STATE GEOLOGIST. 109 
The Central Ohio Natural Gas and Fuel Company.—The first of the 
companies enumerated above has already been discussed and hence will 
not be further noticed. The Central Ohio Natural Gas and Fuel Company 
was incorporated July 1, 1889, with a capital stock of $750,000. The 
stockholders were principally Columbus citizens, and the object of the or- 
ganization was to supply that city with natural gas. As has already been 
narrated the company obtained its first supply from the Thurston field, but 
the decrease in pressure was so rapid that the company was compelled to 
practically abandon the territory January 15, 1891. In February of that 
year the organization completed a well on the Zink farm about two miles 
north of Lancaster, and was rewarded with a production of 6,000,000 
cubic feet of gas per day. Other wells were at once begun and more than 
a dozen were drilled in that vicinity. This strip runs due east and west 
across the southern part of Pleasant township. This discovery again filled 
the lines of the company, and May 1, 1891, Columbus was once more en- 
joying the finest fuel in the world. From that date the supply has been 
maintained without interruption. ‘The third step in the development of 
the company was taken late in 1893, when a well was completed near Sugar 
Grove. This connected Columbus with the finest reservoir of gas yet found 
in the state. With the development of the territory around Sugar Grove 
the company has been able to cut off the wells in Pleasant township. In 
this manner it is saving that territory. When the Sugar Grove field falls 
too low to yield an adequate supply the wells in Pleasant township will 
again be connected with the company’s lines. The rock pressure in this 
part of the field was originally 700 pounds. At present (1902) it ranges, 
from 500 to 600 pounds. In 1go01 the company began work in the Homer 
field, and by September of that year had completed 13 wells, one only of 
which was dry. A line was laid to Columbus in the fall of 1902, and the 
use of gas from the new field at once begun. ; 
In the fall of 1900 the company erected a pumping station at a point 
between Lancaster and Sugar Grove, the pressure of the field having fallen 
so low that it was no longer able to supply a city so far distant as Colum- 
bus. The power consists of four engines connected tandem fashion, the 
combined horse power being 1,000. A pressure of from 60 to 325 pounds 
is maintained in the line. The latter has a diameter of 12 inches from 
Columbus to Canal Winchester, and of 10 inches from the last place to 
the pump station. 
The total number of wells drilled by this company to September, 1902, 
was about IIo. 
The price of natural gas in Columbus was fixed by act of the city 
council December 17, 1888. This was before the Columbus Natural Gas 
and Fuel Company was granted a franchise to pipe the city. The rates 
established were as follows: | 
