Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1885-08-13
MARVELLOUS OIL WELLS.
Refined Oil Sold at Three Cents
Gallon.
. The Wonders of the Russian Oil Wells rs
Seen by Pennsylvania OPERATOR
Some of the Drawbacks Of
the Russian System.

'The present production of the Rus
sian petroleum field rs near as l can
ascertain" said Mr. John Eaton, who
has just returned from six months
tour in Europe, SIS between $1,000 and
$4,000 barrels per day. 1t could prob
ably be increased to $4,000 barrels
from the same wells, provided they
were allowed to produce all the time
Mr.. Eaton, who is President of the
Oil Well Supply Company, is che Of the
heaviest and best-known operators in
the oil country. While in Europe he
phenomenal oil spouters. What he
saw convinced him that Russia pos
sessed the biggest oil wells in the
world.
Russian flowing wells" he contin-
rel, ''are not allowed to gush all the
tine. Their production is controlled by
means of gate valves. When the n obel
Company. which is the Standard Oil
Company of Russia, wants oil for its
numerous reiineries, it turns the valve,
and a torrent of petroleum
gushes forth. What the field
would produce if every well in it was
allowed to do its best is question that
have not yet figured out A large
cast-iron elbow is placed over the top
of the well, and in front of it is wood
en- conductor, perhaps two feet square,
through which the oil flows on to the
ground, and by means of bitches or
trenches is led into lakes and ponds
These lakes and ponds. many of them
several hundred feet square, and from
ten to fifteen deep. are almost as nu-
merOus in Russia as 30,OJ0-barr stOr-
age tanks are in portions of the oil
country. AS there are only few tanks
in the field, the quantity of oil lost by
evaporation and through settling into
the ground must be enormous.
''One peculiarly of the Russian
gusher is the mountain of sand which
is thrown out with the oil. HiilOcks of
sand surround every well. One mound
that took pains to measure was six
hundred feet long, ten feet high, and
fifteen feet wide at the bottom and six
feet on top. and there was enough
sand lying around loose to make an
other mountain of the same size. 1t all
came out of one well. Piles of sand
thirty feet high almost hide some of the
derricks from sight. 1t is no uncom-
mon thing to raise the floors of derricks
and engine houses ten or fifteen feet to
keep clear of the sand. The wells
should be called sand-and-oil wells.
Thorn Creek big wells can not hold
a candle to the Russian geysers. l told
Mr.. Nobel wanted to see a flowing
we'll On May ) the valve at Nobel's
No. Is was opened. The we'll flowed
stream of oil the full size of an eight
inch pipe and coursed down the ravine
like river in flood time. 1t was pro-
ducing $4,000 pools of oil an hour, or
more than 10000 barrels per day. A
day or two later l saw stream of oil
twenty-five inches wide and three
inches deep. 1t came from the Nobel
No. Is, which was flowing out crude at
the rate of 1000 barrels per day. Dur
ing 1884 this same well threw out TO-
100000 pools of oil. an average of
5000 barrels day. Mr.. Nobel tells
me that his No 9 produced during its
first twenty-four hours 500. 600 pools,
or nearly $4,000 barrels of oil. Its pro-
duction during thirty-two days was
100000 pools, or an average OF 49,
600 barrels per day. So fierce was
the low. that sand was piled.up thirty
feet around the derrick. After thirty
two days they were enabled to shut it
in; but even then it flowed around the
pipes. One day in May last one of the
Nobel wells poured out IL, 400 barrels
in eight hours.
THE Nobels own forty-two of Baku's
biggest wells. On May their produc-
ton frori nine wells was 157. 26O pools.
or 1880 barrels. The other wells
were either shut in sr not producing.
One Of the most wonderful wells in this