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from the very beginning ancient people were mystified by accidental discoveries of natural gas seeping from the ground or rising through clefts in rock word was passed from village to village and many people came to witness this great discovery thinking they were in the presence of a supernatural agency they appointed a priestess built a temple thus was established the oracle of adelphi not a supernatural thing but the discovery of natural gas on mount parnassus in greece a thousand years ago the chinese obtained natural gat from wells 2000 feet deep transmitted t through bamboo pipes and used it to evaporate brine in salt making probably the first industrial use of natural gas following the discovery of burning springs in the united states there was a period of hunch and wigglestick exptor auon similar to methods used to locate water it wasnt until 1859 that an american edwin l drake after persistent drilling struck oil at titusville pennsylvania the petroleum industry wu born a boom in rock oil rivalled the gold rush of the previous decade unfortunately early oil men disregarded natural gas ex cept as a miracle to push oil to the surface so gas wells which did not produce oil were ignited and allowed to burn thei lselves out over many years hunch and wigglestick techniques were succeeded by scien tific methods of the geophysicist the magnometer measured ab normal magnetic forces indicating the existence of geological for mation favourable for oil and gas accumulations the torsion balance measuring variations in specific gravity at different points on the earths surface indicated the same condi tion the seismograph measured sound waves and earth shocks induced by dynamite charges thus charting the location of a dense structure or rock salt dome where gas would exist natural gas engineering advanced slowly during the early days although gas was piped short distances attempts to tran smit natural gas through a 25 mile pipeline failed in 1872 after the miracle of discovery almost a century passed before the miracle of transmission next week the transmission line united suburban gas co ltd georgetown 20 main st west tr 73921 8