Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1894 — A BURNING LAKE. [ARTICLE]

A BURNING LAKE.

The Kokomo Natural Gas and Oil Company has an elephant on its hands in the shape of an uncontrollable gas well in the central part of the city. A few weeks ago the company, under the impression that the well bad gone dry, attempted to pull the casing. The pipe broke in two about 400 feet down, making it impossible to remove the lower portion or replace the top half. While pulling the tubing the workmen were driven from the place by a tremendous rush of gas and water from the well, which shot high in the air and took fire. The immense flow of water formed a small lake, which is kept in constant turmoil, like a boiling cauldron, by the gas rushing through the water. It is a veritable geyser, with gas nurning about it, endangering the houses and killing the trees in the vicinity. Paint >n houses a block away is blistered by the heat, and it has developed into a dangerous nuisance.