Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/372

 A Gas Well Which Wasted $200,000

��By Harry Knowlson

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��I LOWING WILD"' with a deafen- ing roar for over a week and wasting upwards of two hundred thousand dollars of natural gas is the record of the largest gas well ever drilled in Pennsylvania. The Spiegel well — for it was named after the owner of the land — is in Versailles Township, near East ]\IcKeesport. Pa., that is, in the "Pitts- burgh district," a section rich in "pay sand," which has produced several not- able gas wells.

This remarkable gas well goes down into Mother Earth as straight as an ar-

��row for two thousand feet. In that re- gion geologists say there is a layer of sand permeated with natural gas. Once an opening is made in the earth's crust, the gas rushes upward with terrific force. Between six hundred million and eight hundred million cubic feet of natural gas were lost before the well could be cap- ped and the flow controlled. Almost im- mediately after workmen struck the "pay sand," the gas rushed forth with such destructive force that it demolished the wooden derrick used in connection with the drilling. Several laborers narrowly

���The workmen who bored this well sent their drills down two thousand feet through ledge after ledge of earth and rock to tap the fissure pocket full of gas. When the pocket was opened, the gas, confined under those two thousand feet of earth and rock, burst out to the sur- face, demolishing the derrick and nearly kill- ing the workmen. Over six hundred million cubic feet of gas es- caped before the cap was put on and its stop-cocks closed. The cap was of heavy steel, with six valves, all of which were of course left open until the cap was in place, when they were closed. The loss of gas before the process was complete was estimated at $200,000. Great care had to be exercised during the week that the gas escaped un- checked. No lighted matches or other flames were permitted within a great distance of the well. The family living near by were obliged to forego cook- ing and had to go to bed without light

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