The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-10-11
MONKEYlNG WITH THE EARTH.
A Protest Against the "Artificial Earth
quake' Business.
Charleston News and Courier

charleston News and Courier.)
we had occasion to note a few weeks
ago that certain scientifically misled per-
sons were engaged in boring very deep
mole at P1ttsburg, Pa, into the very thin
hardened crust of 1.-THE globe we inhabit,
and have announced their set purpose to
bore 1t as deep as they can-two or three
miles at least-and we protested earnestly
against the rash venture, lest, pradven-
ture their anger should penetrate to the
possibly fluid contents of the boil, and
so cause It's collapse, or organize a volca-
no, by reason of the uncomfortable erup-
ton of such contents under the enormous
pressure of the weight which they sus-
tain.
Now it appears we are exposed to equal,
or even greater, danger from another
form OF reckless experimentation in the
same general neighborhood. A dispatch
from Cygnet, Ohio, published yesterday,
gives the details of an artificial earth
quake" which occurred at that place the
day before, and which was produced, as
explained, by the agent of an oil COM
pany. A well had been bored, it appears,
TO the OIL bearing stratum, and then
'l2O quarts" of nitro glycerine were let
down to its bottom and then exploded,
with the instantaneous effect of firing
the "gas" accumulated in some chamber
under ground, which burst upward
from the well, exploding more nitro. gIy-
cerine near the surface, the combined
effects OF several explosions being a
mighty roar" and that 1.-THE town and
the surrounding country for miles trein-
bled with the shock The point we
wish to make is a very simple and obvi-
GUS one. Deposits of oil and gas certainly
uderlie the whole middle region of the
country, and extend far down into Ten
nessee and Alabama, and even to Texas.
Nobody knows the extent of the gas cave
in any instance, and it is just possible
that there may be one as large rs State
somewhere, or that there may be oonnec-
lions from one to another, practically
uniting whole series in one, and that
the explosion of q few or many quarts of
nitro glycerine in one of them some day
may ignite and explode all the gas in all
the series, with consequences not pleas
ant to conte' p to. What would happen
II a reservoir o gas as large even as a
county, or II q chain of such reservoirs,
located in a thin section of the earth 8
crust, We're fired and blown up,We are not
prepared to say, but it might be disas-
brous W tne conGlHen1 dnu TO tne WnOle
globe, and we cannot refrain from sug
costing that it is imprudent, to say the
least, to be letting off high explosives un-
der our feet without knowing the con
ditions there. If the risk conc. armed only
Pennsylvania and Ohio, if we were as
sured that blow out of terra frma as
the result of touching off the gas stored
in their cellars, would be confined to
their boundaries, we should say nothing,
OF CO1rSa thav are hOpaIaaolv Ram h1icap
States and Protection 1t appears--but in
the absence of such assurance we mus t
again protest. against their recklessness at
the possible cost of their Democratic
neighbors and OF the n-Republican
world generally.