The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-14
The Latest Scheme of the Stand
ard Is to Pipe Ont Gas.
Would Take Fuel from Oil
Fields to Kansas City.
GREAT WASTE OF GAS,
In Some Places Lights Burn by
Night and Day.
Cheaper to Allow Continued Fire
Than Buying Matches.

! CoHeyV1lle, Kan, April 14.-It is the
general impression here that the Stan
dard OIL company will pipe gas to
Kansas City along with oil. Much fuel
is consumed by an oil refinery. The
Standard Will have a right of way for
a pipe line and it has plenty of gas.
The only additional cost Of taking gas
to Kansas City will be the pipe Then
if gas should ever give out the com
pany can use the gas pipe for oil. In
the event that gas is taken it is also
the belief that enough will be piped
to supply Kansas City for domestic
and public purposes.
The biggest oil wells in the Kansas
field from 9, paying standpoint are the
! hotels. All of them play to stand
room" every night Unless a person
wires ahead Tor a room he is almost
! certain to have to skfrmish out in town
ana md sleeping quarters in some
private residence. There was time
when people in the towns didn't like
the thing, but even bankers wives now
do not consider it an insult for one to
! ask; Have you a room in your house
that can occupy tonight?"
There is just one thing in this sec
ton that makes an outsider hot under
the collar 1t is to see lights in the
street and houses burn all day. People
/ here say the cost to let them burn i'll
/ the day time is less than the cost of
matches to light them each night. Be
side they say the gas films in the
| patent burners last longer with a con-
tinuous blaze. It is a useless waste of
/ gas and the legislature next winter
will no doubt pass q stringent law on
the subject. This same system used to
/ be practiced in the Indiana and Ohio
gas fields. Now the gas has given out
/ there and people have had to go back
either to artificial gas or kerosene
lamps Kansas should profit by the
n1r 1ric ~ ~ Ind
NJ. L. Lockwood, one of the big op-
orators in the Independence district,
has been in the oil business all his
| life He has had some hard scraps
with the Standard Oil company. When
/ oil was going to waste at Beaumont he
served notice on the producers that he
would take all they had at 8 cents a
barrel At that time he was not on
friendly terms with the Standard.
What will you do with it?' asked
friend. 1.-THE Standard won't buy it
of you"
"Oh, 1 will get rid of it some way"
He bought a. 100000. barrels at that
| figure He ran out Of tankage SO he
dug huge cisterns in the. ground and
stored it. He couldn't reach satfsfac-
tory terms with the Standard and he
built a little pipe line of his own to
the Gulf and chartered some ships
he reaped a rich harvest on the trans
action. He now has some of the larg-
est producers in the Kansas field.
1t isn't in the cards for some people
to get rich or for others to stay rich
after they acquire wealth J. d.
Niekerson came to Independence in
/ Mcbride and c. L. Bloom also came.
The three formed a CO. partnership
and went to prospecting. They found
plenty of gas. Nickerson sold out his
/ interests for a small sum- Now Nc
Bride and Bloom are each worth a
million or more, while N1ckerSOn Is
still working by the day for other
people.
Coffeyville is so busy shipping out
forty or fifty carloads of vitrified paw
ing brick a day that 1t mas entlreiy
forgotten to pave its own streets- rms
is the only thing that hurts the town
with strangers. In other respects
/ COffeyville is a wonder
Coffeyville has more trouble with
I the servant girl proposition than any
other town in the state me glass
| factories which are coming IN so
rapidly employ a large number OF
women at good wages. AS result, all
Of the servant girls have gone to work
in the glass factories and the mousse
keepers of the town have to do their
own work
| in the towns in the gas belt There
| is no smoke. The air is free from SCOT
and people can keep themselves clean
One of the noticeable Things Is inc az
sence of coal and wood yards Some
of the big towns haven soHtdIy
| coal dealer doing business: coal
man here has no more business tnan
| a lightning road agent in California
\ where they have no lightning
| Labor finds steady employment IN
| the oil and gas belt at good wages
! p,S+ fe1- idle men are seen and they
are idle from choice. Factories give
! eTnplovnent to a vast number OF men,
/ Drilling outfits also employ many men
and teams 1t costs about $l,OOO 70
drill well. of this amount $500 goes
| for labor.