Funny thing about Gas, a town whose very name came from the fertile pockets of natural gas buried beneath the southeast Kansas limestone.
More than 150 years ago, there were dozens of gas pockets dotted throughout Allen County.
Heck, in the early days, once the townsfolk realized what they had, there were even gas lines extruding from the ground that did little more than allow burning gas to vent into the atmosphere on Iola’s downtown square.
But there was never any gas found within the city limits.
“I just found that surprising,” noted Donna Houser, who spoke about the history of Gas Wednesday during a program at the Iola Public Library.
She was joined by Pat (Henry) Spencer and Lavon (Kinman) Johnson, both of whom have family roots in Gas that go back generations.
After Houser enthralled the small crowd with how Gas became a cautionary tale for conservationists across the state — including why the “City” had to be dropped from the original “Gas City” name — Spencer talked about the Gas Museum, set up inside the community building, or what had been the old grade school.
Johnson, afterward, showed off some family photos of her father, grandmother and uncle taken in the early days of Gas.
IT TOOK settlers a while to comprehend the jewel they had in southeast Kansas, Houser said.
Passersby headed west would see bubbles in the ground, caused from the pressurized gas, unsure of what it meant. “The Indians talked about it,” she said. “But the pioneers didn’t really know what it was.”
Occasionally, pools of oil were spotted on the ground; it was used primarily to lubricate wagon wheels, instead of the traditional sheep tallow.
The first true discovery came about by accident. A Fort Scott man was drilling for water, but found the gas instead.
He realized it would burn, so he piped it into a gas cook stove. Few folks paid much attention, however, because he had no way to control the pressure. Much of his food burned, Houser noted.
Within the decade, others began drilling for oil, finding gas instead.
A group of Iola businessmen, William McClure, W.A. Cowan, George Bowlus, H.L. Henderson and others formed a company to prospect for gas in 1895, but soon abandoned the effort.
The operation was sold to George Fry and L.L. Northrup, son of Iola’s original lumber baron of the same name.
