Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-12-21
NATURAL GAS DIMINISHING.
some OF the Interesting Peculiarities Of
the Invisible Fuel.

the Invisible Fuei
What is known as rock pressure is the
carrying power of the gas. It must
come from the&wells under a pressure
great enough to propel it through a long
line Of pipe. The principal supply for
Pittsburg comes from a distance of from
thirty TO forty miles, some Of it as much
as sixty miles away.
1t might be supposed that a Mmple
algebraic problem would give the amount
Of flow through a given sized pipe under
a known initial pressure and for a known
distance. 1t would be easy enough to de-
termine the quantity of water delivered
under such circumstances. but it is not
at all possible TO determine the amount
of gas.
In the first place, there is an astonish-
ing difference in volume In gas under
differing pressures and different temper
atures. A change of As dogs. in temper
allure of the gas will increase or decrease
the volume of natural gas so per cent.
A difference in pressure OF 200 pounds
will make a difference of at least one
sixth in volume. Remarkable as IL may
seem, no formulas have been made to
! show the resistance of flow, so that il is
ouly possible to guess at it by isolated
cases.
What Is known as the Acme natural
gas pipe line, ten inches in diameter,
which was one of the highest and best
ones ever laid, started with gas at 500
pounds pressure from the wells and
brought it to the low pressure lines at
the city limits at sixty-five pounds press
ure-an waste. A sixteen
inch line from Murraysville, reasonably
tight, left the well at 200 pounds press
ure, and thirty miles distant gave only
fifteen pounds pressure. Such figures
as these simply prove nothing. 1t is
known that the carrying capacity of a
pipe ten inches in diameter is nuch more
than twice that of a pipe only five inches
in diameter, when it is water that is car
ireland the resistance Is known under
certain pressures at the initial point with
the pipe discharging freely at the end
but water is not subject TO the great
changes in volume that gas is.
These unknown quantities have not
been made a subject of 30 much study
by the natural gas companies as they
would have been had there been more
sine 10 study them. The whole business
Is done with a rush. 1t is a singular fact,
hut nevertheless a fact, that no reliable
test has ever been made of the tempera-
lure of gas as it comes from the sand
,ocks, and then what il is when it enters
The pipe. Several German scientists who
were over here recently seemed especial
~ anxious to get such tests.
1t was impossible to crafty them sim
| ply for the reason that all the wells are
drilled by contract, and no contractor
would allow the six hours loss of time
which would result by the stoppage of
work each time such a test was made,
IN order to allow the sand to regain its
normal temperature after the heat made
by the friction Of the drill had subsidized.
No known method has been devised
for driving natural gas. It must carry
itself or il does not go at all. Taking the
two instances named out Of many that
might be given, it follows that with
small pipes there must be a high rock
pressure from the wells, or the gas cam
not be piped for q distance of thirty or
forty miles.
Another question equally important in
determining the problem Of stability Is
the character of the sand in which the
gas is found; whether it generates gas or
Is simply a storage house which may, in
time, become exhausted. Gas is never
found in solid granite; it invariably comes
from a loose, porous rock.
Sometimes this sand is actually pebbly,
as is found In some sections of the Muir
raysville field. In other cases it may have
the appearance Of greater density: but,
nevertheless, it will be found to be porous.
No gas sand that will produce a paying
well is of greater density than will admit
| Of one-sixth Of its volume in gas. The
gas Is contained in the interstices Of the
stone, possibly in a liquid form, because
Of the high pressure. It certainly is
greatly condensed at any rate. The bor-
ing of the hole allows it to escape; but it
escapes from a store house, and when
it is all out there is and can be no imme-
date or early process OF regeneration or
restoration; it is gone.
always taking out Of the meal tub
and always putting in will o on exhaust
the supply" Is IN old saw which is a.
iomatic. As there is no replacing of the
gas, as it cannot now be replaced, hav-
ing been generated and stored countless
years ago, it follows that there must DO
exhaustion of fields in time. How long?
Well, we shall all come very close to
knowing, later ON.
The dependence, then, for future cup
! plies must be on new territory. As the
cost OF pipeage is now as $50 to every 81
invested in drilling a well (Which in it.
self reaches as high, in cases, as $4,000,
the opening Of new territory must neces-
sarily become more and more expensive.
&C. T. Dawson in Pittsburg Dispatch.
II t Naa--A~~. u-gltn~~