The Opelousas courier., 1888-02-11
NATURAL GAS.
A TERROR TO THE PETROLEUM
9 WE'LL BORERS.
Its Adoption as Fuel and the Im-
portant Results Which Have
Foliowed~Thc Gas Supply
Not InexhauStible.

Natural gas as a commercial product is
an offshoot of the petroleum business.
For many years it was one of the worst
enemies the oil men had to fear, and
many hundreds of lives have been lost on
account of its outbreaks during the pro-
cess of boring for oil. Perhaps the worst
event of this kind was the first, when
twenty lives were lost. This happened
at Housewife, on the lower Fart of Oil
Creek, three miles from Oil City, in the
early days of the oil development. The
dangerous character of the escaping gas
was not then understood. 1t is not so
volatile that it will always ascend and
frequently settles in hollows in the
vicinity of a well from which it escapes
in the form of a white vapor. 1t some
times rushes with such force from the
five and-a- half-inch pipe inserted in tn
oil well before the gas was struck that
the noise it makes can be heard six or
eight miles away.
Whether the gas is on fire or not, acct
dents are not apt to happen under these
circumstances. If it is on fire there is
an immense volume of flame, starting
some twenty feet above the pipes from
which the fuel escapes. If such q well
is not on fire the gas seems to blow
away and be lost in the atmosphere, al
T4hough the white vapor may show for a
long distance from the well if it is located
in a valley. IAN explosion is to be. feared
when the gas mingles with the local at
mosphere in the proportion of n part
gas and three parts atmosphere.
Most accidents from gas at oil wells
have Occurred when the drill has sud
denly broken into a subterIanean vein of
c~s, which comes rushing to the surface
before the men at work at the we'll can
extinguish the fires used for heating the
drilling tools and running the engine.
When danger seems imminent in the
course of the drilling the fires are usually
placed at a considerable distance from
the well and the steam pipes connecting
the boiler with the engine proportion
ately heightened.
For many years gas explosions were
very common in the oil region, and when
they did not kill outright they would
often leave such scars rs would last for a
life time. The useful possibilities of
the gas were so little understood that for
years this most valuable of fuels was al
loved to go utterly to waste, while at
the same time coal would be brought 100
miles to keep the fires of the drilling and
pumping wells and at the pipeline sta
ton going. The gas was a nuisance to
re gotten rid of. This was accomplished
by burning it from pipes in the open air
near the wells, and at this time an oil
district in the midst perhaps of a prime
val forest was at night one of the most
picturesque sights imaginable.
Aside from embarrassing the producer
on the surface of the earth, the presence
of the gas in his well would often pre-
vent the successful action Nf the pump
valves, and so seriously interiors with
the flow of oil. In still anotherray nat
ural gas proved a detriment 70 the oil
pioneer, by occupying the c~revices of
rock that would otherwise be occupied
by oil. "Gas territory was always
| dreaded.
The first use made of gas was in dis
I placing coal in running the engines at
the wells; it was afterward conducted to
houses tor domestic uses. Single wells
have produced such a quantity of gas
that one was able to supply fuel for
miles around, where there were hun
dreds of houses and many thousands of
inhabitants, the gas been conducted by
large and small pipes over ground. A
gas well of this kind was in the vicinity
of Fairview, Butler County, Pennsylvania.
The gas went to waste for a year or
more and afterward supplied, with no
particular diminution of flow, the country
rnnna for n aa,,p1o IF uo,r, ,,1.o i
one drilling well where the boiler had
given out, the three-euarter inch gas
pipe, that connected with a larger pipe
over half a mile away and that brought
the gas for making steam, was attached
directly TO the engine cylinder and the
gas had sufficient propelling force to run
the engine in place of the steam. The
| objection to it was the dirt and sediment
in it which finally choked the cylinders.
Natural gas has attained great promi-
nehee o in the manufacturing world
by its use in Pittsburg and other towns.
Its use, on account of the perfect COM
bustion attending it, has abolished the
cloud of smoke that once overhung
Pittsburg and entitled it to the dis
t~inctive name of the 'sSmoky City, In
the manufacture of iron, glass, and
wherever Steam is requisite, gas, when it
can be had, is. an extremely important
factor, and on this account specially
Pittsburg is, was and has been for years
blooming" with extraordinary pros
perity. How long Pittsburg will enjoy
this special advantage it is iapossible
now to judge. Individual wells will
often give gas in great quantities for two
or three years. In the case of Pittsburg
the exhaustion of one section will NOT
deprive it of its supply. There are too
many reproducing sections in. this
vicinity. Gas can be obtained in great
quantities over large sections of Ohio,
West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee,
and no doubt also in other States; and
so it is likely to be an important factor
in our industries for many years to come.
But exhaustion at last is certain, nature
having no laboratory that science knows
of in which to perpetuate its produc-
tion.-New York Commercial 1dserfiser.
Prairie Dogs Bring on a Crisis.