Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1909-10-07

WellB, anu were JnOuBnL U NC uoSiCopD
the gas being allowed to escape into
the air. What was well called the
"Mulligan Snorter" for years poured
forth its pent-up treasures into the air
Of western Pennsylvania with sound
that could be heard for miles, like
steamboat whistle.
But now the gas discovered is care
fully preserved, and other wells are
sought for on every hand to supply
the demand for It. Pipes are laid for
hundreds of miles to warm and light
distant cities and to furnish heat and
some of the more delicate forms Of
manufacture, like glass. Cleveland is
now partly supplied with gas piped
from West Virginia.
When gas and oil are found to-
gether the gas is above the oil, as 1t
naturally would be, since 1t Is the
lighter. The whole is often under
enormous pressure, so that when tn,
reservoir is penetrated the gas am
oil gush out with tremendous force. ]
well remember visiting the Karg well
soon after 1t was opened in Findlay,
o. The pressure was more than 700
pounds to the square inch-about five
times that on locomotive when put
to its hardest work. The roaring
could be heard five miles,. and when
the gas was lighted 1t made the day
brilliant for ten miles.
New fields of gas and oil are con-
stantly being discovered. Those In
western Ohio and in Indiana are
among the most important in this
country, and were the greatest sur
prise to biologists, for they occur on
the Trenton limestone, geological
horizon far below that of western
Pennsylvania. The oil is also so diff
ferent in its impurities that 1t is
thought to be derived not from veg
etable decomposition, but from animal.
Probably the innumerable sea animals
whose shells form the Trenton lime
stone furnished the oleaglnous matter
contained In this oil district.
More recently important discoveries
of oil have been made in Colorado,
Wyoming, California and Texas.
The oil fields Of Russia at Baku, on
the Caspian sea, however, bear the
palm both for abundance and con-
stancy of production. From the
earliest times gas has been known
to come out of the rocks there, so
that 1t early became a sacred place
for the Parsees, or fire worshipers.
For thousands of years the sacred
fires were kept burning beneath the
dome of q great temple built by the
priests, and religious devotees came
from as far away as India. Indeed, 1t
Is only q few years since their visits
ceased.
But the discovery Of oil In this re-
gion In vast commercial quantities has
crowded out the religious deVoteeR.
The facts are stranger than fiction.
A territory at Baku no larger than q
single township furnishes more oil
than the whole United States, and has
continued to do 30 for many years.
Our consular reports show also that
the percentage of increase in that
Geld Is greater for the last i've years
than It has been here.
At Baku they must go down with
their wells only a few hundred feet,
when they strike q reservoir which is
under tremendous pressure. The drills
are thrown out Of the well, followed
by bombardment Of pebbles which
batters the derrick to pieces and piles
I'D a pyramid Of stones about the
and the oil pnurs out In tor.
rents. This is preserved. not In large
iron tanks, as here, but is collected
In pools by dam across the valley.
It Is not always fortunate to strike
a flowing oil well. A Russian in Baku
two years ago struck one which
poured forth 100000 barrels in
month, and caused so much damage
by fits overflow that it ruined him.
It is interesting to see how near
Alexander the Great came to being
the oil king of central Asia rather
than the conQueror Of India. The his
tories relate that when he was at
he started out on an ex-
petition farther north, when he found
his army short Of water, and COM
his men to dig a well. But
Instead OF finding water they struck
oil" which was bad TO the taste.
Moreover. the soothsayer said It was
j bad omen. So he ordered It TO be
aIled up and sacrifices to be made. and
.hen started for india. But now all
he locomotives on the Transcaspian |
railroad use petroleum from tAe wells
scoSyrish. - Joseph q Dowl,l