Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-12-12
Natural Gas i'm Iowa

der has already been placed for 1t.
The pipe line from the wells to the
city will be made of four six and
eight inch material and the pressure
to the business portion of the city will
be evenly distributed. We will put up
storage tanks SO as to protect the
manufacturing interests"
Have you yet organized stock
company at Muscatine?"
| Eyes, we have organized the Musca-
tine Oil, Gas and Mining company, I'M
der the laws Of Iowa with an author
lied capital stock of 100000. None of
this stock is yet on the market though
we have had propositions from parties
who have expressed desire to pur-
chase It,"
How about the pressure at the Mus
catine gas wells?"
"The pressure at the. Muscatine
wells is about fifteen and oneshalf
pounds. This with the facilities we
will put in for handling the gas is suf-
ficient to carry the gas into the city" "
After some further conversation in
order that we might have definite
statement from Mr.. Robertson, the
writer said to him:
Now Mr.. Robertson, as I under
stand you what you propose to do is
to put down enough gas wells to sup
ply natural gas continuously to Mus
catine residences, business houses and
factories and you are going to put It
in there next April"
i The reply was straight to the point
4 and unequivocal:
Eyes sir. that is what I propose to
do"
Mr.. Robertson stated further during
the conversation that the Coffeyville
gas company had sold 1913 wells and
$4,000 acres of leased land to the Kan
sas Natural Gas company, for 81, 000,-
ural gas supply at Coffeyville.
The glass sand which is used in the
Coffeyville glass factories nearly all
comes from Missouri and is shipped in
, by rail. Mr.. Robertson stated furth-
er that ten miles west of Coffeyville
is to be found the biggest gas well in
, Kansas. This well has a depth of L..
! 200 feet and a daily capacity Of $4,000,
, 600 cubic feet of gas.
J City Of coffeyville.
The discovery Of gas and oil has
transformed Coffeyville from an OBJ
| scure country place in an agricultural
} territory into a thriving manufactur
; ing town and the fortunes of the PEG
/ pie have improved correspondingly.
l Natural gas was first discovered If
5 Coffeyville in 1892 and the real develop
{ ment of the place has largely occurred
2 during the past Ave years. AS late as
Z 1900 1t had but 1000 population aht
i was little known except for memory o.
! the Dalton bank robbery. Today Il
4 Is hustling, bustling manufacturing
n city of about $4,000 and is the mos
active center of southeastern Kansas
q and of the northern portion of Okla
!. homa and Indian Territory The city
i comprises an area OF four square
r, miles and Is situated on the Verdigri!
6 river in Montgomery county about two
!, miles from the Indian Territory line
4 in the extreme southeastern portion o
= the state. 1t Is excellently supplied
;, with trunk line railroads. having tn,
Missouri, Kansas and Texas, the Mis-
souri, Pacific and the Santa F,
with an extension of the Rock Island
d Frisco System pending. Four division
t. of the Missouri Pacific have thei
:, headquarters at Coffeyville.
II Coffeyville started on it's new lif
9 about 1900, which year witnessed
e well defined activity in oil and gas de
Il velopments The beginning of 100
> marked the commenceme nt Of oil drill
i ing upon an energetic basis 1t wa
!. not until 1904, however, that the after
u ton of the outside world was forcibl
IS J attracted. During the year 1904, 25
y oil producing dwells were brought in
= q, in and around Coffeyville The nun
a Der Of producing wells has been II
y, y. creased at the rate of about twent
,. per month during the present yea
y The minimum depth of the oil stratur
- !. is 800 feet. At 500 feet another O
- sand is penetrated, again at 61O, ais
:, u at 750 and 900 feet The most produ,
y tive wells are obtained at the dept
g of 6io feet, though the oil obtained 6
:. 500 feet is a better quality than thu
:. secured at any other depth. Coffeyvill
10 is provided with an oil pipe line
-. four inch pipe. which extends to Ind
~ pendence, then to Neodesha and frol
- - there to Kansas City, total mileag
70, of 200 miles. Other pipe lines hav
rs, 70 been put down during the past year.
Ie Gas Development at coffeyville.
y Gas was first discovered at Coffe
is vile in 1892 at depth of about 81
as feet. Today there are 100 gas vel
on in and about Coffeyville, which al
is from 700 to 1,400 feet deep. The Ct
m area is about fifteen miles square an
lie the wells vary in daily capacity fro
as 100000 to 2o,00O,O0o feet. At presel
tn it is stated that any wells having
IS less capacity than 100000 feet Al
We not used. The gas is found in san
tie which is under strata of stone, Il
he stone being covered with another lay
lis of sand. OIL is found in the first lay,
lily of sand. The pressure of gas at IL
ct, wells ranges from forty to $50 pound
lp- The capacity of the largest well e
ceeds 3o,O00,oo0 feet per day. Six
seven wells supply the city of Coffe
vile at present, including the 6,
u which is used by the seven glass worl
up. now in active operation in that cit
i's Each of the factories use from a ha
million to million feet of gas D.
no day. The contracts now in force