Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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{las That Goes Back To Work Condensed from The Baltimore Sun-j day Snn. in the damp, dreary country of; southern Louisiana 1 saw two silvery lljiort of pipe which are adding a new chapter to the story of man's attempt to get mure fuel for his machines The first pipe was bringing up crude oil and natural gas. A few hundred feet away, the eeoond pipe waa putting the natural gas hack Into the earth ,to be Btored for future use and to harvest for 4uan billions upon billions of drops of oil which all hla in- [ genlous tools have never before been ! able to harvest. The pipes I saw are part of the1 Continental"'Oil Company.'* new Te-J potato plant in Acadia Pariah, where for the first time in the oil business tx whole new field is planned with the idea of saving the gas while extracting the oil. People have Queer ideas about how oil Is taken 'from tho earth. Some imagine great gurgling subterranean lakes of oil. They believe that when the pumps stop yielding there is no more oil left. Actually, when the pumps go dry, about 75 or 86 per cent of the oil is still down there, and under former methods will stay there until doomsday. To understand what really happens, we shall have to begin countless centdfies ago, when myriads of minute fnAuts and animals died on the shores of prehistoric seas and were gradually burled under layers of sediment and rock. In time th^se once-living things turned to petroleum and gas. As the earth's crust cooled, it oontracted, and the layers bulged and heaved into mountains, many of which now lie invisible under later accumulation of rock, sand, and mud. Hundreds of feet, perhaps even several miles beneath the surface, the distilled ghosts of those plants and tiny plants are imprisoned under a huge dome of rock. The gas being lighter. Is at the top; the oil next; at the bottom, usually, is salt water. All three fill the Interstices in a mass of sand or porus stone; all three are under pressure. The captive gas presses down, the water presses up; In the middle is a level field of oil-soaked sand like a vast sponge squeezed thin. Many oil sands are hundreds of acres in area, but only a dozen feet thick. Now comes man and drills a well at a point where his sensitive instruments tell him such a dome may be bidden. If the well generates the oilsoaked sand, oil will flow forth; If it taps the peak of the dome, gas will erupt?usually with violence. The pressure of the gas is what drives the oil to the surface; if the gas is harnessed and sent back to where it came from, it can squeeze from the subterranean sands more oil than man could extract with all the pumps in the world. A typical speculative oil Held Is one of the most wasteful of all man's onslaughts on the golden goose of nature. Someone drills a wildcat well, and strikes oil. Immediately the surrounding country becomes a crazy quilt of leases, the landscape Is desecrated with derricks. Gushers spout ill); somtimes one will run wild, drenching acres of farm land with a spray of oil until it is tamed. Uncon trolled wells sometimes catch flre and may burn for months. In the past, in such a field, gas was considered a nuisance, and billions of cubic feet (2.000 feet a year will supply your gas range) were cheerfully allowed to escape forever in to the sky. But worse than the loss of this vas as fuel was the .loss of the oil which it might have driven to the surface. Now, in a modern self-respecting oil field, gas Is considered a valuable byproduct, which is captured and piped :o distant markets. But as the gas comes out, tho pressure inside the domelike structure decreases, the oil < omes up in an ever thinner trickle. If production is too rapid and pro ductlon has almost always been too rapid, until the present practice of proration eamfc into effect?the water under the oil moves rapidly upward, coning up" toward the wells, "fling?ring In", from the edges, cutting Off pockets of oil which will never be rescued. Not until 40 years after an American first struck oil did anyone do anything about this situation. In 1903, I L. Dunn, while operating a pool in Ohio, demonstrated that production would be increased if gas were eject ed into a well from which the gaa had already been wasted. The idea, sprea very slowly becanse there were so many gamblers In the oil business and so few engineers. Gradually, however, the technique of repressur ing was developed. More and more fields are being given a new lease on life by pumping gaa or compressed a r back into them, 8ometlmes gas from the same field la used, but often the waste haa been ao great ik*I th# rape ensuring gaa moat be piped rom elsewhere. The underground prendre, slowly rising, begin* to squeeze ol * f' ' ' -L'z "t . . .1 I. . tow ant the surface again Hut represgurlug has largely been a Job of salvaging Wasn't it much more sensible, in drilling a new field, to keep the Kas af work as long as pos- : sible, to maintain the pressure rather than lose It and have to bring it back again ? Some fifteen years ergo Continental engineers began asking themselves this simple question. 'Why not make pressure maintenance an integral part1 of our production front the stait?"j Continental oil Company Is run by 1 a tireless president, Dan Moran. who I ts perpetually In search of perfection.' Also he is an engineer with imagination. So, the eventual result was the Tepetate field, with a perfected technique which should have a revolutionary effect upon America's largest Industry. The landscape of the field is singularly free from derricks. At rogu-1 lar intervals one sees, gleaming in concrete pits, small silvery clusters of valves and pipes which oil men appropriately call "Christmas treeB " Approach one, turn a valve, and out spurts a brownish jet, partly gas, partly oil, still under the terrific pressure of its natural reservoir 800 feet beneath the ground. From fifty such "Christmas trees." spaces over two square ntlles of farm land, the mixture flows through pipe lines to a central plant where the gas and petroleum part company. The gas is then pumped back into the earth through three "input" wells. Under t^ie Tepetate dome the layer of oil 1b being held in the jaws of a vise, between the upper level of gas and the lower level of water. As the oil is drawn out. the water moves off about half an Inch a month, driving the oil ahead of It, and the gas moves down. Those two jaws are going to squeeze every recoverable drop of oil out of that yellow sand. Indeed the decline of gas pressure has been so slow that Tepetate's wells may never need a pump to draw out the oil. And when all the available oil Is recovered, there will still be left a vast natural reservoir full of valuable gas, for domestic use in distant cities. While Tepetate is probably Exhibit A for efficiency, this new technique ia proving successful In a number of other oil fields, some controlled by a single company, some divided among several. In the latter case, the companies involved have cooperated to work the field as a unit. This In itself is a great advance over the old frenzied competition (which still persists in many of our oil fields). Instead of a profusion of wells drilled frantically to get as much oil away from the other fellow as he Is trying to get away from you, the "unitized" fields are ruled by order and common sense. The various companies agree to restore or maintain the initial pressure by-returning gas to the earth, to prorate expenses and profits. Selfinterest, In such comparatively rare cases, works hand in hand with the demands of conservation. In Oklahoma, near the Kansas border, are two pools that go by the name of Burbank, North Burbank is the older, drilled under Che usual methods. There is practically no internal pressure left; no gas was returned; its wells are all "on the pump." South Burbank was drilled later. For some time the old methods prevailed. and the gas pressure dropped to half what it had been when the field was opened up. Then fifteen companies combined to operate part of South Burbank as a unit. So far they have yumped over ten billion cubic feet of gas back Into the ground. Result: The decline in pressure has been retarded, there are fewer wells per section (reducing the initial investment). the development cost per ultimate barrel produced will be about one third of what it will be in North Burbank. A major pressure maintenance project is the Cook Ranch Pool, in Shackeford county, Texas. Here gas has been returned since 1927, thirty-three wells being used as "inputs." Before this program was started, an ultimate recovery of about seven million bar rels of oil was indicated. At the present rate of production under pressure maintenance, the ultimate recovery will probably amount to about twenty one million barrels. Yet for every one of these success ful experiments there are probably ten j oil pools where the old methods stil. 'prevail, because operators remalr I blind not only to the public Interest I but to their own as well. There is s (development In engineering which car ' save untold quantities of oil and gaa Common sense and conservation de mand that it be applied promptly, and 'as widely aa possible. 1 ? w '-.-u ...i m wrtwcgw Namei Omitted Through an overnight tho names of Mrs. Kathleen 11. Watta and Mia. Mattie K West were omitted from those attending the Hutch Luncheon of the Tuberculosis association at Hotel Camden, September 7 Cylludrophla Hufus, a spades of snake. Intiinldales Its enemies with its lull, which resembles a iiead and is curried erect. l""l. llii l i'iiiWHI . " III I II II III ' West Columbia Was Kasu For Bulldogs (By Jerry) Camdenuhlgl\ school's Bulldogs, under wI'mps, and using a second string eleven most of the way, rolled over a badly outclassed Brookland-Cayce team at Zemp field Friday night, St> to 0. The West Columbians never had u chance as they failed to penetrate deeper than the Camden thirtylive yard line during the entire game Flrct Quarter West's klckoff was picked up by JefTcout, Hrookland-Cayce quarterback, who carried the ball fifteen yards to his own thirty five After two unsuccessful attempts to gain ground through thu liuu. Juflcuat puutcd out to Mullen on the Camden forty, who raced to the Invaders twenty-five yurd stripe where he was pulled down by Price. A spinner through center waif good to the Brookland-Cayce ten and West went around left end for the first Camden touchdown before the game was six minutes old. West's pass to Nolan for the extra point was wide. Score, Camden 6, BrooklandCayee 0. Jcffcoat returned Wost's kick from the fifteen to the thirty-four, where it was first and ten for the Suburban crew. The Camden forward wall broke through on the next two plays to put the ball back on the Brookland-Cayce thirty-aeven. and Jeffcoat punted to mldfleld. Two plays with West carrying the ball on off tackle plays advanced the leather to the thlrty-slx. A Camden fumble was recovered by | Wood, left tackle for Brookland-Cayce, I which made it first and ten on the 'thirty-seven. A pass. Jeffcoat to Derrick, was Incomplete and on the next play Derrick reeled off a fifteen yard gain, making It a first down on the Camden Torty-elght. Jeffcoat was good for four yards on an off tackle smash but Lynch intercepted the lanky quarfterback's pass on the Camden thirtyfive and Cayce's only real offensive threat of the entire game bogged down far from the Bulldog's goal line, j The Gold and Black second stringers were unable to open up a hole in the Brookland-Cayce forward wall and | they were forced to punt after a two yard loss set them back on their own i thirty-three. Jeffcoat returned 'from the thirty to the thirty.five, but two plays into the center of the Camden line were stopped cold as the regulars | came ba. k into the game. A five yard penalty on Camden for off-side made it i second and five for Brookland-Cayce on their own forty yard stripe as the first quarter closed. Score. C amden 6, Brookland-Cayce 0. Second Quarter Jeffcoat's long toss, intended for Shirley, was intercepted by Cox on the Camden thirty-five and the blond flash raced back fifteen yards befote he was forced out on the fifty by Jeffcoat and Riddle. The ball went to Mullen on the next play and some nifty broken field running by this speedy little quarter made It first and ten for the Bulldogs on the BrooklandCayce thirty-one. Lynch was good for six yards through center and Cox smashed his way to the BrooklandCayce four yard line, where it was first and goal to go for Camden. Cox cracked through right guard two plays later for the second touchdown of the game. West's pass for the extra point was no good. Score Camden 12, Brookland-Cayce 0. Camden's third score came late in the first half after Cox picked up one of Jeffcoat's punts at mldfleld and galloped thirty yards to the Brookl&nd-C&yco twenty. Lynch was good for four yards through right tackle and on the next play Bell raced over the pay stripe for a touchdown. Again the try for the extra point was no good, and the half ended with the Bulldogs out in front, 18 to 0. Third Quarter Bell's boot to Jeffcoat on the fifteen was returned to the thirty-six. Jt ff' coat was good for four yards to the forty and a five yard penalty for offside made It a first and ten on the forty-five yard line. The BrooklandCayce offensive threat was again cut short as the whole right side of the Camden line broke through on the next two plays to set the ball back on the forty-Twor" Jeffcoat punted-to Bell on Camden's forty-five, but the Bulldog second stringers were held for no gain and Boll punted to Jeffcoat on the five where he fumbled. Cam> den recovered on the six yard line i to make it first and goal to go. Nolan i took the ball to the one yard line on ' a thrust through left guard and on the next play Sheorn went over on a spinner to make the score 24 to 0- The ' pass for the extra point was wide. Fourth Quarter West's kick to the twenty^flve was fumbled, and recovered by Wood. After two pass attempts, Brookland-Cayce 1 punted to Bell who picked up the ' leather on his own thirty-five^ arTd re1 turned to midfleld. West was good for Lseventeen yards on two off tackle 1 smashes to advance tlfce ball to the 1 thirty-three, but a five yard loss by * Bell ipade it second and fifteen, on the - thirty-elfcht. A pass. Bell to Weal, I ?if incomplete and West punted out on the Brookland-Cayce two yard stripe. Jeffcoat punted out on the first play to West, who returned live yards to tlio thirty. West made it a first down on Hrookland-Cayco's seventeen and Hell went through center two play a later for tho fifth score of the gnnie. The pass for tho extra pyint was no good. Score Camden 30. Brook land-Cay ce 0. Highlight of (he game was Weal's brilliant sixty yard touchdown gallop in the closing minutes of the tlnal quarter. After forcing the Suburbans back to their own eighteen, Jeffcoat punted forty-five yards and the hall was picked up by West, who tucked in the leather on his own forty, pulled away from the entire Cayce team and went over standing up. The try for the oxtru point was stopped on the two yard li.io. Final score, Camden 36, Brooklunti-Cayce 0. Starting lineup: Pos. Camden Brookland-Cayce LE?-Wilson Derrick LT?Lainoy Wood LG?-Price Lee C?Mooro Kiddle KG?'Sbeheen :. Hammond RT?Watts W Price RE?Nolan Shirley EH?West Hundrick it'.I?Lynch H. Price FiJ ? McCrae Kel) Qli? Mullen Jeffcoat Officials: Woodward (Clemson); Correll (SC); and Craft (SO. Mf'J-J u... - i - * -JL i?iww*?pwr[ u Czechs Owe America Nearly Washington. Sept. 23.?O (T i c t a I 8 held little hope today that Germany could be Induced to take over, aloiiK will) the Sudetenland. any portion of Chechoslovakia's debt to thy I'nited States of nearly $200,000,000. The principal Item Is the post war relief debt of $165,658,603. It already la in default Representative Dies of Texas, says he has reliable Information to the effect that certain Kuropea.il countries, Including the Soviet I'nlon. are preparing to spend millions In the l ulled States for propaganda purposes "to Involve us In the approaching Ku rupee p war." State Fair Program Nearly Completed Columbia, Sept. 26?While the opening date for the annua) South Carolina State Fair, October 17, la three woeks away, the "show" la ao far advanced that It could he put on tomorrow, in ao far as the management la concerned. The apace haa had the biggest demand In the fair's history, (lie grounds and buildings need only the exhibits, and the midway needa only the arrival of the tented attractions. in other words, Paul V. Moore, tho veteran secretary, can alt back now and wait for tho date to arrive. Mr. Moore, whose experience in fairs Includes tho South Carolina exhibit at the Jamestown exposition, In Norfolk, Va., in 1907, a number of years aa manager of the Spartanburg county fair, and more than a decade as secretary of tho State Fair, feels that never In his career has he had j moro reason to bo proud of what la to bo offerod to tho public. "It simply will surpass anything South Cal'olinu has soon in tho way of falra" he said. Tho horse, for one thing, comes buck Into his own with two days of harness racing und a full day's horse show program. There will bo fireworks every night, and an unusually good presentation before tho grand stand. Victor's famous band will be here all week. The Carolina-Clemson game looks as If It will be a sell-out. Thousands of young people are looking forward to Future Farmers day, the Four-H club day, and school day J The week's events are well balanced, J3S and more profuse than ever before. The shows for tho midway are the "tops." The fair Is a six-day and slx-nlght affair?starting Monday, October 17. Approximately 2,2(f0 Inhabitants of tho Virgin Islands migrate to the i United States annually. -.3# AND-?- I To Their Patients - " W B r^jjl We call your attention to our Prescription Department?well equipped and carefully stocked with the I purest drugs and chemicals obtainable. Every requirement for the sick room. H WE FILL PRESCRIPTIONS DAY OR NIGHT "The Utmost Care" I I A TWO COMPETANT PHARMACISTS DePASS' DRUG STORE | l THE REXALL STORE PHONE 10 WE DELIVER I fl B J ;f Our Store Reflects the J FALL FASHION PICTURE 73 If you believe in clothes that have the definite stamp of fashion's approval, come in now and look at Fall 1938 as seen through the eyes of the fashion authorities who edit such outstanding publications as jfl Vogue apd Harper's Bazaar This is the Picture 3 REPORTED BY VOGUE 1| Coats in curious new colors to wean you from black. A lumber-jack look in suits, dresses, furs. A rush of fur to coat fronts. Fur panels. Fur stoles. Half-and-half dresses, half one color, half another. More motion in all clothes. More amplitude and ease. Skirts never static; pleated, gathered, circular. Dresses in strange and different shades: Purple, fuchsias, reds, taupe, topaz, jelous green. Square shoulders. Hem-lines a fraction shorter. Hats toppling forward. Hoods, Snoods. Feathered heads. Muffs day and night?fur, velvet, crocheted ones. Featuring, as we do, the creations of the most outstanding fashion designers and manufacturers, you will find here many of the styles pictured in the advertising columns of your favorite fashion magazine. Our 'cblfecETdif"In both Women's and Chil- - ? dren's departments this year is more commanding than ever. Evening Wear . , . Sports Wear . . . Casual Wear . . . Daytime Wea* HALTJW ANGER'S -WH COLUMBIA, S. C. r, BIG FOOTBALL HOMECOMING?SATURDAY, OCTOBER l?t GEORGIA v*. SOUTH CAROLINA MUNICIPAL STADIUM, COLUMBIA ? 3 P. M. ~