Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-10-24
Rsrnanence Of shc Natural Gas
supply.

RoRmamence Of shc Natural Gas
supply.
70 fke Editor Of Brodstreets.'
S1R-If the views of your Bradford
correspondent are correct as to the per-
manence of the supply of natural gas
somebody is incurring grave responsible
ity in pushing forward the sweeping
substitution Of pipes and gas-burning
appliances in the places OF all other
methods of obtaining heat and power.
At Pittsburgh and many other cite this
substitution ia already complete, and gas
has taken the place of coal as fuel.
Never In history has there been change
- great ia its economic value or one In
volving investments 80 large in money,
and completing their movement SO soon
A period of many years is usually re-
quired to affect any change approaching
ihis in magnitude. Yet your correspoh'
dent asserts that cit cannot be a great
While before all the fields" tof gas pro-
duction1 "that are now known in the
vicinity of Pittsburgh will be as totally
destitute Of bydro-csrbon as an aban-
doned coal niue is of coal!" A very se-
rious matter for the consideration of the
Pittsburgh iron and steel makers, IT
true.
Your correspondent is probably only
acquainted with the district producing
oil and gas at Bradford, district having
some resemblance to Pithole creek. where
the writer of this note saw gas q oil
spouting at their greatest in 1865. 1t is
not possible to Judge the whole question
from such limits. The much contro-
verted question as to the permanence of
the oil supply was not materially affected
by the rise or by the decline of these
Singular exhibits of violent discharge.
The writer of this note was for some
years almost alone in claiming perma-
nence and great commercial value for the
oil and in holding that it was a vast in
organic constituent of the carboniferous
formations. Writing in 1851, and citing
this new flowing oil wells first opened in
August of that year, l said: ''These facts
settle the points heretofore in doubt and
render it certain that a most important
article of commerce is added to general
trade from an unexpected source"
This fluid, or rather liquid hydro
carbon. then generally doubted by
Reolcgists. has grown to an export of
coo, 600. 600 gallons yearly, valued at
80, l99. 634 in the last fis lal year. The
total value exported from 1864 to 1885
inclusive was sos, l46. 700-a sum of
overwhelming magnitude, and of itself
the ample assurance of the nations in
dependence. Small geological criticisms
have not yet limited the production of
petroleum.
Natural hydro carbon gas has prom
lee of permanence much more decided
than petroleum has. The writer studied
the geology of Western New York and
Pennsylvania forty-five years ago, and
saw many gas springs in the shales ard
everything drift of the northern slope,
utilized at Fredopia in a system of
lighting the village, which has con-
tlnued undiminished since 1884. At
Barcelona, then portland" the beacon
Of the harbor was then lighted with this
natural gas, and it SO continues. All
through the shales. limestones and salt
bearing formations of western New
York the evidence of its presence was
frequent, and its utilization was effected
By merely enclosing the natural outlets.
Again. in Kanawha, w. Va, the writer
examined the geological structure for a
long distance in 1852, and saw the blow
ing gas wells then and now utilized for
3oiling salt They are reported to con-
tinue the gas flow with pressure very
little changed, if at all, thus proving to
have q permanence at least for thirty
i've years.
Over ell the great area of the sedi-
mentary formations. from the Alleghahy
sunmits westward, it is indisputable
Shat the coal measures proper, with the
uhAies, the limestones and oil sands, all
yield more or less aeriform hydro-car-
hons. They exist in vast quantities in
some form of partial combination, per-
haps, but readily assuming the desired
torn when the strata are pierced with
the drill. The gas is abundant even
where there is no oil, and it is evidently
. primary constituent Of the earth's
mass. and not an organic or secondary
product in any sense or in any degree.
The oil wells for the first few years
yielded oil without gas, and all required
pQmping to exhaust them. 1t was only
10 August, 1861, that the flowing wells
were discovered, with their prodigious
force Of oil and gas mixed in various pro-
portions. 1t will not do to derive gen.
eral laws relating to either from these
exceptional manifestations. No condi-
eions Of storage can exist which account
for the vast quantities of gas delivered
from many thousands of the wells drilled
Within the last twenty years. We need
not 60 behind the external and evident
(acts to refute the assumption that this
= : short-lived phenomenon, soon to be
followed by the exhaustion of "an aban.
doned coal mine" There are no con-
npicuous instances of reduced pro luction,
end the practical problem of reducing an
original force OF 500 pounds to the inch
70 one of such moderate force as to make
fhe delivery economical and safe is real
u the only difficulty yet experienced.
The experience of all coal mines and all
ealt boring is ample proof Of the constant
Goneration of hydro-carbon gas, and it is
everywhere almost interchangeable in
1prm with the lighter petroleums. Great
quantities of oil volatilize on exposure,
but beneath the surface the presence of
water appears most readily to facilitate
ik The Philadelphia writer therefore
ventures to predict that the Pittsburgh
sources will supply that city with natur-
- gas for numbered years to come.
l.. B.
Philadelphia, October IL.