Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-10-19
NATURAL Gas
How It Has Contributed to the
Growth Of WslIsbwu.
The Town a Growing and thriving One
--.HOw Gas Was Fint FUND.-
Its introduction at Brilliant.

one can lot but observe the spit OF thrlft
and enterprise being exhitei By Its people.
Many new houses have been bailt during
the past summer, others are b1ilding, ana
quite a number are being slammed i0r
erection in the early spring. Business
appears to be good, and the Gncient cry
seems, when contrasted with in condition
q few years ago, to have Obtained, new
lease Of life. And so it has. This added
prosperity ia almost entirely due to tie dis
covery of that cheapest Of all fuels
NATURAL Gas.
A stranger happening into q IeHdence or
business house can not fail to observe
that the FIRE which burns SO merily in the
open CRATE sticks out It's red tongue around
some clean brick, without anything to feed
upon. No ashes, poker. coa!-box or any
of the pharaphtrnsEa Of a fire place Is TO be
seen. At this moment the idea deveioPes
that they use gas here, and the
visitor at once commeBees enter
tanning himself BY thinking
about how valuable it is; what increased
facilities il affords for manufacturing, q
the thousand advantages derived; soon
you are led to wonder, when and now dld
they get it2 At this moment when you
are unable to 90 any farther by yourself, 3
gentleman comes in who proves 70 possess
a rare fund of information, and 10 quite
filing 10 impsrt some OF it to you. Prop
eriy I.--;ng the conversation, you VIII
soon learn tns' "a town you are in is for
tunately situated on : q: anticlinslaxis
that runs southwest and noTs-c"st For
wears the inhabitants had observed 6~tr1les
rising ont OF the sluggish waters OF Butfslo
Creek, near where i. has It's confluence
with the Ohio.
THEIR CURIOSITY WAS EXCITED
more and more by this strange phenoueno,
until it was determined to make an it
yesripe,ion Of the matter. In 1881 a LAD
was psrsuaded to undergo the ordeal Of
wading into the creek with o burniDg torch
and holding it near the point where the
bubbles made their appearance on the
water. Soon a large one came 10 the sur
face. and much to the alright Of the boy,
ignited. The firing Of the bubble also
fred the curiosity OF the spectators, which
resulted in the sinking of a we'll the fellow
ing year, which well proved to bea gas we'll
ofisrpe capacity. This was dore BY The
Wellsburg Gas Company and well 1t
might have exclaimed, eureka! Since
that time seventeen wells have been
sunk in and near the OWL on the same
side of the river, by the came company
and private parties. None have gone
dscper than the frat gas sand, which il
found O. a deD.h ranging from 1888 10
1900 feet. TIE sand itself ID usually
twenty-five feet thick. The structure Of
this sand differs very much from what it
generally is. Ordinarily it is pebbIY. but
ag found here it is fine and apparently
OF a n~on-porous character, which would
evidently diminish lis capacity as
A GAS RESERVOIR.
OF the number of wells that have been
sunk only six gre what are termed paying
wells" Some of the others are produc
tive of periodical AoVs Ct salt water, Il
has been observed that when the sand in a
well is white the borers inevitably find gas,
but when it is o. o dark color little is
found. Why this is 30 is a question for
the biologists to solve. Three Of the wells
have been shot" but it had TO tendency
to increase the flow. 1t ia q maxim with
gas men: shoot big sand, but little sand is
no good" This maxim, ofcoursa, like oil
others, grew out Of experience. 1t is the
intention OF the company 10 sink a well
next season to the third sand, which is
thought to be at a distance of tWenty-seven
hundred feet.
1t is quite natural TO Inquire of
TIE DEVELOPMENT Of TIE TOWN
during the last three years. 1t is found
that the population has increased ftom
eighteen hundred 20 nearly twenty six
hundred. This Gf courae would not be
considered a big showing in the West,
where towns grow up too fast TO be count
ed, but for this section the growth men
toned is far beyond the average. The in.
dustries Of the town have alike increased.
Three glass Eouses have been added to the
two paper mills, a machine shop, iron
fouLdrg and two planning mills, and
ore glass house which the town
used TO boast of. The prospect is
thai d company will establish all iron mill
Just as soon Gs the Times brighten "
Why iron making could not be made a
sJccess at Wellshurg, no one will venture
to state. 1t has limestone Ct the finest
quality in abundance. fuel is no lorger a
question and two railroads and @ broad
river are at is ~strvice for transportation
Iron manufs cture is destined in tine 10
be oEe Of
THE LEADING INDUSTRIES OF II OWN
Already ". 7. Nichols 4 Co. are burn
ing brick with gss and Gro going into
the pressed brick business. The facilities
for making brick are favorable, as it is
possible to make a very fine quality. A
company from St. Louis is also con.
temP!atiug puttirg up an establishment OF
this kind.
In most all manufactures the cost Of
iutl ia no small item Of eHpenee. An
owner OF one of the paper mills states that
when be used coal, it cost him about four
hundred dollars per month, but BY usicg
gas this expense was reduced more than
one-hslf. Every one that was asked con
corning the cost Of gas for fuel, and re-
sponded in a clever way, agreed in saying
that il cost sb out one-halt as much ns coal
if not a little less.
just across the river from Wcllsburg, on
the edge Of that great STATE that surprised
everybody on the 18th irst., is
BRILLIANT.
When gas was struck across there, three
years sgo, its inhabitants Ipmbtred tEp
hundred ard niEety.Rve. To-day it counts
nearly fourteen hundred. From this one
would naturally come TO the conclusion
that gas was a good fertilizer for towns.
Three wells have been brred within it's
Only one Of them, however,
proved TO be a success. This you will OBJ
serve is about the same ratio of good luck
as wss met with across the river. The
industries consist Of one glass furnace,
and Spaulding's Iron Works. When these
H. - L.