Greenwood daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1919-1926, 1920-01-09
NATURAL GAS IS
EQRICHING MANY
Snake Hollow Field Yields 1OO, ,OOO, 900
Cubic Feet Day-Covers 100 Acres ;.
Town Lots
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 9-Spouting
tural gas at the rate of almost 100,
1000 cubic feet a day, the Snake
Hollow field, which is not yet four
months old, already has made a large
number of persons comfortably rich,
while some subterranean gamble in
more than Zoo wells where the drills
are kept, going day and night.
The development, which became
apparent when a strong flow of gas
blew the top off derrick on Septem-
Der % last, covers no more than 100
acres of town lots in the outskirts of
the thriving little city of McKeesport,
Is miles from Pittsburgh. Efforts
are being made by important oil and
gas interests to extend the field. If
these test wells, now being drilled,
come in gushers, an important addi-
tion to the gas producing territory of
Allegheny county will have been
found. If they are "dusters," geolo-
gists say, it will not be long until
Snake Hollow will be thing of the
past, and dreams of wealth be nothing
more than memory.
Rock pressure, the measure of nat
ural gas at the we'll, was 1,6G0 pounds
to the square inch when the first we'll
came in. This pressure, experts say,
has not geen reduced to 600 pounds,
indicating that already the field is be-
ginning to decline. However, there
are some 20 good wells in the field,
and every well which reaches the
Speechley sand where the gas is
found, comes in a gusher good for s.
1000 to 1O,O00,O0O 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 much wider area
than that now producing.
But while it lasts Snake Hollow is
taking on all the features of boom
district where fortunes are made ov-
er night. Steep hillside lots which six
months ago could have been bought
for a song have sold for $4,000, and
leases, covering spaces not big enough
to hpld drillinsr equipment, have
brought, half that sum. Churches
have leased their back yard, and
schools have given over their play
grounds to the driller for consider
atien; In one instance the township
board of education leased a school
property, getting $4,000 down and 80
per cent of what the drill might find.
The lease of an amusement park sold
for $l6O,OOO. A year ago the land
surface and all that might be under 1t
could have been bought for $500 an
acre.
The amount of money already IN
vested in the field is placed by bank
ers at $2O, 700, 900. This is due to the
high cost of everything, from drilling
which reaches about $4,000 well, t.
commissions of stock statesmen Wn'
are handling the securities of the In
companies now in the market. Th'
most profitable concerns, however
are close corporations, and some O
their shareholders have been pal'
many times over the amount OF tn
original investment.
The gas bearing sand is from 3,OO'
feet to 5000 feet below the surface
with the average we'll 3,1O0 feet deer
Pipe lines have been laid to some
the most important holes, and wor
is being rushed, day and night, on 9th
ers. There is everywhere in the fiel
a feverish desire to get the gas ou
and the money in with the least pos
sible delay, and while some people az
getting some money, experts agre
that a whole lot of investors and spt
culators are going to be disappointe'