The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-07-13
And a Light Vas Applied 10 the
Mouth Of The Nell.
FLAME LEAPED HIGH IN THE AIR
Further Tests Will Be Made Today to
Decide Whether the Pocket is
Permanet Enough for Flu
ture Development

artesian we'll now being bored at the Ala
bama brewery in this city. though whether
it is a permanent flow. or only a small
pocket" of gas, as is some times met with
in we'll digging remains to be seen today.
Yesterday morning C. 1. Day, who was in
charge of the drilling machinery, first
smelled the gas, which continued all during
the day. The odor of the natural gas was
unmistakable, and about O'Clock in the
afternoon the smell became SO strong that
the drill was pulled out and a match ap-
piled to the mouth of the well. Although
the whole Is full of water, enough gas oo2ed
up to make a flame about four feet high.
The drilling was then resumed, and last
night the well began to spout. About every
five or ten minutes the plugs in the mouth
of the well were blown out. and a column
of water would be shot up in the air many
feet high. One or two spouts went over
thirty feet. and at such times the odor
of the gas was very strong.
The well-digging firm of Garfield. Irwin 81
Co. have been digging this well for three or
four months for the Ala bama Brewing COM
pany with view toward getting enough
hole is six inches in diameter, and is now
a depth of $50 feet all but the first forty
of which is solid limestone. When only
hundred or so feet down a small supply of
water was struck. which kept the well
filled with water continually.
spectators Were DucI1ed
Numbers of people living in the neighbour
hood Of the well, which is at the northwest
corner of Twenty-second street and Avenue
d, gathered around the derrick last night to
watch the well spout, and many of them
were ducked with deluges of muddy water
as it was thrown suddenly from the hole.
D. P. Glenn, who was in charge of the drill
ing last night was on the alert all the time
to see that no lights were brought near the
mouth of the well, where the gas was so
strong, and also to keep men who were
smoking at a distance. Every precaution
was tawen to prevent any explosion or fire.
OF course 1t can not be told yet whether
or not there is any permanent supply of gas
in the well. 1t is argued that the water is
being thrown higher and higher as the bor-
ing progresses, and also that it required a
tremendous pressure to lift a column of
water over thousand feet in length to
such a height above the mouth of the well.
The usual calculation is that it requires a
pressure of forty-five pounds to the square
inch to lift a column of water 100 feet high,
so according to this calculation, a pressure
of 450 pounds to the square inch would be
required for the LOCO feet.
The men in charge of the drilling are all
experts in the well-digging business and
say that the actions of the well are thus
far very similar to those of gas wells they
have bored in Ohio, Pennsylvania and
elsewhere where good gas is often found
in and around limestone formations. They
are very hopeful that large and perman-
ent vein of gas has been struck.
On the other hand it is argued, that
permanent deposits of natural gas blow
much stronger than this well has done,
often all the water, the drill and other
things in the well being blown entirely
away, leaving the gas to escape with great
noise and violence. Then, of course, the
story of gas wells in the Birmingham dis
trict has been told so many times before,
and small deposits of gas are found SO
often around carboniferous measures, that
more substantial proof of the wells value
VIII be neeueu IMAM Those given last
night.
ut is too good to be true" said J. Louis
Knoepfer secretary and treasurer of the
Alabama Brewing company last night, land
l won't let myself believe that we've got
good gas until l know more about it. If
the well continues to spout as it has been
doing, we will get expert biologists at
once and give the well a chance to make
all the gas it wants"
Method of Testing 1t
This is done by running pipe through
the hole on down to the bottom, so as to
exclude the water The gas will then have
a passage to the surface through an I'M
obstructed pipe.
Whether there is any gas or not, Mr..
Knoepher says that he will continue the
boring untifsthe other side of the limestone
vein is reached. 1t can't continue forever,
he says, and there must be enough water
on the other side of it to pay for the heavy
expense of digging the well.