TEE WYANDOTTE, KANSAS, GAS WELL. 323 



This gas well was discovered by a company j)rospecting for coal, about 

 three years ago. After boring a five inch hole to the depth of four hun- 

 dred feet, the operator reported the drill as having passed through a twen- 

 ty-eight inch vein of bituminous coal. Just then the workman at the drill 

 was astonished to hear a bubbling, rumbling sound, roaring like distant 

 thunder. It was the gas freeing itself from confinement below, and forcing- 

 ahead of it a large body of salt water, as high as the top of the derrick 

 drenching the driller completely. Ever since then the pressure of the gas 

 continues to force the water in jets to the surface. This mineral water, al- 

 though never advertised, is very much used, with good effect by invalids 

 both near and far, and the gas (carburetted-hydrogen) has been escapino- 

 into the atmosphere, 75,000 feet daily, or enough to light a very large city, 

 ever since. 



In Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, three of the largest rolling mills for the 

 manufacture of iron have been supplied, for the past three years, with nat- 

 ural gas exclusively for li^ht and fuel; the gas being conveyed in a seven 

 inch pipe from one well in the oil regions, a distance of twenty-one miles. 



This Wyandotte gas is used by the Company in the furnace for raising 

 steam, and by the owner of the farm where the well is located for cookino- 

 and light. The gKS, whether flowing or burning, is almost odorless. Its 

 entire freedom from sulphur renders it highly adapted for the reduction of 

 silver and gold ores. Sometime ago the Kansas City press advocated the 

 policy of capitalists forming a company for the purpose of reducing at this 

 railroad centre, Eocky Mountain ores, as is done at the works at Omaha. 

 To monied men who contemplate embarking in such an enterprise, it will 

 be information to know there is a hydrogen gas belt in this vicinity. 



Notwithstanding a coal vein of sufficient thickness to pay was discovered 

 the company has concluded to abandon coal mining for the present, with its 

 attendant heavy cost for elevating coal from a deep shaft, and utilize this 

 new gas fuel which rises from the depths to the surface of the earth of its 

 own accord and with pressure enough to force itself in any direction 

 desired. 



It is not only suitable for heating purposes, but is very valuable for 

 light ; it burns with a clear bright flame without purification, and is free 

 from the disagreeable odor accompanying coal gas. 



It is similar to the gas used for so many years to light Fredonia, N. Y., 

 and other towns located in the oil regions of Pennsylvania. Scientific men 

 who have visited this well give as their opinion that the gas is produced by 

 the distillation from coal shale and other minerals by the internal heat of 

 the earth, and that the supply is inexhaustible. 



The company, after obtaining the exclusive right to light Wyandotte and 

 Kansas City, Kas., for the term of 20 years, built a tank and gas holder hav- 

 ing a capacity of 40,000 cubic feet daily. Eecently they have enlisted some 

 of your Kansas City capitalists in their favor, who will furnish the gas mains 

 for the purpose of conveying the gas to light said towns, and ultimately 



