Gas
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
To give our readers an idea of the kind of a grade the D. M. & A., has to contend with in order to get to Winfield from Cedar Vale, we copy the following squib from the Cedarvale Star.
AA car of powder, making seven large wagon loads, was hauled to the front on Tuesday. This is the fourth car of powder that has been required for the heavy blasting in the Flint Hills, and the work is but fairly begun. One rock cut is 35 feet deep and 400 feet long, and there are several cuts nearly as heavy between the head of Cedar and Winfield. One of the embankments is 55 feet in height, where the road crosses a canyon. It looks like mountain work, sure enough.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
This morning Geo. L. Brown began soliciting subscribers to take stock for the purpose of boring for coal and natural gas. He proposes to organize a company with a capital stock of $100,000. When the paper was shown us some $40,000 of the required sum had been subscribed for. Mr. Brown on his way here from Illinois stopped at Paola and made an investigation of the natural gas works there. He was very favorably impressed with the advantages it would be to the town, and as he is largely interested in Arkansas City property, he and others have determined to see what nature has stowed away for us beneath the surface. The indications for coal in this vicinity are excellent and we have no doubt but what veins in paying quantities will be found. We hope operations will soon begin.