PROGRESS OF THE NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1783, 7 March 1888, Page 2

PROGRESS OF THE NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY.

" Faw people outside of the natural gat region/ uald a large owner of gas welli m Washington County, Pa., " have any Idea what enormous proportions the gas business h*B grown to. It may be said to be only about two years old m Western Pennsylvania, and more thao 200,000 acres of land m Washington and adj >intng counties have been drilled with gas wells. Nearly 150,000 tons of Iron have been uaed m mana'ioturing the pipes through wbioh thn 500,000,0 )0 cub'o feet of gas that fl >w from the region dally are con* ""ynd to thß plaoas nslng it. Over $25,000,000 is Invested m (he business b, the fourteen organized companies that produce the bu'k of tha gas. The land *nd w*lls represent an outlay of $17,000,000 The wells now producing are capable of doubling the quantity now •ieraaaded for light and Ijeat. Nearly 2000 miles of mains are required for oondaotlng the supply to consumers. Jt; is estimated that tie use of natural gaj has displaced 25,003 tons < f ooal dally m Western Peuniytvanla and Bistern Ohio alone. Besides the wells oontrolied by the great gas-producing companies, individual owners have wells for the supply of the smaller towns, and every village and hamlet m the region has enough natural gas running to waste every day to abundantly suoply the tame number of towns of 10,000 inhabi.aats etch with light and fuej,"