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Show NATURAL ' . . - . it- - ' - - . Natural gas is lighter than air, but it does have weight. The. hugeLquantity of natural gas sold in this country in one. year is more than twice the weight of allsteel produced by United States mills. The first corporation in the United States to supply natural gas for lighting purposes was the Fredonia Gas Company, in 1858 in New York. tight -y- "Supernatural" fires on the shores of the Caspian Sea were worshiped by the followers of Zoroaster from ancient times until as late as 1800. The fires were fueled by natural gas, as was proved when work- - The natural gas pipeline industry is rigidly regulated by the Federal Power Commission. Before a new line can be built, the owners must prove they have ample reserves dedicated to this purpose, have a market for the gas, have the financial ability to build the line, and that the prices for the gas are just and . reasonable. ' . The first natural gas pipelines were made of bamboo more than 3,000 years ago in Szechwan Province, China. Natural gas produced there was used to boil brine to make salt. The Chinese never harnessed the gas for household use. The -f- attempt-to-carr- irst-serious The first metal line was laid in 1872, lf miles from a distance of five and Newton, Pennsylvania, to Titusville. Th h wrought iron pipe was found capable of carrying natural gas at eight pounds pressure. one-ha- two-inc- y for several miles was made in 1870. A well near Bloomfield, New York, was extinguished and capped. A pipeline was planned to serve Rochester, 25 miles away. The finest of Canadian white pine logs were cut. into lengths aw, two-thir- ds another. ng , of natural gas proAbout duced in the United States comes from gas wells; the rest comes from oil wells where the gas is dissolved in the oil under high pressure. Gas from oil wells must be passed through a separator, that sends the gas off in one pipe and the oil through natural gas through underground pipes free-burni- men dismantling one of the temples around 1900 discovered a7, hidden pipe that had carried the gas from a rock fissure to the altar. More than 90 of meals cooked in hotels and restaurants by professional cooks are prepared by gas. The true birthday of long distance piping of natural gas at high pressure was in 1891. Two parallel eight-inc- h ..with screwedcour wrought. iron-linplings, were constructed over a distance """" es, mmjLS-A-& .. - . of 120 miles from fields near Greenstowh, Iff,). 7M of two to eight feet, and hollowed out so that each log fitted into the next. "ThQsTaicrude connection coulditf'fnader The joints were wrapped in burlap, the inside and outside of the log pipe were tarred to prevent the wood from rotting and iron gate valves were installed at intervals to control the flow of gas. However, the wooden line proved impractical and was abandoned. . - Indiana, to Chicago. When the gas industry was young, prospectors searching for gas and oil used dowsing rods to lead them to likely drill- - ingpQtSwJodayg physicists use seismographs, gravimeters and magnetometers and, of course, much scientific knowledge. More than 95 of all gas appliances sold today have been tested and approved . by the American Gas Association laboratories. - Ten United States and Canadian airports now use gas lights to mark their runways. The largest concentration is found in Arkansas where five fields light their landing strips and taxiways with gas. 18 Special Supplement joy El Paso Natural Gas Company. (Adv.) Clothing? From natural gas are pro- fabrics such as duced : many, man-mad- e acrilan, dacron ; nylon, and orlonr , |