The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-01-24
HAIRCUT NATURALGAS
,recovERY AND UTILIZATION
AS EuFL IN AMERICA.


80 in America Seventy Years Ago.
= Monroe m the Youths Companion.
g. is nothing new under the sun. For
lis. perhaps. thousands, of years the
--aus Of the Tsien Luon Using district
nina have supplied cheap fuel and light
~ dwellers in their vicinity. 1t is said
y. +bsse wells are 5000 feet deep. The
o. distributed through bamboo pipes
'-ninating in rude burners made Of clay.
"-,,ries before the christian era fountains
,r,seous flame, sprouting from the earth
81 the Caspian sea, were objects of pill
Image and adoration to the fire Worship
"a Asia. while near Grenoble, in France.
sarv fountain still burning that is said
..t.va been burning in the days Of Julius
Cesar.
!, this country columns of fire issuing
u - +bs ground were discovered and re-
nO w. nv the earliest Jesuit explorers Of
r. Ohio valley. In 1775 George Washing
~ sought TO have set apart and reserved
y The public forever a square mile of land
~ me Kanawha valley, in the center of
-bich was a burning gas spring that he re-
I'D as one of the greatest Of our
ssaticnal wonders. The first use of natural
as for domestic purposes in this country
Eas made in 1921 in the village OF tredonia,
Cbautau0ua county, New York, where
eH"r,b II il was collected and piped to sup
Nv thirty burners. The village inn was
Eliminated by this gas when Lafayette
nossed through Fredonia in 1924. At the
isme time a small lighthouse on Lake Erie
T~ernad vessels from the coast with a flame
If the same product.
Natural gas is found in connection with
rarroleum and salt water deposits, and it
las the gas that rushed from a salt well,
bored in Western Virginia in 1S4l, that was
6rst used as fuel in a furnace Here it
supplied the heat necessary for boiling and
eyaporating the salt water, and enabled the
owners of the well to make salt a little
cbeaper than other ell owners. From the
earliest development of the Pennsylvania
oil fields portion of the gas that generally
accompanies the flow of oil in a well has
been used to heat the boilers of the pumping
engines, and to warm and light the dwell
lings in their vicinity.
THE WASTE OF GAS.
For many years, however, it was oil and
not gas which the well drillers were seek
ing, and they allowed millions of cubic feet
of the gas to escape or burn to waste
daily. with little thought of its value If 1t
was lighted at the end of tall pipes for the
Illumination Of village streets or dark for
est roads, no one thought or turning it off
at sunrise. By day as we'll as at night its
lurld. torch-like flames burned on hill tops,
in valley and in forest throughout the oil
regions In 1874 it was discovered that this
fuel could be used more cheaply than coal,
il iron works, glass works and other manu-
featuring establishments. 1t was Sot until
1858, however, that the enormous volumes
of gas supplied by the Murraysville field
we're directed through twenty miles of iron
pipe to Pittsburg, and offered as fuel fer
the mills, factories, stores and dwellings of
that place.
With it's use for this purpose, the manu-
featuring business of that large city was
revolutionized, its domestic comfort was
greatly increased, and its whole aspect was
changed. Not only does gas furnish a more
regular and intense heat than coal, but fur
nishes 1t at reduced cost, and does away
with the labor of handling coal, building
its fl es, keeping them supplied with fuel,
and diSposlng of the accumulated ashes and
cinders. 1t was not found necessary to make
any material change in tie construction of
furnaces, open CRATES, or stoves. Those
built for coal are still used for gas. The
only difference is that, instead of kindlings,
OOOOy
is small pipe that issues from the floor and
enters the CRATE. A stop-cock is turned, the
gas is iguiied, and any degree of heat re-
quired can be obtained at once and regu-
lated at will. Whel no longer needed the
flame is instantly extinguished. and all
care Of the fire is at an end. With a good
draught there is perfect combustion and no
odor.
To those who knew Pittsburg in former
years it's present appearance is marvellous.
1t is no longer the Smoky city, and its
once ever-present. low hanging clouds of
smoke and SCOT have disappeared, perhaps
forever. Its houses can now be painted in
light colors; its ladies may wear white
dresses, and its men white suits if thew
choose. The city has become an exceed
ingy pleasant place of residence.
The dwellers in Pittsburg are not the
only people to whom the blessings of natural
gas have been extended. 1t is now found
and used as fuel in New York, PennsyI-
vania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virgins.
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama,
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas,
Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas,
Utah, California, Alaska and Canada. Dis
coverles in new regions are reported fire.
quenty.
WHERE GAS is FOUND.
Natural gas is found in both sandstone
and limestone formations, at depths rang
Ing from few hundred feet to 1000 feet.
and Is reached by wells bored in the same
way as Tor Oil. In fact, it often happens
Una INA well bored for oil yields gas instead
ms was formerly regarded as misfoi tune,
put the gas has become as valuable as the
OIL and drilling for gas is well established
bust eSs
Striking pasr is a voYnauba+ +br;Il;
AFFAIR AS the ponderous drill crashes
through the thin remaining crust of slate.
anu noerates the giant imprisoned for ages
Deneath, the column Of gas leaps I'D the FIVE
men pipe with such force as violently to
project the heavy boring tools, weighing a
T 1Sh or more. through the derrick frame.
tuo gas, with screaming roar, springs a
Injured feet into the air, column of
uIuish VapDr. Sometimes'it tears the casing
VI cast-iron pipe from the we'll, and hurls
a A.t, IL VoIleys of earth and rock, mingled
VIII WIN Jets of oil and salt water. OF course
al gas wells do not begin business in this
oolsIerous manner. Most of them are of
UoLldafatively gentle flow and easy TO
aaai though such scenes as the one de-
~ M toeu are not uncommon in new fields.
MI ne gas giant is fond of fire, and the mo-
.nelC ne IS loosed from his underground
r. misoh be begins eagerly to search for it. IL
a, % found under the boiler of the pumpin g
IL sLne IN the bowl of a workman's pipe, or
80 - SPARKS struck from fiinty rocks, the pillar
81 Sl Vapor instantly becomes a column of
,-"' throwing out an intense heat, de-
curing and whitening everything in its
s v,c.llty, aud at night lighting miles of the
Ttt,rouhdlng country with its angry glow.
- ~ may Durn for weeks. months, or even for
y0o's before its terrible strength is SO ex-