The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-03-09
THE PETROLEUM AGE

pIOslODS IL IlttsDufSi the question W nat is
natural gasp" is asked by many. 1t is not
at all remal ksble that the public at large
should be more or less ignorant of the ma
ture of natural gas, and even of its uses,
for ii is within only the past twelve months
that it has been turned TO commercial ac-
count in any large way. 1t is noteworthy
that it is the last of that natural force
which man has undertaken to utilize for his
own benefit. Nevertheless it would be easy
enough to show that natural gas is no Few
thing. Indeed ii is as old as petroleum, and
petroleum is as old as the bricks of Babylon.
The ancient Greeks used petroleum; Pliny
speaks OF the Egyptian oil wells, and the
thought suggests itself, may not the prophetic
fumes of the Delphian oracle have been
natural gas? Here is question for the
specialized archie ologists and the whole tribe
of Dryssdusts What a discovery were it
made that the Pittsburgers now smelt their
pig" with what once inspired the utter
snces of the Apollian priestesses in the
Sanctuary of Psrpassus.
Natural gas is virtually petroleum, or
rather petroleum oil in gaseous state. 1t
at various depths below the surface, 900
20 SEQ feet may be taken as the average
depth. Wherever Oil is found q certain
amount of gas is obtaiRe6-in fact it is this
gss which causes the oil wells to flow spon-
tsneously.
What is known as 'gasser" In the oil
trade yernaculsr, is a we'll which drilled for
OIL yields nothing but gas. From the very
first, OF course, these 'gassers' have been
common in that strange aud interesting
district known as the Oil Region "a district
extending in southwesterly direction from
across the New York State line through
Pennsylvania as far south as Pittsburg.
Thousands OF gas wells dot this territory,
and until recently have been considered as
Of little value. 1t is true, whenever it was
possible, the producer, who found himself
with q gas well instead OF an oil we'll, as the
result of his l. 500 feet OF drilling, would en-
deavor to utilize his loss as far SIS possible by
piping the gas to the boilers of whatever
wells he might be drilling in the nelghbor-
hood This saved him the cost of coal or
wood. Big ''gassers' struck near towns
ing and Eliminating purposes,
and IN Titusville, Bradford Warren,
Oil City, Sheffield, and Clarendon, natural
gas has long been extensively used How
ever it was not until gas was struck. year
ago, almost within the walls Of smoky Pitts
burg that it became of the great commercial
value that it is now.
Natural gas has a great futue before it.
Very few people have any idea OF the gigsn-
tic industry which has been born, or any
notion of the immense force that man has
jpst seized hold CT. We will venture ID
make prophssy on this matter; that the
production of natural gas will be as great an
industry in three years from to-day as .he
production OF petroleum Is st present. And
moreover it will be carried ON in very much
the same manner.
In the oil region TO day there about % 900
producing wells yielding daily about 10000
barrels Of oil. This vast quantity of oil is
carried from the wells through pipes to
huge cylinder-like tanks, where it is stored
az d from whence it is shipped also through
pipes to the reineries or TO the seaboard for
export. Whenever or wherever al oil
yell is struck, the pipe lines Immediately
connect it with their main system and
issue to the owner negotiable certificates for
every l. 900 barrels Now much the same
thing will be done with gas. From one end
Of the Allegheny Mountains to the other.
from New York down into Ohio and Vir-
! ginis, are a number of known unaeYeloped
=! gas fields. Men have drilled for oil there
and have found nothing but gas, and aban-
| doned the district as worthless. This gas
/ low has q commercial value which it had
not years ago. In the future it will be
/ drilled for as oil is drilled for to-day.
! Where n well is opened 1t will be connected
to huge reservoirs by means OF pipe lines
/ Just as is done with oil, and carried wherever
it is wsnted-to Philadelphia, Baltimore,
I New York, Cleveland, Chicago. Gas fields
miles apart, will stud the oil regions 81