The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-02-23


tuesday Of last week gas was
turned into the mains Of this town.
1t was the elimination CT the expec-
tations Of an impatient public, the
fruition Of the enterprise of the I'm
ion improvement Company and the
realization Of the hopes of all The
use OF the new fuel has by no means
become general as yet, but is becom-
ing SO as rapidly as three gas fitting
firms can supply anxious citizens
with the necessary fixtures for it's
use. The streets Of the town are,
however, brilliantly illuminated by
it, and the number of burners is be-
ing increased as fast as possible.
We no longer live in the prospective
regarding natural gas. We revel in
its material luxury and substantial
heat and light. 1t is here and She
regulation three cheers have been
given heralding its arrival and our
ascension of several more notches
above backwoodsdom. The coming
of the gas has not been without
slight bitches, however, and the fires
have gone out on several occasions,
not owing to lack of the fuel, but
to the fact that the testing Of the
pipes and mains shows up the defec-
tive part of the work, which is, how
ever, slight the manager tells US,
and though the people think there
has been ''peck Of trouble" the gas
men say that less is encountered
here than at any place they have put
gas in. Friday the lights and fires
all went out suddenly. The cause
proved to be a broken pipe out two
miles. Saturday there was repeti-
tion Of the performance, but in both
cases the pipes were speedily repair
ed, but little pressure put on. Sat-
urday evening, owing to defect in
the regulator, the pressure rose far
above what it had ever been, the
lights flew high in the air and the
inexperienced all expected to be un-
tremendously hurled into eternity
by an explosion. Men, women and
children sought the most remote cor
ners of houses and cellars to escape
from the supposed calamity, and
more fervent applications were Of
fered heavenward than ever were
heard at revival. A cry Of fire was
sounded in the direction of DR..
Hartigan's residence, where the
flames of the gas leaped high from
the chimneys. A large crowd gath
cred at the house expecting to aid in
removing the personal effects, but as
the Doctor is a man of resources he
quoted all fears by a simple twist
of the wrist. By this time the pres
sure had been reduced all over town
and the worst scared now felt the
more shcepish.
A new regulator has now been set
in place and the work of testing still
continues. We have to become ac-
customed to the gas before we can
rightly understand it, and even now
the people are beginning to regard
gas as a matter Of course We are
apt students and wont be so fright
ened again.
We have the best of systems Of
pipes and regulators and an explosion
of serious consequences is to be num-
bered amongst the impossibilities.
There is the usual retinue of "know-
A II 4 q A I
of the managers those fellows feel
highly insulted that they are not
consulted.
Developments of various charac-
tiers continually arise and by this
time stranger would suppose that
we always had gas. We are proud
of it and like to talk about it. We
feel far ahead OF all neighboring
towns because we have right to.
Morgantown has natural gas and the
people are consequently rejoicing.