Indiana gas boom
By 1902, yield from the fields began to decline, leading to a switch to alternative forms of energy.
The Ball Corporation, a manufacturer of glass canning jars, relocated from Buffalo to Muncie, attracted by land and monetary incentives offered by local leaders, as well as easy access to cheap fuel for their production lines.
Iron and other metal manufacturers, also attracted by economic incentives, established factories throughout the region.
The low cost of energy was a primary reason U.S. Steel chose Indiana for their operations.
The boom led to rapid development of pumping and piping technology by the region’s gas and oil companies.
The Indiana Natural Gas and Oil Company, formed by a group of Chicago businessmen led by Charles Yerkes, hired Haynes as their superintendent in 1890.
[5] He oversaw the laying of the first long-distance natural gas pipeline in the US, connecting Chicago with the Trenton Field over 150 miles (240 km) away.
The wealth and industry brought by the wells led to a rapid population shift throughout Indiana.
[7] Communities also piped gas to private homes to provide cheap heating fuel, helping to make urban living more desirable.
[9] The Indiana General Assembly attempted to limit gas waste by prohibiting open burning and instituting a system of metered consumption to encourage energy conservation, but the law met with tough opposition.
Many town leaders, who had come to rely on the gas revenues, dismissed claims that the wells would run dry.
[10] By 1903, factories' and towns' need for alternate sources of energy led to creation of numerous coal-burning electric plants.
The economy of northern Indiana continued to flourish until the Great Depression began in the following decade.
[11] Smaller pockets of natural gas exist in Indiana at depths that could not be reached in the boom era.
Advancements in artificial lift technology in the 1990s led to extraction of some of the oil, but at a relatively slow rate and high cost compared to more productive fields elsewhere.
