surface, that it does not
ignite within 6 feet of the mouth of the pipe. Looking up into the clear
blue sky, you see before you a dancing golden fiend, without visible
connection with the earth, swayed by the wind into fantastic shapes, and
whirling in every direction. As the gas from the well strikes the center
of the flame and passes partly through it, the lower part of the mass
curls inward, giving rise to the most beautiful effects gathered into
graceful folds at the bottom--a veritable pillar of fire. There is not a
particle of smoke from it. The gas from the wells at Washington was
allowed to escape through pipes which lay upon the ground. Looking down
from the roadside upon the first well we saw in the valley, there
appeared to be an immense circus-ring, the verdure having been burnt and
the earth baked by the flame. The ring was quite round, as the wind had
driven the flame in one direction after another, and the effect of the
great golden flame lying prone upon the earth, swaying and swirling with
the wind in every direction, was most startling. The great beast
Apollyon, minus the smoke, seemed to have come forth from his lair again.
The cost of piping is now estimated, at the present extremely low prices,
with right of way, at L1,600 sterling per mile, so that the cost of a
line to Pittsburg may be said to be about L27,000 sterling. The cost of
drilling is about L1,000, and the mode of procedure is as follows: A
derrick being first erected, a 6 inch wrought-iron pipe is driven down
through the soft earth till rock is reached from 75 to 100 feet. Large
drills, weighing from 3,000 to 4,000 lb., are now brought into use; these
rise and fall with a stroke of 4 to 5 feet. The fuel to run these drills
is conveyed by small pipes from adjoining wells. An 8-inch hole having
been bored to a depth of about 500 feet, a 5-5/8 inch wrought-iron pipe
is put down to shut off the water. The hole is then continued 6 inches in
diameter until gas is struck, when a 4-inch pipe is put down. From forty
to sixty days are consumed in sinking the well and striking gas. The
largest well known is estimated to yield about 30,000,000 cubic feet of
gas in twenty-four hours, but half of this may be considered as the
product of a good well. The pressure of gas as it issues from the mouth
of the well is nearly or quite 200 lb. per square inch. One of the gauges
which I examined showed a pressure of 187 lb. Even at works where we use
the gas nin