BURNING FIELDS OP ICE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2308, 26 May 1898, Page 50

BURNING FIELDS OP ICE.

It seems a somewhat surprising statement to make that on the ica-covered surface of a Kansas lake it is possible to build bonfires by simply breaking through the ice and a.ppiyi«g a match to ths surface of the water. The flames will shoot up as high as a man and will burn brightly for a minute or two. This is what has baen possible for several winters on Doiiiphan Lake, Ksesjvs, and on one of its tributary streams. The fuel for these fires la natural gas, which babbles .up through the wafcer the joar round, but it is only during the very cold winter Eights that ifc is thus temporarily stored under the ice in immense bubbles or pockets, sometimes 10 to 20 .square yards in extent, Puncture these babbles with n chisel, apply a ligiited match, aud one has a roaring flame before which the skater maywarm his bfeaurnbed fingers. The experimenter must be careCul to stand between ths wind and the jet o£ gas as hs lights it, or he will have his olothing singad before he can get out of the way of his impromptu torch. There are plaoes where the gas supply is so abundant as to prevent the ice from for naiog, except on the very coldest nights. Whan such places are fjrozen over they remain covered only a few days, for the gaa, coming from a considerable depth in the earth, is so warm that it soon melts a passageway through the ice and escapes. The present winter formed ice of 15in thickness on the lake, and yet some of the areas of gas supply were not frozen over. Near the enhance of one of the creeks into the lake tho water is quite shallow, and the bottom may be readily seen. Here the gas has formed regular channels up through the mud, and out of these large bubbles of gas are discharged every few seconda.

Doniphan Lake is located about four railet north of Atohison, Kansas, and is a river lake ; that is, ife was formed from a bend of ths Missouri Biver by the water taking a short cut across the narrow neck of the bend, thus leaving the old bed to be occupied by a beautiful horseshoe lake about five miles in length: This happened during the high waters of the spring and early euosmsr of 1891. Because the.lake is fch.ua comparaii rely recent in formation, aoma obssrvera have contended that the ga« whioh colisofcs uadsr the ice ia^only marsh gas. But the supply is too great Lo be accounted for in that manner. Were it marsh gas it would rise more equally all over the laks, for the bottom is everywhere about the same. Oa the contrary, the gas is eupplisd only in certain localities, and the eastern arm cf the lake is without gas. Besides, the places of discharge are the earns the year round. On the Missouri side of the river are tbree other lakes of like formation— Mud, Sugar, aod Bsan Lakes. These do not show gas except in occasional very small bubbles. It is not surprising that natural gas ghould be found in eastern Kansas. A boring at Kansas city, about 55 miles south of Doniphan, gave a small supply of gas a few years ago. Ninety miles gonth-wesst of Kansas city, at lola, Kansas, a gas well in lecent years furnished 7,000,000 cubic feet of gas per day. There Is no doubt that the Doniphan gas is true natural gas, and comes from the interior rocks of the earth. The question of quantity can only ba determined by prospecting. Should a "guaher " be struck here it would ba a great find, for St. Joseph, Mo., Is only 16 miles to the north, Atohison is practically on the field, and Kansas city is less than 60 miles to the south. — S. B. Knbrr, In the Scientific American.