Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-07-17

| sian government had a number of
scientists searching for a way to reach
the great petroleum beds under the
sea near Baku, and off the coast of
blbl-Eibat and the island of Swiitoi.
Met by seemingly insurmountable OBJ
stacles at every turn, the government
mad finally decided to draia Romany
lake, at an enormous expenditure.
when the news came that the great
problem had been solved by American
prospectors in most simple manner.
and cut short their operations.
Russia's Mistake.
Compared with the gigantic projects
proposed for reclamation by walling
OF the sea, which England and Russia
have both considered, the method horn
at Summerland is simplicity itself.
and stripped of those obstacles. which
at first, seemed to bury the project
under loads of impossibilities the new
method working of a submarine oil
well differs very little from the system
employed on land.
The first experiment began with a
wharf, which led straight out over the
swallow bars of the coast until a
depth of 25 feet at low tide was
reached. 1t was strong. but simple
| and constructed with as little body
work as possible, so as to more ably
resist the fierce southwest gales that
occasionally sweep down upon the
coast.
IL consisted of mere double row of
piles with strong cross-beams and
stringers, and with narrow walk two
feet wide leading to the end.
Then came days OF stormy weather,
and the promoters Of the scheme wait
ed until the sea subsidized. when in less
than a day they erected a derrick at
the end of their wharf and assembled
the ordinary machinery used in drill
ing upon land.
Important Work.
In beginning drilling operations the
first important work to be done is in
putting down what is termed con
ductor." The one used at Summer
land was oilwell casing of size larger
than that with which the well would
have been started had there been no
sea to contend with. Watching a fav-
orable opportunity when the wash of
the water is least violent, this big pipe
is suddenly dropped to the sand, and
secured in vertical position by means
OF boards nailed to the derrick f1oor
IN such way that their edges bear
against the casing from four different
directions. Then, if the calm contin-
ues, the wonderful work of boring
through the floor of the ocean begins.
Now is strange and busy scene
around the working derrick. Divers
armed with heavy tools suit
able for submarine work. descend to
the seabed and carefully watch the
drilling stem as it sinks slowly into
the sand. Above them, anxiously eve
ing the slow-working drill, stands the
man who has perhaps spent his last
cent in the speculation, and the steady
throb of the machinery as it slowly
works through the bottom of the ocean
sets the towering derrick and the skel-
eton wharf trembling.
A Successful Issue.
The sky is watched with eyes astir
at every cloudlet, and when at last the
conductor, by alternate driving and
drilling, is tediously worked to the
clay beneath, the workmen stop to
rest and congratulate the owners of
the well on having reached the safety
point. After that storms may come
or go, the waves may thunder through
the skeleton wharf, the derrick rock
and tremble in the tempest. but the
work Will go on, and the men will
smoke and laugh in the dashing spray
as though it was the sunniest of Cali
fornia days; for, once the conductor
is in the clay, the ocean is as effect
ually shut off from the well. to all
practical purposes, as if it was held
back by a dixie or sea wall
But the days to come are times of
anxiety to the one who has invested
his all. for once the clay is reached
the question is:
Will we strike oil?''
Still the care is unceasing. With
each change of BIT a different length
OF casing is screwed on. always
smaller, and slowly the pipe bores it's
way through the various strata under
lylng the sea until it reaches the oil
sand far beneath, where the petroleum
should be. Sometimes the drill brings
fortune and sometimes disappoint-