With even more recklessness than characterizes the waste of our forests and our coal, we have allowed this perfect fuel to escape. To the dwellers in each region where natural gas is found, it seems that the supply is inexhaustible. The roar of the wells, which makes the very earth tremble; the flames springing high into the air; the undiminished pressure after months of use, appearing to indicate a boundless reservoir below; the opportunity for whole communities to grow rich by its use; all these things tend to promote recklessness on the part of all who handle it. In the beginning the wells are usually not tightly cased, and there is a considerable quantity of gas escaping about every well. New wells are frequently lighted to show the volume of gas. In some cases the well has become uncapped on account of heavy pressure and to prevent the escape of unconsumed gas into the air it is kept burning night and day. The strongest wells are often kept burning for months in order to advertise a new gas field. In this way immense quantities of the most perfect fuel in the world have been wantonly wasted. From a single well in eastern Kentucky there flowed a steady stream of gas for twenty years which at present prices would be worth $3,000,000, and the same story of waste from burning wells comes from every natural gas field. In a new region where gas is abundant there is also a great waste from leaking pipe lines laid on the surface of the ground, from open flambeaux, and from careless home and factory consumption. In many communities the open flambeaux have been employed to light the streets, and allowed to burn day and night to avoid the expense of a man to care for them. Where natural gas is abundant, meters are not usually installed; instead, gas is sold by the month. The consumer is under no obligation to save the gas, in fact, he usually acts on the common American principle of wanting to get all he can for the money and so burns his open tip lights, and open burner stoves day and night. The factories waste in the same way, using open furnaces which are never banked during the season because it is easier and costs no more. This, it seems, should be the whole history of natural gas waste, but the greatest source of loss still remains to be spoken of. In every gas region of any importance oil is found sooner or later, usually after the heaviest gas pressure has been exhausted; and the oil driller is the greatest of all foes to the life of a natural gas region. He finds that the gas interferes with the flow of oil, spraying it into the air and causing loss, and that the danger of fire is much increased by its presence. This frequently causes explosions, tearing out the side of the well or blowing out the casing, and making the oil-well useless. The surplus gas is usually piped to one side out of the reach of danger, and then burned to get rid of it. Drillers often try to force the gas out in the hope that it will be followed by a rush of oil.