The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-06
THE GIANT OF EXPLOSIVES.


Shaking a River of Oil Out of II Dry Wt9I
A Life of Peril.
Bradford IA Letter in New York sun.
No history of the petroleum Gevelopments
would be complete without = reference to the
important part that nitro glyc,rine has played
in increasing the production of the region.
When this powerful agent vas first introduced,
only small shots were exploded in the wells.
Now 1t is not uncommon to shoot of $50 or even
200 quarts in a well. Sometimes u startling ef-
feet is produced by the Introduction vi nitro
gIycerine. At !oast that has been tho past sx-
perleuce OF the oil trade. Uniy a few days ago
II was reported aud generally believed that the
Armstrong well NJ. ,, ia Butler county, WIS
dry. The overyigjiant scouts, who had closely
watched the venture. became assured that it
was = buster. They telrgra pied the news to
their employers. On the strength OF these re
ports the market doomed upward, and
III oil was predicted. About this time
1t occurred to tho owners that IL
would be n wise policy to treat the well TO a dose
OF gyceriue' The scouts laughed. and said the
owners were wasting their money. The day and
hour came, however. and tho well Vas shot
There WAS 4 deep and heavy rumbiiHg. as O;
thunder; then a rushing sound, which siIUok the
leaves on the gnaried oaks. and \ few seconds
later n great stream OF oil. as SIick As a mans
arm, shot out of the oosOm Of the earth, and
with the airiness Of a rocket climbed skyward
above the crown pulley Of the derrick. Then
followed one of the p%rett;est and most rsmarkb
BILE golden showers ever seen. The field men
and the few spectators stood OF in the shadow
of the woods and watched tho exhibition.
After considerable difficulty, the casing mead
was adjusted. and the stream of crude
oil was directed through nine lead pipes
into q big wooden tank. The well produced over
G,O0O barrels of oil during the irst day, and i'm
mediately took rank as the biggest well on earth.
Had the owners neglected the use Of nitro
glycerine the trade would never have known the
value of this we'll. Then. too. its conceded fail
ure r+vdd have thrown . chill upon the aspira-
tions of ambitious spectators who had paid
large sums for adjoining leases. There are other
similar cases in the %unwritten history Of the
great oil regions Of Pennsylvania.
1t is estimated that AT least twenty or more
persons have lost their lives while fooling with
empty nitro glycerine cans.
During the past two years, said Nh. Perkins,
the book keeper for the Roberts Torpedo Com
pany, in this city, the Roberts company has
had only one man killed by giycerine. Glycerint
is now so cheap that it 10 almost universally
used TO increase the production of wells
the explosions that have occurred during the
past eighteen years. In every instance death
was caused by careiessness. Nitro glycerine,
when solidly frozen or in liquid form, is easily
and safely transported. The faYOrite method is
to carry il thawed out All the magazines OF
the company are kept warm and heated to a
high temperature. Glycerine, you know, freezes
at ~ degrees. The glycerine, when ready for
transportation, is put into long tin cans ana
placed in a padded wagon. Between each can is
q padding of horsehair, while above them are
placed tiers of corks. Tho wagon is then locked.
There are numerous instances where the
shooters wagon has been capsized without in
injury to any one. We have almost daily appli-
cations for work. The men DO not receive much
better wages than other branches of skilled
labor, but they seem to have q fascination for
the work.