St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-01-02
A THRILLING EXPERIENCE.
An ON Mans: Euddea Rise and How lt y
Accom- plished.

An on Mans: euddea Rlks and How lt WAS
Accom- pllshed.
A large number Sf prominent oil men
from the various fields of Ohio, Indiana.
Pennsylvania and: West Virginia, were
telling theirexpcrlences in the oil fields,
says . st. ;;Mary's tO.) correspondent
The one THAT mostly attracted atten-
tion was thrilling one by Joe English.
a well-kno.vn contractor. His story
was as follows:
Il was about twenty years old when
the oil cxc3temert broke out In our
country. and was leading the unevent-
full life of a,farmer's son. We lived on
. farm of one hundred and forty acres.
within two miles Of . prosperous town
Of Pennsylvania and there was little
excitement for any Of us until some
Of the oil men from Oil City came
down and tuilt . rig ON the Davis farm.
about q quarter Of mile from our
place. The greasy fluid was struck in
paying quantities believe we drilled
four wells. and all are good producers.
No. 3 acted.strangely. The day it came
in It filled Two two hundred and fifty
barrel tanks in four hours, and We lost
considerable oil because Of . lack OF
tankage. The well settled down. how
ever, to about three hundred barrels .
day. and kept flowing At that rate for
about Eve days. when it petered out al
together. Just twelve days after that
we'll quit flowing had the strangest
experience that ever fell to the lot OF
man.
Zone day I was walking about the
farm wheri some delayed Ggure-worik
occurred to me, and resolved to do It
then and there. The abandonded we'll
was near lJy. Knowing would be &C.
cure from Intrusion there. walked in
to the derrick. An empty candy-box.
which placed over the casing-head,
furnished = good seat Producing pencil
and paper. proceeded in my own way
TO solve the problem Of petroleum pro
duction. In just about two minutes
the well began squirting salt water at .
furious rate and with such tremendous
force that.I was hurled high into the
mir. box and all. There is no use try
ing to describe my feelings. / was too
thoroughly frightened to have any. All
I know. q man OF . hundred and sew
enty-fivc pounds was lnted violently
heavenwayl
..rhe column OF water evidentiy
struck thS box exactly in the center.
for We went mp Is straight as plum Q
line. What is more, never changed
INV seat and in the very nature OF
thir9s It vas impossible to do 50. The
.ru fling water was Of sufficient volume
to entirely fili the box and send .
pretty heavy aqueous wall ON every
sidr into the bargain. Tho oox
was. not large. and. OF course,
INV feet would naturally hang over
under ordinary circumstances. out ~
thie case the water threw my legs mp
ward. This put me in . peculiarly nm
comfortable, yet singularly safe. posi-
ton Isss there, head and legs inclined.
SO that :resembled the letter ', .1o
was ermty held in that position Oy tne
outpoariER current.
Il r,uss have gone mp fully fortv-Eve
feet hut the initial force carrsea me
higher than It could bold me. ana ~
fIcsl NM about lfteen feet. all -
while maiutaining the same posas'on'
When reached that point whsrc tne -.
traction tf gravity exactly coon.ets 'ne
force Of water j stopped. The point was
fully thiriy fset frona the ground. Nwas
imnossihle for me to fall to csthes sis.e.
and cqus;lly imI,oesibis- to fall sef2lS = =
AZ .Drnvin~ uRnteC