386 F. H. OLIPHANT 



near where an original gas spring was located. The pressure 

 was sufficient to force the salt brine up into a large hogshead 

 where the salt and gas were separated. The salt brine was 

 diverted into salt pans and the gas conducted to the furnaces 

 underneath, where it was successfully used as fuel for the 

 evaporation of the salt water. 



More or less gas was developed on Oil creek, Pa., and in 

 the surrounding section, by the wells drilled in the search for 

 petroleum in the winter of 1859 and 1860. Some of these w^ells 

 produced gas only, and others produced both gas and petro- 

 leum. For several years it was the common practice to con- 

 duct the gas to a safe distance and there consimie it to get it 

 out of the way. The high price of coal and wood and the ex- 

 tremely poor roads, finally induced some of the more venture- 

 some to try to burn it under boilers. This experiment was so 

 great a success that natural gas became a most efficient sub- 

 stitute for coal and wood. In its early application, however, 

 numerous fires and explosions were caused by overpressure, 

 because at that time no automatic method of regulating the 

 pressure was known. 



One of the first applications of natural gas for fuel pur- 

 poses was in the year 1868, when a manufacturing company in 

 Erie, Pa., drilled a well 600 feet deep into the Devonian shale. 

 This well produced a considerable amount of gas when first 

 opened, but the output gradually declined. Many wells that 

 were sufficiently large to supply one or two dwellings w^ere 

 afterwards drilled in this locality. 



Near Titusville, Pa., in 1872, thirteen years after the drill- 

 ing of the first oil well, a powerful natural gas well was drilled 

 on the Newton farm, 54 miles north of the town. The gas 

 from this well was conveyed into the town by a 2-inch gas main 

 which furnished 250 consumers with light and fuel. After- 

 wards the original line was reinforced by a second one 3^ 

 inches in diameter. The two Imes maintained a steady pres- 

 sure and a satisfactory^ supply. This was the first natural gas 

 plant which supplied liglit and heat in any large and permanent 

 quantity by methods and appliances similar to those in use 

 to-day. It is looked upon as the beginning of the industry 

 which has since assumed such large proportions. 



