Wednesday, September 24, 1902 THE SUMPTER MINER 1 PRODUCTION OF NATURAL GAS There Were 10,297 Wells at the Close of the Year 1901. The consumption of natural gas has continued to increase, although the pressure, except in the nev fields (if West Virtcinlti. litiH continued to decline, ,hecesitutiiitttliu exiense of compression in order to market an increased produc tion from thu declining Helds, wliioh ex pense must I'ontiimu to incrcaso uh thu pressure declines ami the distance to thu source of supply Increase. . The value of natural gu consumed in thu United Stales hi 1001 was $-J7,Of7,-500, which, nt fifteen cents per 1000 ruhlc feet, is eulvaleiit to 1HO,4I),000,. tXK) cubic feet. If it were possible to store this gas in n cube, tho density throughout being ctpial,. its Hides wnuhl Ihj 55:0 feet in length, or 2.V) feet greater than thu sides of u cubic mile. If 20,000 cubic feet of natural gas be taken as equal to one ton of coal, 8,4ott,ll00tnus of coal, valued at f.'t.O er ton, would lie required to ylcldthc sum of money for which the natural gas sold, ' Thu value of the production for 11)01 was greater than that of 1IKH) by ,(, 8'H, or over fourteen ier cunt. It also exceeded that of 1H1M by flt,002.(l'J7. It may also lie interesting to note that the value of thu rtll.IWll.llN barrels of petro leuin produced in the United States during 1101 was im,417,:M.", and that the value of thu natural van amounted to 40.7 per cunt of thu value of thu K)tro Iuiiiii for thu samu year, and that, fur ther, when thu fuel value of the coal and wood displaced by natural gas in WOO which amounts to 1:12,445,15(1 Is consid ered, this estimated displacing value of natural gas is nearly 41) per runt of tht entire value of thu crude utroluum pro duced in thu same year. There were 10,11)7 wells producing natural gas at the close of 11)01, of which number 74 were not turned Into the gas mains, and 2088 producing wells wuru drilled in the samu year; there were W,i dry holes, or non-producers, and 1084 were abandoned. In 1000 there were 10,'JDtt producing well, of which number 24 were shut in ; 1751) wells were drilled in thu samu year; 3511 were were dry holes anil DO I were abandoned. There were very nearly 800 miles of pie laid during 11)01, thu mains varying from two inches up to twenty inches. This brought the total up to 21,848 miles of natural gas mains of from two inches to thirty-six inches diameter in use at the clone of I!R1. During the year 1001 theru was an un usual amount of consolidation of the older companies, and there were organ Ued also a number of new companies with large capital, with a view chiefly of utilising the great areas of high-pressure gas territory in Iewis, Harrison, Marion and Wetr.el counties of West Virginia by the construction of larger and longer pipe lines, ho as to market this increased production in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. This involves the outlay of many millions of capital. An a source of power natural gas stands at the head of the list for econ omy among the fuels, both astoexHinse of installation and exiense of oiuration. It has been supplying the owur for a very large number of factories and oper ations in the gas belt, and lately it has been extensively applied in creating the power by which the natural gas itself ii compressed from a low to a high pres sure when the original pressure has ' failed and the piie8 are insufficient to deliver the necessary quantity of gas at the well pressure. A number of these compressors work up very close to 1000 horse power, with an economy that en ables eight to ten cubic feet of natural gas to develop a horse ower for an hour, a saving of from forty to fifty ier cunt over high-duty steam engines. It is estimated that fully OOO.OOO do mestic tires are supplied by natural gas, ( and that 4,000,000 people are furnished i with this ideal fuel and light. ' Companies and individuals to thu number of 1545 roxrt the use of natural gas in manufacturing establishments of various kinds, numbering in all 574'.', including 102 iron and steel works mid 2111 glass works. M'NAMEE CREEK DIGGINGS. Work to B Commenctd on an Extcmivc Scale in Two Wk. A curious deponlt of gold-coper oru uxlsts at the head of McXnmce creek, about fifteen miles southwest from j Sumpter. l'rosectlng has been carried ' on theru for thu past four years and n number of holes have been sunk over nu area of 200 acres. Kvery shaft has. de veloped quart when a depth of ten feet was reached, and a body of 'goId-coiier oru found ut twenty feet below thu sur face. The highest assays obtained were $1) in gold and 24 pur cent copper. Seven claims have been located and are held on this mineral farm. Three aru owned by the Listen bike (Sold Mining com pany, J. Win Wilson, managur. This company only took bold of thu property hist January ; they intend to begin work on a more or less extensive scale in in uhniit two wccks. Four claims aru owned by Oregon City cople, represent o I by William I'utrow. These parties have completed their assessment work and will probably not develop further this season. One feature worthy of note alsjut this singular deposit is thu fact that all tools becomu heavily coated with copjier after water is encountered in thu different holes that have lieen sunk to thu de posit. From 250 to !M0 yards east of these claims are located tho famous McNumeu placers. Itecently ocket hunters took out about $1)00 from one pocket. They extracted the gold with u rocker and pan and were evidently very careless, as Mr. I'utrow cleaned up (24 from their waste material. Production of Borax in 1901. The roKrt on the "Production of Ilo rax in the United States," by Dr. Joseph Struthers, in "Mineral Resources of the United States, 1001," now in press, United States Geological Survey, shows that there was a slight decrease in 1001, the output being 17,887 short tons of crude Ixirax and 51)44 short tons of re fined Itorax, valued at (1,012,118, as compared with the production of 24,2:15 short tons of crude ho-ax and lltOU short tons.of refined borax In 1000. Of thu output in 1001, California produced the whole of thu re II ned liorux and 10,887 tons of the crude borax. The production of borax in the United States continues to he derived mainly from the colemau- , Ite doHislts of California, altliotiuh a small quantity is produced from thu marsh dusisits of California, Nevada and Oregon. Thu iniiorts of borax, borates' and boric acid in thu United States amounted to (50,08:1, as compared witli (:I2,()7I) in 11)00 and with (27,047 in 181H). Thu Horax Consolidated, Limited (thu international Isirax, combination), now operating in the United States, Kuglaiid, France and South America, nqmrts a very favorable business for tho year end ing September 30, 1001. This company is capitalized at 1,400,000, of which 800,000 is preferred stock carrying fij per cent accumulative dividends, and 000,000 is ordinary stock, each of the par value of 10. The net prollts for the tlscat year were 100,278, from which in terim dividends of 22,000 on preferred stock and 110,000 on ordinary ' stock were paid. There has been but little fluctuation in thu price of Ixirax during 1001, which remains at 7 to 7.25 cents for the rcllncd and 0.75 to 7 cents lor the concent rated product. 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