Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 27

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526

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DEEPEST WELL IN THE COUNTY.

The deepest test well for gas ever drilled in the county was that on the Rob- ert Smith farm in Winfield Township. This exploration was made by the Pitts- burg Plate Glass Company under the direction of A. W. McCollough of Butler in 1891. The mouth of this well is found at the top of the Mahoning sandstone, 1,351 feet above ocean level. The ferrifer- ous limestone is reached at the depth of 475 feet; the mountain sand or "Big Injun" at 852 feet; the bottom of moun- tain sand at 1,032 feet; the top of Butler gas sand at 1,372 feet, and the top of the hundred-foot or Venango first sand at 1,514 feet. A good flow of gas was struck in the lower member of the hundred-foot, and through it an eight-inch hole was drilled which was cased with 61/4-inch casing so as to carry off the gas into the Ford City pipe line.

Meantime a six-inch hole was drilled through the lower strata of the Venango sand and the drill passed on through the interval of the Warren group, the Speech- ley, the Bradford, the Kane and the Wil- cox, deep into the Chemung sands without encountering gas or oil or finding a matrix for either. The last 1,500 feet were drilled through easily, only a shell being struck at intervals until a depth of 4,000 feet was recorded and operations were suspended. The bottom of this well is 2,649 feet below ocean level, being almost

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500 feet deeper than any well ever drilled in the county.

In January, 1893, Guckert and Steele drilled a well on the Beighley farm a mile and one-half northeast of Harmony, and struck a gas pool at the top of the Butler gas sand. This well showed a pressure of 150 pounds and was the beginning of ex- tensive operations in the southwestern part of the county in which the Breakneck, Glade Run and Thorn Creek oil fields took a prominent part.

In November, 1893, the Citizens' Gas Company drilled a well on the Bauldoff farm near Herman Station in Summit Township proved a good fourth sand gasser, and the same year the Brown and Brewster wells on the Alexander Brewster farm in Center Township showed the ex- tension of the gas fields in a new direction. The second well on that farm had a rock pressure of 1,600 pounds. The gas from these wells was piped to Butler and util- ized by the various fuel companies and the glass works.

It is nearly always the case that where an oil field is found there is a correspond- ing gas pool not far away. Oil and gas were undoubtedly formed and placed in the sand rocks by the same agency. The process that filled the oil rocks also filled the gas rocks. They run parallel and so long as oil is found within the domain of Butler County, gas will be found in the same vicinity. Many gas wells in Butler, Warren, Venango, Armstrong and Wash- ington Counties have been producing gas ever since wells in the same locality have been producing oil. Gas wells have often been abandoned because the pressure has so decreased that they could not force the product through the lines as against wells of higher pressure. The introduction of the gas-pump in the last fifteen years has worked a revolution in the manner of pro- ducing and transporting natural gas, and has made it profitable to deliver gas from wells of light pressure. At the present

time to abandon a gas well when it ceases to be strong enough to force its way through the pipe line would be like aban- doning an oil well because it had ceased to flow.

The first accident resulting from the use of natural gas for fuel and lighting pur- poses in the county occurred in Fairview about 1875, and resulted in the death of Mrs. Robert Patton and the serious injury of Rev. I. D. Decker. The gas pipe line which was laid from the famous Lambing well on the Campbell farm through Fair- view to Petrolia passed in front of the Patton house. Through some fault in the laying of the line gas escaped in the winter time and worked its way under the frozen ground into the cellar of the Patton house. One evening Mr. Patton went to the cellar on an errand carrying a lighted lamp in his hand. An explosion followed which wrecked the house, instantly killed Mrs. Patton, and seriously burned Mr. Decker about the face. Mr. Patton was seriously injured, but recovered.

A similar accident occurred in Butler in 1886, when the residence of John Gates on Lookout Avenue was destroyed by an ex- plosion of gas, and John Gates, Jr., was killed. Through improper piping the gas had escaped from the main line on the street and worked its way in the winter time under the frozen ground under the cellar of the Gates house. Young Gates had gone to the cellar on an errand with a lighted lamp in his hand, when the ex -. plosion occurred. The house was built of brick and young Gates was crushed to death by the walls falling in on him.

It has been twenty-six years since natural gas came into general use for domestic and manufacturing purposes, al- though it was used for fuel at the wells in the oil country as early as 1860. In 1882 the total value of gas produced in the . United States was $215,000, Pennsylvania producing $75,000 of this amount. For the first ten years the increase in con-

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sumption was slow. In 1907 the output in cine, but its commercial value is found in the United States reached the enormous its use as a high explosive. It was first used as a high explosive in Europe in 1861 by Alfred B. Noble, a Swedish engineer, at Helenborg, Sweden. total of 388,842,562,000 cubic feet, an equivalent of nineteen and a half million tons of coal. The value of this output in round numbers was $46,800,000. Penn- A small consignment of nitro-glycerine shipped to New York City as a specimen accidentally exploded in the street. This accident caused widespread comment among the newspapers as to the cause. Investigation solved the mystery, and miners and contractors gradually learned its value for removing rocks and for heavy blasting. A five-pound jar of the stuff was suspended against the side of the steamer "Scotland," sunk off Sandy Hook, and exploded. It cut a fissure twelve feet wide along the side of the ves- sel, and nitro-glycerine was used there- after in clearing up wrecks. The de- structive power of nitro-glycerine has been fully demonstrated by its use in the mining regions and in the oil country. It has played an important part in the pro- duction of oil, but its use was not gener- ally adopted until about twenty years after its first discovery. sylvania's share of this product was $18,000,000, and the state stood first in the production of natural gas. West Virginia was second, and Ohio third. The con- sumption of natural gas is increasing at the rate of ten per cent. per year, and it is estimated that the value of the output for 1908 will be about $56,000,000. About forty per cent. of this output belongs to Pennsylvania and the balance is dis- tributed among the other gas-producing states. The southwestern states are com- ing to the front and will play an important part in the future. The value of the natural gas produced in Butler County can only be approximated from the fore- going figures, as there are no statistics at hand on the subject. At the close of 1908 there was more gas in sight and more developed territory than in the history of the natural gas business.

NITRO-GLYCERINE.

The discovery of nitro-glycerine dates back to 1846, when a patient European chemist, Professor Ascania Sobrero, hit upon a new compound by mixing fuming nitric acid, sulphuric acid, and common glycerine. At first he didn't know it was loaded. Neither of the three ingredients is an explosive by itself and the product of the three looks harmless, having the appearance of lard oil. The first dis- coverer found that it would burn in lamps, emitting a gentle white light. Concussion proved that the meek-looking stuff was an explosive more powerful than gunpowder or gun-cotton. Strangely enough, it was first put up as a homeopathic remedy for headache, because a few drops rubbed on any part of the body would cause a severe headache. It is still prescribed as a medi-

The unrelenting foe of oil wells is paraffine. It clogged and choked some of the largest wells on Oil Creek and dimin- ished the yield of other wells in every quarter of the field. It incrusts the veins of the rocks and the pipes, just as lime in water coats the tubes of a steam boiler or the inside of a tea kettle.

At first the operators steamed their wells, and later benzine was used with the same results. Some genius patented a liquid that would boil and fizz and remove all the paraffine attached, cleaning the tubing as much as caustic-soda scours the waste pipe of a sink. All of these methods were limited in their scope and worked satisfactorily as a rule in the shallow wells. The idea of exploding powder at the bottom of the holes drilled for oil oc- curred in 1860. Powder had been used in water wells with good results, and the idea

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of trying the experiment with oil wells suggested itself to Henry H. Dennis, who drilled the first well at Tideoute in 1860. Dennis had struck the tools in drilling the well. He procured three feet of two-inch copper pipe, plugged it with wood at one end, inserted a fuse-cord, and exploded the charge in the presence of six men. The hole was full of water and oil, and after the explosion the smell of oil was so much stronger that people passing the well noticed it. The same year William Reed developed the idea of the Reed tor- pedo, which he used in a number of wells. The torpedo was made of tin casing and filled with gunpowder. This torpedo was used in the A. W. Raymond well at Frank- lin, and it was expected that "Cold- stream" Barry, who built the first tele- graph line between Pittsburg and Franklin through Butler County would fire the shot by electricity. Barry failed to get there, and an attempt to explode the torpedo with a fuse failed. Reed went on with his experiments, and in 1863 made a can strong enough to resist the pressure of the water and let it down the Criswell well on Cherry Run. Failing to discharge it by electricity, he exploded it by sliding a hollow weight down a string to strike a percussion cap.

The experiments with the torpedo dem- onstrated the fact that the yield of oil had been increased by exploding powder hun- dreds of feet under the water, and in November, 1864, Col. E. A. L. Roberts applied for a patent for "a process of increasing the productiveness of oil wells by causing an explosion of gunpowder or its equivalent, at or near the oil-bearing point in connection with superincumbent fluid-tamping." He claimed that the ac- tion af a shell at Fredericksburg in 1862 which exploded in the mill-race suggested to him the idea of bombarding oil wells. He constructed six torpedoes and arrived at Titusville in January, 1865, and made the first test of his process in the Ladies'

well owned by Captain Mills. Two tor- pedoes were exploded at the Ladies'_well, and subsequent experiments proved the Roberts torpedo to be a success. Reed, who made the first torpedo in the oil coun- try, John F. Harper, William Skinner, and others who had been experimenting along the same line from 1860 to 1865 filed appli- cations for patents and commenced pro- ceedings against Colonel Roberts for inter- ference. The suits dragged for two years in court and were decided in favor of Roberts, who secured the patent that was to become a grievous monopoly in the oil country. Roberts organized a company in New York to construct torpedoes and carry on the business extensively. During 1867 many suits for enfringement of the Roberts patent were entered, and Roberts seemed to have the courts on his side. He obtained injunctions against all of the par- ties using his patents and compelled the operators to come to his terms.

The operators were at first skeptical as to the advantages of the Roberts method, fearing that the torpedoes would destroy the wells. In December, 1866, the Woodin well, a dry hole on the Blood farm, received two shots, and started to pump eighty barrels a day. Roberts sub- stituted nitro-glycerine for gunpowder about 1867, and established a factory at Titusville. The torpedo war became gen- eral and uncompromising. The Reed Company which had continued to manu- facture torpedoes, were driven out of the business by the Roberts injunction. The monopoly charged $200 for a medium shot which was an exhorbitant price, even for that day of high finance in the oil country.

The war with Roberts resulted in an army of "moon lighters" invading the country, who made a business of manu- facturing torpedoes and shooting wells at night. The Roberts crowd hired emis- saries to spy on these nocturnal well- shooters, and many of them were arrested and sent to jail. About two thousand

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prosecutions were threatened, and most of them begun, against producers accused of violating the law by engaging "moon lighters." An imposing array of coun- sel was engaged by the torpedo company and the defendants were represented by attorneys of international reputation, among the number being Keller and Blake of New York, and Gen. Benjamin F. But- ler. Most of the individual suits were . settled, the operators making such terms as they could. By this means the Roberts brothers and their torpedo company rolled up millions of dollars.

The Roberts patent was re-issued in June, 1873, perpetuating the burdensome load upon the oil producers until after 1883. Col. E. A. L. Roberts died in Titus- ville in March, 1881. The litigation over the patent and infringements attracted widespread attention. He was responsible for more lawsuits than any other man in the United States, and a week before his death he said that he had expended a quar- ter million dollars in torpedo litigation. His brother, Dr. Walter B. Roberts, was a partner in the torpedo business, and was actively engaged in the management of the company. He was elected mayor of Titus- ville in 1872, and had an ambition to serve his district in Congress. He succeeded in his profession and in the management of his business, but he was never able to gain his goal in the field of politics. He was once a candidate for Congress in his dis- trict, but the oil producers, whom the vexatious torpedo suits had irritated to the point of exasperation, opposed him and caused his defeat.

Gradually the quantity of explosive in a torpedo has been increased in order to shatter a wider area of oil-bearing rock. From five pounds of gunpowder which was used in the first torpedo the amount had been brought up to more than one hundred quarts of nitro-glycerine for a single shot. In such instances the glycer- ine is lowered into the well in cans, one

resting upon another at the bottom of the hole until the desired amount is in place. A cap is adjusted to the top of the last can, the cord that lowered the nitro- glycerine is pulled up, a weight is dropped upon the cap, and an explosion equal to the force of a ton of gunpowder ensues. In a few seconds a shower of water, oil, mud and pebbles ascends, saturating the derrick and pelting broken stone in every direction.

One of the most graphic scenes ever witnessed in the oil country occurred at the Semple, Boyd and Armstrong well in the Thorn Creek field, in Butler County, in 1884. This well was drilled on the Mar- shall farm and reached the sand October 25, 1884. It had all the appearances of a dry hole, but the owners concluded to try a shot before abandoning the well. The scene that followed is thus described by Frank H. Taylor:

" On October twenty-seventh, 1884, those who stood at the brick school-house and telegraph-offices in the Thorn Creek district and saw the Semple, Boyd & Arm- strong No. 2 torpedoed, gazed upon the grandest scene ever witnessed in Oildom. When the shot took effect and the barren rock, as if smitten by the rod of Moses, poured forth its torrent of oil, it was such a magnificent and awful spectacle that no painter's brush or poet's pen could do it justice. Men familiar with the wonder- ful sights of the oil country were struck dumb with astonishment, as they beheld the mighty display of Nature's forces. There was no sudden reaction after the torpedo was exploded. A column of water rose eight or ten feet and fell back again, some time elapsed before the force of the explosion emptied the hole and the burnt glycerine, mud and sand rushed up in the derrick in a black stream. The blackness gradu- ally changed to yellow; then, with a mighty roar, the gas burst forth with a deafening noise, like the thunder- bolt set free. For a moment the cloud of gas hid the derrick from sight and then, as this cleared away, a solid golden column half a foot in diameter shot from the derrick floor eighty feet through the air, till it broke in fragments on the crown-pulley and fell in a shower of yellow rain for rods around. For over an hour that grand column of oil, rushing swifter than any torrent and straight as a mountain pine, united derrick floor and top. In a few moments the ground around the derrick was covered inches deep with petro- leum. The branches of the oak trees were like huge yellow plumes and a stream as large as a man's body ran down the hill to the road. It filled the space beneath the small bridge and, continuing down the hill through the woods beyond, spread out upon the flats where the Johnson well is. In two hours these flats were covered with a flood of oil. The hill side was as

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if a yellow freshet had passed over it. Heavy clouds of gas, almost obscuring the derrick, hung low in the woods, and still that mighty rush continued. Some of those who witnessed it estimated the well to be flowing five-hundred barrels per hour. Dams were built across the stream, that its production might be estimated; the dams overflowed and were swept away before they could be completed. People living along Thorn Creek packed up their household goods and fled to the hillsides. The pump station, a mile and a half down the creek, had to extinguish its fires that night on account of gas. All fires around the district were put out. It was literally a flood of oil. It was estimated that the production was ten thousand barrels the first twenty-four hours. The foreman, endeavoring to get the tools into the well, was overcome by the gas and fell under the bull- wheels. He was rescued immediately and medical aid summoned. He remained unconscious two hours, but subsequently recovered fully. Several men volunteered to undertake the job of shutting in the largest well ever struck in the oil region. The packer for the oil saver was tied on the bull wheel shaft, the tools were placed over the hole and run in. But the pressure of the solid stream of oil against it prevented its going lower, even with the suspended weight of the two thousand pound tools. One thousand pounds additional weight were added before the cap was fitted and the well closed. A casing connection and tubing lines connected the well with a tank."'

Nitro-glycerine continues to be the agency for removing paraffine and increas- ing the flow of oil wells. Methods of han- dling it have changed in the last twenty years, but the operation in the main is the same as used in the seventies. In recent years the tin tubing that encased the old torpedo has been discarded and the nitro- glycerine is now poured into the hole out of a bucket or a can, and allowed to per- meate the crevices of the rock at the bot- tom. It is then exploded by the use of a squib and a go-devil. This method is used where there is no water in the well or where the water can be bailed out easily.

FLANNEGAN'S WELL CLEANER.

Many devices have been invented to re- move paraffine without the use of nitro- glycerine, but none have proved of suffi- cient merit to take the place of the old tor- pedo or become generally used throughout the oil country. The most noteworthy in- vention of recent years is that of Francis B. Flannegan, a native of Butler, who is now a resident of Washington City. About

1896 Mr. Flannegan patented an electric appliance for removing paraffine from oil wells and experimented successfully on a number of wells in Butler County. This appliance consisted of an electric coil about six feet long and three inches in diameter which was used as a heater. To the end of the heater was attached a reel of copper wire, and this was lowered to the bottom of the well. The copper feed wire was then connected with a dynamo and the paraffine in the rock was melted by heat. The electric appliance was then removed and the paraffine was then pumped or bailed out. Flannegan had his dynamo and machinery mounted on a four- wheel truck so that it could be easily re- moved from one location to another, and he apparently had a fortune staring him in the face. Although the experiment proved successful in a number of cases in Butler County, the inventor was never able to perfect his machine so that it could be used in all kinds of territory.

ACCIDENTS AND TRAGEDIES OF THE BUSINESS.

Torpedoing wells is a hazardous busi- ness. A professional well shooter must have nerves of iron, be of temperate habits and keenly alive to the fact that a care- less movement or a misstep may send him flying into space. Notwithstanding all the care taken in the handling of the treacher- ous stuff, it has left a long list of acci- dents and tragedies in its wake throughout the entire oil country. It never gives any warning, is quick as lightning, and the first intimation that the community has of an impending tragedy is a shivering shock that indicates that a life has been snuffed out, and that there is probably nothing left of the unfortunate victim but a few shreds of flesh and clothing. The first fatality from its use in the oil regions befell Will- iam Munsen in the summer of 1867, at Renno. Munsen was a well owner, and had a factory where he made torpedoes un- der the Reed patent. His new industry

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went along quietly for months, but one morning in August he was seen entering the building and shortly after an explosion occurred that tore the building to atoms and utterly annihilated Munsen. The force of the explosion was felt at Oil City, three miles away, where houses trembled on their foundations, windows were shattered and the people were driven into the streets, horror-stricken.

Three years later a tragedy occurred in the Scrubgrass region near the northern edge of Butler County, which is familiar history to the residents of the Parker and Karns City fields. R. W. Redfield, an agent for a torpedo company, hid a can of glycerine in the bushes in August, 1870, expecting to return the next day and use it. Mrs. George Fetterman while picking berries saw the can and, thinking it con- tained lard oil, handed it to her husband. Fetterman poured some of the stuff into a vessel and sent it to his wells which he was operating. A day or two later, notic- ing a heated journal on one of his engines, he put a little of the supposed oil on the axle with the engine in rapid motion. A furious explosion followed which wrecked the engine house and stunned three men who were at work on the derrick. Fetter- man's body was found terribly mangled, with one arm torn off and his head crushed into a jelly. The mystery was not solved until some one thought of investigating the oil can and found that it contained nitro-glycerine.

Probably the first accident in the Butler County field happened in Bear Creek Val- ley, two miles below Parker, in 1874. John Osborne, a youth who was well known and well liked, was driving a buckboard loaded with nitro-glycerine down the valley, when the cargo let go at a rough place on the road. The concussion was felt for three miles, and when the frightened people of the community went to investigate the cause of the explosion, they found a deep hole in the road, and scarcely a shred of

the boy, horse, or buckboard to be found anywhere.

Alonzo Taylor was the next victim and his death occurred at Troutman in the summer of 1875. Taylor had placed a tor- pedo in a well, and the drop weight had failed to explode the percussion cap. He then drew up the torpedo, got it safely out of the hole, and took it to a hill nearby to examine the priming. This was a risky business and had cost several men their lives. A few seconds after his arrival at the hill a stunning explosion occurred, and Taylor's body was found badly mangled. The torpedo in this case was made of giant powder, instead of nitro-glycerine. The damage to surrounding property was not very great, as giant powder expends its force downward.

In 1878 Gotham's Nitro-Glycerine Fac- tory was located along Bear Creek near Petrolia. On the morning of October 27, W. O. Gotham, John Fowler and Harry French went to their usual work at the factory. An explosion occurred during the forenoon which tore Fowler into shreds, mutilated French and landed Gotham's dead body in the creek, fifty yards away. The factory was reduced to kindling wood. Gotham had a family and was widely known throughout the oil country. The other two men were strangers to the com- munity.

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Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 27

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1526

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526