The Indianapolis journal., 1892-06-03
JORDAN on THE GAS SUPPLY
A Correspondent Corrects Some of the
Natural.Gas Inspectors Errors,
Particularly Those Which Affect Marion.
Whose Residents Are Not "Alarmed"-Pur.
pose Of the Sensational Agitation.


State Inspector of Natural Gas. quotes that
gentleman as predicting the exhaustion Of
the gas SIMPLY in the Indiana field in from
six to twelve years. That is for manu-
featuring purposes. The inspector is good
enough to let rs hope for limited supply
for light and flel for eighteen twenty
years. After that. according TO this
almanac prophet. we are TO have n brief oil
season, anu then doubtless. the end of the
world. though on that point the Professor
Is exasperatingly silent. lie winds No his
representations with the following cheer
full Information touching the present
status insthe four principal towns In the
gas belt:
At Muncie this spirit of economy seems 20 be
the strongest ia the management OF the gas
plants. Anderson. although having at present
plenty of gas. Is not in an enviable position for
the future, as two pipe lines 10 indianapolis are
drawing heavily from Madison county. At
Marion they are alarmed, as seven dry holes
have been drilled in the past winter and spring.
Needless IL is TO say more gas-well displays
are made there. Kokomo has To pipe most OF It's
gas from outside and is putting down more wells
all the time. indianapolis gas companies have
gas"
Allowing for the strong probability that
the News which has had it in for the In
diana gas field from the start, has misrep-
resented Professor Jordan in this inter-
view. the statement In it referring TO
Marion is SO manifestly false and mislead-
ing that IL sounds malicious. In the nrst
place 1T is misleading TO say that at
Marion they are alarmed" The people of
this city are far less alarmed about tho
supply of gas than they were q year ago.
We have passed another winter without
noting "a single cause for alarm" The.
gas has held up we'll that the general
faith In its permanency is renewed. A
year ago We were less alarmed than the
year before. The strict truth is. confidence
f..l f....l
stead of weakening. President Jones. of
the Normal College during the past win
ter. kept careful memorandum of the
pressure of Knigbtswell. in South Marion.
and bis figures show not an ounce of de-
preston in three months. Other tests have
resulted the same way with other wells.
EVIDENCES OF FAITH
The city's boom is still on, as is shown by
the recent acquisition OF valuable indus
tries. the fling last week of articles of or
RanizatiOn of the Marion Commercial Club.
with paid up initial subscription of 81 100
frOm the 800 members for the erection OF q
$4,000 club building; the donation a few
dsys ago by Peter Flynn of $4,000 toward
the lately conceived project OF a $4,000
public library; the just-completed arrange
ment to erect n 4. al. 4. A. building at q
cost of at least $4,000 more than half OF
which sum was secured In canvass of less
than q week, and other enterprises of equal
alarmed" at Marionf
The other statement that 'seven dry
holes have been drilled in the past winter
and spring 10 aleo grossly misleading. be-
tiOn of the attendant facts and causes OF
failure IN these cases AS professional
scientist and an inspector officially desig-
mated for the purpose of ascertaining the
truth. Professor Jordan owed it no less TO
the people outside than those inside the Inc
diana gas belt TO state all the facts neces-
sary TO convey correct impression or the
condition of things this field. Instead
of doing this he told just enough. If the
News reported him correctly, to convey q
false i'm preston.
This false Impression. briefly summarized.
is that the Marion supply israpidiy failing.
is no better than that of Kokomo, and is
not SO good as that of either Anderson or
Muncie. This is an incorrect and distorted
view of the situation In the Indiana gas
belt. The exact truth 10 that Marion and
Anderson are on equally secure ground. al
lowing Koaomo and Muncie 10 speak for
themselves. There have been dry holes"
drilled In both Anderson and Marion, but
in the case of both the explanation of
causes and surroundings dissi pates all fear
of any real failure in the general supply.
Speaking for Marion. here are so-ae facts
which should have accompanied Mr. yor.
dams reference to the seven dry holes"
drilled In Marion. In the south part OF
town 1t has been discovered that a nom
producing and non porous depression eX-
lists In the Trenton rock To the average
depth of about eighty feet lower than the
Ras stratum propcr-that 10 to say, about
800 feet below the surface of the ground.
The extent of this depression has now been
definitely ascertained. bat il cost the price
of about seven drilled wells to secure thus
knowledge. The depression is about mile
long trimming from the river 10 the south.
east and half mile in width at the wid-
est part, rapidly converging thence 10
point south west. Now it Is a demonstra ted
q a
by drilling all around this depressed Sec
tiOn. There are some twenty fine wells
north of il, distributed in various portions
OF the city. and extending from the de-
pressiOn TO the extreme north end of the
town. distance or three miles. On the
SOUTH east and west sides of this weak Soc
tiOn are scattered about ten of the best
wells in the gas belt i refer only to the
wells in the immediate vicinity of the de-
preston. as, the two splendid gushers late-
ly drilled at and near the Soldiers Home.
and others drilled at intervals during the
past five years
Ii Professor Jordan did not learn these
important facts when he got his informa-
tion about the ''seven dry holes" be should
have kept his mouth bridled like true
scientist until in full possession of all the
circumstances and causes.
In another part of his interview the re-
porter quotes him as saying that the
series of articles in the Indianapolis News
last fall. showing that the gas was ON rho
decline. caused a great howl among the
papers In the gas belt" To this IL may be
replied that the great howl" SO elegantly
referred To by this model scientist was
simply a storm of indignant proteets. we'll
ked by facts and statistics. against q
series of gratuitous lies published in the
News.
THE PURPOSE IN VIEW.
Touching Jordan's closing remark about
Marion that "It is needless 10 say no more
gas displays are made there" he will find
no one here opposing the maxim that lt s
always needless TO bear false witness,
| because, as in rhe present case. even an Of
ficisl title is not likely TO prevent it's wear
| er's SIN from ultimately finding him out.
| II Mr.. Jordan or a News representative
had been within hve miles of South Mar
ION last Friday night nj about 3 o'clock he
| wOuld have heard a noise still terrible hut
| still quite familiar 10 the people of Marion.
| Ii was the thunder of one of our great
wells. displayed for the entertainment of u
| score more of Delaware editors who AT
| rived that day on an excursion TO the
Queen CITY OF the gas belt"
| It's presumably the general purpose or
| Professor Jordan and the indianapolis
| News TO show the necessity of nsDg meters
/ this is their object they will certainly
| make better progress In that work by tell
ing the exact truth about the gas belt.
| Had the News. IN it's pretended investiga-
tions last fall. confined itself TO publi shl n z
| the frnIh II wonld have been back ed in its
, efforts hy every paper in the gas region;
| because we all believe in outstanding this
munitcent gift of nature. But the very
| fact that the News articles were filled