The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-04-17
A SABBATH OIL WELL.
A Story OF the Days OF the Oil Ex-
l. element.

n story OF the Days OF the OiA Eix.
r. q zs citement.
There are few of the old oilmen,
whose connection with the exciting life
OF the oil regions began on OIL Creek.
that can not recall the interest excited
BY the eccentricities (as they were sup
posed to be ilien). OF well on the
Buchanan farm. at Housewife. 1t was
the first flowing well ever struck in the
oifregions, and il developed peculi-
arity Of ceasing 20 aflow at II O'clock
Saturday night, and starting again on
MondaE morning, that gave it the
name ofthe Sunday welk -E-A ~ = =.
1t was located on lease ten rods
square, and the postzofffcc building of
Rouseville was afterwards put on the
lease where the. well was. Drilling
was done with q spring pole. Drive
pipes wer6 used to reach the rock. for
which $25 a point was paid. On Janu-
ary ~. 1861, the, well had sreaehcd q
depth OF f91 feet. and was on top Of
the first sand. BY this time there were
dozen producing wells in the vicinity.
all pumping, and all drilled wet, as
was Mr.. Curtis also. A hard shell
was struck on the top OF the first sand.
on which they drilled for long time.
the light tools OF those days making
very little impression on It. At last ie
wasybroken, w hon the oil suddenly be-
gan to How. Not expecting Q flowing
well. there, was no tankage up. but the
\ spIanks were ON the ground Tor it. In
those days square tanks were built.
The well flowed strongly. and a large
stream of oil ran down the creek. Ef-
forts were ut once made to obtain bar
rolls, and tiiB tank was pushed to COM
.pletion as rapidly aspossible. To save
the. oil until the tank was up large
hogshead was obtained and placed in
the derrick. Aplug was made out of
O. scautling and driven into the top of
ths drive pipe. ] "A hole was bored
through the center of the plug and q
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 1t into barrels
thyough the old-fashioned cider tunnels.
No one suggested that the surface water
be shut of, and in those days twas not
thought of. The novelty of q flowing
we'll drew large crowds to the spot. and
for many weeks IL was the topic Of
conversation among oil mcn.5
The well howed into the hogshead
through the lead pipe without tubing
| i'm it Tor several weeks, or until tank
could be built After the tank was up
one Joint of two and one=hah inch tub
| ing wasaput into the drive pipe. and ex-
| tended up into the dcrrick through the
| bottom Of q common oil barrel which
WAS fastened there on q scaffolding.
| The single Joint of tubing was all that
| " as over put intothe. we'll. Old clothes
and waste were packed around thetub-
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 seyenty-tive
barrels, though others put it us high as
| 100 barrels. Oil was sold from this
/ well, in the month of January, at $40 8
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
i of the barrel out When this was be
ing mended, il was discovered that the
bottom OF the barrel was filled with
pebbles which had been thrown out te
the depth OF nearly o foot.
After being turned into the tank fol
four or five days. the we'll began flow
ing with the greatest regularity. Ii
flowed four times aday, and SO regular
that fora number OF days the flows diG
not vary q minute Its time of flow
ing became SO well known that meE
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. Thi:
was reported to MIR. Curtis. the owner
and also. tho fact that on the next Sab
bath it made no fow On the follow
| ing Monday morning. finding tho same
thing had occurred, Mr.. Curtis ordered
gauge to be taken the next Saturday
night ut IL O'Clock, and another on
Monday morning. This was done.
and the gauges showed that not a drop
OF oil had been put in the tank. This
occurred each Sabbath for q long time
causing great Interest and mystery in
the minds of the people. At that time
there was considerable discussion con-
I oAhlhS SuC DhoahiHS VI tAC -k1dDpdtH OAA
oil wells. and this well served as q
good text against Sabbath breaking.
After some study MIR: Curtis discovered
that this eccentricity was due to a nat
uraI 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 Tthe pumping wells were started
again, and as soon as the water was
exhausted the Sunday we'll began flow
| ing againFwith its accustomed regular
lily, only to close when Saturday night
came around. iitfH s 4-.3
When the oil was exhausted in the
first sand, after the we'll had produced
three or four months, it was drilled by
steam power through the third ~and, a
depth of 500 feet. No oil was found in
either the second or third sand, and it
was abandoned. Meanwhile tie price
of oil had declined from the 80 point
in January to twenty-five cents bar
reL-Ot city Derrick.