GEOLOGICAL PAPERS. 79 



formed the lola Gas Company, which now supplies gas to the differ- 

 ent parts of the city. 



In 1894 the Palmer Oil and Gas Company, of Fostoria, Ohio, en- 

 tered the field and leased about 45,000 acres. Their first well was 

 drilled in August, 1894, and in the next three years they drilled fifteen 

 wells, of which nine were productive, with a daily capacity varying 

 from two to twelve million cubic feet, or a total of about fifty-eight 

 million cubic feet, equivalent to nearly 3000 tons of coal. The hold- 

 ings of this company in March, 1899, were transferred to the Lanyon 

 Zinc Company, the gas-field still remaining under the able superin- 

 tendence of L. C. Beatty, who came to lola with the Palmer company. 

 The company now has forty producing wells, yielding not far from 

 125 million cubic feet of gas per twenty-four hours, equal to 6200 

 tons of coal. 



The Tola gas-field covers an area twelve by six miles, with over 

 seventy producing wells. The first wells were drilled to a depth of 500 

 feet, while the later ones were sunk from 815 to 920 feet. The 

 reservoir in the field is a porous sand, found in the Cherokee shales of 

 the Lower Coal Measures, 20 to 150 feet in thickness. The rock 

 pressure of the gas as measured by a gauge is 815 pounds to the 

 square inch, or equivalent to twenty-one atmospheres, and this is the 

 motive power which sends the gas out of the well and through the 

 pipes. The open-flow pressure is about thirty-five pounds, and repre- 

 sents the volume. The lola gas and the gas of the other districts in 

 Kansas is remarkably pure, containing no sulphur or phosphorus, 

 and can be used for any manufacturing purpose. The gas is sup- 

 plied to the citizens at a cost of one dollar a month for each stove, 

 and ten cents each for the first two lights and five cents for every 

 additional light. It would be difficult to give the exact amount of 

 gas used in twenty-four hours from the lola field, but it certainly is 

 not far from 12 million cubic feet, or equivalent to 600 tons of coal. 



Brick Manufacture. — Natural gas furnishes a cheap and con- 

 venient fuel for burning brick, and lola is surrounded by good brick 

 shales. At the present time there are two companies, with three 

 yards. Plant No. 1 of the lola Brick Company is located one mile 

 east of the center of town, and has a capacity of 40,000 brick daily. 

 Their plant No. 2, just south of town, has a daily capacity of 60,000. 

 Near the latter is the plant of the Star Brick Company, with a 

 capacity of 25,000. 



In southeastern Kansas, there are ten brick plants using natural- 

 gas fuel, and three in the coal belt. All of these are running night 

 and day, and cannot keep up with orders. New plants are being con- 

 structed, and in a short time Kansas will be well to the front rank as 



