Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-05-07
OIL RIGS IN ASHES.
ThJ Big Thaysr Gusher Fired by a
Bolt Of lightning.
Thousands of Barrels of Petroleum Con-
sumed-- Hundreds Of People At
tracted to the Scene---The
Fire Now Out,

The Little Washington oil field passed
through its first big fire yesterday, a bol'
of lightning having touched of the great
Thsyer No, 2. and reduced every
thing in the vicinity to ashes. Wednesday
evening at shutdown Thsyer & Co, the
owners of the big we'll, were congratula.
ting themselves that they not only had the
biggest we'll in the entire oil regions, but
also one of the finest 'stsyers that was
ever struck. Yesterday morning ct snn-
rise, the entire rig, tanks, engine house,
&c, wes in ruins, and the we'll was spout
ing a msss OF. fame and smoke to the
height of a hundred ieet, while the entire
population in the region round about were
c~ongregsted in the vicinity, sSmpsthizing
with the unfortunate owners, or watching
with interest the efforts of those endeavor-
iHg to ~extinguish the flames.
1rhe cause OF this sudden and awful
transformation scene was q heavy thunder
storm which began raging over the greater
portion of Washington county early Wed
nesday evening. The storm seemed to
gradually increase in fury until about mid
night, when the elements seemed to gather
up their strength for one final outburst. tol
lowed by an appalling discharge of the
heavenly artillery, almost binding oil men
who were going to and returning from work
at that hour. The explosion was 50 heavy
that the ground seemed 20 reel. Many
s~leepers arose in terror expecting to lind
the roof over their heads rent to pieces
Those who saw the accompanying Hash OF
lightning gay it seemed TO leap from the
hill back of the Fair Grounds down into
TIE hollow in which the Thsyer and Gorier
wells are situated and then climbto the
summit of the opposite hill, where it FORK
ed aud melted away. The flash did not
aeem to strike anything, but it left behind
it, high up in the air, a train OF fire, which,
descending, ignited the gas with which the
air was charged, and at once enVeloped
the Thayer No. 2 rig, and its three six
hundred barrel tankG, containing about
one thousand barrels Of oil, and also the
tank house of the old Gordon No. |, which
slso contained about one thousand barrels.
At orce a gigantic burst OF fame lesped
into the air, and climbed higher and
higher, rolling up volumes OF inky smoke,
lighting up the surrounding country for
miles. The sight challenged description,
and soou an immense GRO I'd was attracted
to the scene, The pipe connecting the we'll
with the tank house was soon destroyed,
and the we'll, spouting eighty barrels per
hour, began to flow into the open air,
throwing a column Of FIRE two hun
dred feet into the air. The stmos-
phere was soon unbesrable, while. the
earth trembled with the violence Of the
flow. The fire burned with increasing vlo-
lence until noon, when a large iron tuu,
mel was tipped over the mouth OF The well
during one of the intermissions in thu flow,
aud Oy a liberal application Of steam the
fire, at 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon, was
extinguished. The loss By the FIRE 10 as
follows: Three ~six.hundred barrel tanks,
$3.50; over one thousand barrels OF oil in
storage, 81, 900; derrick aud engine house,
$500; tank house, $3.50. Total, y 100
In addition to this the pump was badly
damaged and connections destroyed. This
loss falls to Measrs. Thayer aud S'etherm-
er, of New York. The loss at the Gordon
No. | falls on the Peoples Light end Heat
Company. The tools aud os0le were ii
the Thayer we'll when it took fire, aud
dropped to the bottom when the rig burned
This will no benefit the hole, and may
ruin it as q producer.
The Thayer No. 2 started to produce
about two weeks ago, doing 1000 barrels
DER day at the outset. When the hrSt
head was worked off it struck its natural
gait aud settled down at from 6l TO 90
barrels per hour, and was staying there IN
a surprising manner. The well is what Is
known as q header" That is, it flows
heavily every fifteen or twenty minutes Al
L tremendous pate, filing the lead oil
pipes aud throwing out gas and oil with
great force aud in large volumes. Then
matters settle down somewhat, the flow
ceases. almost, if not entirely, only to com
mence again at q giveu time; and 80 Oh,
throughout the twenty-four hopr7.
Tasyer so. z has never been equRIed
in the body OF the fluid it throws out,
save 10 the case of Fisher No. s, Ga
Thorn creek, and Grace h Dimmick's
great well at Cherry Grove. Fisher No. s
vas flowing , 900 barrels when it caught
fire. 1t was almost q fortnight before the
flames WAS exiuguished. The Cherry
Grove ggaher wGs not 80 large, but burnt
much longer. Both wells were benefited
by the fire, and it seemed to create q cue
ion which greatly i"".cseo the output
-.5uer NO 8, after burning two weeks or
more, started off at nearly q 5000 barrel
rate whan the fire was extinguished, and
put 200, O0O barrels aCoil in tank before
it stopped flowing. Almost the san re-
suit was achieved by the Grace Il Dim
mick well. During the fire yesterday
morning Thsyer No. 2 gave evidence OF an
increase in the output. The heads
grew more frequent and of longer dura-
ton, and it is now almost a steady gusher.