NATURAL EDUCATION 



4078 



NATURAL GAS 



tures of this nature are found in Powell County, 

 Ky. ; Winston County, Ala. ; Santa Cruz County, 

 Cal., and elsewhere. 



NATURAL BRIDGE, VIRGINIA 



NATURAL EDUCATION. See subtitle, in 

 article EDUCATION, page 1929. 



NATURAL GAS. The first white men who 

 crossed the Alleghany Mountains were taken 

 by the Indians to places where gas was issuing 

 from crevices in the rock. The Indians set the 

 gas afire and then worshiped before the flames. 



Vtrgrrna fornsyK/arna OKIahoma 

 4 114" 



Kansas 

 A 23 



Ohio 

 59 



-California. Ontario 

 A IA- A 13 



INewYorK i Alberta i Illinois 

 9 1 *+ 



Figures Represent Billions of Cubic Feet 



ANNUAL PRODUCTION 



The average yearly yield for five years, ending 

 in 1916, is given. 



Some of the first oil wells sunk in Pennsylvania 

 were forced through lock containing this gas. 

 It was under high pressure and it sometimes 

 flowed with such force as to throw the drill 

 from the well. If it were accidentally ignited 



the flame extended high into the air. The gas 

 known to the Indians, and later discovered in 

 large quantities by those sinking wells for pe- 

 troleum (which see), is now known as natural 

 gas. It has about the same composition as 

 illuminating gas and produces about the same 

 amount of heat per 1,000 feet, but it does not 

 give as good light. When first discovered, 

 natural gas was considered an annoyance, but 

 men soon learned that it was a valuable fuel, 

 and its extraction from the earth is now an im- 

 portant industry. Natural gas occurs in regions 

 where petroleum is found, and it is procured by 

 sinking wells (see WELL BORING). The wells 

 vary from a few hundred to three thousand or 

 more feet in depth. The pressure in a new 

 well may be as high as 1,000 pounds to the 

 square inch, but usually it is less 500, 400 and 

 250 pounds and under being common. As the 

 gas continues to flow the pressure decreases, 

 and the flow from some of the oldest wells has 

 ceased, showing that the gas is a product of 

 some past geological age, and is not now being 

 produced. 



Production and Uses. The extraction of nat- 

 ural gas constitutes to-day an important indus- 

 try in the United States. The chief producing 

 states, in the order of their importance, are 

 West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio, 

 Louisiana, Kansas, California, Texas and New 

 York. The annual production of natural gas 

 for several years prior to 1917 has amounted to 

 about 592,000,000 thousands cubic feet, valued 

 at $94,000,000. One-third of the production is 

 used for lighting and heating purposes in the 

 homes of the people, for there are in the United 

 States nearly 2,100,000 domestic consumers of 

 natural gas. The remainder is supplied to in r 

 dustrial establishments, including iron mills, 

 steel works, lead and zinc smelters, glass fac- 

 tories and brick factories, where it is used in 

 place of coal. Natural gas is now carried by pipe 

 lines from the source of extraction to many dis- 

 tant places. By a recently discovered method 

 gasoline is manufactured from natural gas, which 

 is becoming a most important source for sup- 

 plying this very necessary commodity of mod- 

 ern life. 



Production in Canada. Over 21,500,000 thou- 

 sands cubic feet of natural gas, valued at $3,- 

 650,000, were extracted in Canada in 1914. Two- 

 thirds of the amount is produced in Ontario 

 and one-third in Alberta. There are three prin- 

 cipal producing fields in Ontario, known as the 

 Welland County, the Heldimand-Norfolk and 

 the Essex-Kent fields. A large, deep reservoir 



