46 ANNUAL REPORT 
From 1887 to 1889 a large number of manufacturing industries were | 
induced by offers of free gas to locate at Findlay. These included four- 
teen glass houses and several iron and steel works. A large number of the 
glass factories were absorbed by the United States Glass Company, and 
then abandoned when the gas supply became inadequate. Two factories 
burned and were not rebuilt. At least four abandoned their plants, and 
rebuilt in Indiana where gas was more abundant. With several excep- 
‘tions these glass companies had little or no capital, but were dependent on 
the bonuses furnished by the town for the capital necessary to run their 
plants. With the failure of gas these companies were left practically bank-~ 
rupt. 
The Wetherald Rolling Company which had come with the boom, 
left for Indiana in 1892. It employed 200 men. The Salem Wire Nail 
~ Company, employing 300 men, sold out to the American Wire Nail Com- 
pany, but the plant burned and was not rebuilt. Rounds Chain Works, 
the Ohio Lantern Factory, the American Nail Machine Company, and a 
number of smaller establishments abandoned their works because of the 
failure of gas. ware 
The suply of gas in 1902 was derived principally from Cass and 
Marion townships, one of which lies east and the other north of Findlay, 
but a few wells are scattered over two or three other townships. The 
number of wells on which the city relied during the summer of 1902 was 
about 85. Others are drilled from time to time, and in this manner the 
supply is maintained. Probably the very best wells now drilled do not 
have an open flow exceeding 1,000,000 cubic feet per day, while the avail- 
able supply is only a fraction of that. It is entirely safe to state that less 
than a half dozen of the large wells of 15 years ago would more than bal- 
ance the 85 which now reluctantly yield a scant supply. Besides the Find- 
lay wells, the Kenton Gas & Electric Company has 18 wells in Jackson 
township, and the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company has a small 
number scattered over the county. 
Wood county duplicated Hancock’s record. As has already been 
stated the rock pressure at Bowling Green had fallen to 100 pounds per 
- square inch in 1890, and that marked the end of gas in large volume for 
that part of the territory. The great Bloom township field lasted longer, 
largely because it was in the control of a corporation which well knew the 
limited supply and used all methods to prolong the life. Such cities as Fos- 
toria and Tiffin soon found themselves with a supply totally inadequate © 
to meet the demands of the industries which had been attracted to them 
by the offer of free gas. Later the great Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas 
Company also met the same fate. In 1902 this corporation still had about 
45 wells in Wood and Hancock counties, but the fuel obtained was barely 
sufficient to supply power for two pumping stations of the Buckeye Pipe 
Line Company. At the time mentioned the only villages supplied with gas — 
