WHERE THE GAS IS GOING.

WELLAND’S GAS FIELDS TO SUPPLY AMERICAN CONSUMERS.

Some Interesting Details Respecting the Companies who are Operating, and the Objects they have in View-Buffalo will Evidently have some cheap Fuel.

[Welland Telegraph, 10 April 1891]

(Buffalo Express)

Few Buffalonians realize that within twelve miles of their city there is a territory producing 46,000,000 cubic feet of gas a day.

Forty-six million cubic feet of gas per day! According to the estimate of the State geologist of Ohio, 20,000 cubic feet of gas is equivalent to a ton of coal. In terms of coal then the daily production of this territory represents 2,300 tons. Who can doubt that the delivery of such an amount of coal every day at Buffalo’s doors, would react in a marvelous manner on the city’s prosperity? When one considers what an amount of latent power there is in 2,300 tons of coal and that its delivery is limited in a sense to Buffalo, the possibilities that can be pictured for our city are immense. Keen competition in fuel supply is assured.

Buffalo has been burning natural gas produced in Humberstone township, Ontario, for several months. The Provincial Natural Gas Company has carried the gas to the international boundary line where the Buffalo Natural Fuel Company takes it. Thus far the delivery of Canadian gas in Buffalo has been a monopoly. But it will be so no longer. Already two other companies have been formed to supply Buffalo with natural gas, and before three weeks are passed, they will begin laying mains between Humberstone and this city. There is just a possibility that these two companies will unite, but in any event, the Buffalo Natural Fuel Company will have a competitor, and before another six months are passed almost every street in Buffalo will have been piped for natural gas unless present plans are overturned. It is promised that manufactories as well as private homes will be supplied with gas at prices much below the present ones.

Besides the Provincial company there are three other companies operating in the Humberstone gas field. The plans of these companies are in a more or less mature state, but of two of them it may be confidently said that they will have their mains running into Buffalo before the leaves that are just sprouting begin to fall. The companies are: The Hamilton Company, the Erie County Natural Gas Company and the Carroll Bros. Company.

Mr. Bork talked freely of the company’s intentions. He said: “We started about four weeks ago to secure leases of gas territory in Humberstone township, and we now control about 3,000 acres of land. Our farms are scattered, although all of them are right in the  gas belt. We have already given the contract for drilling three wells, and we propose to drill nine more as soon after the first three are finished as possible. We haven’t any doubt that we will get gas-in fact, we are going to begin laying a gas main to Buffalo within three weeks.”

“That is positively decided, then?” queried The Express man.

“Positively,” was the reply. “We have a grant to lay pipes in the City of Buffalo already. We also have a grant for Bertie township in Ontario, and the only other grant we need is that for Humberstone township. There is no reason to believe that we will have the slightest difficulty about getting this last-named grant, and when we do will begin laying pipe. Our main will enter Buffalo below the International Bridge, probably not a block away from where the old company’s main is. We cannot tell how how much gas will be delivered through our mains, because that depends both on the supply and the demand, and we are ignorant of both of these factors at present. We shall endeavor to supply everyone who wants gas.”

“How about manufacturers?”

“We will supply everybody-manufacturers, home consumers-anybody who wants gas.”

“But manufacturers cannot profitably burn gas at present prices,” was objected.

“Well, the chances are that prices will be reduced. We figure on delivering gas at a price equivalent to soft coal at $2.25 a ton-possibly at ten cents a 1,000 cubic feet. On the subject of prices we can say very little until we are assured that the supply of gas is going to last.”

Mr. Bork further said that 50 miles of pipe were to be laid in Buffalo by the company within the coming season, and estimated that it would cost the company $150,000 to bring the gas to Buffalo not counting the cost of the wells.

Carroll Bros. have not yet organized a company for the special purpose of dealing in gas and gas territory, but have carried on all operations under their firm name. They located quarries and a lime kiln some time ago about a mile from Sherks Station and near the lake shore. Later they become possessors of a considerable amount of property in the vicinity. After Mr. Eugene Coste of the Provincial company had discovered gas, Carroll Bros. decided to bore for gas to supply fuel for their lime kiln. Their first well, located within a stone’s throw of the kiln, was a success, though it is a smaller producer than either of the two wells that have since been drilled. It showed the enormous pressure of 560 pounds and a producing capacity of 2,000,000 cubic feet of gas per day. Encouraged by this unqualified success, they branched out. They took up a large amount of territory between Sherks and Port Colborne until they now hold leases, it is said, over nearly as much land as the Provincial company. The gas territory that has been thoroughly tested is a belt four miles broad, extending from Sherks to Port Colborne, a distance of seven miles. The Provincial company was first in the field, and soon had leased a great many farms within this belt. Carroll Bros. then adopted the policy of securing leases, and though Mr. Carroll did not care to say how large an acreage they had control of, he stated that their property alternated with the Provincial company’s property, and included some of the most promising farms in the belt.

Carroll Bros. have completed three wells and are now drilling a fourth, all of them located within a radius of about 1 ½ miles from Sherks. They have been carefully distributed about a mile from each other. No. 1 has a daily capacity of 2,000,000 cubic feet; No 2. 15,000,000 cubic feet; No 3. 5,000,000 cubic feet- a total of 22,000,000 cubic feet. This volume of gas represents a daily output of 1,100 tons of coal,-enough to run many hundred boilers and many thousand wheels and furnish employment for a vast population.

The first objective point visited by the Express reporter was the well which Carroll Bros. have just begun to put down about half a mile west of the station. On the way Mr. Carroll explained that it cost about $2,500 to drill  a well. The depth to which wells are drilled in the Sherks territory is between 800 and 1,000 feet varying according to location. Arriving at a cross-roads the derrick of the gas producer to-be-was discovered a few feet of. The “hole in the ground” was not yet begun, but the engine for working the drill was already set up, and it was Mr. Carroll’s intention to start boring the following day. Fuel for the boiler was already delivered in the shape of gas piped from a neighboring well.

Mr. Carroll said he would much like to show off No. 2-the 15,000,000 cubic feet well-but he was afraid lest something should happen. When gas was struck with this well, five days elapsed before the drillers were able to get control of it. The force of the gas was so great that it all but ejected the 2,200 pound drill and it was next to impossible to put a valve over the vent. The men worked assiduously day and night to prevent the precious gas from escaping. Meanwhile 75,000,000 cubic feet of gas were lost and with it went $18,750. The men who were working about the well w ere so deafened that for days afterwards people had to shout at them to be heard. Mr. Carroll’s recital of the well’s titanic strength was evidently without exaggeration-No. 2 was too good proof of his story.

The country about Sherks is ordinary, rolling farm land, similar in appearance to the country about Buffalo. The gas wells interfere but little with agriculture. While the capitalist is reaping harvests of dollars from the gas underneath the earth, the farmer is gathering his crops of wheat from the face of the earth. The farmers generally get between 25 and 50 cents a year for the rental of an acre of land for gas crops. In addition, they are supplied with all the gas they need for fuel purposes.

“We expect to strike gas with No. 4-the well we are now drilling -within a month,” said Mr. Carroll. “We intend to continue drilling until we feel we have enough gas to supply all who want it in Buffalo, with a margin left over in case any well should get out of order or cease to produce.”

“You expect to carry the gas to Buffalo and distribute it yourselves?” was queried.

“Yes, we want to retain control of the whole business. We intend to produce the gas and deliver it ourselves. No one is associated with us at present, though I won’t say that we will take no one into partnership in the end.”

“And when do you expect to begin laying pipe between your territory and Buffalo?”

“Within two or three weeks,” was the prompt reply. “We have pipe already ordered, and if nothing intervenes to prevent we’ll soon have it laid. The distance to Buffalo is 12 miles, and we purpose laying an eight-inch main the entire way.”

“To what class of consumers do you intend to cater.”

“Principally to small manufacturers. We have looked the ground over carefully, and think that it will take much less capital to distribute gas among manufacturers than it would to lay mains through Buffalo’s residence streets. Doubtless there is more money in selling gas for heating purposes, and we may eventually extend pipes into streets not occupied by the Buffalo Natural Gas Company. Our Buffalo plans are as yet not fully matured, but it is almost certain that we will endeavor to supply manufacturers first. Gas is too precious a fuel to allow of extravagant waste such as would attend to use in rolling mills, blast furnaces, and similar large-fuel consuming establishments, and we shall not try to supply them, but to manufacturers who use gas more economically we will cater especially.”

“And what prices do you propose charging?”

On this all-important point Mr. Carroll was not fully determined. “We will probably charge special rates computed on the output of each manufactory,” said he. “For instance, if it is a flouring mill, we will charge a certain price for every barrel of flour turned out. It is estimated that at present Buffalo prices gas costs as much as hard coal at $6 a ton. We will sell gas at a cheaper rate than that-probably at a rate equivalent to coal at $5 or $5.50 a ton. With the improvements that are continually being made in the methods of burning gas, we can probably lower that price still more at no distant date.”

From a trustworthy source it was learned that the Carroll Bros. and the Erie County Natural Gas Company were talking of uniting. In fact, the office of the gas company admitted there was the possibility of such a union. Negotiations between the companies are now pending. Whether they will lead to a joining of forces, it is now too early to foretell.