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January 31, 1885 The Record and Guide. 107 Onr Gas and Oil Wells. Mj-v Andrew Carnegie has an exceedingly interesting article in tho Jan- m^iry number of " MacMiUan's Magazine " on the oil and gas wells of Penn- :s.vlvania. It reads more like a fairy story than anj'thing else. Twenty-two 5'cars ago, Mr. Carnegie says, a company with some friends, he visited the then famous oil weU ot the Storey farm, upon Oil Creek. The oil was then running from the well into the creek, where a few flat-bottt>incd scows lay fillwl with it, ready to be floated down to the AUeglicny River. With the true Scotch-American eye to business, they bought the farm for $40,000, and made a jioud capable of holdmg 100,000 barrels, thinking that the well ti ould exhaust itself in this pond and they would hold the oil, which they p timated would be worth $10 a barrel, or $100,001.1. But though the pond Ir.iked. the weU did not give out, aud our enterprising friends came out .1 1 right. The value of the farm rose to $5,0u now supplies 70,000 bai-rels ot oil per day, and trom Carnegie's leaky iKiiid ot 100,000 barrels the supply on hand sometimes reaches 4O,0O;l,O0l) barrels. Up to January 1, 1.S.S4," this region has yielded 250,000, '0 JO barrels ot oil, and it .still flows on in mcreasing quantities. Fortunes h ive been lost ou the idea that the supply would give out, but, like the b;-ook, it may go ou forever. Notwithstanding the rich coal fields and iion mines, and the coke industry, the most extensive in the world, aid this wonderful supply ot oU, another subterranean trcasm-e is niw forcing itself into public notice and usefulness, namely, the natural g is wells which are rapidly sm-rounding Pittsburg. It had its beginning in much the same way as the oil did. At fii-st no one could be found willing to invest a tew thousand doUai-s for pipes to convey it to factories aid miUs, where it could be utUized. The Press has recently published s ime interesting accounts ot the rapid increase in the use ot natural gas as fuel, e-siwciaUy for manufacturing puqioses. We shall, therefore, pass over many ot the tacts brought out by Mr. Carnegie, which comprise per- "h-ips the most interesting feature of the article to his English readers. The largest weU kiioivn is estimated to j'ield about 30,0(X),000 cubic teet ot gas in twenty-four hours, but half ot this may be considered as the i)ro,000,000 ormoreacros of ga.s-producing territory in Western Tn w^ '"^""^ '•'' '"^ "P '° ^^^^^ beld by enterprising companies. Leases for 10,000 acres are weekly being placed in the oflice of the Register and Record¬ er ot Westmoreland coimty. Charters are being secured in the different tstates in which the new company's luies wUl enter.—^jre of Steel. The tumble in Central Pacific stock, and in fact in all the Pacific road .shares, recalls the interview with WUUam M. Lent pubhshed in The Record .\nd Guide two years ago. That gentleman precUcted that the Cen¬ tral Pacific road would probably be abandoned to the government. Hunt¬ ington, Stanford and the other owners ot Central Pacific sold out their inter¬ ests long ago. They never, according to Mr. Lent, meant to keep the Central Pacific property, for they never spent any money on it. The depot and stations are all wretehed affairs, and even at Ogden where it does so large a busiiies.s there are no permanent depots. The syndicate owns the only profitable portion ot the line, that between Sacramento and San Fran¬ cisco, as private property, and then- money and hopes are in the Southern Pacific and the counectmg hues east and south. If the government should be forced to take the ownership of the Central Pacific tor its debt it woiUd have a white elephant on its hands, for there is nd practicable road west ot Sacramento, and the paying feeders to the Central Pacific are in private hands. The Union Pacffic no longer depends upon the Central Pacific since it has opened its short Une to.Oregon. Real Estate Department. There is a promise of better business from this time forth. The auctioneers are beginning to put out their first aimoucemeuts for the spring trade of 1S,S5. As yet there are no mdications of a strong market sueli as we had last spring, but later on a better tone may be manifested. Some more building wUl be done this year than %vas expected, but by a uew class. Tte professionals who construct houses for a market are uot doing much, but we find that many private investors who own or have bought property iu the Seventh, Tenth and Thirteenth Wards particularly, propose to tear do\vii old frame houses with a view ot erecting tenements in which there wUl be suites ot rooms tor fair ilies who can pay .*40 a month or less. Hence the persons who are fihng plans, are new in the business, generally shrewd trades people who realize th it material is cheap aud money easy. The flat busine-ss in the upper end of the island has beeu overdone, but there is an actual demand for better accommodations in the older sections ot the city. InteUigent agents say that there will be many iinprovements in the near future ou the avenues tranversed by the "L" roads. Tiaftic has increased so largely that ownei-s are tempted to rebuild old structures with a view to supplying more commodious aud attractive stores. OONVETANCBS. IfWf. 1885. Jan. 25 to 31, inc. Jan. 23 to 29, inc. Number........................................ IRn 155 Amount involved............................. $2,549,597 $1,639772 Number nominal.............................. (il " '.5.3 Number 23^1 aud 24th Wards................... is 19 Amount involved.............................. $16,657 $16,1.39 Number nominal........................... 5 g MORTGAGES. Number....................................... 187 143 Amount involved.............................. $1,829,790 $1,106,299 Number at 5 per cent........................ 82 5ft Amount involved........................... $903,8.18 $502,128 Number at less than 5 per cent................. 5 7 Amount involved.............................. $16.5,000 $126 965 Number to Banks, Trust and Ins. Cos......... 28 ai Amount involved........................... $346,600 $310,500 BVILDINGS PROJECTED. m'M. 1S85. ,^ „,. Jan. 26 to Feb. 1. Jan. 2t to .30. No. of buildings.................................. 40 38 Estimated cost..................................$590,465 $668,050 18« 1886. Jan. 19 to 23. Jan 17 to 2:1. No. of buildings............................... 28 h5 EstimatBd cost............................... $1S2.:JOO $826,575 Richard V. Harnett & Co. will sell peremptorUy for the estate of the late George Lovett on Thursday, February 5, one of tho most valuable and desir¬ able parcels that have been offered at auction within the p,i.st ten years. It comprises Nos. 21 and 2:^ Union Square, on the west side ot Broadway about 52 feet north ot Fifteenth street The size ot the plot is 57x110.10 and on it is a good tour-story double brick buUding covering one half the lot with one and two-story extensions on the remaining portion. Property such as this is rarely in the market and the present opportunity should not be overlooked by mvestors. Union Square West, as is well known, is unequalled hi this city as a shopping centre, and as each year passes the value of property in the comparatively short thorouglitare ot thi-ee blocks increases largely. Around it centre the greatest ot our retail stores and not even lower Broatlway can claim a larger pedestrian traffic than this favorite quarter. Where such establishments as Tiflfany's on the comer of FUteenth street and numerous others of hardly le-sser note are located property is bound to enhance iu value and seldom changes ownership. This sale should attract an audience such as the salesroom has not seeu outnumbered during the present season. On Tuesday next Richard V. Harnett & Co. wUI sell tho three-story stone frout dweUing on the southeast corner ot Park avenue and Seventy-fourth street. The sale wUl be without reserve; the terms are liberal and a chance is offered to obtain a well located dwelling. The same firm will also offer on that day the tour-story brick tenements, Nos. 337 to 34.'^ East One Hundred and Fourth s-treet, 25x50x100.11 each. Charles S. Brown will sell in partition on Tuesday, Feb. 10, some very valuable business and residence property situated on Broad, WilUam Bleecker, Greene, West Fom-tliaud West Thirty-eighth streets, and Waverly and Washington places. This will be one of the most important sales thus fai- held this season, and comprises some desirable investment property. See a