HAWoRTH.| Commercial Conditions of Ow and Gas. 225 
state. Early in the present session of the Oklahoma legisla- 
ture a bill to that effect was passed and signed by the governor, 
and is now a law. It is very stringent, providing, among other 
things, at least according to newspaper reports, that no private 
individual shall pipe gas even within the state, the object being 
to make all pipe-line owners public corporations of record so 
that the authorities may the better cope with various attempts 
to get gas across the state line. Steps have already been taken 
to place the one pipe-line now crossing the state line into the 
hands of a receiver, hoping thereby to close it. In Oklahoma, 
consumption is confined almost entirely to domestic uses in the 
various cities and towns, for but few factories are as yet estab- 
lished. At Bartlesville, two zinc smelters are in operation and 
a third one is building. These give to that town an extra con- 
sumption. At Dewey, four miles north, the Portland cement 
plant has just begun operations. 
The total value of gas in Oklahoma actually consumed in 
1907 is approximately $1,500,000, the estimate being based on 
a rate of three cents per 1000 cubic feet. This statement, 
however, of itself, would convey an extremely imperfect idea 
of the possibilities of gas production in Oklahoma. Probably 
no other place in the world, now or at any other time, ever had 
so much gas developed ready for immediate consumption as 
has Oklahoma to-day. Natural gas occurs everywhere through- 
out all the productive oil-fields. Many wells range from fifteen 
to thirty million cubic feet per day, while a few are reported to 
have a capacity close to forty million cubic feet per day. The 
large amount of fuel now awaiting consumption is astonishing. 
And this, too, in face of the fact that all the development com- 
panies, with but few exceptions, have been trying to keep away 
from gas in their search for oil. What the result will be in the 
future when an intelligent search for gas is made no one can 
state at the present time, but the value of the annual produc- 
tion certainly will reach several million dollars. 
Recent Developments in Kansas and Oklahoma.—iIn Kan- 
Sas, considerable search was made for gas, the difficulty of 
piping gas from Oklahoma having served as a strong incentive. 
The most remarkable individual field discovered is about six 
miles southwest of Chanute. Here, on the high land between 
the Neosho and Verdigris rivers, a field has been developed 
almost entirely within the past year; some wells of this district 
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