Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-09
NEW PENNA, GAS WELLS
ARE SPOUT|NG MILLIONS
Snake Hollow Fortunes Made in
Night; Hillside Lots
Fetch $4,000.

Pittsbury, Jan. 9-Spouting natural
pas at the rate of almost l00,O0O0oo
cubic feet day, the Snake Hollow held,
which is not vet four months old, al
ready has made large number oil
persons comfortably rich, while some
thousands of Others are anXously awaiting
the outcome of their subterranean gamble
in more than 200 wells W ere the driiis
are kept going day and night.
TIE development, whlch became fP-
par Mt VIII n strong flow OF gas bl wv the
Ton off a derrick on September . iast'
covers no more than 100 acres OF town
lots in the outskirts OF the thriving Httle
e,tv Of McKeesport, 6 miles from fitts-
h,,rp Efforts are being made by. I'M
portant oil and rs interests to extend the
held If these test wells, now being
drilled. come in glishers, an important
addition TO the gas producing territory
of Allegheny county will have beenf0un
II thev are clusters, geOlogiSts say,
Il will not be long until Snake Hollow
will be a thing of the past, and dreams OF
wealth be nothing more than memory:
Rock pressure, the measure OF natural
rss at the well, WAS 900 pounds TO the
SQUARE inch when the tlrst we'll anne IN.
This pre- sure, experts say, mas no" oean
reduced to 600 pounds, indicating that
already the field is beginning to decline.
However, there are some 20 good wells
m the field, and every well winch reaches
the Sueechlev sand where the gas Is found,
comes in q gusher good for 100000 to
100000 cubic feet.X This cannot
last. for the wells are drilled so close to-
gether that the pool will he exhausted
very soon unless it is found to extend over
q nnrh wider area than that now produc-
mg.
But vhise IT lasts Snake Hollow Is taking
n, all the features of 8 boom district where
fortunes are made over night. steep
hiIIslde lots which si1 months ago could
have been bought for song have sold
for $4,000, and leases, covering spaces
not big enough to hold q drilling equip
r,nt. have brought half that sum Churcn-
- have leased their hack yards. and
schools have eiycn over their Fairgrounds
70 the driiler for consideration. In
one instance the township board OF ettu-
cstion leased school property, getting
s. 600 down and 80 per cent OF what the
drill might find The lease of an amuse-
rent park was sold for 100000 A year
ago the land, surface and all that might
ne under it, could have been bought for
500 an acre.
The amount Of money already invested
m the field is placed by bankers at SAu,-
200 600. This is due To the high cost Of
everything. from drilling which reaches
about $4,000 well, to commissions Of
stock saIes1nen who are handling the Sc
clrities Of the TO companies now III the
market The most profitable concerns,
however, are close corporations, and some
of their shareholders have been pald many
times over the amount of the original
investment.
The gss besrinG sand IS from 5000 feet
n 800 feet below the sIrfsce, with the
average well, 8, 100 feet deep. Pipe lines
hsve been laid to some Of the most I'M
portant holes, and work is being rushed,
day and night, on Others. There IS every
where m the field fevertsh desire to get
the eas out and the money in with the
hast possible delay, and while some
people are getting some money, experts
agree that a whole lot investors snd
xpeculators sre Going 70 be disappointed.