Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1892-04-09
BETK EEN EARTH AND SKY
A SMOOTH STORY FROM THE OILY
TONGUE OF AN OIL MAN
An Ohio Man Carried Up tn the AIV Wy
Water Burss and Held Suspended
There for Uours-A Hrppy Re.tue.

An Ohio Man Carried Up In the AIv Wy
Water Burss and Held Suspended
There for Hours-A Happy Rescue.
A large number of prominent oil men
from the various fields of Ohio Indiana.
Pennsylvania. and West Virginia wer3
telling their experiences in tn" oil iel Is.
the Pitssburg Dispatch. The one that
most attracted attention was a thriil.uE
one by Joe English. a well known COZ.
tractor. His story was as follows
~ was about 20 years old when the eli
excitement broke out in oul cCurtIy. anI
was leading the uneventful life OF a
farmers son. We lived on a farm Ct I4J
acres. within two miles Of rrosperCLs
town in Pennsylvania. and there wa5
little excitement tor any Of us unti! &c me
oil men from OIL City came Down ana
built rig en- the DAVIS farm, about a
quarter of q mile fIcm cur place Tbs
greasy 6uid was struck in paying oCan
titles ] believe we drilled four wells,
and all are good producers
"No. 3acted strangely. The DAY 1t came
in it filled two $50 taIrel tanks In four
hours, but we lost considerable oil be.
cause of lack OF tankaSe The well
settled down. however, TO about 800 bar.
rels day, and kept flowing at that rate
for about five days, when il petered out
altogether. just 10 days after that well
quit Howing had the strangest experl.
ence that ever fell TO the lot Of man
".One day was walking about the farm
when some delayed figure work occurred
t. me, and resolved to DO it then ana
there. The abandoned we'll was near by
Knowing | would be eecGIe from intru.
slcp there walked 'rto tEa derrick An
empty candy box. which | placed ever
the casing head, furnished good seat
Producing pencil and paper proceeded
in my own way to solve the p,ctIem OF
petroleum production. Ia just sbcut two
minutes the well began squirting sails
water at furious rate and with such tie-
mendous force that ! was buried high
into the air. box and all. There is no use
trying to describe my feelings was
too thoroughly frightened to have any.
All | know a man Of 175 pouEds was
lifted violently heavenward,
"The column of water evidently struck
the box exactly in the center for we vert
up as straight as plumb line. What IS
more, never changed my seat. and in
the very nature OF things it was imposs
Bile to do so The squirting water was OF
sufficient volume to entirely fill the box
and send pretty heavy aqueous wall oD
every side into the bargain The box was
not large. and Of course my feet would
naturally hang over under ordinary cir.
cumstauces. but in this case the water
threw my legs upward This put me IN
a peculiarly uncomfortable yet slngulariy
safe position. ] sat there, head and legs
Inclined so that ! resembled the letter V,
and was firmly held in that position by
the outpouring current
II must have gone up fully As feet, but
the initial force carried me higher than
it could hold me. and | settled back about
Is feet. all the while maintaining tho
same position When | reached thar
point wl<re the attraction Of S'ar,ry ex.
actly counters the force Of water
stopped The point was fully 80 feet
from the ground 1t was impossible for
me to fall to either side and equally I'M.
l'bHS'o'c W IAN uONii. tpi 'ilt
spraying water played into that box with
terrific force The only movement feu
was the alternative rising and falling Of
the box occasioned by the contention be-
tween the attraction of gravity and pto.
pulsive force OF gas and water. The only
pain ! experienced was III my legs.
which soon became numb from the coa.
slant pounding OF the water
"The roar and the squirting wate: scan
attracted the attention Of the felix's al tvs
house, and after them came the neighIQis
oil operators, and others, until there was
a crowd of several hundred people stand.
ing around within safe distance Of the
descending water. couldn't see much
of them, and of course, couldn't hear a
word they said Gradually the rain
seemed to grow less. and the next knew
l was in bed, and in dreamy way saw
the folks standing around
They told me how my final lescus
came about The well ceased flowing
gradually and finally petered out alto,
gether. as the column Of water dropped,
the box, with its now insenSate burden
came down with it and rested exactly
over the mouth of the well whence It
started. ] fell over on the derrick floor
and was picked up and carried cut. an
then into the house"