The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-05-17

put into the we'll. You can imagine
how several hundred Of these dcrricks,
built Of new lumber would look on q
fiat surface Of land half mile square.
The wells are sunk very much after
the fashion Of our deep wells that are
used to supply the city with water.
The pipe they put into them, should
say, is from three to four inches in
diameter. They go from 1000 to ] $50
fee, deep before they strike oil. II
takes some weeks TO sink well, and
it costs from four to six thousand dol
lars per well. Several ncw wells were
being bored while was there. Of
course some Of these wells do not
strike oil and all the money invested
is lost. Some strike salt water and
nothing else apd that money is lost.
All Of them strike more or less nat
ural gas at depth Of 500 feet. This
gas is often the source of great deal
Of annoyance and danger to those
sinking the wells. 1t has destroyed
several that gave great promise.
A few days before | was there a
Mr.. Underwood was sinking we'll.
When he reached about 800 feet the
gas began to blow out and sand and
mud began to fly as high as the tree
tops. The gas became ignited from
the FIRE in the boiler. What followed
rcscmblcd small sized volcano.
When it was all over the only thing
that was left Of the we'll and machin-
cry was hole in the ground about -
or 80 feet in diameter. The derrick,
the engine, the pumps and the pipes
were all many hundreds Of feet under
ground-no mortal man knows how
many.
There is gas mixed with all the
oil that comes up. This is separated
from the oil oy being passed through a
peculiar kind CT tank. They make use
of great deol Of this gas, it is pipcd
70 the engines and used for fuel. All
the machinery on the field Is driven
by engines supplied by this gas. But
they cannot consume even small
part of it. The rest is nipcd to safe
distance from the well and set on fire.
You will see dozens of these gas pipes
three or four inches in diameter, with
flame blazing into the air, that is %
or 30 feet long. L They must make a
beautiful sight at night. But what a
fearful waste ,Hcwever, there is
nothing else to do. They cannot pre-
serve it, andsto let it escape would
mean destruction to property and as
phyxiation for the workmen. But
have said>nothing about the oil itself.
The wells are of two kinds, those
that flow and those that have to be
pumped. The former are called gush-
ers. The day before I Was there they
struck oil il G we'll and i, sroussa ou!
as high as the tree tops. 1t was fall
ing near gas engine and there was
danger Of terrible FIRE. a man ran
to shut off the gas, but he was toe
late, the oil had already ignitc1. The
poor fellow was covered with the burn.
ing oil and burned to death on tho
spot. His hat was still lying there
However, a grea, fire was averted. Mr.
Sullivan showed me several of these
gushers that were spouting 1000 bar
rels Of oil day. \ barrel is forty
gallons. OF course they do not al
yield that much. Some have capac
ity Of only a few hundred barrels s
day. When l was there the whole
field was averaging about IS, 900 bar
res day. The first we'll was sunk
January 7,h of this year, and it wat
estimated that up to the 18th Of Apri
the field had yielded three and hall
million barrels. They tell me that i
is now the greatest oil field in th'
| world.
Perhaps you would like to know
what they do with all this oil. D
course they could never get barrels
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