New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-04
PIPE LINES HALF WAY ACROSS The CONTINENT.
PETROLEUM TO BE POURED INTO THIS CITY FROM
INDIAN TERRITORY.

Bayonne Kane is the station beyond Clean
on the line from Cygnet 1t is seventy miles away
On Monday morning the patrolman starts from
Olcan He is expected to reach Kane on Saturday
and return oy rail to Oean in time to begin the
seventy-naile tramp again the following Monday
morning. On the same morning a patrolmen
starts from Welsvile for Olean. He is expected
20 cover the twenty-eight miles before Wednesday
night so that he start back again on Thurs
dav morning The known along the line
They spend their nights sometimes farmhouses
sometimes in inexpensive boarding houses. 1t is
an exciting moment when they suddenly come
,pon fountain of oil rising to d height of hun
dred feet from a slit In tie pipe. This is the
time his salary. They equipped TO
climb telegraph poles and tap telegraph lines
This is the time to do it, for the pumping sta
ton must be Informed and the precious oil saved
In order that the flow Of oil may not be de-
creased by the collection of paraffin on the inside
OF the pipes, sCFa2er is sent through them every
two weeks. The sc"aper is a stem about two and
one-half feet long having at its front end dia-
phragm made of wings which can fold on each
other and thus enable 1t to pass obstruction 1t
cannot remove. This machine carries a set OF
steel scrapers. somewhat like those used in clean
ing boilers This piece of apparatus is put into
the pipe and carried along by the current. Its
progress can be followed by the noise it makes in
its passage II has been found by following the
noise OF this machine that the current of oil moves
up hill no faster than a slow walk. and that one
must break into a dog trot sometimes in order TO
keep up with It going down hill. The scraper is
prevented from entering the pumps at the next
station by curving the pipe and providing little
pocket the point where the pipe begins to bend
Instead of going around the bend with the OIL the
scraper slides straight into the pocket ana Is
taken out.
There IS one man in the Oil region who always
has the right of way when his blackboard is seen
approaching and much Of the road as he wishes
\ collision with his vehicle might result IN an
entire change in the appearance OF the nelghbor-
ing landscape and the blowing of the two vehicles
and their occupants into almost invisible atoms
He is the who Shoots the oil wells Under
meath the seat Of his innocent looking blackboard
he may have stored away enough nitroglycerlne
to wipe a fair sized town off from the face OF the
earth leaving only hole to indicate where It once
stood
1t is said that 90 per cent OF all the oil
wells drilled REQUIRE 70 be shot order make
them paving producers. The natural gushers are
not so numerous as one would think from the
tales told about them The oil field has been 81
thoroughly drained that 1t IS not easy to secure
oil in large quantities IN these days as It was
when it first discovered. In order 70 produce
a profitable flow 1t has been found necessary to
shoot" the wells This means the setting off OF
quantity of nitroglycerine or other explosive at
the bottom the well. break up the oil bearing
deposit and release the oil.
Shooting a well with nitToglycerine is not q
task for timorous person. Nor is the vicinity OF
the we'll at the time the safest point on the face OF
the globe The drill has reached the oil bearing
sands and the well is ready 1or the bhooteE-
He is sent for. He drives to the well win his
blackboard and its slumbering volcano. Besides
his charge Of nitroglycerne, he has some tin
cans al anchor" reel and a 'go-devn' The
go-6eyi!" is apt.y named Its function IS that OF
exploding tie nitcogycerne after It has been de-
posted n the bottom of the well. 1t Is cast
iron weight Gaining speed it descends. 1t
strikes the decorating cap OF illuminate Of mer-
curry placed on top OF the pile Of cans of nitro
glycerine and explodes the charge.
-, ,I4,,or &c ,ornTn f1nrT AL "a
shooter" INQUIRIES of the driller the
depth &C the well Having asceTtained this. he
attaches the cord used in lowering the explosive
to the hosting machinery and pays the loose end
into Tie tubing. He watches 1t closely as 1t de-
scerGs. Th,s is 4 sort of dress rehearsal. There
must be no hitch when It Is paid out with can OF
nitroglycerine at its end Even the sudden
untwist!ng Of knk in the line might explode the
can IN the wrong place and destroy the We'll as
well as the shooter"
The line having been found to work well. the
anchors" small tin supports for the cans of nitro
gIycerire lowered TO the bottom Now the
cans which are TO contain the explosive are got
ready. One is swung over the mouth OF the shaft
Carefully the nltroglycerLne IS poured into It,
Carefully IL is lowered to the anchors Another
can is filled IL the same way and lowered until II
rests on top OF the first After lowering a hundred
or more quarts Of the condensed volcanic force.
enough to sweep a small city from its foundations
the last she'll which is fitted with pointed top
Is put into the shaft. On the top is placed a cap
Of illuminate of mercury.
All is now ready for exploding the charge lying
a thousand or more feet below the surface Of the
earth. By this time like Casabianca the shooter
las the deck to himself. lie lifts the 'so-devil.
polses it in his hands over the mouth of the well
and then drops it. Promptly he runs hundred
yards or more from the well. For the next few
seconds the silence is impressive. Then. the
weight having reached the bottom OF the shaft.
the ground tremblos slightly. The air rushes up
from tho bottom Of the well with Then
a cloud OF gravel and small stones flies hundreds
into air from the mouth of the we'll
They drop back in a shower that pelts the earth
for hundreds Of yards around and causes the spec
tators to dodge behind the most convenient trees
a great accompanies 1t, and then column
Of water and dirt spouts above the derrick. After
this, II Oil has been struck, comes the oil itsel
It wells up of the pipe in a solid fountain.
glistcnng with green and yellow tints Rising
higher and higher. until II Is above the top Of tho
derrick. ii sprays the whole structure. If tho
wei proves be 'gusher'' thousands of barrels
may be lost before cap be placed top Of
the tube
The interior of well which had been shot was
| once photographed. The camera was lowered and
fashl!ght powder exploded. The photograph when
developed showed the hole made by the explosion
10 be nearly spherical.