Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-19

Of water In a strata of sand that keeps
caviRg In continually"
Don't Care for Water.
why don't you go down and strike tho
waterr'' | asked, knowing that tho dig
cling had ceased for a couple of weeks.
WELL" he answered. ''the transfer of the
plant to the French company delayed US
some"
"YesY'
And then there Is this sand that keeps
caving In
There are wise people at vincennes who
say that IT will be many n long day before
they 60 on and deliberately punch into that
promised water reservoir
Meanwhlie the two young fellows from
Pittsburg find they have at least struck
a good employment. While they recognize
That the United States abounds In good
weIl-digging operators who might be I'm
ported into Europe at need-lhere were
oVo Applications for these two places at the
eXhlbition-their own personal prestige mas
become so great that they able TO
AXE their terms for future work. As a
preliminary they have engaged with The
new French company for SIX months. aud
are about to proceed to Be.fort. on the
Alsatian frontier, 10 dig for coal In a
known coal region.
You can Judge ii is a well-to-do con-
Germ, says Mr.. Bursly "by the fact that
1t Is going TO cost them $4,000 to do this
boring and tubing But, on the other hand,
they nave tried and abandoned more than
twenty wells on the same property by
means of the French system. and they
think the change cannot hurt them.
The Yankee secret.
The secret of the superiority OF the Ameri-
can system is contained in the words
Yankee adaptability." The French system
that approaches II nearest is an elaborate
arrangement of jointed rods that raise up
and let fall a pounding chisel much in the
American style The only difficulty IL that
these rods. being rods. and jonted. have TO
De SLOWLY raised and slowly unjointed every
time. the chisel or other tool has to be
changed, and on. Instead of jointed
rods the American system suspends the
half-ton chise by a hawser of laid Manila
cable, and this of peculiar quality. 1t Is
twisted against itself, hard-laid instead of
soft-laid The strands running opposite each
other give At a natural turning movement,
as 1t rises and fails with the heavy chtsel
hanging to it. and this natural turning
movement is just the thing to make the
chisel do its work. The chisel is as big as
u man leg and twelve feet long. In case
a drilling tool is lost In the well we have
only to pull up that cable quickly and at
tach a special fishing tool to il and let IL
down again. There is no jointing and I'M
jointing TO be done. We can pull tools up
1000 feet in five minutes time. change and
let them down again in another five min
utes. To do the same maneuver the French
system requires six hours
AS NJ. Henri de ParvIlle says the plant Is
the most rustc-looking that could be imag-
ined. NJ. de Parville Is wrong however,
about the petroleum motor. 1t is a steam
engine.
ut is what is called an 'oil-country boil
er of twenty-five horse power explained
Mr.. Mckeever, land it is a popularity OF
the business. 1t is used without a govern
or. handled by cord at distance OF sixty
feet away from the engine. This cord runs
from the throttle wheel to another wheel
in the derrick to open and close the thrut-
tie, well as to reverse the rod running
to the derrick. The engine is used without
| hot
slow, and is capable of developing seventy
five horse power, for lifting tools or pump
ing, by running the engine very fast That
is also a speciality of ours. AS the
tools raised and ready to drop of their
own weight the engine ceases to labor so
hard, the tool drops, and the engine has
no more hard work to do until the next
stroke is ready to be made by lifting, as
before"
Chance for Expansion.
Meanwhile, results talk: and the French
company that has taken over the American
process and tools has more offers of con-
tracts than 1t can fill. There is all Europe
in which to dig for coal and other min
erals, while Russia and the Balkan states
have hundreds of rich landowners anxious
to try for OIL AS it takes years of practical
experience to make an American oil-wel
digger, there Is no likelihood of Europe ans
picking up the craft at an early date. They
that they are bound to use the Amert-
can system, ana mere lies the CIdHCe III
their lives for hundreds of young Ameri-
cans who know the work and are not sa is
fled with their situations at home
I'm the United atos,' says Mr.. Burgly,
they drill on average of 10000 wells a
year. You can learn to be a driller only
by experience, and the great number or
wells dug in America has afforded The eX-
perience to large number of young men
who are today what you might call eN-
perts. over here the digging Of well Is
an impor ant and unusual event. They VIII
not trust the work, even for an hour to an
ropeans learn? They dependent on
American operators sure enough.
The American opera or stands under the
derrick and over the hole, with his hand on
the taut Manila cable that moves up and
down. Away below, 600 feet down in the
earth hangs the heavy chisel. Is it strik-
ing bottom? Is it drilling? Is ii turning
it should? Is sand falling in? Has 1t
reached a new formation? With his hand
on the rope the operator knows IL all. The
rope talks back to him! This Is why, in
the immense development of the petroleum
motor that has been only begun by the
tomobile, and in the panic over all Europe
and England itself due to the threatened
falling off of the coal supply, the American
well digger has unique chance today. All
over eastern Europe and Asia they are
feverishly hunting for new petroleum heids.
Over the whole of both continents includ-
ing Siberia, theX are prospecting for coal.
The young American operator, with his
hand on the rope, Is master of the situa-
ton. STERLING HElllG.