The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-04-22
A SABBATH OIL WELL.
A Story OF the Days OF the oil Ex-
element.


that can not recall the interest excited
by the eccentricities Gas they were sup
posed to be them, of well on the
Buchanan farm, at Housewife. 1t was
the first flowing well ever struck in the
oil regions, and it developed peculi-
arity of ceasing to flow at u o'clock
Saturday night, and starting again on
Monday morning, that gave 1t the
name of the Sunday well.
1t was located on lease ten rods
square, and the post-oflice building Of
Housewife was afterwards put on the
lease where the well was. Drilling
was done with a spring pole. Drive
pipes were used to reach the rock, for
which $25 point was paid. On Janu-
airy r. 1861, the well had reached a
depth Of l9l feet, and was on top OF
the first sand. BY this time there were
dozen producing wells in the vicinity,
all pumping, and oil drilled wet, as
was Mr.. Curtis also. A hard shell
was struck on the top of the first sand,
on which they drilled for a long time,
the light tools Of those days making
very little impression on it. At last it
was broken, when the oil suddenly be-
gan TO flow. Not expecting flowing
well, there was no tankage up, but the
planks were on the ground for it. In
those days square tanks were built.
The well flowed strongly, and a large
stream Of oil ran down the creek. Ell
forts were at once made to obtain bar
rels, and the tank was pushed to COM
pletion as rapidly as possible. To save
the oil until the tank was up large
hogshead was obtained and placed in
the derrick. A plug was made out of
a scantling and driven into the top of
the drive pipe. A hole was bored
through the center of the plug and a
lead pipe inserted in it, and bent over
into the hogshead. Men were then
employed to dip the oil out of the hogs
head with pals and pour it into barrels
through the old-fashioned cider tunnels.
No one suggested that the surface water
be shut of, and in those days it was not
thought of. The novelty of flowing
well drew large crowds to the spot. and
for many weeks it was the topic of
conversation among oil men.
The well flowed into the hogshead
through the lead pipe without tubing
in it for several weeks, or until a tank
could be built. After the tank was up
one joint of two and one-half inch tub
ing was put into the drive pipe, and ex-
tended up into the derrick through the
bottom of a common oil barrel which
was fastened there on a scaffolding.
The single joint of tubing was all that
was ever put into the well. Old clothes
and waste were packed around the tub
ing inside the drive pipe, and braces
put on them and against the sides Of
the derrick, to prevent their being
blown out The owner estimated the
best days production of the well at
sixty barrels or possibly seventy-fve
barrels, though others put it as high as
100 barrels. Oil was sold from this
well, in the month of January, at so
barrel.
After the well began flowing into
the barrel at the end of the tubing,
pebbles could frequently be heard rat
Ting in it, and one flow forced the head
of the barrel out. When this was be-
ing mended, it was discovered that the
bottom of the barrel was filled with
pebbles which had been thrown out to
the depth of nearly foot.
After being turned into the tank for
four or five days. the well began fow-
ing with the greatest regularity. 1t
flowed four times day, and so regular
that for number of days the flows did
not vary a minute. Its time of flow
inc became so well known that men
would come with their watches to time
it, and amuse themselves by regulating
the time of day by it. On the second
or third Sabbath after being turned
into the tank, it made no oil. This
was reported to Mr.. Curtis, the owner,
and also the fact that on the next Sab
bath it made no flow. On the follow
ing Monday morning, finding the same
thing had occurred, Mr., Curtis ordered
a gauge to be taken the next Saturday
night at II o'clock, and another on
Monday morning. This was done,
and the gauges showed that not q drop
OF oil had been put in the tank. This
occurred each Sabbath for long time
causing great interest and mystery in
the minds of the people. At that time
there was considerable discussion con.
corning the breaking of the Sabbath on
oil wells, and this we'll served as
good text against Sabbath breaking.
After some study Mr.. Curtis discovered
that this eccentricity was due to nat
ural cause. There were many pump
ing wells surrounding the Sunday well,
all of which were shut down each Sat-
urday night at midnight. The surface
water was not shut off and this flooded
the producing sand. On Monday morn
ing the pumping wells were started
again, and as soon as the water was
exhausted the Sunday well began flow
ing again with its accustomed regular
ity, only to close when Saturday night
came around.
When the oil was exhausted in the
first sand, after the well had produced
three or four months, it was drilled by
steam power through the third sand,
depth OF 800 feet. No oil was found in
either the second or third sand, and it
was abandoned. Meanwhile the price
of oil had declined from the $40 point
in January to twenty-five cents bar
rel.-Ot city Derrick.