The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1919-08-23

TWO DEEPEST WELLS IN THE
WORLD ARE IN UNITED
STATES

STATES
During the last few years the
Hope Natural Gas company and
the Peoples Natural Gas company,
both of %Pittsburg, Pa, have been
drilling deep wells in northern West
Virginia and southwestern Penn
sylvania to find deeper oil-bearing
and g~as-bearing sands, their object
being to reach, IL possible. the hori-
zon of the rich Clinton sand OF
Ohio, which, according TO DE-. 1. c.
White, the state geologist of West
Virginia, should be found in this
region at depths between 1000 and
5000 feet.
The first exceptionally deep we'll
thus drilled, the R. A. Geary well,
of the Peoples Natural Gas COM
pany, is about four miles north
west of Mcdonald, Pa, and about
20 miles southwest of Pittsburg.
The mouth of the well is about 1850
feet above sea level. The wall
penetrates the Gordon stray sand,
the last of the usual gas sands in
this region, at a depth of 1871 feet.
From this point to a depth OF 600
feet the strata penetrated are al
,ternately lime and SLATE" and
from 500 feet to the bottom, 7S4S
feet, they are sand" and lime" in
t~erspersed with about 60 feet of
rock salt. The second deep well was
drilled by the Hope Natural Gas
company on the farm of M. o. Golf,
about eight miles northeast of
Clarksburg, in northern West Vir-
ginia. It's mouth is 1854 feet above
sea level. The we'll begins 200 feet
below the level of the Pittsburg coal
and penetrates the usual oil-bear-
ing and gas-bearing sands, the low
est being the Bayard, which lies at
a depth of 2210 feet. The strata
in the remainder of the well are al
ternately "lime" and "slate." The
third deep well, sthe J. H. Lake, of
the Hope Natural Gas company, is
about eight miles southeast of Fair
mount, w. Va. 1t is about 20 miles
north of the Golf well and about
so miles south of the Geary we'll.
The mouth of the we'll is about 1900
feet above sea level. The Bayard
sand, the lowest of the gas sands.
was found in this well at a depth
of 2O50 feet. The remaining strata
are alternately "lime," Slate" and
sand"
Named in order of depth, the four
deepest wells in the world are the
Lake, 1879 feet; the Golf, 1856; a
well at Czuchow, Germany, 734S;
and the Geary, 724S. The two deep
est wells in the world are therefore
the Lake and the Golf, the Lake
surprising the German we'll by the
large margin os 231 feet. In COM
parison with these great depths,
other depths reached by wells or
mines sunk in the crust of the earth
are rather insignificant. The deep
est mine in the world is shaft No.
3 of the Tamarack mine, in HOugh-
ton county, Mich, which has reached
a depth of 5000 feet. Other shafts
of the Tamarack company and OF
the Calumet & Hecla mine in the
Lake Superior region. reach depths
between 1000 and 5000 feet. Three
shafts in the Prizbram silver mines,
inAustria, have reached depths OF
about $500 feet. The Victoria
quartz mine, at Bendigo, Australia,
is 1900 feet deep. A number OF
shafts in the Transvaal gold region
of South Africa have been sunk to
depths of about 1000 feet.
The depth to which a mining
shaft can be sunk is limited by the
heat of the rocks, as the tempera-
Iture at a depth of a mile in nearly
all parts of the earth is SO high
that workmen can not live in 1t,
even with ventilation. The depth
to which a well six inches in dame
ter can be drilled seems to depend
chiefly on skill in drilling and
strength Of cable. The cable itself
is heavy, and besides carrying It's
own weight and the weight Of a
drill, which weighs IN or two tons,
it must bear strains produced ly
vertical movements of the drill,
which may be so great az to break
it at any moment, SO that the drill
and q part of the cable may be
lodged in the well il such "A way
that they cannot be "sMoved. Ex-
III = .@~.NA ra0f0wn