The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-03-18

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FRANK G. CARPENTER.
are kept burning every night to aid in
guarding the oil. / am told that the
oil is fast deteriorating. Some of it is
caking, and it is questionable whether
it will be worth a great deal when h
time comes for it to be exported or
sent to the r~efineries.
The great gusher is now under con-
troll. The engineers succeeded i'll put
ting on caps after this flow Of three
months, and 1t is now connected with
a pipe line which carries it off to the
tanks and the coast.
An Oil Flame Two Thousand Feet
High.
Dos Bocas, ear the mouth OF the San
Geronimo. river. sixty-seven miles
south Of here. This was struck at
1900 feet on the Attn Of July, 1910.
and it produced the greatest fireworks
that have ever been seen on 1ndepend-
ence day. The oil came forth at the
rates OF about 1000 barrels an hour,
almost Immediately. and caught fire
from the boiler Of one Of the engines.
It then sent up an enormous column
Of smoke and fame, which reached,
it is said, a height of 1000 feet, the
fame measuring from forty to seventy
five feet in width. That fame lasted
for over two months. and at night it
could be seen for more than 200 miles
away on the Mexican gulf. It illum-
mated the whole country, n news
papers could easily be read at mid
night at a distance of seventeen miles
away. 1t has been estimated that
something like Il hundred thousand
barrels of oil were daily consumed be-
fore the fire was put out.
An enormous amount of money was
spent in the efforts to shut off this
Dos Bocas we'll. The owners tried
everything to extinguish the flames,
but it was only when the salt water
of some su-bterranean channel broke
through that they were checked. This
water became mixed with the oil and
ruined the well. I am told the Oil still
flows n that there is a lake Of oil
n water there which is hot now. al
though the fire itself has disappeared
, The mixture is valueless.
I Another we'll is the Casiana we'll
which produces $4,000 barrels a day
s n scattered over the field are other
n wells which are running from 500 tC
s $500 barrels a day.
q These are not fairy stories, I have
e before me a report of the United
States geological survey as to the bis
gusher of 10000 barrels daily capacity
t 1t was drilled under the SUPERVISOR
IS OF LIT. w. Hayes, who formerly be,
longed to the survey, and he had lef
0 the discouraged drillers, two days be
fore 1t was struck, for a trip into tn,
AS he went away on hi
. mule he told them that they woul
:, probably reach oil within twelve fee
a and the drill had gone down seven fee
when the Oil and gas threw the tool
~ out Of the we'll and it began to flo,
~ at q 10,O00-barrel rate. It steadil
70 increased. Within twenty-four hour
'e the flow was 10000 barrels. The neg
a day it was $4,000 barrels. and the gal
-. continued until it reached 100, 900 bal
~ rels, after which it subsidized to II
present flow, which 1t has kept up fe
- three years. The well has a pressul
of over 500 pounds to the square inc
and is now controlled by eight-inc
~ pipes, which carry it off to the tanks
This Is said to be the largest Oil we
Of history. The Lucas gusher
Spindletop. Tex, flowed $4,000 barre
20 a a for q day or two. and the Or,
- duction of some Of the Russian wei
o. Is reported at slightly over 100. OF
-. barrels, but none has approached ii
yield of big gusher Nc. 4.
A Great S-ubterranean Oil Lake.
The Portrero del Llano, or big gus
er. is supposed to have tapped a mig
w ty s-ubterranean lake OF oil which Ii
o. something like 1000 feet below t
ity surface Of the earth and is capped
ok a solid shell OF stone 800 feet thic
lat This stone shell does not require ir
ire casing. and it so protects the reserve
,ht that h top eve cave in.
This is said to be the first well of I
is kind which has ever tapped a lake
hts petroleum beneath a solid rock cap