Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-11
OPENING OIL WELLS.
FIRST EXPERIMENTS IN TORPEDO
INor FOR PETROLEUM.
A Novel Idea Carried to Practical Re-
suits History Of an Important Factor
In the Oil Business-Aodus
Operandi
iSt. Louis Post-Dispatch.l

On Aug. q, 1859, twenty-five years ago.
Col Drake completed drilling on the fats,
near Titusville, Pa, tho first oil well
ever struck in the United States 1t was,
compared with some Of the great wells after
ward discovered, q small affair."" pumping
only twenty five barrels Of oil day, but it
was sufficient to cause an influx Of ad ventur-
ers from all parts of the globe. rivaling any
thing known in the gold excitement Of 49.
Thousands OF wells were soon put down
along the banks Of Oh creek, and every day
brou hit forth some new phenomenon in the
new industry. Among other things it was
discovered that one well sunk within few
feet Of another already producing was not
certain to get Oil Often one dry hole was
drilled in the space between two flowing
wells This fact and others gave rise
to the -crevice theory" which. turned into
common English, means that the oil
is not always held, as water is, in a sponge,
in all the rocks in which it is found, but
runs through the rock in seams or veins.
These veins Of oil wind through the strata OF
sandstone by thousands. and in zigzag. tor
tuous courses. Now, although these veins
are very close together, it is possible that
the drill can enter the rock and pass through
it without touching or breaking one of them,
several men independently and about the
same time that were torpedo lowered into
the well-hols and exploded at the bottom it
would shatter the rock and open the assures
to the oil veins. or the several men who
had the idea only 'one carried it to prac.
teal results. In 1865 Col E. A. L. Roberts,
Of the Army Of the Potomac, now deceased.
visited Titusville with six torpedoes which
he had constructed in the fall of the pre-
vious year.
People looked upon the invention rather
oddly at first, and it was not until July 81,
1861 that he was allowed 20 put two OF his
torpedoes in the Ladies' well on the Watson
fats to the east Of the city. The well had
been pumping oil, but after it had been tor
pedoel it commenced flowing. People began
to think that there might be something in
this torpedo after all, and in December, 1866,
one was lowered into the Woo1in well on
the Blooi farm and exploded. The well had
never produced drop Of oil, but it now
commenced yielding from eight to forty
barrels day. One month later another
torpedo was used, and the production Of the
well increased to eighty barrels This as
sured the success of the torpedo for purposes
other than destroying ships by blowing
them up.
After the result at the Woodin well the
torpedo came into general usc throughout
the oil region. A company was formed with
a capital of $500, 600 to work the patent and
a torpedo factory was erected in Titusville.
Tho effect of torpedoes upon the production
of the oil regions was marvellous At the
time the Woodin well was shot QS66) the
production Of oil was declining rapidly, and
alarmists were predicting a speedy collapse
of the petroleum industry. With tine intro
duction of the torpedo the condition of
affairs rapidly changed. In the summer of
1867 the output of the wells on Oil creek was
increased many thous inds OF barrels. In
1866 the total production was 3, 691, 527 bar
re!s Wells that had never produced a
drop of oil were torpedoed and caused to
flow; wells of small production were con-
verted into "gushers," and old wells nearly
exhausted were revivified and in their Sec
ond leass Of life dill more than ever before.
But the great part played by the torpedo
in the oil business did not really begin until
the opening of the Bradford field in in 1919.
The sand in this field is blackish and and
yields its oil reluctantly. The district, how
ever, is of great extent, and contains thou
sands of wells that have been steadily pro
ducing for years Had it not been for the
above ground, now amounting to IS, 900, 900
barrels tof forty-two gallons each).
would not be- IL is safe to say
that fully one-half Of the production
of this field is directly due to torpedoes
There are today nearly 5000 producing
wells in tho oil regions, and there are thous
anis OF exhausted wells abandoned, AMI
their derricks slowly rotting. 1t is estimated
that on the average three torpeioes have
been put in every well drilled. Many wells
are torpeioei pretty nearly every month
for tho purpose OF cleaning away the par
affine in the hole, opening fresh assures in
the rock, and thus maintaining the proiu,-
ton of the we'll The Meioc we'll, on the
Mcclure farm, in the Church Run district.
near Titusvills, was torpedoed twenty-four
times
The first torpedoes were comparatively
inoffensive when compared with those now
in use. The torpedoes with which Col.
Roberts made his first experiment. in the
Ladies' well and the Wooiin Well were small
cylindrical tin tubes. from four t. six inches
in diameter, and holding few pounds of
gunpowder These were lowered into the
well hole, covered with water as to pre-
vent the force Of the explosion from acting
upward, and were fired by means of u
weight dropped upon a Illuminating cap
fixed at the top Of the torpedo. Later on
nitro glycerine was substituted for gan
powder, and the charge of explosive in
creased until now torpeioe' containing as
much as $50 pounds of the nitro-gly cerinc
are not uncommon few days ago such a
charge was usei at the Markham well in
Thorn creek, and the explosion wa, felt for
seventy-ive yards on the surface around
the well-hole. The torpedo was down LOCO
feet in the earth. Thousands of pounds II
ni,ro-slycerine are daily used in the oil
wells; indeed, nitro-slycerins was first
brought into commercial use in tn e oil re-
gions