Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Daily Republican
Tuesday, March 22, 1887
A Wonderful Gas Well
The Big Hole From Which A Solid Column Of Gas Issues
Supplying Fuel and Light Forty Miles Away - A Camp Meeting Experience - Startling Facts.
Excerpts
The experiment of the managers of the Idlewild Camp Meeting Grounds, about midway between the well and Johnstown, will illustrate in some degree the force of the pressure of 280 pounds of gas. An inch-pipe was connected with the main line 1,000 feet from the entrance to the grounds.
At the gate the size of the pipe was reduced to three-quarters of an inch. From this pipe branches of half-inch pipe were carried in all directions, and at a hundred places through the grove were run into the air fifteen feet, the purpose being to secure a good illumination for night meetings. A turn of a quarter of an inch to the valve which allowed the gas to enter the distributing pipes from the inch main was sufficient to cause the flame to short five feet into the air from each of the hundred standing-pipes, as the branches intended for illumination are called.
One evening, while religious services were in progress, the valve broke, and the full pressure of gas was turned into the smaller pipes. Its force blew out the flames instantly, and from each of the hundred pipes, which a moment before had spread a mellow light over the worshipers, there came a sound that resembled the shrill notes of a factory whistle more than anything else. Nothing could be done before morning.
The cottagers were afraid to light candles or lamps, because, for all they knew, their houses were filled with the gas, and a speck of fire might cause an explosion; they could not talk to each other without shouting themselves hoarse; could not sleep for the infernal noise on every side, and on the whole, the night was most miserable.