The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-05-01
GAS AND ZINC.
Industrial Possibilities That
Enrich Kansas
Are Fully Treated of by Mr.. w.
e. Curtis
CREATOR DID MUCH.
In Furnishing Requisites For
the Development
Of a Great Manufacturing Cen
ter at lola.
CREATOR DID MUCH

Continuing his letters to the Chicago
Record. from Kansas, w. E. Curtis says
under an lola date line:
an The gas fields of Kansas cover tract
of eighty square miles in the southeast
ern corner of the state, just where
CHEAP fuel is most needed, and furnlsh
a remarkable illustration of the wisdom
of nature. The zinc mines. of Kansas
and Missouri, of almost unlimited oe
Dosits. are so near that the flames Oh
the gas wells may almost be seen from
the shafts. In Indian Territory, a Few
miles to the south, are coal anu pc
troleum in practically 1neXhausuple
quantities, and all around the gas neIos
are beds of clay which make the pest
brick in the world Sooner or later some
one is going to find sand for glassmak-
ing and iron ore, which will make SOUTH
eastern Kansas a center OF INDUSTRY
similar to the gas fields or Pennsy Nv dilAe1'
Ohio and Indiana
Here. in a. little area not much larger
than Rhode Island, have been assem-
bled by the hand of the Creator an Tue
necessary materials Ior severe l,' % Iaes
most important mechanical INDUSTRIES.
To the north and west and south IS an
agricultural country that produces tne
best and cheapest food in the world. 10
the east are the great forests of Arkan-
sas, which will furnish timber IN aDun-
dance within easy distance a niue
farther south are the cotton neIos VI
Texas, and it will not be many years
before a large part of their crop viii pc
consumed here by factories fed by
natural gas, the cheapest, the most con-
venieat and the best fuel in the world
In yesterdays letter 1 mentioned the
first cotton mill to be built in Kansas.
1t is in the nature of an experiment, but
no one who has studied the SITUATION
has any doubt of it's success. The same
conditions that made the manufacture
of cotton fabrics profitable in the south
ern states exist here, with the adol-
ton of two very important conslderd-
tions. One is the fuel have mention
ed; the other is the existence of a mar
ket of 10000, 900 people within a trans
portation distance of twenty-tour hours
The railroads are already constructed
Unconscious and involuntary prepara-
ton has been going on for years, and
the discovery of natural gas,in Kansas
found the transportation companies
ready to do their share of the work
There has been no boom in the gas
district. People out in this country
have a horror of "booms the result
of eXperience-and nothing mas Deen
done to create an excitement or BRING
in money or labor that is not needed
The gas wells now are utilized chleny
for smelling, brickmaklng, Hour ahG
paper mills and for domestic purposes.
man pays 81 a month during the win
ter and so cents during the summer Tor
heating and an equal amount for light
ing MS mouse, 1nCluQlIS 1uS1 1OI bAAC
cook stove. There are no ashes. no dust
and no kindlings are needed. When he
gets up in the morning he strikes a
match and lights the kitchen fire He
sets the furnace going in the same way
and can start fire in the crate easier
than one can light an oil lamp Com
panies are being organized to pipe the
gas for manufacturing and domestic
purposes to Topeka, Kansas City and
other large towns.
There are now about twenty wells in
the lola district, varying in depth from
S12 to 937 feet, giving a daily flow OF
from 8 1000, 900 to IA, 900 cubic feet and
a pressure varying from 80 to $50
pounds. Several experts have pro-
nounced one of the wells at lola the
best in the world. Tt is perfectly dry
No water has ever flowed from it. The
pressure gauge stands at 3l9 pounds
day after day, and there is an open flow
of 7,140, 600 cubic feet of gas every TWEEN
ty-fOur hours, which is equivalent in
heat units to 235 tons of bituminous
coal This would be sufficient to run
a 4 900 horsepower engine and furnish
enough light and fuel for a town of 5000
inhabitants
Prof Grimsley, the state geo1ogist of
Kansas, tells me that 1.-The lola gas &C.
ours in porous sand rock, and when
the wells are drilled about fifteen feet
into it the pressure is so great that it
throws out the tools. The gas is held
in this rock by a cap of hard shale from
one to eight feet in thickness. The total
volume of the twenty wells at present
is about 1S5,O0O,OO0 cubic feet a day,
but the most of them are not used. The
wells lie about 40 feet above the sea
level With regard to the duration of
this supply" he says, there is very
little data because of the newness of
the field, and the fact that most of the
wells are shut in to prevent leakage.
The life of any gas field is limited, but
L believe from my studies that the lola
field will outlive all the others. The
Robert Lanyon smelter has used gas
from the same well for two years and
the pressure has fallen but five pounds.
When they shut off the gas for a short
time the original pressure was restored.
They have a pressure of 800 pounds, but
use only about eight ounces"
1t is estimated that 100000 cubic
feet of gas has the energy to lift fifty
tons of coal, hence the wells drilled out
at lola have a capacity of $3.50 tons
of coal daily. Experiments are now be-
ing made in the manufacture of white
lead, sewer pipe, glass and other arti-
Giles. A Detroit company is putting up
large cement works. A brick company
is getting ready for the manufacture
of sewer pipe and the representatives of
several other industries are now on the
ground making inquiries and looking
over the field.
Like many other important discover
les, the knowledge of this great source
of wealth came by accident They fed
Kansas gas to invalids for twenty years
before they knew what it was, and
many remarkable cures were effected.
The certificates of grateful patients are
| still on file in the archives of Acer's
sanitarium. Away back in 1873 a party
! of coal prospectOrs struck what they
| believed to, be a mineral spring. The
water had a peculiar taste and was full
| of bubbles. 1t was bottled and sold in
| large quantities for medicinal purposes
and a sanitarium was built at the spot
so that suffering humanity could go to
| the fountain head for relief. 1 do not
say that the cures it wrought were en-
| tirely aginary, although some people
| down here like to joke about them
while others think such jokes are very
| much ont of taste At INV rate the