Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-12-22
GAS AND WATER.
HOW THE FORMER is GENERATED IN
sUBTERRANEAN REGIONS.
Localities Where 1t is Most Likely to be
Found by Boring-How Affected
by Water.

preliminary meetings nelu at the court
house here, 10 organize a company will
| the intention to bore for water and natura
gas near or IN Sacramento, letter wa
read from some correspondent writing
from some oil town in Pennsylvania. Thi
correspondent will have it that no person
can absolutely tell where well is to b.
bored that will prove a success. Will,
this may apply to a special locality o.
point, it cannot be taken as a whole, for il
the past ten years or more considerabl,
knowledge has been gained upon this sub
ject. Although it is termed theory" tn,
evidences of truth are very strong in favo
of the supposition.
1t is possible that naphtha, petroleum
| etc, and natural gas have a common orr
gin, assuming the gaseous, liquid and solic
state, in the latter as ozocerite, bitumen
etc. The distinguished Russian chemist
Professor Mendeleef, in 1877, pointed out
its origin, and subsequently, upon his the.
DRY, produced petroleum artificially upon q
small scale. The oil and gas is not sup.
posed to be of organic origin-that is from
come from any great distance, as, for in.
stance, water may flow. 1t must, Sc
to say, be manufactured upon the spot
One of the first iDdices to the solution OF
the question lies in the situation of the oil
bearing regions. They always occur in the
neighborhood of, and parallel to, mountain
ranges-as, for example, in Pennsylvania
along the Alleghanies, and in Russia along
the Caucasus The crests of the ranges
were formed originally of horizontal strata,
which had been forced up by internal
pressure, and must have been cracked and
dislocated, the assures widening outward
In short, we will assume that large
portion of our planet is yet, in the interior,
IN the liquid state, the temperature being
higher than molten iron artifcially heated
to that degree. The superstition is at pres
ent that this fluid mass is composed princi-
paly of metallic iron, with carbon bound
Up or associated with it. As the cooling
continually progresses. unequal contrac-
ton takes place, particularly where ridges
of mountains have been or al being pushed
upward, as it still happens along the Pacific
Ocean, or even the hills about San Fran
cisco and other localities on this coast
Now, close TO these ridges fractures occur
leading to the portion of the crest still
heated to higher temperature, to that be-
low still hotter. Admit now that, by some
means, water composed of two atoms of
hydrogen to one Of oxygen will find its way
to these assures. The consequence would be,
as in the close analogy of water gas, that
decomposition would ensue, and LIQUIDS
and gases be formed varying somewhat in
their constituent parts, owing undoubtedly
to the difference in the heat, the amount OF
carbon present, and the pressure TO which
disassociated gases are subject to in the
bowels of the earth. In this case carbon
and hydrogen play the most important
part, as in the real naphtha oxygen is not
at all represented and in the other hydro
carbon but sparingly. In the natural gas,
however, oxygen may be present, associated
with carbon as carbon oxide, or even as
carbonic acid gas.
In the production of water gas" when
superheated steam is forced through retorts
of highly-heated coke, this reaction fire.
quently takes place, and instead of produc-
ing hydrogen gas, carbonic oxide or car
bonic acid is produced, the latter not at all
desirable IN gas intended for heat or light.
The latter gases are due to lower tempera-
lures. Professor Mendeleef, upon this
theory, produced his artificial petroleum
The molten iron, charged with carbon in
some form, and deconposed water fur
nished the foundation for the work. The
oretically, the oxygen in the decomposed
water associated itself with the iron, form-
ing an acid, while the hydrogen atoms an
nexed themselves to the carbon, forming a
hydro. carbon.
Heretofore sit was supposed that no me-
tallic iron existed on this globe, excepting
what comes to US from other worlds as me-
teors, but recently discoveries have been
made in Greenland, through the instru-
mentality Of the natives of that region, who
were in possession of iron known not to
have been drawn from civilized nations.
These natives forged their own weapons
out of this iron, the locality Of which they
kept secret, but Professor Nordenskjold,
the explorer, finally discovered on the
island of Disco immense blocks of this
iron. Often it was yet inclosed in huge
beds of basalt, out of which this terrestrial
iron was weathered. This iron showed
the same characteristics as meteoric iron
when a smooth or polished part was edged
with an acid-that is, it showed the wild
mannstattian" lines. Those who are suf-
ficiently interested may examine a speci-
men exhibited in the collection of the State
Mineralogist in San Francisco. The me-
teoric iron upon which the test was made
had fallen in Mexico or South America.
This, then, it appears will establish the
fact that metallic iron may be expected in
the interior of the earth.
Returning to natural gas, and the locali-
ties where it may be discovered, it appears,
then, that it must be searched for at the
foot of mountain ranges, as the Coast
Range, and from this il may even be ex-
pected that in the vicinity Of San Francisco,
on either side of the bay, the borings-if
sufficiently deep-might meet with some
success, for these hills are still being grad
ually land some day probably will be more
suddenly pushed upward. The proof of
this may be found in recent publication,
which stated that before the occupation by
our people sufficient living water was
found to supply even the present popula-
ton of San Francisco.
The writer was informed by one of our
noted civil engineers, that the gas on this
coast is always associated with water.
| While this may be fully admitted as trnth,
SIS far as the borings have been pushed, il
may also be possible that deeper down gas
| alone may be met with, and that the water
coming to the surface is simply charged
with the gas. under more or less pressure.
1t seems plain enough that the natural
| laboratory producing gas that burns in the
| air, or oxygen, must be at a depth where
water would be instantly decomposed by
| heat. Therefore, the origin of such gas
by the aid of water, and without the re.
| quisite heat and pressure, cannot take place
| To the chemist the carbon plays an impor.
tant part. How is that element to be
squeezed out of cold lCdter5 1t is true
the gas known as carbonic acid con-
tains carbon, but that gas is not to be
burned-in fact, is never desired in illu.
minating or water gas, and must be re-
moved from both Of the artificially- pro-
duced gases. BY the removal of one atom
of oxygen by decomposition it is turned
into carbopic oxide, often seen in
your stoves burning with beautiful blut
flame, and this gas is probably present il
the natural gas.
Thst " alter may play part in thepressurt
of gas from the wells produced by mau neeC
not be doubted, for the reason that the
pressureis notin all cases constant during q
hours, and this may be attributed to the
tides. A larger column of water over o.
under hemmed-in air or gas would produces
a correspondinely larger pressure, and some
of the gas wells in the East record 81
pounds to the square in5h, which, if con
nected with an air engine, ought to produc,
some direct force without heat.
Those who have passed some time il
physical and chemical laboratories know
that there are devices which generate CASE
according to the pressure the gas exercises
upon fluid. We will take "Kipp's Gen
| orator" composed Of three glass vessels