Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-27
OIL WELLS SHUT DOWN.

Operators and DriIIers Taking Two Day.
vacation-MiIes of Pipe Lines Frozen
Up-Theory Regarding the Change Of
Ohio Busters to Producers.
There vas scarcely string Of tools rum
ming yesterday in the southwestern oil
fields The drilling wells were shut down
Saturday night, and will not be started up
until to-day or tomorrow. There was ne
change reported in the flowing wells.
The Peoples Gas Company expects to
get in one we'll on the Wallace farm and
couple on the Dixon this week. They are
located in the Gordon sand district, below
Willow Grove.
There were only one or two pipe line
pump stations running yesterday, and the
majority of the field men spent Christmas
IN PitEsburg. The pipe line people in the
McCurdy field are having trouble with the
lines on account of the cold weather. The
statement was made that there were four
miles of pipe in that region which were
clogged up. No statement of the runs and
shipments of the various lines were sent
out last evening.
Theory in Regard to Ohio Wells.
The following theory in regard to pecu-
liarity of the Northern Ohio fields appeared
as an editorial in q recent issue of the New
York Morning Advertiser:
Press dispatches state that an oil we'll
flowing 1000 barrels all hour was STRUCK"
the other. day in Portage township, Han
cock county, o., some two or three miles
outside the city limits of Findlay. The
peculiar thing about this Is that number
of wells were drilled in Portage township
four and five years ago, and they all "came
in busters" showing neither OIL nor gas.
About ~ years ago oil was found in spots In
The puzzle has been to account for the
fact that whereas there was no oil in this
locality a few years agoi it Is now found
there in great abundance. The most
plausible theory is that the escape OF the
gas from the great field north and east Of
Portage township which supplies Detroit,
wulk, Fostoria, Tifin, Kenton, Perrysburg,
Bowling Green and 100 smaller towns, be-
sides the majority of the farmers living ad-
jacent to tue pipe lines, creates such a sue
ton as to draw the oil in from remote terri
tory where it lies in pools and reservoirs
connected with the Findlay field by crevices
in the earth which serve as conduits
through which it may flow.
Indeed, this seems to be the only reason
able theory. The force of the suction may
be estimated when it is stated that in the
hundreds. perhaps thousands, of gas wells
in Hancock and Wood counties the pressure
is from $50 to 500 pounds to the square inch.
There are various other points in the
Findlay field which held neither oil nor gas
q few years ago in which fortunes have re-
Gently been made from abundant flows or
oil, but the increase has been especially no
ticeatle in Portage, and the indications are
that the field will always remain good one.
The Ohio oil does not command so good q
price as the Pennsylvania product, but it
pays well enough to have already yielded a
great many fortunes TO skillful and fortu-
nate operators, and will probably continue
to do so. The farmers in that field are eX-
ceptionally lucky, as the soil is very rich,
yielding splendid crops, while their royal
ties from oil are so large that in many cases
the amount received for agricultural prod.
ucts cuts but small figure in their yearly
Incomes.