.
philadelphia Press.

The Illuminating gas that is furnished
by natures gas-works has long been
known, and frequently seen in localities
where deep excavations have been made
for different purposes, but especially in
the oil regions are gas wells of common
| occurrence. In China the natural gss
has been used for centuries, being con.
veyed in bamboo tubes from the fissures
in salt mines that have been excavated
to the depth of 200 and 900 feet
Illuminating gas constantly issues from
muddy clay contained between the
rock salt strata in the Szalatna salt mine
in Hungary. Several so-called eternal
fires, caused by gas issuing from the
soil, are burning near the Caspian Sea
in Asia.
The town of Fredonia, N. Y. is
lighted by gas that consists mainly of
marsh gas and hydride of ethyl. A pe.
troleum well was sunk in 1865 at West
Bloomfield, Ontario county, N. Y. and
the gas that was found was conducted
through wooden pipes to Rochester. "a
miles distant, but the effort to furnish
| light to the city in this way was failure
This gas was analyzed and found to be
composed of marsh gas, S2.41; carbonic
acid, 1O.11; nitrogen, 4 81; oxygen. O %.
Illuminating hYdrOcarbon, 2.94. 1t is
not likely that all natural gas differs
materially from this in analysis.
In the oil regions of Western Penn.
sylvania large gas wells are of freouent
occurrence, and furnish light and fuel
for towns of considerable size. Near
Parkersburg, W. Va, the locality which
some enthusiastic citizens designated as
eternal oil centre" and which is the
headquarters for the Standard Oil Com.
pany, gas was largely used for years as
fuel in furnaces and stoves. At New
Cumberland, Hancock county, w. Va.
there is large gas well, from the flames
of which pure quality of carbon is
collected in the bottoms of pans. and IS
used in making lamp black. Reymauns
brewery in Wheeling, one of the largest
establishments in the country, has been
lighted for several years by gas that es.
capes from a well over five hundred feet
deep that was sunk on the premises to
to obtain pure water for brewing.
From any high point within circle of
forty or fifty miles in diameter, on dark
night, bright reflection can be seen in
the sky that comes from gas well near
Middletown, Washington county. Pa.
and known as the McGugin well. The
location of the well enables the light to
be seen from three States, being visible to
people IN Ohio and West Virginia. 1t
was sunk by the Niagara Oil Company.
composed of gentlemen from Buffalo.
n. Y, who have leased %, 900 acres of
land around the well. They have already
spent over $20,000 and have firm faith IN
the success of their enterprise, having
sunk another we'll near the first one to the
depth of ], 200 feet. The McGugin well
was down 2,247 feet when
gas was struck, five months
ago. The pressure is tremendous,
300 pounds to the square inch. 1t blew
$500 feet of rope, the casing and tools
sixty feet into the air. and was controlled
by conducting it in five-inch pipe into
meadow near by when it was lighted.
Large numbers of visitors from the sur
rounding country nightly visit the spot,
and are well repaid for long ride by
the magnificent spectacle The roar of
the escaping gas can be heard several
miles when the wind is favorable As
one approaches the well, riding over the
beautiful hills of Washington county,
and guided by the sullen roar and
flashing fame of light, he can
easily imagine he is coming to
a large iron mill filled with busy
workers. Vending your way down the
road, which winds around hill through
a deep wood and suddenly turns into
the picturesque ravine, you suddenly
find yourself facing the flame. 1t shoots
from the end of the pipe, which lies
on the ground, and leaps fifty feet high
into the air, casting fitful shadows among
the waving branches of the large trees
that stand like sentinels around this
secret force of nature that man has mas
tered. Within a circle of 100 feet in
diameter the grass has been burned away,
and the baking ground is covered with
millers and moths millions of which are
seen in the air futtering down TO the
flame and dropping with singed wings.
They are probably generated by the heat,
which is intense, and has advanced the
vegetation considerably in a large sur
rounding area There is some talk of
the gas as a fuel in large iron
mill that is building at Canonsburg,
eight miles distant from the we'll