Gas Boom In Richland Parish in the late 1920's and early 1930's. This account is written in two parts, of which this is part one. Submitted by Dot Golliher ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Copied from the Richland Beacon News printed on July 2, 1998.This mystery story was written by Jennie Jo Siscoe and published in theRichland Journal in 1985 . This is part one of two. Gas well came in wild and formed crater In the late 1920's,Alto was a thriving community with five general mercantile stores, a barber shop,two cafes, two cotton gins,a blacksmith shop,a grist mill,a school,several churches, and two practicing physicians. This was the era of the gas field. Car liscenes plates advertised it as the WORLD'S CAPITAL GAS FIELD. The gas people have long since moved, there is only one general store, a plant nursery, and one restaurant,but a large productive farming community..a picturesque community with lovely homes and a rich heritage..a peaceful sort of place. It was not always like this. Today Alto is still known for one of the largest craters left as a reminder of "days gone by". There are two smaller craters...remenants of the big gas boom. Only one man can tell the true story of just what happened in the early fall of 1930. The story will unfold in two parts,many know him but only a few know what he did on one particular night in September of 1930 . Mr.X was 19 years old when Arkansas National Gas Co. came to Alto in 1928 to drill. He was working for Sartor and Company at that time. The well in question was drilled and was said to be the largest-67 million cubic feet with 1100lbs. of rock pressure. Shortly after the well was brought in and shut off, it started bubbling below. The driller said,"Better kill it." But no one seemed to listen. Soon,however, the well had to be opened back up. When it was opened up the noise was so loud that Alto school had to be closed and it was necessary to put cotton in the ears to shut out the noise. The bubbling continued below ground level with more intensity and the ground around the derrick started caving in. In about 10 days the well began to crater making a hole with a circumference of 30-40 feet. It was not long after that when the well craterd, loosing derrick,rig, and steam boiler-everything! Offset wells were drilled on the north and south sides to relieve the pressure but to no avail- bubbling continued. The gas company laid a 24 inch pipe to Boeuf River nearby and pumped water into the well trying to choke the well down. This effort only caused more problems. Salt water was boiling out daily killing timber,forming a slush all around and creating a breeding ground for salt water mosquitos. Farmers and residents were plagued with insects. All fo the company's efforts to alleviate the problem had stretched into approximately 20 months time. This bothered Mr.X (a young man with a troubled mind over the situation) The well was 2400 feet deep and when it cratered a measurement of 100 feet in depth was taken by the company. This was as far down as they could go. This was a BIG HOLE, a bottomless pit, that was causing more problems than it was worth to families who made their livelihood from farming, mostly cotton. Mr. X said those mosquitos were not your regular ones, these were great big gray ones that only breed in salt water and their bites were worse than the ones we are plagued with in the summer. Their bites left large welts on the skin. There were no mosquito dope or remedies such as "off" or the like, so you were constanly slapping the insects. Even though Mr. X was working in a store at the time,he, too, helped the family out at cotton picking time. He knew how awful it was to pick adn try to fight mosquitos at the same time. In fact, he said, it took two people to pick cotton-one to pick and one to fight off mos- quitos. "They'd eat you up at night,too." said Mr.X. The troubles young man kept mulling over what could be done to ease the problem. No one else was doing amnything. The gas company was not getting rid of this infernal burning hole. Everyone just seemed to know that it was there and just talked and complained about it daily. About the only thing that could be done was keep the screens repaired and the mosquito netting handy. The main topic of conversation seemed to be..."What can we do about these blasted mosquitos" and "I wish they would set the old well on fire." The latter triggered a plan in young Mr.X's mind. Talk about the carefully laid plans of mice and men...Mr. K began his plan. Cars were not prevelant at that time like they are today but he had an old Model T ford that he kept in a barn away from his house. He had collectd 11 drums of gasoline that he had caught from the drips coming from the tap on the wells(there were others in the area). The gas company was not doing anything so why not him? The next step was to find him a good stout stick(a peachtree limb) which he sharpened to a point at one end.What was his plan? One day Mr.X decided on THE plan. He went out to the barn where he had the car parked and the gas stored. He gathered some corn cobs and got an old iron coffee pot. He filled the pot with the gasoline and placed the corn cobs in it to soak.He knew just what he was going to do.No one else was doing anything, so why not him. What was his plan? Just before nightfall he began to gather his corn cobs, now reeking with the smell of crude gasoline, his sharpened stick, and matches, he carefully made his way to the field near the well site. His parents inside the house did not see him. He laid down between the rows and waited-waiting for the well attendant to leave for the night. All the time he was waiting the mosquitos were nearly eating him alive. This brought to mind why he was here in the first place. He thought about the comforts of home. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the attendant departed for his home which was in Mangham, not far away. Mr.X stiff from waiting and stinging from the insect bites, more determined than ever, made his way in the dark over to the site. He placed the soaked cob on the end of the sharpened tree limb, took out his matches, stuck one and it went out. He struck another, the torch was lit. He hurled it out in the direction of the crater and it caught fire and only burned 15 feet across. With bated breath, he lit the second one. He hurled it out and it hit dead center! (He recalled the biblical story of David and Goliath thinking this giant was going to be his.) His mission was accomplished when suddenly, just as he planned... To be continued