Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-05-14
BIG ENTERPRISES
In Connection With the Natural
Gas Wells.
What Wheeling May Hope for - The
Gas Well Furore and What il May
Amount to in the
Future.

This time last year, the great geyser of
natural gas in Washington county, the
Michigan well, was simply a matter OF Gu
riosity. In boring for oil, wonderful gas
ometer, kept constantly filled from Natures
own laboratory, was tapped, and the coun-
try for miles round was lighted by this
gigantic taper. On cloudy nights the re-
Election could plainly be seen from the top
of Wheeling hill, distance Of over thirty
miles. 1t was then q great curiosity, moth
ing more, and thes1ses to which the heat
might be applied, in an industrial way,
were only vaguely suggested. The we'll be-
came the central point for excursion pal
ties, and the writer was one of number
who went up from here to gaze on the Gu
riosity. For months it spouted and blazed
alone, and then the Wellsburg well was
struck and blazed with it. The immediate
and
PRACTICAL APPLICATION or THE HEAT
of this one, set people thinking and the
great possibilities which lay in such a
source OF heat and light began to dawn on
the industrial world. Men of thought
took up the subject and 10. as if by one
impulse, boring tools were started into the
ground at various places in this great
basin. At Moundsville, while again Dor
ing for oil, another geyser OF gas sprang
UP. Now at Brilliant still another is found
and the boring tools are still clicking
away in other places. The chemical forces
are steadily at work in the great subterran-
can gasOmeter and the supply Is practl'
cably inexhaustible.
WHAT A RANGE OF POSSIBILITIES
these gas wells will open to Wheeling, in
their practical application! Two wells are
under wsy here, at the Central glass works
and ReymanR's brewery, and their success
will determine an important era for Wheel
ing So successful has been the test at
Wellsbure, that a similar success here
threatens to revolutionize the industrial
system of Wheeling. With our mills, fac
tories and glass houses driven by steam
made by gas heat what change will come
over the coal trade,
The SUNDAY REGISTER published the fact
that arrangements had been made TO con-
duct the gas from the MEG uigan well to
Pittsburg. This experiment will be noted
with interest by our mill owners. 1t is
to be done by the Niagara Oil
aud is now engaged on two others in the
same vicinity. The company propose run
ming pipes from their wells to the South
Side, and eventually supply the various
iron and glass manufactures on that side
the river with gas for fuel in lieu OF the
bituminous coal now in use.
WASHINGTON COUNTY WELLS.
Mr.. Robbins was found in the office Of a
well-knowu business man on Saturday by
a Pittsburgh reporter, and in an interview
on the subject of the enterprise, said:
Natural gas as a fuel is no longer an
experiment 1t has come up to the most
sanguine expectations of those who adj
vocated its use and first introduced
it. There is only one question involved,
and that is the supply. Now We have Sc
lec,ed our ground carefully, and months
before we ventured to sink well, were
pretty sure Of the ground upon which We
stood Subsequent events proved this
when We struck that enormous veia OF gas
on the McGuigan farm. 1t is, / think, the
largest gas well in the world. In addition
to striking the gas, we found unnistakable
traces of oil, for in sinking the gas well
the tools passed through the same oil strata
found in the upper country. Our territory
is located on the great IS degree line. on
and near which so many big wells have
been struck
SUPPLYING THE MANUFACTURES.
1T is said you propose laying line OF
pipes from your wells to the South Side
manufactures
That is what we propose doing. Ny
business here Just now is to awaken local
interest in the matter, and | have met
with very ilattering encouragement from
those interested in its introduction. The
distance from our wells to the Point bridge
is lust u miles. and we are now getting
actiY otto nf no nj S.inrh
pipe. There are IS establishments for the
manufacture of glass and iron on the South
Side and Just think what a reyolu
ton 1t would make if the smoke from all
these chlmneys and cupOlas was done away
with. Manufacturers want natural gas fuel
and We propose supplying it. Spang, Chal-
FAINT & Co. use il in preference to coal, as
producing much more satisfactory quail
" of iron. They make especial mention OF
this on their bill heads. Grail, Bennett &
Co. are using it, and the Bessemer Steel
Company are sinking wells. At the plate
glass works at Hite Station, on the West
Penn road, they run a nest OF 10 boilers
with fuel gas, besides utilizing it for other
purposes. Several establishments at Free
port utilize it also."
Have you spoken to the manufac .urers
on the matter"
LAS said before, have received very
natterlnS encouragement. -nlS matter oi
gas for fuel in manufacturing establish
ments on a large scale is prospect worthy
of Pittsburgh. 1t is our purpose to direct
our efforts to the South Side and its mills
and factories
There are three things manufacturers
consider on the subject of natural gas for
fuel: FIRST, its cleanliness and absence
from smoke; second, the improved quality
Of the material turned out, and tn I'd, the
cost.
But about the supply"
1T is comparatively inexhaustible. M.
ture is at work in her laboratory constantly.
There are gas wells in the old country flow
ing now that were struck 90 years ago, aud
in the field that we have mapped out there
is no apprehension of limited supply"
Mr. Robbins stated in further converse.
ton that the tools in the Crosscreek town
ship well are being recovered and work on
the hole IN Hopewell county is being
rapidly prosecuted.