The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1889-02-02
NATURAL GAS SUPPLY.
FACTS ABOUT THE NEW SOURCE
OF COMFORT AND WEALTH..
Gas Yielding Territory of the United
Statcs-Gcorgc Washington us an ln-
vcstor-.A Catastrophe i'll Chinu-An In.
cident-Ohicial Reports.

cilent-Ohcial Reports.
Where i'll the United States are the chief
sources of supply for natural gas. This is a
question that countless people have been try
ing to answer, and it is said that the people
of every state in the Union except the New
England states and the four most Suutherly
Atlantic Scahoalu states have quite lost their
equilibrium III attempting to show that tho
chief supply is right under the crust of real
estate which they themselves happen to oc-
cupy East of the Appalachian range of
mountains measuring the Green mountains
of Vermont us their most northern extern
sion. "r spur, the natives have not bored for
natural @',s except, perhaps. furively, and
i'll the dark. y similar want of enterprise
has manifested itself in North and South
Carolina. Georgia and Florida, the people of
those .tl;rS p">sihly thinking themselves too
m'r III" earthquake center to take any
cA '"i penetrating the crust of th, i'm
Il " sd globe. But everywhere else
he i-.c Hudson river and the Pacific
ga. drills have been working inces
~ lated AT night, it is TO be pre-
'"i inircqucnlly, by the electric
.ta ertaclc would he somewhat luli-
IA. Nsc.n il not that the electric illuminant
lI.H Pr nj status of scientific knowledge
'' "'l % confess that dull gas is one of
.tr'.''. atary forces to which it owes its
'al bong Bat the search has been gencr-
".lr futile. Except in Kansas gas has been
f"ul!a in paying quantities only in that Dor.
ton of the Mississippi valley which lies east
Il iir great river and along the borders of
. .p.tiI N-st M
lie drift. The main sources of supply arc
"'lnd in the western part of the state of
Pennsylvania, extending northwarl into
ulhwrslcrn New York, and southwarl into
e., Virginia.; in northwestern Ohio and tho
r"mii tLollS eastern part OF central Inuiuna
nd Ill one part of Michigan.
The considerable supply found in Kansas
''s" far west of the main source that it sue.
""t' escaping gas caused by some iissure or
!u,t III the drift formations. Yet the search
forward, though possibly with relaxing
rest. 1t is felt that tae caverno,ls west
a ~n'h may furnish still other natul;tl
a. lanes t" convey gas for general elislribu
"v"r half the continent
'ural gas has been long known. The vii.
"i f'rcdonia, in this state, near the lower
of Lake Erie has been lighted by it
Wy, II not quite, fifty years, and the
Ghor of his Country is found to have been
70 first spcculator in natural gas. He came
IA possession very long time ago of What
aoro then known as the burning springs in
tir kanawlm valley, Virginia. These so
allied springs We're only the result of "A
natural gas freak, though to the people of
those early days. before the discovery or i'll
v"nilon of Il process for making coal gas,
lll"T must have furnished II mysterious phe-
nomenon.
lne idea of Washington, however, in OBJ
tanning possession of the property was not II
speculation in light or fuel but speculation
in salt, as more properly became the savior
IF his country. In China, too, IL country to
which we must always go when we think
ourselves exclusively entitled to the credit of
,onc new discovery, the people have known
all about natural gas many hundred years.
1T is even reported that Il great cutas,rople
once happened in China as a consequence of
the reckless Use of this ilumilant, the catas-
iropIc having been nothing less than the
explosion of an immense subterranean g;,s-
oinrtcr which undcrran country LARGO
enough for several kingdoms. The precise
rImber of people who pcrislcd ut the time i;
not recorded but, considering the population
of the country, it must hlvo been large. So
natural gas, it will be seen, has played very
tragic part in the worlds history, if an in
animated substance can he said to play
tragedy.
This Chinese story lacks but one element
I" give it Il horrible interest, and that is the
element of possibility. No air can go where
gas holds possession: and you could not haze
combustion and II consequent explosion with
ont air. Some Information in relation to
the natural gas wells Of China has been given
recently I" the state department by Mr
Charles DENLY, the American minister to
thai country. Mr.. DENLY describes II terri.
toly about nlne miles in diameter, where
brine, suitable for tho production of salt, is
found ut Il depth of 700 to Loo feet below
the surface Below these salt reservoir,
again. alta depth Of l,s00 r., 900 feet from the
surface, gas is found. 1t is reached by means of
rude iron drills fastened to a rope and opcr
ltcd iii banbpo pipes, Which are gradually
forced into tho ground as theearth below is
displaced by the action Of the sharp iron
point. 1t is bamboo everywhere. After the
gas is reached and brought to the surface il
i, led OIL to the cvaporalIng pans by more
bamboo pipes, and made To do duty in turn
Ing the brine into salt crystals. But for il,
bearing on tnis question Of danger to come
from the practice of tapping natural gas
reservoirs, here is the chief point of interest
III Mr. Denby's report.
Daring tho TAPPING rebellion, years ago,
the rebels held possession of the counH.y
where these gas wells are situated, and they
took OF the cap that held the gas m coniine-
lucnt from one of the wells and set the col.
umn allame. 1t has been burning ever since.
and there Is not talent enough among tie
Chinese engineers to oytn.uisl the fire But
it is to he presumed that even the bamboo
piping in the well remains uninjured, or th"
or4iicc must long since have been closed
We need not 50 all the way to CHINA. ho,y.
cYcr 10. Examples We have seen oil and "a,
wells c!.ou9h ;flamc in the United States 10
have blown oil the cuds Of both New Ioli,
and pcnns, wanna had it been possible for
tl" flame TO penetrate bcow tile surface.
The CHINESE i..cident, however, is not WITH
ont interest from another pc 1t Of view.
There has been a theory that the gus wells
must bc soon exhausted: but here is Il well
that has been running with such force that
tnr flame is incxtmguishablc during many
years, and there is no evidence Of decreasing
pressure.
Official reports on the natural gas pro.
ducts ol the United States are not very 70
cent, the latest report, IN its main feature,
coming down only to the close Of the year
ls>6. 1t covers a period of less than twp
years, the discovery that natural gas could
be found III sufficient quantities to make well
driving profitable having been mad IN 1850.
Yet AT the end Of the second year i: was
found that gas had displaced G,i53,o0O tons
OF coal, estimated in value at :l0,0UO,oOO.
This was about double the quantity dis-
placed during the first year, loo5, and us the
natural gas companies We're rapidly extend
ing their mains at the date of report. ii
is fair to presume that fhe quantity dis
placed has doubled again during the unre-
ported months which have followed.-New
York Sun