The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1920-07-08
ANOTHER Big NATURAL GASSER y
IS STRUCK BY WALLA WALLA .
COMPANY IN BENTON FIELD
New Well Gives Promise of Exceeding Six and Half
Million Cubic Feet Flow Of
',..s& -A5 Well Number 3 '
PROVES GAS FIELD TO BE OF WIDE AREA
Companys Manager Says Two Wells Will Produce As Much
Gasoline As 200 Barrel Oil Well-Price of
Stock Takes Big Jump #F.

:, One Of the question marks was
n l9ased from Benton County's gas and
Ioil field the last Of the week when
gas was brought in in the Walla Walla
Gas, Oil & Pipe Line company's well
No. 8, northwest Of this city. This
well is mile and half northwest Of
the nearest of the company's other
two producing wells, which absolutely
proves the field for gas.
The first trace of gas in the new
well was encountered at depth Of
1872 feet last Tuesday when drilling
operations were suspended until the
boiler could be moved to safe dis
tance from the rig. When drilling
Operations were resumed Thursday
the flow increased with every stroke
Of the drill and by Friday evening
the gas was coming at the rate Of a
million cubic feet day and another
big gasser was assured. Since that
time progress has been slow because
Of tendency of the sands to accumu-
late in the hole faster than they can
be bailed out. The latest report from
the well is that the drill is down 26
feet into the gas stratum which is
known to be at least 40 feet in thick
ness. At this depth the flow is consid-
erably stronger than it was in well
No. at the same stage. The present
flow in well No. 2, which was COM
pleted more than two years ago, is six
and half million cubic feet and there
is every indication that the new well
when completed will exceed this pro-
duction.
While officials Of the Walla Walla
company have never entertained very
strong hopes that oil would be struck
in this well at the present depth, men
who have seen both wells come in say
oil Indications in the new well are
much more abundant than in No. 2,
while men who have had years of ex-
perience in the Texas fields say that
there is yet a fifty-fifty chance that
the new well will be an. oiler before
the bottom Of the gas stratum has
been reached. Even the inexperienced
observer can detect difference in the
gas as it comes from the two wells.
The gas in the two old wells is abso-
lutely odorless while the new gas has
a very distinct odor and comes from
the well in the form of vapor.
Not only does the new well prove
. gas field Of wide extent but it is a
triumph over the hard basaltic forma-
tion of this field which has. baffled
many drillers. The well was drilled
by William Fillmore, who is the first
driller to put straight and perfectly
cased hole down to the gas level. His
experience and the information con-
tanned in the log Of his well will with
out doubt prove Of great value to the
company in its future operations in
the field.
"Of course, we would have liked to
have struck oil, but we. are highly
elated at the outcome" said Henry d.
James, general manager of the Walla
Walla company. "The new well for
, ever explodes the theory that our
other two wells tapped only pocket
gas. We have demonstrated that theEs
is an immense volume of gas and that
it can be tapped at not an unreason-
able outlay of capital. When the drill
dropped into the live gas sands in our
well No. 8, right then Kennewick's fu-
ture as a city became assured. I
know there are lot of people who do
not now realize what the strike means
to this town. 1t means just the diff
ference between country town and
manufacturing city. In gasoline
production our two large gas wells
are equivalent to 200-barrel oil well
and negotiations for piping the gas
and extracting the gasoline which
have been pending for some time can
now be closed up" .-..
Continuing Mr.. James said: "The
Performance of the new we'll proves
he accuracy of our geologist's report
on the field. He told us that in well
No. 3 we would surely strike gas and
possibly oil, but that the probability
u striking oil at the gas level was not
great. The fact that this gas is wet
TER than that in No. proves that we
are coming closer to the oil and but