IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



69 



t^Letts. 



GAS WELLS NEAR LETTS, IN MUSCATINE AND LOUISA COUNTIES, TOWNSHIPS 

 75 AND 76, N. R. 4 W, 5 P. M. 



This well supplies twelve fires and sixteen lights. No estimate has been 

 made as to how many more it might supply, but the number would certainly 

 be quite lai-ge. 



Mr. J. E. Lee stated that the opening admitting the gas from the casing 

 of the well to the main was considerably less than the size of an oi'dinary 

 lead pencil and that it Howed a half mile in the main in fourteen seconds. 

 How this rate was satisfactorily ascertained we did not learn. The same 

 gentlemen said the pressure at first was about five and one-half pounds, 

 which has steadily risen till it is now twelve pounds. From a large stream 

 issuing in our faces we could detect a faint odor of ether or chloroform. It 

 gives a fine light and a most intense heat in the stoves and artistic grates. 

 It seems in all respects to be equal or superior to the best artificial illumi- 

 nating gas. The gas is used just as it is when it issues from the well. 



Within a circle of about three miles in diameter in the townships named 

 above from at least seven wells sunk, for water, gas issued. The depth to 

 the gas ranges from about ninety feet to one hundred and twenty-five feet. 

 At a depth from six feet to twenty-five feet below the gas a good, constant 

 supply of water is obtained. 



It seemed to be very easy to shut off the gas by the rapid sinking of the 

 casing in a soft blue clay with some sand in which the gas is thought to be 

 stored. The clay seems to form a tube as the drill and casing descend and 

 thus prevents the gas from getting into the well unless it is given a little 

 time at the right place. 



The country for miles around is full of wells which are all believed to 

 reach the water below the gas without discovering the gas for reasons given 

 above. 



