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!
The Republic(Myersdale,Pa)
Thursday, December 4, 1924
Worlds Deepest Hole Is A Gasser
Heavy Flow of Gas Struck at Depth of 7428 Feet Near Latrobe
Gas was struck last week in that is believed to be the deepest well in the world, located at Longbridge, along the Lincoln highway, near Latrobe, and it is said to be throwing forth more than 500,000 cubic feet of gas every 24 hours. The gas was reached after the drill had reached a depth of 7,428 feet. Drilling was started more than 30 months ago.
Work was started on the well May 16, 1922. Since that time, the Peoples Natural Gas Company has expended more than $200,000 on the well. Drilling both night and day, seven days a week, has been kept up since the work was first started.
Those who had charge are Superintendent Siggins, Michael Strosnider and Merle Strosnider, expert drillers, and F. J. Altman and Richard Riggs, tool dressers.
When the drill reached a depth of 6,822 feet there was no sign of gas. The drill then started to penetrate rock of such hardness that it would cut glass and for several hundred feet the drill slowly ate its way through this substance as a rate of less than a foot a day.
When the drill finally bit into the sand the rush of gas started with such force that the cable holding the drill was broken and the big tool became fastened while the gas continued up through the hole to the surface. Instantly an area around the well was roped off and guards were placed with orders to permit no one to approach the well, it being feared that fire would follow.
The Peoples Natural Gas Company has two other wells near the one which came in last week, No. 1 being 6,822 feet deep and producing gas since the drill hit the sand more than four years ago, and No. 2 hole, which was abandoned after reaching a depth of 6,984 feet, this well never showing any signs of gas.