The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-09
SNAKE HOLLOW
 FIELDS MAKING
 INVESTORS RICH
Boom Towns springing Up
 Overnight In New Gas and Oil Fields.

Pfttsburg, Jan. 9.--Spouting natural gas at the rate of almost 100, COG, 900 cubic feet a day, the Snake, Hollow field, which is not yet four month old, already has made a large num- Der of persons comfortably rich while some thousands of others are anxiously awaiting the outcome of their subterranean gamble in more than 200 wells where the drills are kept going day and night.
 The development which became ap- paren: when strong flow of gas blew the top off a derrick on Sep tember 2S last, covers no more than 100 acres of town lots in the out skirts of the thriving little city of Nick Keesport, Is miles from Pittsburg Efforts are being made by important oil and gas interests to extend tse field If these wells, now being drilled, come in gushers, an important addition to the gas producing terri tory of Allegheny county will have been found. If they are "dusters" ge- ologssts say, 1t will not be long until Snake Hollow will be a thing of the past, and dreams of wealth be noth- ing more than memory.
 Rock pressure, the measure of nat ural gas at the well, was 800 pounds l to the square inch when the first well 1 came in. This pressure, experts say, | has now been reduced to 600 pounds. 1 indicating that already the field is | beginning to decline. However, there are some 20 good wells in the | field and every well which reaches ! the Speechley sand where the gas is l found, comes in a gusher good for | ], 5,0O0 O0O to 10000 900 cubic feet. This cannot last for the wells are drilled so close together that the pool will | be exhausted very soon unless it is | found to extend over a much wider
 area than that now producing.
 But while it lasts Snake Hollow is
 taking on all features of a boom dis 1 trict where fortunes are made over
 night. Steep hillside lots which six
 months ago could have been bought
 for a song have sold for $10.000, and
 leases, covering spaces not big enough
 to hold a drilling equipment have
 brought half that sum. Churches | have leased their backyards, and
 schools have given over their play grounds to the driller for a consider
 at1on In one instance the township l board of education leased a school
 property, getting $5,000 down and 90
 per cent of what the drill might find
 The lease of an amusement park was
 sold for $160, 900. A year ago the land surface and all that might be under AOA %SSN an acre.
 The amount of money already in- vested in the field is placed by bank
 CTS at $20,000, 0i0. This is due to the
 high cost of everything, from drilling
 which reaches about s20000 well, te commissions of stock salesmen who
 are handling the securities of the 17( tcompanies now in the market. The most profitable concerns, however are close corporations. and some o1 their shareholders have been paid
 many times over tht amount of the
 original investment.
 The gas bearing sand is from B. OO00 feet to 3,200 feet below the sur face, with the average we'll 3,1OO fee1 tdeep. Pipe lines hay been laid tc
 some of the most important holes, an6
 work is being rushed, day and nigh1
 on others. There is everywhere 1T ] the field a feverish desire to get the gas out and the money in with the
 least possible delay. and while some people are getting some money, ex. perts agree that a whole lot of in- vestors and speculators are going te be disappointed.