The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-05-03
THE U.DIS'r GIL I'iELD.
ScmctL;ac- About eno 10 Dal Ter.
i-tcry In A!saco.



We'd Il SupV.
'Tho oldest practical petroleum pro
duccrs in tho world are tho Lc Bel fam
lily, of Nsecc," said ex-senator Levi.
Emery, Jr., the fighting anti-Standart
oil producer ot Bradford, Pa, to New
York Sun Reporter. Strange rs it may
seem, they began to produce petroleum
more than $50 years before Colonel
Drake sank his pioneer we'll in Penn
,sylvania, and yet the history of oil pro-
duction is dated from brakes successful
venture near Titusvillo. no ono in this
country ever heard OF the ancient AL
sutian oil field until 1850. In that year
l was making u tour of investigation
among tho Russian and other alleged
foreign oil countries and learned OF the
existence OF the Lo Bel territory. was
surprised to find that it was only fifty
miles from Strasburg, and that q rail-
road ran within three miles of it to q
place called SultG-unter'mWald l took
o trip to the district, and met the own
or, NJ. Jacques lie Bel, an ancestor of
whose, as he told me, had discovered the
oil in 1875, found that 1t made an excel
lent lubricator, and purchased for song
91, ,0C0 meters square of the land in the
region, and went to mining the OIL. Nj.
lie Bel also told me that was the frst
foreigner who had ever visited tho held.
"I found 1t most curious oil region,
and when | told lie Eel that was an
oil operator myself from tho greatest
oil country in tho world, he was Sur
prised, for he knew nothing about any
other oil country beside his own prini-
tive field, which had been owned and
worked by the descendants OF its dis
coverer for $50 years. After satisfying
him of the truth OF my statements
except the one az tho manner in
which oil wells were putdown and oper-
ated in America, Which he could not
bring himself to bolievc-he consented
to show me tho wcy ho put down and
operated his wells, at the same time as
suring me that YVES the frst OUTSIDER
who mad ever oecn perml1tcd 10 exam
inc the WORKS Aiter seeing inc way
they produced OIL IN Alsace' was noo
surprised tnat Al. lie bei was iicreuu-
lous ABOUT the pcnnsylvarna methous.
Tho sinking Of an AlsGtian Oil we'll
Is more like the operation of opening
coal mino than by tapping an OIL vein,
as understood and practiced in our folds.
When the oil operator III Alsace sets out
to put down an oil well he first erects
building soXlOo feet for his engine and
boiler. Near by an excavation 20 feet
deep and IA feet square is made in tho
ground. This is filled with Solid stone
masonry. Upon this foundation Is
hlTn.
gonal in shape, and Ii feet in diameter.
The work OF digging the well Is begun
beneath the engine house. AS the well
Is to consist OF Shaft and numerous
drifts and galleries, its plan is first care
fully laid out by an engineer. Tho shaft
Is eXcavated entirely Dy worRmcn with
pick ana shoVel. inc WORK goes on
night and DAY, therc oeinS thfee sets Oh
hands, three IN q sou VINO WORK eigh'
hours day cach'
'The Alsatian Oil VOLS were put
down to depth OF about 800 feet, al
though when the pioneer operator IN
the field went to work in lI35 he had to
go down only so feet to get to the OIL.
That vein WIS long ago exhausted, ana
the second vein was tound at the pres
ent depth. At O depth OF ~ feet tun-
mel is cut from the shaft at an ascend
Ing slope to fetch Its other opening to
the surface ut the base OF the tail Chin
ney. This tunnel, or drift, Is three rect
square, and it Is really hue up which
the impure underground air is drawn by
the chimney drauGht. The SHAFT proper
Is divided into three compartments by
wooden partitions from top to bottom.
One Is feet by and Is the Wen.
Another Is feet by and is air tight at
the top. This one tho fiue opens out Of
Inc thlro compartment 10 VI 'no sSme
hAe as Inc secohu' ahu uo"u ,esn o.
u Drawn Dy .ne u.uusn' oI lAe nuo 0na0
earries OH Ine Impure uif 'fol' 'no
bottom.
when shaft is sunk 70 the OIL sano
or vein, tunnels are cut IN al dlreceions &c
from 1t, aS an ascending slopo. me OIL
oozes from the surrounding eaf'h lhto
these tunnels or drains, ana runs oo"h
to the bottom OF the smart. Inc euhnols
drain an area OF several acres iho
ct tnsistency OF the on ls such 'nae 'ne
tho ahaft into buckets. the same rs they
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