The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-10-16
ITS DAYS ARE NUMBERED.
THE NATURAL GAS SUPPLY THAT
MAINrAINs PITTsBURGH's FIRES.

ut is the greatest luxury Of the age. far sur
passing electric lights and private telephones.
It saves time and worry for overy man. woman.
and child that uses 1t. and has solved one OF
tho most serious problems Of the age-the SER
want problem. How? Why. It's as plain as A
d C. A conservative estimate shows thut 1t
saves every servant girl about two hours work
a day, or 100 hours. or about thirty days q
year. Just think OF that! Nearly one-tenth
Of the whole year saved for hcr own pleasure.
The result Is that all the best servants In tie
country who know about it flock to Pittsburgh.
and every advertisement for a girl is an
swersd by a dozen only too anxious for the
place."
The foregoing is a condensed quotation from
q Pittsburgh natural gas enthusiast. who had
been holding forth for about an hour In the
smoker OF the Pennsylvania limited. as the
latter was nenring the Smoky City. After he
had gone back to his seat to gather his traps.
q follow townsman. who had been listening TO
his talk In silence. spoke up.
THAT fellows o natural gas crank. There
are lots Of them In and around Pittsburgh.
They only see ono side Of the question. The
fact is that natural gas has Its disadvantages.
a. we'll as It's merits. In the first place. 1t is
dangerous. because its odor ia not easily de-
tected In the oily atmosphere OF our town. and
because 1t explodes very easily. 1t also has
the dangerous suffocating qualities OF IL
Illuminating gas. Many people think that this
whole region is in danger Of being blown UT
some time by the treacherous stuff. When
you consider that 1t Is handled daily by thou
sands Of people. naturally careless. it is q
wonder that more accidents don't occur"
When The Sun reporter reached Pittsburgh
be devoted some time to investigation of the
subject, and vent out to one Of the gas dis
tricts and saw the operations at the wells.
1t ts now fifteen years since natural gas was
applied to domestic purposes in southwestern
tenEsylvania, and eight years since sys.
t %.siaeS,. st 81 pi,t xs,s Tsd snd 10 A sIHsphly it te ci fhe
Within the latter period its history has been
singular In moro ways than one.
UPS AND DOWNS OF NATURAL GAS STOCK.
Its financial aspect alone commands atten-
sss ss t. ,P Il Il, SsaSSlaSS, II s. sSsss. i, Il a is ss SIsh / {
soia ns sasmsf IN fSs H ISse, s esp nsst; III IN 'f Bo saGSs
cent. which sent the market value up to is.
Investors believed that they. had struck a
gold mine. and were ioath to let 60. It re-
VILE llthhsee COL rs ssi xsrsn shst s1s4s Mature man. v tS Ssl's snd
to coal and wood fires would now be done
with 1t. because It saved the space in the eel
lar Heretofore taken up BY. coal and wood. did
ART. S Mldn t cox s shs eso ahs 1ne 81 ai'SSe ea,inx tnss
servant was delighted. because there was no
ires. besides which It saved her time in many
ways. She could sleep longer in tho morning.
t bss sse Sc she 3 sr DID not sta have g, e b wait tSf tine, tine i Mss
fire could be regulated at once to suit. In a
must otherwise have been kept going during
tho winter. that meant a good deal OF labor
saved; The Sitize eps generally ei tby were ,, greatly { g
with SCOT and smoke that had previously
belched incessantly from thousands Of chin
the, reputation Of the city. People becanto
belieye that ths title $ 81 Is smoky City would be
t sTen tepa an 70 se seo1 81 al t9 Chi m : as sn the ciiS of
Crime. II seemed to many as il the millennium
we're really about to begin: and l. the Common
for the. city's benefit Joy could not have
reigned more uncoufined:
But this blissful condition did not last very
long. Tho apparently inexhaustibls supply.
which had been tapped SO conveniently to the
city. suddenly gave out. Rival companies:
been SECLUDED from the pie Secured by tie
original company. began to spring up; These
sts Sis,Gifv the sn best Co GHs lnnd; ;n in the a,eo imm M d
showed signs Of exhaustion;, Expert exami-
penlGn sHS%e and in a tls nS S f,sslht 6 Ssgsa a ss as:
TIE rival companies for the possession of all
prices vent up with : rush. and the
chasers enabled the owners to get exorbi-
sums Frequently wells purchased for
M5 sums proved yalueless in a short time:
shown by the formation. OF the rock. Ixpcris
car locate ths gas usually without much DIM;
whether there is much or little. Where the
safe to predict that 4 does not extend much
not to sell their farms outright. but
merely to lease to tho company n tract large
prices until they secured from one to two
dollars outright for the use of each
w vJdi,, and from $500 to $1,000 q year in
extra compensation: The COMPANIES found
each We'll. In addition to This ibis the heo cost osf? for
piping was enormous and their pay rolls called
Tor large sums.
laying new. pipes brought the second years
fsrIslsn q ths bo Gisd5Slnal comp"ny down ma;
some OF them began to mako careful inquiry
into the actual value OF their holdings. lie
information they obtained alarmed them still
It's existence the company would have to keen
on buying new fields. digging new wells. lay-
in a new pines. and employlng extra men. The
mote. and their scarcity Increased tho prices
for them. At the same time. when
ever o we'll became exhausted it no longer
figured as an asset. 1t became absolutely
us did also the expensive
piping that connected 1t with tho city.
for the cost Of removing the latter would
make 1t unprontable. The market value OF
the stock naturally began to decline. Tho
spirits OF the various companies
came together and consulted. They saw that
they, were all In the same boat. Competition
would only increase tho rapidity OF their do
struction. II they would consolidate they
could keep down tho farmers. who would les
sen their demands as soon as they found that
they had only one customer instead Of u num-
Der: A consolidation Of tho big companies re-
suited. and a reorganized company game into
being, with a capital OF 81 .OOO.UOO. This step
served to revive public confidence for u while,
but. nevertheless. the former prestige OF the
Glt company .wns gone. New rivals sprans
INTO being: the farmers were as indr-
pendent rs ever. Two years ago tho. nf-
Inirs O. tho big company came to n crisis.
N order to supply the demand for the gas.
NO y enormous nipes were laid. from one ofthe
one was nearly twenty miles long. while the
I IsS IN ne shop where they were made, and
S Sasn 'a n AR aha ready for use they cost about
tne treasury. some Of the wells proved very
pUor. ana ran out within two months. Invest