The age-herald., 1901-12-01
rhe RIount sprInas oII District.

The oil and gas prospects in this dis trict are the pest in the state of Alabama, comparing favorabiy in every respect
 with the best locations in West Virginia,
 the topography and stratifications being
 the same. Samples of oil from the Reids
 Gap well, located on the property of the
 Southern Industrial Company, have been
 examined by oil experts and pronounced
 of the highest grade and of commercial
 value, the base being parafiine, differing from the Beaumont oil, which has an asphalt base and only used for fuel.
 The Reids Gap oil can be used for lubri-
 eating purposes without refining, and
 runs high in the lighter oils, making 1t
 equal to West Virginia and Pennsylvania
 oil.
 This well was drilled in the latter part
 of the year 1887, and was then plugged and abandoned, owing to there being no oil in sight, and at that date the shoot
 ing of oil wells was not carried on as a business as Is done now
 In West Virginia it is the rule to shoot
 alb wells, owing to the pay sands being
 close and hard, and as the conditions are
 the same in this state all wells when
 drilled to the pay sands must be shot
 here, from the samples of oil as taken from this well the indications show rain
 bow oil mingled with the water and ann
 Der oil on top.
 Evidently the operators who drilled the
 Reids Gap well were in the 100-foot sands
 and the samples of oil has seeped into the
 well since 1t was plugged up, they be-
 lieveing they had @ diy hole when really they had struck, what Is called in West Virginia the Big Injun.'
 For the past fourteen years this we'll has remained closed and the seepage of oil into 1t remained unknown until the plug was removed by Messrs. Zell and Burns, as noted in this paper several weeks past.
 | Experts who have examined the oil and | well advise the company to have 1t shot | instead of drilling it deeper dt now being | 193o feet deep), and the president of the | company has arranged with the Hines | Torpedo Co. of Cairo w. Va, to send l an expert shooter here to shoot this first | we'll in the state with 100 quarts of nitro. 1 glycerine.
 The Sterling Dynamite Co., of Chatta : nooga, Tenn, will furnish the stuff, which | will be made at MacAdory, in this county, | near Bessemer.
 | Owing to the dangerous properties of | nitroglycerine, it cannot be transported with safety on the railroad, and will be | hauled from the factory to the well at
 Reids Gap in a wagon over the county roed. A derrick will. be erected over the well, and every preparation made to make a successful shot; when ready the expert shooter will come and perform the oper- | ation.
 | The shooting of an oil well is attended | by great excitement. the expectations of | not only those interested but the public | beipg at fever heat ard the possibility of | get ting a g'isher in the state of Ala | bama will make the shooting of the Reids Gap well of special public inter | est. To provide for such contingency | as occurred at Beaumont of not being
 able to shut off the flow until large quan- | titles of oil had been wasted and to pre- vent accident, the upper section of the | casing will be remoy ed and new piece | substituted, with a Gate Vale screwed
 on to ohut it off should a gusher be pro- | duced.
 The flow of oil will be stopped until | tankage can be erected and provisions | made to market the oil.
 | Mrs. Hougnton considers this one of the best prospects she has seen in the state. and that she witnessed in West | Virginia the same conditions as present | ed here. and in every case where the well YVES in the pay sands when shot the we'll | was producer. s"s