1884 - Natural Gas at Mount Albion

 

In the late winter of 1884, news was carried in the March 20 issue of the Weekly Times that a company had been formed to investigate the viability of tapping into natural ga veins in the Hamilton area, particularly at Mount Albion.

The full column follows :

“There are very few people residing in the county of Wentworth, or in fact in this section of the Province, who have not heard and talked of the wonderful gas which emanates from fissures in the rock, springs, etc., in the vicinity of the Albion Mills, in the township of Saltfleet. To use a vulgar expression, ‘it is as old as the hills,’ and some of our fathers and mothers, when they were children, were taught of its existence in the pages of the old Maver reader which was then in use in the public schools. It is there spoken of as ‘jets of natural gas issuing from thew rocks and ground a few miles from Burlington Bay.’ In bygone years, the section contiguous to the Albion Mills has frequented interested the public. The old flouring mills at one time were brilliantly lighted up with the gas brought in from the rock nearby, and now, although many of the burners have fallen inti disuse, there is little doubt but the vapor still exists in large quantities as ever in the vicinity. Some forty years ago, a pleasure resort was established in this locality, and hundreds of Hamiltonians every week during the summer season drove out to see the beautiful scenery thereabouts and partake of the water from the springs. Many a visitor to Albion Mills had wondered how it was that some enterprising men had not formed a company for the purpose of utilizing this flow of natural gas, and on several occasions have such corporations been talked of in the past. At last, the enterprise has been taken hold of and acharter for the incorporation of ‘The Emerson Natural Gas Light and Fuel Company of Hamilton’ has been applied for to the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council. The original directors and stockholders of the company are : Messrs. Edward O. Emerson, Titusville, Pa.; J.G. Haymaker, Angelica, N.Y.; Thomas Hunt, Angelica, N.Y.; R.R. Waddell, Hamilton and Simon James, Barton. The purposes of the company are to acquire lands, sink wells, and construct machinery for obtaining the gas, and to lay down pipes for its conveyance to Hamilton or elsewhere in the Province. The county of Wentworth, of course, will be the principal base of operations, and attention will be given to the development of gas in the section referred to above, and all will admit that the field is an encouraging one for operations. The present capital stock, as taken up, amounts to $75,000. The company intend sinking wells in the neighborhood of Sulphur Springs, and near Mount Albion (about five miles), and the operations will be commenced as soon as possible after the opening of spring, when experts will examine the strata and sink test wells. The gas which has been heretofore been used there is superficial; the company will bore deep – 1,5000 feet or so – and more than one well will be sunk. Times readers are probably aware that gas veins are somewhat similar to the petroleum veins, they abound in certain rocks. If the company have the good fortune to strike gas at first, they will go on boring; if not, another well be sunk, and so on until success or failure  results. The United States gentlemen who have investigated the matter are sanguine that the venture will be successful.

“The principles on which the company will be worked are : In the event of gas being discovered in satisfactory quantity, it will be conducted through mains to a receiving tank in the city, from whence it will be distributed by pipes to the citizens who may wish it. An effort will be made to introduce it for heating purposes, such as is so common in some of the cities of the States. It is said that at Bradford, Pa., it is almost universally used for heating, lighting and generating steam.”