824 ^^^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY/ 



voir of gas was tapj^ed, the like of whicli had not been dreamed 

 of before. A new era had opened for Findlay. The blaze from 

 the lighted stand-pipe shot up twenty or thirty feet in the air. 

 The light could be seen twenty-five or thirty miles away in all 

 directions. The amount of gas given off daily was estimated at 

 about 250,000 cubic feet. People flocked from far and near to see 

 the wonderful sight. Other wells were, of course, immediately 

 begun, the most of them being successful. In December, 1885, 

 the largest well of the field was drilled in, and from a depth of 

 1,144 feet came the gas of the great Karg well. The roar of this 

 could be heard two or three miles, while its light was visible 

 thirty-five or forty miles on all sides. Its flow was estimated at 

 over 12,000,000 cubic feet per day. It has proved to be Findlay 's 

 standing advertisement, and it has been a sign which says to 

 many, " Natural gas has come to stay." 



The town began to grow as soon as the first well had proved a 

 success. From 4,500, in 1884, it had grown to 6,000 in January, 

 1886. In the spring of 1887 a speculative fever broke out, which 

 affected the whole State. From a town originally four square 

 miles in extent, Findlay has grown to twenty-four square miles 

 area. From a population of 6,000, in 1886, it had grown to 10,000 

 in the spring of 1887. In September of the same year the popula- 

 tion was estimated at from 13,000 to 18,000, and at that time it 

 was calculated its people would number 30,000 in the early part 

 of 1888. The value of real estate rose rapidly ; two, three, even 

 five times its previous value was given for land. Farms which 

 had been held at $100 per acre changed hands at $300 per acre and 

 over. These acres were divided into lots, and greedily bought by 

 speculators at so much per foot. Ileal estate to the value of over 

 $300,000 has changed hands in a single day. 



This speculative fever caused a wonderful activity while it 

 lasted. The offer of plots of ground and of free gas brought an 

 influx of manufactories of all kinds. Seven hundred houses were 

 built during the first half of 1887, and as many more were under 

 contract to be finished before the end of the year. Glass-facto- 

 ries, rolling-mills, iron and steel works, furniture-factories, brick- 

 yards, lime-kilns, and many other branches of trade, have been 

 successfully established. The gas company, which had previously 

 to the new discovery supplied the town with artificial gas, secured 

 numerous wells of their own, among them the Karg well, and 

 established a new scale of prices. But the citizens complained 

 about the rates, succeeded in inducing the Legislature to allow 

 them to issue bonds for $60,000 to supply their own gas, and soon 

 so reduced the price that the gas company sold out to the city. 

 The rates had then been cut to only fifteen cents a month for 

 either a cooking or a heating stove ; it is now stated to be fur- 



