The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1910-11-29
THE BUSCH-EVERETT PLAN-HAS
BEEN ABANDONED.
THE CADDO FIELD SUPPLY
The Engineers After an Examination of
the Proposition Have Reported That
Gas Can Not Be Piped More than 200
Miles and Sold at Profit

New orleans States: he news we
printed yesterday of an official an
nouncemert of the abandonment of the
plans to pipe natural gas from the Cad
do fields to ST. Louis is both gratifying
and disappointing. 1t is gratifying be
cause it means that the cheap fuel OF
North Louisiana is not to be transported
to far-away city at the expense of the
people of Our own State 1t is disap-
pointing in that it holds out the posi-
bi1ity that New Orleans may also be
deprived of this inexpensive power by
whcih she expected to cheaper and make
more comfortable the living of her do
mestic consumer and stimulate her man
ufacturing development.
The cause given for the abandonment
is that St. Louis is too far away from
the base of supply. The engineers who
have been making an investigation of
the proposition have reported that nat
ural gas can not be carried farther than
200 miles and sold at profit unless in
tervening communities are supplied. St.
Louis is a, little more than 500 miles
from the field, two times and half the
prohibitive distance. New Orleans, how
ever, is not i'll a very much better posi-
ton. Over the shortest rail route we
are $40 miles from Shreveport, and a
pipe line $40 miles long would have to
be laid to bring the gas here.
When the Busch-Everett syndicate
came to New Orleans a year and half
ago it brought engineers who surveyed
the route between Caddo and this city
They found some difficulties possible,
particularly in crossing the Atchaafa-
laya, but, although it was given out that
the line would be, by large margin, the
longest in the country, physical obsta
cles could readily be overcome and
through COMPRISING stations the gas
could be delivered in New Orleans at
a profit Much haggling occurred over
the price to consumers and manufactur-
ers, but rate was finally agreed on that
the promoters believed would pay a
reasonable profit on the investment.
The St. Louis enterprise was subse-
quently taken up by the same interests
which had obtained the local franchise.
The people of that city have been clam
oring for gas for several years. In the
last political campaign both parties, in
their. platforms, pledged themselves to
an effort to pipe it into the city. A num-
ber of syndicates offered propositions to
the city government, the two bases of
supply considered being the fields in
Oklahoma and Caddo Financiers affil-
lated with the Busch-Everett syndicate
acquired controlling interest in the
artificial gas company and it was gener
ally assumed they had thereby obtained
the advantage in the fight.
Since then the effort has been made
to finance the deal and important bank
ing interests in the East were counted
on to join with the St Louis and Wash
ington capitalists in the organization of
the company. Of course everything was
dependent on the report of the engineers
as TO the possibility of handling the gas
over the distance to profit. The con-
clusions reached, however, spell the
elimination of ST. Louis as a factor in
the field
Necessarily there will be a great deal
of local disappointment over the report
of the engineers in connection with the
ST. Louis enterprise. There is one ele-
ment in the situation to be considered,
however. The St. Louis plant conten1-
plate no distribution of the gas any
where along the route. The New Or
leans plans embrace the taping of the
supply at Alexandra and Baton Rouge
Immediately, at other towns as they are
developed and probably the radiation of
lines into the entire sugar district It
may be, therefore, that now that the
Busch Everett syndicate, which has in
vested hundreds of thousands of dollars
in Caddo and has enormous holdings of
gas. finds that the taking of their pro-
duct north is impossible. it will take up
more actively its original scheme for
the distribution of its product in Louis
lana. Otherwise its investments in Cad
do will involve immense monetary loss.
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MRS. E. ]. KASSEL.
Monday evening there was buried in