The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1891-07-18

Remarkable Experience OF Party o.
Well prlIIers In south America

Remarkable Expertcneo - ~y -
Well DrlII~rs In south America
Snake stories are always In order,
and Il matters little how long bow
the story teller draws. everybody be-
lieves him. IL Is a rule long establish
ed that II shall be SO. Now here -
one that comes from an lndianan;
About the middle OF June. 1890.
says he, gas-well contractor, con-
tracted COR well 10 be drilled In
South America. on the Uruguay river
few miles below the city Of Assump.
ton. Mr.. Freeman's contract called
for $iOe. 900 mt the completion OF the
well. so he Immediately shipped his
tools and rig TO San Francisco. They
wore then loaded on steamer and
sent TO their destination. We com
mencel work MS soon as the tools and
RIG was On the ground. After every
thing was in running order for drill
ing. IL was great sight 70 see the
derrick. 500 feet high, and covering
three-uuartar OF an acre OF ground.
We got along all right for while
when nj the depth Of / 500 feet the
cable broke and left all the tools IN the
bottom OF the we'll We worked for
several days and nights, but without
any success The cable was all broken
To pieces. with the exception OF about
500 feet Of good cable, that was left on
the shaft. We had pulled some forty
or fifty feet OF that over the derrick
and piled II on the floor. do not
know why we did this but IL was done.
We did not have cable enough 10 do
anything with. SO we finally all sat
down To talk the matter over and come
10 some conclusion as 10 what TO DO.
when. TO our astonishment we saw
monstrcus snake crawling into the uer-
rick. Mr.. Steward, the driller that
worked on the opposite tower from me.
threw the anvil at II. No sooner was
this done than the huge monster
started down the we'll II succeeded
In getting In. all bat about 800 feet OF
It's tail. We Immediately took rope,
hitched Il onto its tail. turned on the
steam and then wound the loose cable
that was laying on the floor around the
shaft. Presently N began To raise the
snakes tail On. ON went the engine,
DUtllDk MI HuttAt nisiAi ttH1 hAEAA't
In the derrick. TILL finally the end OF
the tail went over the crown. within
100 feet OF the shaft when, all at once
everything stopped. for the belt was
clipping. We doubled the cable from
the snakes tail TO the shaft, then put
plenty OF resin on the belt, Stacked
back little took run and shoot
turned on all the steam. and presently
something gave way.
We kept on pulling and winding the
snake on the shaft, whom nj last the
head OF the snake made It's appearance
nj the top OF the well. but 10 our as
constituent Il had hold OF the end OF
the tools. We tried every way possi-
bic TO get IL loose. We hammered IL
with sledge hammers. burnt Il with
red-hot irons. but did not succeed in get
ting II loose. We finally gave IL up
and went ahead and finished the we'll.
using the snake for n cable. II had
such "A death hold on the tools that we
had TO burn It's head OF after getting
the tools out OF the derrick. yet 1t
should be said that we did not get
supcrabundancc OF natural gas. The
snake was shipped 10 America The
skeleton is now on exhibition at No
blesville, Ind. and the hide is used
for gas main in Hartford City.