Arizona republican., 1901-02-04
A BIG GAS STORY
Lively Incident That Escaped Publi-
 cation For Many Years.

The veracity of Seth Byers Is second
 only to his democracy, and though he
 Is a quiet sort of man he has seen 8
 number of very remarkable things in
 his life time He stepped into the sher-
 iff's office yesterday morning to punch
 up the fire and overheard a number of
 gentlemen talking about the recent oil
 and gas we'll discoveries in Texas and
 commenting upcn the probability of
 gas being discovered in this part of
 Arizona. He said the conversation re-
 minded fllm of a peculiar incident that
 occurred many years ago in little
 town thirty five miles from his former
 home in Pennsylvania. The story Is
 such an extraordinary one that 1t Is
 worthy of publication. though 1t is;
 strange an occurrence of such general
 interest should not have been men-
 tloned In the newspapers long ago.
 It was during the great oil and gas
 excitement in Pennsylvania when for
 tunes were sometimes made in day
 and lots of prospecting was going on.
 A company got hold of q piece of prop
 erty supposed to be oil land. erected a
 derrick and began boring. The man
 who sold the land had been allowed to remain upon it for the time being, as he was engaged In general farming
 and did not interfere with the pros-
 pccting in the least. The hole was
 down about 1900 feet and both day shifts and night shifts were engaged
 sinking as rapidly as possible.
 One morning the farmer went out to milk, his corral being near the works. It was not yet daylight and according , to custom the farmer took his lantern along and set 1t upon . barrel near the derrick. The globe of the lantern was broken somewhat and to this fact alone is due the remarkable ehlngs that followed. While the old man was milking the boring apparatus struck the gas deposit in the bottom of the
 hole. Instantly the gas shot heaven ward and with force that ahrew the bits, rods and everything else out of the hole.
 The gas spread all round the place and far enough away to reach the lantern and ignite. Tn second the sky was flame lit. With the first rush of the gas the men at Nhe derrick ran
 for safety and yelled At the farmer.
 but he was too slow and the first ex-
 plosion of the gas killed both him and the COW by the concussion.
 The gas deposit seemed inexhaust- ible All efforts to extinguish the flame were futile. Experts were , brought from all over the world to try and devise means of putting out the fire, but to no purpose. At night tho sight was q most beautiful one, a mon-
 strous pillar of fire high in the heavens. From his residence, thifty-tivs miles away MT. Byers used to sit on @ porch in the evening and read a news
 paper. It was one of the prettiest sights he ever witnessed. But thus far the gas company had met with constant expense and no rev. enue. The gas discovery was made In the fall of the year. By the following February the president of tha company had worked out plan that even- tually made every stockholder a mill licnaire and many residents of the vil- lage became wealthy. It was discov- cred as the season advanced that the weather in that vicinity WAS much warmer than it had ever been before
 and there was very little snow. In fact, all that did fall was slushy and
 soon melted and ran away. The
 winter thereabout was short owing to the intense heat from the we'll and the burning gas in the sky. By February the trees were budding. and In March
 were all in leaf and spring gardening was at It's height.
 That locality became little sum-
 merland oasis dn region of snow.
 The gas company began to advertise
 the place as health resort or a
 nearby place for, residents of that state and New York to go and escape
 the rigors of winscr. The gas company built magnificent hotel for the en- tertainment of the thousands of visit ors that came summer and winter from all over the world, some for health. but more to satisfy their curiosity. Among the many strange, but easily accounted for things that was source of much interest for the tourists and xrI AI as1>y~ .r.A