Show I 1 SHOOTING AN OIL WELL k curious spectacles incident to natural gas production for to hours recently I 1 stood in a bleak iv wind ind to vi witness the process of shooting a nil an oil ell this is fly by idling leL tillo down willi a 11 strong 0 nire on a windlass ivind lass tin till tubes about abou t three inches in diameter di and fourteen fret feet long ion 0 filled with aith intro earli each of tubes vill hold about twenty of tile liquid if life blast is to 10 be made at the bottom bolton of tile the well then the first can call of ci tube is let down to rest upon lipon the bottom but if tile the stra stratum of rocks which it is desired toll to shoot be above the bottom as is if frequently the case then smaller tubes lubes ar are e f fastened as upon the alic r arst charged tube for support those may tic lie thirty or fifty feet long or even more tile 10 lower we r end coil of this of course rests on the bottom of the well and sustains nin the charged dulies which are 0 carcia carefully illy let down own one upon tile other r until sixty eighty or even a hilt hundred wired quails ire arc thus deposited in ill doing this every movement inest in list be made inalle with avith tile utmost cat catland cand and is attended with great reat danger tit alic a liquid weighs is about four pounds to the hence a 0 great weight must li be provided for on tile upper tipper end of the topmost tube an all cap explosive losice cap is pla blared cd the charge is exploded by dropping till an iron slug 0 called in the nomenclature of tile oil country a imo 0 go 1 devil I evil 01 cautious persons keep at a good distance the operator vc the alarm and lets tile slug g drop in ili a well 2000 q feet dep deep f filled filed with cl gas gas or oi oil 1 the hc weight may be twenty it or c cien en twenty live five seconds in descending if the w well ell is clear of course its descent is more rapid tile the first sensation oil one feels is a 1 heavy thud hind like the dropping of 1 a I great weight on oil the rocks the alic next a trembling inc of tile the ground rOLI IId and then a rushin rushing roar followed wn by a lion weirdo prolonged prolong ett whistle his tle ending in a 1 I slight explosion ci and a stream of sand oil water pill go devil and tubes and black gas as goes bli shrieking into inlo the air in a dense column feet f ct or more and all is is over if tile the blast is kit an e one it is immediately follo followed ned by 1 a I son flow after of oil often a deal dead and worthless well 1 still I ill tit at on once cc begin to llew after tile shock uno one well near buller that was vias dead oil und bioti thought is lit worthless wai adaki awakened ned to activity by a heavy blast asi ajel I 1 I 1 rewarded the owner willi avith a flow of 0 barrels of oil daily A sixt sixty ar quart uarl blast costs the owner er of tile vall about C the libor labor of placing 0 it this labor as lia has i been said is attended with great binum tinum or sometimes allep the well left ii full of gas tile hie torpedo after descending a few hundred feet feci will be driven violently out of tlc ilc veil isell in ili that case it is certain to explode fly hittite hilling tile timbers of the llie derrick or ahen elicit it reaches tin the 0 ground a round in its ite detent scent lit jn illier eaher caw case 0 general of even cvar tiling thing 0 it is ver tail sometimes upon tile llie f explosion of a 1 torpedo if in a mall el 1 si a large volume of oil is ii thrown into tile UZ air this is often a of beauty tile oil breaking I 1 as a it filk falls into countless drops and each cadi drop ire becoming 1 n I prism to reflect tile suns rays ili in matchless coloring I 1 so far tile gai ga all anil and oil wells are arc treated alike chicago cl to ii |