The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-01-16
WAS OPINION OF CITIZENS
Who Attended Mass Meeting
III Council Chamber.
MUCH ENTHUSIASM SHOWN
And Steps Taken TO Organize
and Get to Work.

Wichita citizens turned out in good
meeting to take action regarding the
prospecting for gas near this city. IT
was decided TO organize a company, with
q capital of $4,000, with shares at q
Par value of s1.00 each. and these are
TO be sold TO the people of Wichita a
committee of five was appointed 10 draft
plan for the organization of the com
Tany, and next Tuesday evening :. meet
ing will be held to organize and elect a
board of directors
There was much enthusiasm shown by
tnose present at the meeting. The lower
hall of the chamber was filled and quite
number found seats in the gallery.
Everyone showed a marked interest in
the discussion and it begins to look like
Wichita VIII have a gas well of her own
at no iat>sdate. 1t was decided that the
company should buy a drill and employ
competent men to do the work. a drill
will cost $3.50, and it is proposed to drill
several holes, and with their own drill
the company can do this at cost not to
exceed 90 cents per foot, while if the
work was done by contract it would cost
one dollar or more per foot.
There Is no doubt that the people of
the city will soon raise the money to
DO. this work. Only small portion Of
the par value of the shares win be called
when the subscription is made and as
the people of Wichita have shown dis
position TO do anything reasonable to
help this city, there is little doubt that
all of the stock viii be subscribed in
short time.
Mr.. c. L. Davidson called the meeting
TO order and announced that the council
had advised to offer a reward for the
first discovery Of gas near Wichita and
that the purpose of the meeting was
called to see what encoura cement the
citizens Of Wichita could offer toward
doing this work.
He stated that the capital was at hand
for piping the gas TO Wichita from points
farther east but the people would not
advance the money until there was an
absolute certainty that there was no gas
near Wichita. This question was one Of
great Importance to the citizens of this
city as fuel was high and scarce. and
there seems TO be little proba bility of the
rates being made lower.
The purpose of the meeting was to see
what steps could be taken looking toward
the organization of two or three COM
panies to prospect for gas or oil. AS
the proposition made by the council says
that all oil or minerals discovered in the
work should belong TO the company doing
the work and the company which FIRST
found gas. if there is gas under this sec
ton of the state.
The council has also offered to allow
the drllers TO use the land which has
been leased by Mr.. L. T. Allen.
Mr.. Davidson a few days ago was up
In the neighborhood of Kechi and he
found that it was difficult for the peo-
pie in that section to find well where
the water could be used for domestic
purposes owing TO the oil and gas which
was found in the wells.
Mr. Davidson said: There has been
much objection made to the city putting
down any more wells They say we have
put down several wells here and there
was no gas or oil found anything Of
value.
This should not discourage us, how
ever Over at Elk City they put down
six wells and found nothing and in the
seventh we'll great flow of gas was
found.
Another city put down n well and
found nothing and waited eight years
before they did any more work and now
that city is quite an important manu-
featuring point. We must not let these
things discourage us, but prospect the
county further"
Mr. J. II. Stewart was called on for
some remarks and he said that he had
always found that the city that became
great WAS the one where its citizens
pulled OFF their coats and went to work
20 do anything that would result in bene-
fit and the upbuilding of the city He
stated that he was one of the men who
would do all in his power TO help build
up Wichita.
Mr. e. 7. Allen was next called on. He
stated that the purpose of the meeting
vas called TO organize n company or com
panies to prospect for gas and oil and il
there was no gas or oil 10 be found some
other mineral may be discovered and in
any event il would result in finding ont
just what was under Wichita and the
country surrounding it.
He wanted a company organized with
q working capital of at least $500; that
we'll could be put down TO a depth OF
ceo0 feet.
Mr. Rudolph Hatfield was the next
speaker. He stated that he had had sev-
eral conferences with eastern people and
hsd found that the eastern fields were
Cla~aIard Ohio boI 4p