Omaha daily bee., 1883-11-02
GOVERNMENT GAS.
Petroleum Gas Struck in the ArtGSian
Well at Cheyenne Wells.
Probability that Il Stream of Coal Oil
Will Come Next.

Denver Tribune.
Hon. Horace Beach, Commissioner OF
the United States prosecuting the work
OF sinking artesian wells in Colorado, ar
rived in the city at an early hour yester-
day morning from Cheyenne Wells, on
the line of the Kansas Pacific, where the
work is at present being prosecuted.
He brought with him a report
OF A STARTLING NATURE,
which is that the well being sunk at
Cheyenne Wells has struck a strong flow
of gas.
A News reporter called upouM Mr.. Beach
at the st. James last evening for the pur-
pose Of learning the nature of the strike.
eyes," said M. Beach, 1--WE struck gas
Friday at u depth of 600 feet. There
was a good flow of gas, evidently from
petroleum, having nearly the smell of
petroleum gas"
"Will it burni'
eyes. We lighted it in n jet of ten
inches in diameter and it burned to a
height of eight to ten feet, and
SOMETIMES sPRUSG UP
to twenty feet. 1t made a bright, clear
light of great heat, sufficient, | am sure,
to run the engine if it could be saved"
"Does it resemble petroleum 80 much
that there could be no m~istakeP
at certainly does. ! have been at q
large number of gas wells in Pennsylva-
mia, as have the contractors who came
from there originally, and we would
know the difference"
'Is the discovery Of gas an indication
that petroleum will be foundN
eyes; it is considered a COCO indica-
ton, as gas is struck before reaching oil
in most oil wells. But it is not a sure
sign, as gas is sometimes struck where
there is no oil. Still it is a remarkably
good indication"
SIS the flow of gas a very strong one
as compared with those in Pennsylva-
MAJ"
"There are many larger flows being
found in Pennsylvania, the natural gas
being employed in some instances to
light villages, and / believe it is being
employed in some of the furnaces at
Pittsburg."
SIN what kind Of rock was the gas
struck
''The first 300 feet we went through
was drift, very difficult to bore through,
and then we passed through nearly 800
feet Of undurated clay, and struck the
gas in a stratum composed of clay and
sand mixed. We have sunk seventy fee
in this and the flow of gas has increased
as we gained in depth. The gas is very
thick around the well and resulted in
quite
SERIOUS ACCIDENT
to the contractor, Wellington Smith,
Friday night, through his thoughtlessly
approaching it with a lighted lantern.
The gas exploded and burned Mr., Smith S
hair and beard quite badly, besides sing
ing him generally. The well caught fire
and there was a good deal of trouble in
eytinguishing it, but this was finally
accomplished by two men pouring water
into the lerge outside pipe, which tenn
p%orarily stopped the flow of gas TO meet
with the oxygen of the air."
SLOW is the well progressing"
Every favorably. We are now down
700 feet. A great deal Of difficulty was
found in going through the drift rock and
the contractors had to pull their casing
and begin over again after getting down
nearly 800 feet. We struck a good
stream of water at a depth of 270 feet in
which the water rose forty feet, but we
have struck none since. We have down
now 800 feet of 10 inch casing and G35