Show NATURAL GAS experience with this product in pennsylvania A 1 1 CITY pa 9 01 may 1888 editor deseret news the all absorbing topic in pittsburg Pit today Is will natural gas play out in the near future A brief statement is 18 the recent report vf of the philadelphia company to the effect that arrangements save have already been made with a fuel gas company to supplement the natural gas 8 supply with a manufactured art article CIC started a small sized cold wave on a pilgrimage down the spinal column of the average pittsburg citizen for a number of years natural gas as has been as plentiful almost as air in in unlimited and incalculable quantities it has flowed into town through big and little mains from a dozen fields and although there has been a good deal 0 of talk about the ultimate failure failure of the supply no Pitts burger believed was any diate necessity for apprehension the suggestion coming as aa it did from the official head bead of the largest gas gar company in the world that a manufactured gas gaa might soon be needed tell fell like ice water on the unprotected heads of a hopeful public THE murraysville FIELD has for five years or pore been producing more gas than all toe other nelds fields combined and is reported fail ing I 1 just not how rapidly IN no one outside of the gaa comparios com companies know now with any degree of certainty certai certainty but under the supposition that it is a really falling off and that within a few years anew a new sup supply ply will be needed strenuous ous efforts are being made to td open up new gaspro gasp gas pro ro territory grapeville Grap eville a little town 27 miles from the city and some 8 or 10 miles from murraysville murray aville has come rapidly to the front as a territory demanding attention and the daily scenes enacted there remind us of the early days davs of the petroleum excitement A little over two years ago the guffey operators took it into t he jr r heads that there thae was gas unda ute valleys and hillsides hill sides around about tt rap r 1 eville they made bade arrangements wath W th 1 a mr to have a test well put ut down on his farm aud and proceeded proceed esto to get the option on nearly all the available territory in ia that vicinity the older gad companies did not pay much st attention to the work except perhaps to let it be known in a casull casual way war that they did not think much of the new field but the work went right on 04 notwithstanding and by and by a sand stratum was tapped down under the Olinger smith farm and A VOLUMN OF GAS such as had bad seldom been seen was sent ent up into the world then outsiders commenced to think th that a t maybe there was wag something in the field and some of them tried to secure territory but they were too late the had bad something like acres under their thumbs the clinger smith well was struck I 1 in n the winter wilater of 1886 A couple of months later it was gauged and was found to have a pressure of a trifle over pounds the natural flow of the well was taken the gauge being held in position 20 seconds taen the shut in or rock pressure was taken and was found to be only 29 20 pounds more than the actual flow in april of this year the well was again gauged and it was found that there was not net the difference of an ounce between its pressure now and that taken two years ago age it is flowing today pounds omen open or 5 stint shut in line blanchfield blanchfield of abe southwest company in speaking on the same subject said it is impossible to say how long this field is good for iliThe atte present indications are that it w will keep on TURNING OUT OAS GAS FOREVER our wells have been flowing for quite a long while now and they lost an ounce the uniformity of the wells all over this district is remarkable I 1 dont suppose there is 25 pounds difference between the weakest and the strongest when we take the pressure off our wells welle we turn the gas into an exhaust pipe and let it escape until the flow to is even and regular then we put on the gauge and turn tura the gas into the main suddenly the gauge is only left on 20 sec ends ands and what it registers in that length of time is put down in our books as the pressure of the beus and I 1 think also that we have as big 1319 wells right here bere as there are in any place lace in the world I 1 formerly worked for for the philadelphia company at mur raysville maysville rays ville and I 1 know something of that field it is a good one and it hu has produced and is producing today an awful lot of gas but it cant compare with Grap grapevine eville ei either therin in extent or quality the different iffe reut companions who supply the two cities with this most desirable of all fuels entered into a since the first of january to INCREASE THE tere COST to consumers we the consumers don sumers sign a contract with the company from whom we draw our supply but on the first of april the time for renewing contracts we were informed an advance of fifty per cent would be necessary for the ensuing year 0 my what a howl bowl went up from the consumers mass meetings were called and the situs situation Aion was examined resolutions were passed and threats we were remade made of returning to coal but the companies only smiled and said NO advance no gas 11 however the kickers have all renewed their contracts for another year whatever Wha vever may have been the motive of the philadelphia company in suggesting a failure of their wells remains to be seen indications certainly do not point toward such a calamity in ia the near lut future tire on the contrary the supply seems as unlimited as it did two years ao ago the philadelphia company have already secured some sime thirty acres on the northern boundary of the grapeville Grap eville field and six great eagers easers ga sers are added to their list they aiso also have nearly completed a large main from murrayville Mur rayville to the new field with this connection complete pittsburg will be using grapeville Grap eville gas in a very short time superintendent JAMES MAHONEY of the westmoreland and cambria gas company said murray aville has already supplied pittsburg with gas for tour four years say it is good for one year more that is five years new grape ville is at least six aix times as large a field as murraysville and its wells are as strong as the very strongest of the old districts district murraysville Murray aville has something like wells the Grap grapevine eville field will hold 1500 or 2000 11 and then it wont be very crowded and if ff thelast the past can be taken as a criterion will last not merely tor for a quarter of el a century centar or so buti but practically forever and I 1 I 1 believe pittsburg will burn natural gas years from now but laying aside personal beliefs and arguing straight the standpoint of the hardest kicker admitting that wells weaken by close proximity to each other that t they y will eventually give out and taking M into consideration the increase of consumption there toe possibility of a doubt that we have a mortgage on our fuel until the first decade of the next is very nearly spent W 8 guffey who by the way is good authority says people dont know what they are talking about when they make a fuss about the failure of the abe natural gas supply why there never was a field in the world like that one out at grapeville Grap eville and it I 1 is y vet t od as new the gas taken 0 out u t 0 of f of in n the past two years amount it to a THIMBLE FULL in a tank in comparison with what is waiting ibe the orders of the people you will never see it an exhausted exE austed field but look at it from the darkest side suppose murraysville does give out suppose in time grapeville Grap eville gives out there are other fields and plenty of them that have never yet been tapped and they are just waiting patiently until they are needed la in other words pittsburgh Pitts burgs gas supply is practically unlimited allegheny Allea heny city is supplied by two companies adliff only who until recently have geen been at loggerheads logger heads with each other but they saw the benefit of condoll and the result is we pay the 50 per cent advance allegheny as a rule ets left on most every matter of importance anyhow we want COD congress ream to give us a government bui building laing that cewill get it is very very doubtful we have a b beautiful lautif ul city a population of and a fire department that cannot be excelled but we have not got a newspaper nor a theatre J W householder |