The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-07
Fuel Shortage in Topeka To Be
Relieved, Is Promise.
Sixty Miles of New Mains Into
Oklahoma To Help.
GANG OF 1000 men AT II
Consumers Assured That First
of Year Will See Change.
State Interference Has Been
Cause of Lack of Facilities.

Fuel shortages in Topeka and other
Kansas towns are to be relieved by
an increase of practically 100 per cent
in the gas supply. Testimony before
Judge Booth in Minneapolis this week
revealed the fact that more than so
miles of twelve and sixteen-inch
mains are being laid by the Kansas
Natural to new fields in Oklahoma. A
gang of 1000 men is employed and
I the supply to Kansas distributing
points will be increased nearly 100 per
cent, or between thirty and forty mil
lion cubic feet day.
Strange and impossible as the story
! seems, it is true. In fact the reveIa-
tions of the operations of the Kansas
Natural came from the lips of a wit
ness unfriendly to the Dougherty in
| terests. Removal of the Kansas Nat
ural Gas company troubles from the
! interference and domination of state
politics has resulted in the move to
/ provide an adequate gas supply, it is
asserted Until the gas company was
permitted to withdraw from the jur-
1Sdictlon of the Kansas utilities COM
mission and state political influence,
| funds for gas were denied and credits
for extensions were withheld.
Before January 1.
Now Kansas can look for relief
from the present gas shortage by
January 1. according to testimony be-
fore Judge Booth in MINNEAPOLIS
/ Engineer Hurlbert of the Kansas City
/ Gas company gave the testim ony,
which indicated practical assurance
| by the Dougherty interests-the new
I Kansas Natural owners-that the
supply is to be increased 100 per cent
| by the first of the year. Hurlbert was
scarce in the light of a friendly wit
ness to the Kansas Natural His com
pany IS interested and concerned in
:
worth of litigation with the Kansas
i Natural But from the witness stand
| HurIbert testified as to the movement
which he says means big increases in
! the gas supply.
Big Gang at Work
At the present time 1000 men are
engaged in laying two separate and
distinct pipe lines. A line forty-three
miles in length is being laid from
| Cambridge, COwley county. Kansas. to
a point near Blackwell. Okla This
main will carry gas from the new
! Oklahoma fields for consumers of the
| old Kansas Natural and of the Dough-
erty Gas company in Wichita, Newton
| and Hutchinson. At Cambridge the
| line will branch to Wichita, while
| another main will divide the supply
| with Kansas Natural consumers via
the high pressure lines from Elk CITY
| thru Montgomery, Wilson, Allen
Anderson, Franklin and Douglas coun-
| ties to Topeka, and Lawrence and to
Kansas City thru a johnson county
line.
South from Caney. Kan, a new
pipe line is being laid into a second
gas field, and will be conveyed direct
to the big i-nes and pumps near Caney.
From Cs;Gey the gas vii be distributed
to Kansas Natural consumers The
two big pipe lines are of the twelve
! and sixteen inch variety, and will
! bring from thirty to forty million
cubic feet of gas into the state each
day, according to Engineer Hurlbert's =
testimony. At present the supply to
Kansas towns thru the Kansas Natural
mains is thirty-eight million cubic feet
! a day. That is the amount started to
Topeka. Kansas City and other cities
from the gas fields. A large amount
\ of the gas has been lost thru leaks in
mains end the shrinkage of pressure
at distributing points has been heavy
! Work on the new pipe lines is now
we'll under way.
-Four distinct crews of men are
working. Men are working south on
| the lines from the Kansas points
while separate gangs of laborers are
bringing the mains north from the
! Oklahoma gas fields. The lines from
| Caney may be completed early next
month. But the Cambridge -Bla ckweIl
main cannot be connected before the
first of the year, it is asserted
State Interference.
Because 'of the interference of state
political influence in the gas contro-
(COutinued on Dooo1 Two \