Natural Gas – 100 Years Ago Today, April 7, 1923!
Tom Shepstone
Shepstone Management Company, Inc.
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Natural gas news from a hundred years ago offers great perspective for discussing one of the cleanest sources of energy available then and still today.
I thought it might be fun and illuminating to look back 100 years ago at what was happening with natural gas. It is eye opening, given all we’ve learned over the last century. There is, indeed, little new under the sun, as our stories repeatedly demonstrate. Natural Gas – 100 Years Ago Today, March 31, 1923.
Read our 100-year old news items on the subjects of free gas vs. discrimination, oil country tractor winches, drilling with gas engines, brick and other industries lured by natural gas and natural gas icicles.
You’ve Had 38 Years of Free Natural Gas; Enough!
Or, Is A Deal A Deal and A Contract A Contract?
So, what’s your view? Is a contract a contract or was the city looking for a free ride that had gone on long enough?
07 Apr 1923, Sat New Castle Herald (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
Perhaps we’ll learn more down the road as to how this case turned out but where would you, the reader, have down on this case had it been brought on you? Natural gas, as it became a public good, brought forward many new and interesting legal issues and this is one of them.
Drilling Wells with Gas Engines: You Should Hear Them!
Today, of course, oil and natural gas wells can be drilled with natural gas itself but note the excitement over gas engines for drilling wells in 1923.
07 Apr 1923, Sat The Oil City Derrick (Oil City, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
Note, too, the enthusiasm for the noise. Of course, this was back in the day when men weren’t ashamed to make noise and do other manly things!
And, How About That Tractor Winch Designed for Oil Country!
This is quite the machine for winching stuff and it was also advertised in the Oil City Derrick.
07 Apr 1923, Sat The Oil City Derrick (Oil City, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
Don’t you love it? And, notice the brand name “Fordson,” short for Henry Ford & Son Inc. and the brand name for the tractor before they simply went with “Ford.”
Natural Gas Attracts Another Industry
It’s a story that keeps getting repeated doesn’t it?
07 Apr 1923, Sat The Fredonia Daily Herald (Fredonia, Kansas) Newspapers.com
The success story of natural gas never grows old either!
Josh Fox Born 100 Years Too Late?
Josh Fox himself is history at this point but imagine if he had been around in 1923 and saw this:
07 Apr 1923, Sat The Buffalo Times (Buffalo, New York) Newspapers.com
The facts always have a way of intruding on a stupid narrative don’t they?
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