Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1909-03-25

Have had a good winter garden. Nev-
er had finer bush beans than we gath
cred up to the middle Of November,
radishes, lettuce, beets, spinach, on
ions, collards, and tnrnips. The cold
est snap we had was 81 degrees -eleyen
below freezing. covered the lettuce
and saved it. The rest all stood the
freeze. We have had four cold snaps,
however. I stand the cold worse here
than in Tennessee. The atmosphere is
more humid here than in the noun
tains, and this makes as feel the cold
more. commenced planting garden
the 18th of February, and have nearly
all kinds of vegetables planted now,
and many of them up. Peas are away
up and potatoes looking fine. Got I'm
fig trees, 3 peaches, 2apple trees and
80 blackberry and SO raspberry bush
es, 500 strawberry and 150 asparagus
plants Every available foot of ground
will be made to do its duty, for it is
too valmable to be idle. So you see i
have been busy as | said. My general
health has been good and | am glad
when night comes, although some
times would like to do just little
more work. Sister Hannah has inn
proved wonderfully, but she is not yet
fully recovered. Milie and Sister get
along finely in housekeeping. 1t is
much easier here than in the valley.
We have no fireplaces but stoves with
open fronts for heating and gas for
cooking. ALI you have to do is to
strike a match and yoR have full
grown fire for cooking. We have an
automatic water heater. 1t is some
thing like another circular stove about
A feet high. A small gas jet, mere
speck, burns all the time, and is call
ed the pilot. When you want hot wa
ter at either the kitchen sink or the
Yashbowl or the bath tub, turn on the
hot water tap and you get the hot
water. The pressure of water when
turned ON moves a valve in the heater
which turns ON four large gas jets un-
der and inside of distilling worm,
which the water comes through. If it
gets too hot it shuts the gas off, water
cools q little, then lights up full again
until you turn off the water where you
are using it, and then gas is shut off
except the pilot which keeps on burn
ing day and night, but is so small it is
never noticed inside the heater. We
use no lamps either. Turn button
and we have an electric light. We
have a button in every room and in
the kitchen an extra button turns on a
light on the kitchen porch and the sta
BILE 80 feet away. So you see we have
no coal nor ashes to carry out, and no
dust, no lamps to oil or clean, yet
there is still plenty of housework to
do, but as said, it is easier. Do we
like Shreveport? Yes, of course we
do. Sister and Mile like it well.
Sister has liked it ever since her first
visit several years ago and Millie is
very much interested in the Sunday
school, the Epworth League and other
church work, and I-well, we'll, you
see, the boys are here, Fred's wife and
like Shreveport. Yes, l have a boy s
class in Sunday school and preaching
twice every Sunday by good whole
scaled, energetic, godly preacher. The
members of the church and Sunday
School are very kind and good people.
Church membership has nearly doubled
and the Sunday School has more than
doubled since | came 1t is a Mission
church. Have a temporary building
and talk of building a large fine
church, got lot, and one man gives
$40, 060 towards it-yet it's not Bethel
Church and Sunday School and Shreve-
port is not Victoria to me. We will
change the subject.
A few weeks ago, with a friend of
DR.. Joe's from Ashville, N. c., who
called to see him, we went out to the
oil field (Caddo), 25 miles to Oil City,
to see the two "wild wells', as they
are called. Before we got off the train
we heard roaring as of another train
passing us, and when we go off and
the train pulled out we still heard the
roaring noise. with every now and
again extra belches. We were told il
was the wild burning gas we'll over a
mile away. We walked out to it. The
ground was in trenor as though a
! heavy train was passing and as we
neared the we'll the tremor was strong
er. We saw when we got to it that
the crater was about 100 acres across
the top, but the heat was so intense
we could not get near enough to see
the bottom of it, The roar is so great
yoG can't hear any one talk to Won.
shout ever so loud. The fame is 90.
ing up from Is to 100 feet and from G
to feet through at the base to 80 OF
60 feet through near the top. This is
called the dry well-nothing but gas
coming out from an inch tube. The
pressure is 450 lbs TO the square inch
no wonder it roars We left this and
started to the burning well about a
mile away, and passed some wells in
active operation. One well has run
800 barrels per day, but was now re-
duced to 10 on account of the tubes
turing up inside. The man is charge
told us they would have to run a drill
down to clean out the tubes after a
while and she would run 300 barrels
again. This well was throwing the
oil into tank 30 feet high. We sag
the gas escaping from the tank as Il
came up with the oil 1t is the gas
that forces the oil up and all this gas
is wasted. | said we saw the gas-we
saw the simmer of the gas like hot air
from a twelve inch box pipe, about
12 feet above the top of tank. There
was another we'll about 300 Yards from
this, 200 barrel, finished and canned
waiting for tanks and pipes. Train
load after train load Of oil tank cars
go out from Oil City and Mooringsnor1
every day. Pipes for oil from 6 inch
to 5 inch and 4 inch to inch water
pipes are laid through the woods every
way. Lake Caddo is from 200 wards tc
a mile from the different wells in thi,