Show we e history of natural gas BY RAY vice president matah ou gas co while boring for salt the chinea discovered gas in very early times oas gas from these wells tet feet deep delivered through bamboo pipe was used by then them for evaporating salt brine and tor for domestic plaiT purposes mes the magi wise men of A ASIA wor shipped fires blaring blazing iron from cracks in the along the caspian sea long uon to fore the birth of christ when the people of that region were conquered by the Phara sees the conqueror conquerors adopted tire fire worship and continued that practice until they ru to under the roman nile rule in A D burbig the reign of julias juliis caesar i the famous burning spring in france grenoble was lias burning as it had been for many centuries george washington Waa hington dedicated to his country in 1775 a tract of land in west virginia upon which there was it burning spring it vim as a national park and to far as I 1 can cart find out was the first national park in 1315 gas was produced from a it fait salt well in charleston west virginia in 1821 at fredonia N Y gas arts ing from a spring cat caught tire fire from a lantern t by a woman u swing going tori for water after dark that created quite an investigation and a gas veil well was drilled that summer and at 27 feet gas enough to supply thirty burners was developed the me news of this phenomenon reached london a few years later and the newspapers carriea articles about this gas and its use that original 27 foot well produced gas pas from 1631 1921 to icso nine years at which time it was deepened to 70 feet where here a larger flow was found and then produced from that depth until 1886 that first well produced domestic gas for sixty seven acan from a depth of 70 feet in drilling for alt salt in ohio gas was struck in several wells one of which sulphur alphur gas gu and the drillers drillars dr illers after consideration discussed the advisability of pl uRging the hole saying that they believed they had drilled into hell I 1 artificial P rai Rs as used tired for lighting purposes in te tle late tn in EIn england gland pall mail mall london was lighted with it in 1807 in 1810 the house of parliament 11 9 r Itar nent passed on n act the incorporation cf cy a gas light company and two VATS liter later the chartered gas light and coke company was incorporated I 1 at the time of the first application before the house of parliament great deal of ridicule was directed toward the organizer orn nIzer and his company and one of the members of the llo house baled one of the organizer organizers do vou mean to tell us that it will be possible to have a light without a it rick and the organizer answer ng li the affirmative for the best reain that h he himself had produced a light with CZ gas house member thereupon replied ahl abl my friend you aie are trying toi to prove move to top much men of talent heaped ridicule all upon 0 the he work rf the ra and anti engineers and anti declare arpA that it was ali absurd surd to think of london with they boll believed abe rw pas i was barr ed thru the pines on tire fire I 1 1110 tb tipi saw awful re in firm from red lat mati me tt ook took ion lone tim for private vats 00 bawrs oo o O to adopt the use ot 01 MI a III fitting co made mostly of wood allowed gaa gas to esmee and there was as danger of cf fire and the natural gaa business has three fundamental first y arst the drilling for and producing prod cing gaa gas in the be gas field second the transportation and third distribution in city 4 plant plaint systems but first what Is gaa ga arom what does it originate our dictionary saya says that gas is matter in the state that 1 fluid form of matter which Is li elastic and d tends to expand indefinitely our government chemists analyze our ashley valley gas and say aliat it contains per cent carbon dioxide CO CC commonly known aa as carbonic acid per cent colorless tasteless odorless od gasiott element our atmosphere ont atris ns 21 per cent by b Y volume To Tume 88 LO per cent methane a I 1 colorless gas louried by decomposition of oceanic remains per cent ethane eth anea colorless color colar lesa lers gas compound of the paraffin series gas of petroleum per cent nitrogen odorless col 0 arless forms 79 7 per cent lent of our air by volume two explanations of the origin of oil and gas are to be considered the organic or volcanic theory and the organic theory according to the inorganic theory f oil and gas two haie been formed by chemical reactions uch such a as lie the action of water on car carbides bidel and their origin te to deep seated within the earth the me organic theory assumes that these substances have resulted from he the partial decomposition jn in sedimentary inen tary rocks of organic matter either animal erectable eRe table or both most geologists believe that va ualle bile vie Incz 11 artle theory of gas i orin origin U 11 plausible on the basis of lab labora try ex pi it does not fit well with the observed facts of distribution oon con bently prospecting for oil or gas at the vie present time Is largely in fact al wholly ca carried ded on under the as that the organic theory is she ie correct one before the birth of christ the tha achl we ce used a bit attached to a pole us from one end of a cross pole coolies jumping upon a platform connected to the other end cf of the cries pole provided the motive power for mi sing the tool toot and the down stroke elvaa a by all ail cod codi s jumping off tte wip platform plit form at the same some time wells were drilled 2 2000 MO feet deep in this manner and hesed with bamboo aha ih pos pole an ment of the rie Chirlie fe method WM wits boulte com non anon until recently paul stock gentel manager of the ul uintah peni used ono one of th 8 areek wyo wye tn in 1210 lla to do d 0 a worl work paul stock stocks grandfather dressed tool tools on col got drakes drake a first oil well near penn this was in 1839 lad and the following yar year drilled ali oil well ell of his own paul stock a father came to florence colorado in IM 1833 and had much to do with ith the early de acm rit of that region in 1909 he went to the famous salt creek field and drilled the first well to production paul worked on this well ell and later haa has drilled in practically every oil producing state la in the union including some foreign experience was present at a conversation between paul stock and a man you all knew very well this gentleman said 1 I am a farmer I 1 was raised on the farm and that Is my business I 1 could not help th thinking Liking how that same kind of a statement would fit paul he ile la is an in oil end fas gas man raised on the derrick floor and that Is his business at present two general methods of drilling are employed each operation on different principles the older cr or cable tool method operates by percussion or pounding while the other the rotary system operates by rotating a bit under pressure i after the hole is made ching must be set in it to protect it from caving to case off water encountered and to leave the hole in such shape that it can be put on production since I 1 have been asked this q estion many times I 1 will say that each string of casing used extends from the place it 1 13 set in the then bottom of the hole to the surface it Is 13 not uncommon to see a well cased with six strings of casing ranting ranging from 20 inch down to etoch e 6 toch inch the drilling of deep wells is a business in itself and and many millions of dollars and thousands of men are employed em in that business the preliminary location for a pipe line may be made on topographic maps furnished by the U 8 S 0 S if they have been made of the desired desi region A trip also should be made over the line for the purpose of determining j the topography of he country the most advantageous 1 loain ris for unloading material to the line and also examine the soil sell into which the linal must be laid lala recently a number oti of companies have utilized ind nd 1 made aerial photographs for fr prelim inary studies and final surveys and the I 1 encIn pers agree that these mans maps are very helpful to them in working out their many problems the pipe line Is distinctly an 1 ing and must therefore embody the basic features of successful engineer j 1 ing practice A young engineer had designed and built ft beautiful bridge at the dedication ceremony just after the governor had finished praising the work the bridge fell down the me engineer looked for a second then snapped hia his fingers and said 1 I I put that decimal in the wrong place there bere iere are some houses in the united states and by mention about the same number ol 01 automobiles only about 6 12 1 2 per cent of these dwellings dwell trip are so located that chev can use natural gas and those so located are using it practically per cent the housewife of the present day Ls I 1 un to fire a kitchen range with coal or wood when gas electricity coal oil or gasoline Is av ava jable JabIe the convenience a factor has become more important than mere cost cooking tests made at the state university in 1927 for a dinner for six people Is 13 shown below fuel net unit cost natural per cu it soft coal 8 50 aeu per ton A coal oil 0 15 per gal pl 0 37 per gal 0 03 per kw aint required Total Tot Cost alcoa 2300 2200 cu ft it 13 cents 70 pounds 25 2 5 cents 13 23 pounds 5 54 4 cents I 1 21 I 1 pounds 4 6 cents 17 x W 5 51 1 cents an article published by george otis smith director U 6 0 8 in the oil Ss gas journal of june 1927 is in part as follows in the possession of natural gas as one of ita its great re rei i sources the united states stands unique among the nations Pro producing dusing about 95 per cent of the natural gas coins consumed cd in the world orld we re are natural monopolists in gas along side of russia in platinum of german in poth and of chile in nitrate the trend of discovery and development of natural gas in the united states has been decidedly westward the increased utilization of natural gas has been both rapid and steady until now more than three and one half minion million families are enjoying the advantages of the best of fuels oas gas Is coave convenient eilent it Is clean it can be easily controlled it Is 13 available it requires no storage no prepare 1 tion no labor in handling no removal of refuse and no especially skilled operators it can be burned without objectionable odors or smoke it is aa paid for after use it Is 13 the kine king nf of fuels |