Retrospect: Portland Forge struck pocket of natural gas

Decades after the boom ended, natural gas was still being discovered in Jay County.

Thirty-five years ago this week, Teledyne Portland Forge tapped into the Trenton Gas Field just east of the Forge on Aug. 26, 1982, and was surprised to find a pocket of natural gas.

With help of a “bug” from Ohio dowser Dorwin Teeters, Forge officials located the pocket of gas from a well drilled 984 feet deep just east of the Forge plant.

Teeters predicted the well would be worth nearly $1,000 per day.

Drilling began the previous day after the factory obtained a permit from the oil and gas division of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Samples of earth were taken every 10 feet, and after nearly 90 samples “the samples started showing fine, reddish dolomite limestone as the bit hit the top of the dome on the Trenton field,” The Commercial Review reported.

When Mercer County driller Bob Huwer’s rig broke into the dome, gas was barely seeping through. A half hour later, the pressure had reached 35 pounds per square inch, and it only went higher from there. By late Aug. 26, pressure had built to 225 pounds.

From there, Teeters and Forge officials debated whether or not Huwer should drill additional wells.

With a crowd of spectators, officials and investors watching, those in attendance were taken back to the 1880s when the Indiana natural gas industry was booming.