Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-12-17

Withstand the pulling aud hard usuage
70 which it invariably becomes subject.
A foundation for the huge skeleton
stack Is then built. The erection Of the
stack follows. This stack Is a very nee
essary fixture to gas well. II bears
the weight Of the bore, and at the top
pulley OF the strongest make Is placed
In position. The engines are then placed
In position and the men are ready for
drilling. The "bore" Is q ten-foot iron
pole, six inches In diameter, as a usual
thing, and fiattened at one end. The
end Is placed In the casing which was
lowered into the ground at the start,
and the drilling proceeds. II Is neces-
sary for one man to be at work on the
drill all the time. Just above the place
where the rope holding the drill Is at
tached, are two iron cross bars. The
driller grasps one Of these bars and
turns It. Every time the drill touches
the ground by the action Of the engine,
he jerks the bar and turns II in a semi
circle. This action Is continued at the
rate of about 12 turns every minute, and
when the drill is operating In soft
ground. it takes but short time to in
crease the depth of hole to 100. But
1t frequently happens that some intense
ly hard stone impedes the course of
the iron, and the work in this case is in
tensely laborious. At times, when a
very thick stratum of stone is struck,
the driller is compelled to hoist his drill
every hour, in order that the point may
be sharpened. For this purpose a black
smith shop.is always kept at every well
regulated gas well. This inconvenience
is by no means the worst the men are
obliged to combat. The rope, which
extends for hundreds of feet into the
earth, sometimes becomes caught and
breaks in two. This necessitates the use
of a peculiarly made graphing iron, and
hours and days are often consumed in
bringing the detached rope and drill to
the surface.
When well is dug it rarely reaches a
depth of 1000 feet. Gas is generally
found, if there is any in the vicinity
700 or 800 feet down. Sometimes, but
not frequently, it developes at a
greater depth. Contracts are made fol
900 feet, and man who watches 9
drill descend 1000 feet into his ground
and has not the gratifying experience
of seeing gas, usually becomes discour
aged, and orders stoppage. There il
a well In Pennsylvania which is nearly
1000 feet deep, and but little was found
The Cleveland rolling mill company't
gas well in Newburg is now nearly 8 ,2O(
feet deep and work is still progressing
When the drill was poking around
about 700 feet down, vein Of ''shale'
was struck which lasted until huge
volume of salt water flooded the hole
| Ixryt I kana {~x \, -
down 200 feet of iron casing.
i. Great danger is attached to the dis
covery of gas. When vein is opened
by the bore it forces itself to the surface
with terrific force, and oftentimes i
catches fire and the whole apparatus i
destroyed. When this happens, it be
, comes almost an impossibility to ex
tinguish the gas flame. The heat emitet
is to fierce forhuman beings to approacl
and the heaviest articles thrown upor
the mouth of this amateur volcano ar
cast aside like straws. The usual mod,
of subduing its fierceness is to bore
small tunnel from another point to tn
bore several feet below its mouth. Thi
, method generally succeeds in drawing
: the gas away from the mouth and a
the flames do not reach into the earth
the gas may be collected. When thi
is accomplished q huge iron bowl, re-
sembling closely water hydrant, j
placed at the mouth of the bore, tn
pipes are connected with it, the tunne
Is destroyed and the work involved ii
"boring for gas" is finished. When
however, gas does not develope, anG
the owner of the ground decides tina
8 he has had enough, the fixings are TORI
:. down, and large wooden plug, ten fee
or more in length is inserted in the hole
land rammed in tightly,