The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1895-07-20
NATURAL GAS GOING OUT.
Coal Again the Fuel In the Large
PittsbmRh Foundriee.


Iao 0T1t fOl11nX HILL Cn6t uSeQ u8U-
ural gas exclusively was the Etna iron
works. in Allegheny county. few
miles above Pittsburgh. and this es-
Establishment has been one Of the last to
abandon this fuel in the Pittsburgh dis
trict- After twenty years OF dependence
upon natural gas, says the Philadel-
phia Record, the proprietors OF this
plant have removed the pipes and are
now returning to the use OF coal, long
after most of the other mills had sur
rendered to the cheap bituminous fuel
which had always been the cheap foun-
dation OF Pittsburgh's great Industrial
prosperity. The diminishing supply
and the consequent increase in cost
have necessitated the abandonment Of
natural gas by most af the large manu-
featuring establishments in the Pitts
burgh district, and its use is being
more and more restricted to domestic
purposes. Pittsburgh has again be-
come the smoky city of fifteen years
ago, alleviated in some measure by the
use Of fuel oil and manufactured gas,
which have assumed Importance with
the decline of natural gas in the last
four or fve years. Natural gas was
not factor of very great Importance
in the Pittsburgh district until early in
the sos and the point of greatest con-
sumption was reached in 1888, after
which the decline egan. 1t has never
been feasible to ascertain with accu-
racy the quantity of natural gas con-
sumed each year, but Joseph D. Weeks,
Of Pittsburgh, has prepared for the
United States geological survey an.es-
innate of the value of the coal dis
displaced by natural gas, which has
been accepted as the most practical
measure of the consumption of gas. In
the period of it's largest use the natural
gas consumed in Pennsylvania, meas
ured on this basis, was valued as fol-
lows: 1885, $4500, 900; 1886, $4,000, 900;
1887, $14, IA, 500; 1888, SIS, ,232, ,375; 1889,
s11, sos, $3.50; 1890. 9,551 ,025; 1891. ST.
s34, ,016; 1892, 81, ,376, ,2S1; 1898, Sc, ,4s5. 900.
In Ohio the supply OF natural gas has
failed even more rapidly than in Penn
sylvania. The largest consumption in
Ohio was in 1899, when it amounted in
value to S5.215, 900, but in 1898 it had
fallen to s1,510,0O0. The suddenness of
the failure of the supply has caused
much Inconvenience and loss to manu-
featuring establishments, which in
many instances were deprived OF fuel
almost without warning. While the
supply of natural gas in Pennsylvania
and Ohio has been diminishing new
productive region has come into proni-
nence in Indiana, and interest in nat
ural gas is now centered in that state.
In 1885 the value of the gas consumed
in Indiana was estimated at only $780,
600; in 1883 it was figured at 81, 800, 900,
and in 1898 the value was placed at S5,-
us, 200. The opening of this new field
has stimulated the DEVELOPMENT of iron
and steel and glass enterprises in In
diana in marked degree. Notwith-
standing the abundance Of the present
supply in Indiana there is no assurance
of its continuance for a longer period
than in other states, and return to
fuels more stable, if less convenient, is
merely question of time. In fact, it
is claimed by geologists and gas experts
that the point of greatest supply has
been reached. While it lasts there is
no fuel that possesses so many advan-
tages as natural gas. The uncertainty
of its duration is it's only disadvantage.