The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-03-30
WELL WAS A SURPRISE.
II Came Ia Before the Drillers Were
Quite Prepared for II.
MORE DRILLING WILL HAVE TO BE DONE
for Fifty Thousand Barrels OF
the Crude Petroleum.

Beaumont, Texas, March CIV. H.
Sharpe's we'll. the JIM. Gufey company No.
3, came IN rather Unexpectedly last eveH-
ing while preparations were being made
to drill through the rock Mr.. sharpe cx.
pected to- bring this well In last night or
early this morning. but as has proven the
case in all the wells In the oil held here,
1t came As surprise and entirely of its
own accotd, couple OF days ago Tue
drill In tAls well struck the rock which Is
supposed 10 cover the oil and MIR Sharpe
had the drill stopped ana removed the "a
tary pipe and concluded to finish vita h
caple utut III orucr tnat he might not nave
tne pipe IN the nnished well. lie was
Thought there was no danger OF the well
bursting through the rock anu preparations
TO- nn,shhg the hone were made very care
iuily ana deliberately In order that tncre
should be no accidcnt, yet the accident oc-
cured.
The calae rig was placed In position yes
terday aYl late in the afternoon hatlcr
was sent down the well TO draw water
OF TO maze room Tor the drill TO be let
down. When the nrst bucket was pulled
from Inc wen l. nAed with oil and over
moved the pipe. Tncn In u few moments
the accumulation OF gas in the pipe blew
the Oh In stream about twenty Tect above
the top OF the siXty-foot derrick. As soon
Us the oil when hau accumulated IN the
pipe had blown out the flow would cease
Then the pipe would MI again, and me
blowing out process would be repeated.
ms WAS repeated several times ana the
valve was closed and mas since been closed.
The theory az this acton Is that the Oh
seeped Though crevice In the rock aud
ac, umulated In the pipe, thus shutting on
the gas nuw which caused 1t to accumulate
until OF sufficient force to shoot the oil
Gus.
MIR sharpe announced last nigut thar ne
would put on an oil saver this morning ana
drili the well in. He promised spoutcr
ana this morning, large crowds went 9ut
to SEE the sight They We're somewhat dis
appointed because 1t was found that the
well could not he brought III before this
afternoon. 1t was necessary to 'ay n pipe
line to the tanks some several hundred feet
distant from the well, and this required
more time than was thought.
Mr. sharpe said this morning that ne
was compelled to put the oil saver on the
pipe on account Of the danger from NE
The J. NJ Gulfey company have a number
OF oil tanks near the well and II Is feared
that If the oil is permitted to How ON inc
prairie II viii saturate the grass around
these tanks and they would be In great
danger from fire.
When the cable drill pierccs this rock
however, the well VIII spout untli inc
y0OIe is withdraw and the valve closed.
1t viii be impossible to close the valve
with the cable In the well.
Everything is in readiness 10 put the
drill to work as soon as the pipe line Is
finished. There may be some great things
happen when the hole is drilled through
to the oil lake, 1t was reported TINS
morning that MIR. sharpe intended to place
nozzle on the we'll when it came in and
see how high the oil would spout but TINS
Is mistake and probably grew out of a
suggestion that such plan would be very
interesting and make sight wei worth
seeing. Mr. sharpe said he would like very
much to let the wen iow but on account
oil its location It would not be safe 10
spread 80 much oil on the prairie
This well is locnted to the northwest
OF the Lucas well, north of the Beatty
well and about an equal distance nom
both. The three wells form a triangle II
is located ON property of the GLADYS city
OF, Gas and Manufacturing COMPANY,
which is leased to j. NJ. Guffey company.
1t Is abou. hrty feet from the old well
wnlch has been viewed by 50 many people
and which was drilled several years ago
sturm Bros today moved their boiler
from the Beatty well TO the well of the
Texas Pacific company and will have re
,noveG all tie machinery by this after
noon. They expect to get started TO
drilling in a few days. The Texas Pacific
well is the FIRST well to the left of tho
road as one drives out through the iowa
colony.
Interest is now being manifested In the
wells more distant from the Lucas ana
Beatty wells for they viii determine
whether ,ne oil is spread out in the di-
rccton Of the city.
ID. X. Beatty on me Texas western Oh
company has practically closed contract
with n Houston firm for $4,000 barrels OF
oil frem his new we'll Mr. Beatty viii
leave tonight for Houston to. sign the
papers ana expects to begin shipments a
once The contracts call for the oil on
board tank cars Mt Gladys city and the
Texas Western company viii at once begin
construction OF pipe line from the well
to the sidctrack nj GLADYS City and well
let the oil flow directly from the well into
the tank cars, The terms of the sale are
private and Mr.. Beatty prefers not to
disclose the name of the purchasers at this
time.
Mr.. Ed Khan OF Houston. president. and
NJ. Marx Of Galveston vice president of
the South Texas oil company a corpora
ton which has been organized to prospect
for oil IN this county. are in the city to-
day to look after matters relating TO oil
property. This company has n lease on
what Ii known ms Smiths Island, in the
Nechcs river, where 1t Is the purpose OF
the company to bore for oil The land Is
considered to be In line with the oil belt
aud should they nnd oil there II Will place
them In n splendid position for handling
1t, provided deep water from the gulf Is
/ obtained In the Neches river.