The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-02-12
DRILL Is In IRON
BUT THE IRON Is NOT A NATURAL
FORMATION, BY ANY MEANS

Tools Have Been Fished From the Bottom
of the Hole After Much Labor and Pa
tience-But There is still a Serious OBJ
struction TO be Overcome-A Joint of
Iron Pipe Is Crushed IN Nearly Eight
Hundred Feet Prom the Surface-Mr.
Maxwell Expecting to be Able to Smell
Gas in the Near Future
There is one joint the whole commun-
ity would like TO see the assistant at
torney general pull. 1t is joint that IS
an expensive nuisance and costs the
tax payers many a penny.
This joint is located exactly $50 feet
from the corner OF Fifteenth street and
Lawrence avenue; not north nor east,
south nor west 6f the crossing, but in
the direction of China To be brief it is
joint of iron casing that is az the
bottom OF the gas well-or rather at the
bottom of the gas-lsss we'll
When a reporter for the Eagle reach
ed the well yesterday for the purpose
/ OF reviving public interest in IL after
an exciting fortnight of murder trials
and impeachment cases, he arrived just
! in time TO see a bucket OF ground iron
come up.
we are going through a vein Of solid
iron now" said one of the men as he
scooped up q handful of pulverized met
al and showed it 10 the reporter.
Great Scot" thought the Eagle man,
here is a fash head sure and a great
scoop besides" His joy could hardly be
controlled by reason when examination
indicated that Wichita rested on solid
bed of pig iron
The heartless gang laughed and then
explanations followed.
The fact is the iron the drill was
going through was joint of iron casing
that had collapsed at the bottom of the
well and which could be got out in no
other manner, but by pulverizing IL with
the $500 pound drill and then taking
it out with a sand bucket. 1t will
take good long day yet before it is ali
out.
Everybody will remember the eventful
day the drilling tools were lost in the
bottom of the well. They could be got
out in no other way than by pulling
the iron casing out and this required a
great deal of labor and patience. When
the last joint of casing was reached il
would not bulge and then great force
| was used to pull out the tools This
force in connection with a force Of 500
feet of water crushed the casing and
hence the trouble now pending.
Mr. Austin was not in sufficiently
good humOr over the matter to converse
with the reporter but he turned him over
to Councilman Maxwell who is the boss
or overseer of the we'll force
The bosses of the gas well are men
! of great hopes and expectations They
are as sure that treasure exists beneath
! the Peerless Princess as Mrs. Quimby
IS that she will some day be called
hence. clothed in her white robes, to the
New Jerusalem or as Stearns is that he
can make his machine fly.
Mr. Maxwell believes that there is gas
| in that well if the drill goes deep enough
If you push him up to the wall on gas he
artisan water. He is quite sure there
is something there and that IL will be
| discovered soon. Some of the local
scientists are thinking that IL would
not be a bad idea to get the interior of
mOher earth photographed by the Roth
| gen system TO see just what is there
and how 1t can be reached. Something
must be done and done soon or the
] public can't stand the tension Of excit-
| ing expectations based on the prophesies
of the well bosses. They don't know
1 the moment they will be awakened by
| the ring of the firebells and the din OF
| the steam whistles announcing a dixcov-
,ery. There is no necessity for worry
/ the Eagle will keep the people posted Of
every movement of the drill from now
on.