, 1888-03-30
A CURRENT OF GAS.
Natural Gas in a Well Near the
City.
A Pocket Found at a Depth of
264 Feet.
A Vast Deposit Said to Exist Thirty
Feet Below.
A Test TO be Made by the Terri
tOriaI GeoIOgist.

Natural gas has been discovered within
three miles of Cheyenne. The quality or
kind has not yet been determined, but
the supply is seemingly eXhaustless. If
Investigations now in progress terminate
favorably the future of Cheyenne is
doubly ~reassuring. In the event that
the find develops to be infammable gas 1t
will induce the location of smelling works
here at once and will doubtless afford the
Union Pacific a pretext for removing its
shops from the Eastern terminal to Chey-
enne.
The fact that a volume of air or gas
has issued from a number of wells sunk
in this vicinity has been known for several
months. Several citizens have made per
%sistent efforts to learn the nature and ex-
tent of the deposits. but have suffered
many vexatious delays in prosecuting the
experimental work.
Bariam, the a%rtesian well driller, some
time since contracted with several citizens
to drive to a gas pocket for a stipulated
consideration. The work was duly per-
formed and the desired fluid encountered
at a depth of 264 feet, but in a very
small quantity. An accident to the ma
chinery forced a di%scontinuance of opera
tons. The pipe is brob%i at ne point
beneath the surface indicated and cannot
be repaired. Bariani and several others
speak confidently of a vast supply of gas
which occurs at a depth of 294 feet, but
this goal cannot be reached in the well now
being sunk. The difficulty can only be
overcome by the driving of a well 294
feet deep. This project will doubtless be
undertaken at once. The expense Incl
dent will be very small and if the gas
proves to be the desired commodity the
return will simply be inestimable.
The projectors of the enterprise wea-
ried of delay and yesterday determined to
learn the value of the find by obtaining an
assay or analysis of the material in the
pocket at the break 264 feet underground.
A party including Bariana, w. NJ. Mast,
Territorial Geologist ricketts, and several
newspaper men visited the well, which is
on the Tinker ranch southeast of the
city, near the Denver Pacific railway.
After considerable difficulty Prot. Rick
etts managed to bottle three quarts of the
output of the tube. The current was
perceptible for but a very few minutes
and it is hardly probably, though barely
noSsihla that tho D,rtv oont,rol -, e
the gas. Its existence cannot be denied
and any quantity desired could be secured
did the current proceed from the gas bed
and not from a pocket fed by a tiny ifs
sure. After all the trouble it is more than
likely that the highly priced bottle con-
tains nothing but the air naturally forced
upward by the entrance of a small guam
tity of gas into the tube. The mother
bed or principal deposit must be reached
before a satisfactory test can be made.
This statement is not submitted with the
inteption of discouraging the over san
guine, but simply for the purpose of pre-
senting a truthful narration of facts.
Prof. Ricketts, will test the supposed
sample some time to-day. 1t is antici-
pated that the desired result will scarcely
be obtained or the exact truth learned,
for the reason that the absence of proper
apparatus necessarily forces a resort to
rather crude methods. Whatever the
outcome, it will be awaited with interest.
Mr.. Ricketts, unites with many others in
saying that gas Of some sort exists in the
well.
The find may be one of three things.
The first and second are undesirable, the
third a veritable bonanza.
Primarily the current may be pure air,
carried beneath the surface by under
ground streams which occur in this
vicinity.
Carbonic acid gas is often found in deep
excavations. 1t is ~incombustible and ut
terly worthless as a gas. 1t results from
the complete rot of organic matter.
Combustibe fuel gas such as has en-
riched Pennsylvania is a noble prize. If
it exists in this neighborhood its source
differs in formation from the gas rock of
the Keystone State. This fact cannot be
considered adverse, as the petroleum
bearing rock differs in appearance and
texture from the basins of the under
ground oleaginous ponds OF Pennsylvania.
At a very early date the natural gas
J problem will be solved so far as this sec.