The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-01-07
SHOOTING AN OIL WELL.
se,,lns Column of on Under Control

Right between these two wonderful foun.
tains was drilling the Armstrong, Boyd &
Semple well, and it was expected to pour
out torrents of oil, but on October 25
1t passed through the sand rock without
having made flow. The hole stood full OF
salt water, with few feet of oil on top, but
the owners were discouraged, hoping at best
to develop the well into very small pro-
Queer. The patient fieldmen and scouts
were thunderstruck and could hardly be-
heve the evidence of their senses, but in all
oandor they were compelled to report te
their principals that the well was failure.
The owners, as a last hope, determined to
explode large torpedo in the we'll, and
accordingly on Monday, the 9th, lowered
fifty quarts of nitro-glycerine in it. The
weight was dropped shortly after ten clock
IN the morning, and the crowd of specta-
tors watched listlessly, merely to see what
effect the tremendous explosion would have
expecting little or no improvement in the
we'll.
First came the sound of report like a
pistol shot, the only defamation of q fearful
explosion 1000 feet below the surface.
Then column of salt water shot up half as
high as the eighty foot derrick and subsid-
ed, flooding the derrick. Then came tor
rent of water, burnt glycerine, petroleum,
sand and pebbles and rushed in black
column to the crown pulley ON top of the
derrick, where it broke and spread like a
parachute, coming down again in shower
Gradually the black column changed color,
until it was like golden rod, connecting
the floor of the derrick with the top, and
still the mighty torrent rushed on. Hidden
for moment by the cloud of gas that came
after the first burst and rose like steam from
a boiler explosion the column appeared
again, rushing upward with irresistible
force until dashed to spray on the derrick
top. The shower of petroleum fell thick and
fast, over an area ten rods in diameter, and
flowed down the hillside, completely filling
culvert across the neighboring highway,
and pouring down gully toward Thorn
creek, where tho flood spread and covered
the flat grassy bank, before finding its way
into the creek. Attempts were made to es.
innate the flow by obstructing this torrent,
but the dams were overlooked before they
were half constructed, and two boards,
foot wide wide, placed two feet apart, SO
the stream passed between them, were over
flowed on both sides. kilograms flew to all
the oil exchanges estimating the flow ut
100, 200, 300 and finally 400 barrels per
hour, and the market which had advanced
on reports that the well was a failure nearly
ten cents, dropped ten cents in few
hours, crushing fortunes and fair hopes in
its fall
No grnnder sight than this fountain OF
petroleum was ever witnessed in this region,
Like the great geyser of the Yellowstone
basin 1t shot the fluid column high into the
air, but the falling spray, unlike the gey-
ser's crystal drops, were globes of simmer
ing gold as the light shone through the am
Der liquid. And there was something terri
BILE in this exhibition of natures powers.
The gas that left the surging column like
steam spread through the surrounding
wood, SO that the fires at dozens of drilling
wells had to be put out. People fed from
heir rude dwellings down near the creek,
rs there was imminent danger that the gas
and oil would be ignited and result in ter
rible confagration. The fires under the
boilers at the United Pipe Line pumping
station, mile down Thorn creek, had to
be put out on account of the gas, as the tor
rent poured out unrestrained for over four
hours.
A pressure of over 5000 pounds was re-
CURED to get the cap down on the casing
head when the flood was turned into the
tanks and one workman was overcome by
the hydro-carbon gas, 30 that he lay oil
night unconscious. When the stream was
turned into the gas tank the eight two-inch
pipes to the large tanks were instantly filled
to their utmost capacity, and from two
three-inch gas escapes in the top Of the gas
tank streams were thrown far above the top
of the derrick. For days afterward the spot
surrounding the well, when seon through
the trees, looked as though the sun was
Frightening it, 30 bright was the amber oil
that chung to the branches Of the trees, the
derrick and lay thick on the ground.